Analysis:
Based on our observations of Student M’s oral language we would classify him as Speech Emergent (Level 3). Although his BICS is not 100%, it is well developed for someone who has been in the U.S. for such a short amount of time(about 15 months). He speaks with intent and knows what he wants to communicate. He struggles for the words sometimes; saying, “how you say, how you say…” in the middle of his sentences, but always tried to produce the vocabulary himself. His memory of new vocabulary is great and he is not shy about asking questions about new words/topics.
Student M speaks mostly in complete sentences. He offers a lot of information, but may need some prompting or rewording of questions in order to supply more details or understand fully. Student M is fine holding a conversation and follows the normal courtesies (e.g. making eye contact, taking turns, etc.). His pronunciation and speed sometimes interfere with the listeners understanding. This mainly occurs when he is excited and begin to talk more quickly and with a heavier accent.
Student M is not as far along with his written language and comprehension as he is with his oral language and word recognition. He struggled with the IRI comprehension questions and did not score very well (75% was the highest). However, he seemed to have a better understanding when questions were rephrased or the ideas were broken down. For instance,“What did the girl’s grandmother tell her after she showed her the flowers?”was rephrased as, “The girl showed her grandmother the flowers. What did the grandmother say?”
Student M's written language was more at the Early Production stage. His ideas were clear, but he did not use complete sentences. Instead, each separate thought was considered a sentence. Additionally, he had misspellings, although the mistakes were not unusual for an ELL (inventive spelling and spelling based on sounding out the word).
Recommendations:
Student M would do well to focus on improving his comprehension skills and his writing skills. His teachers should focus on teaching him strategies that will promote self-monitoring, such as think alouds, and incorporate visuals that will guide his thinking, such as a partially filled-in outline or story web. Graphic organizer would be useful to incorporate in his writing assignments as well. They would allow him to keep his thoughts organized, add more detail, and write in a more complete manner. In general he needs more intensive writing instruction. The more practice he has, the better.
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