Q2: How should practitioners plan to assess young children who are dual language learners?

<Karen Nemeth>

Research shows that young children who are growing up with two languages have two separate language systems in their brains. This means that what they have learned in one language will be stored in that language and may not be accessible when they are communicating in the other language. So, even though a child may appear to communicate well in English, some of the things they know will still be understood or expressed in their home language. For this reason, assessment is never really accurate unless it is conducted in both of the child’s languages. For example, a child may know some color names in English and some color names in Korean. If the assessment is conducted only in English, the child will only be able to give a partial response. This incomplete information will then be used to adapt curriculum, plan learning goals for the child and may influence the practitioner’s beliefs and expectations for that child. Even though we often use the term “dominant language” to help practitioners identify the more frequently used language as the choice for the primary assessment, this will not result in a complete description of the child’s strengths, needs, and interests. Assessment for young children should not be based on one score. It should always be a collection of information gathered in a variety of ways – called multiple measures. I like to say assessment is a folder, not a test. If your purchased assessment has not been validated on populations that speak the language of the child, the score for a translated version or use of an interpreter will not be valid. That doesn’t mean these strategies are useless. It only means that the score is not accurate. The prompts, observations, conversations and interactions with appropriate materials using the assessment can all be recorded as anecdotal notes to build your understanding of where a child is starting and where they need to go. Classroom observations and interviews with families will provide additional insights. Children are likely to have more sophisticated skills and vocabulary in their areas of interest. By observing the play and book choices they make at school, and by interviewing their parents about their behavior at home, you can gain additional information you can use to engage each child in activities and conversations that reveal their true strengths and needs in whatever language works best for that child in that context.