Bronwyn, C. (2002).

English Language Learners and High-Stakes Tests: An Overview

of the Issues. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 2-7.

While ELL students are working to learn the ins and outs of a new language,
testing throws in an additional hurdle with its own linguistic obstacles. The composition
of questions and passages for standardized testing does not fall into the realm of
conversational English. For any student, the large pool of vocabulary used during testing
can be daunting, but to students that are newly acquiring all facets of vocabulary, it can
be overwhelming.

In addition to domain-specific vocabulary, students need to know how to tackle

the many nouns and verbs that drive test questions. These are words that must become a
part of everyday learning in the classroom. If a student has only seen the
term distinguish on a flashcard or test-prep study list, and theyve never applied the
concept to a learning task, they wont be successful when theyre asked
to distinguish differences on a test. Increasing the frequency of encountering academic
vocabulary will increase students abilities to respond to it correctly.
It's important for educators who screen English language learners (ELLs) for
learning difficulties to consider that some behaviors that are considered signs of a
learning disability also resemble linguistic behaviors of students learning a second
language (L2). In addition, the behaviors may reflect cultural differences or values of
students coming to U.S. schools from other countries and educational systems.
ELLs come to school not only to learn how to communicate socially, but to
become academically proficient in English. Learning social English is just the tip of the
iceberg. Just because they can speak on the playground, talk to peers, and use everyday
English does not mean that they are up to speed in academic English. To the contrary,
these ELLs are not yet proficient enough to handle the standards-based curriculum. They
lack the academic vocabulary needed to develop the content knowledge in English that
they will need to succeed in future schooling. By recognizing these two types of
proficiencies, educators can help expedite ELLs' academic English.