ABSTRACT
Different accommodations are used in the assessment of students who are English language learners (ELLs). However, many of these accommodations were originally created and used for students with disabilities (see Oller, this volume); therefore, the utility of such accommodations for ELL students is questionable. To help reduce the impact of construct-irrelevant sources in the assessment of ELL students, accommodations should be used that (1) are effective inmaking assessmentsmore accessible for ELL students, (2) provide assessment outcomes that are valid, i.e., comparable with those of nonELLs, and (3) are sensitive to student background. These three characteristics are vital in determining the validity of accommodated outcomes. First, if an accommodation is not helpful in reducing the performance gap which is partly due to the impact of construct-irrelevant sources, then the accommodation is not doing what it is intended to do. For example, if an accommodation does not help ELL students with understanding the complex linguistic structure of the assessment, which is unrelated to the content being measured, then that accommodation may not be relevant. Second, if an accommodation alters the construct being measured, then the validity of the accommodated assessment could be at risk. An accommodation that provides unfair advantage to the recipients may impact the measurement of the construct. Third, if an accommodation does not address each individual student’s educational needs, then the outcome of the accommodated assessment many not present a good picture of what the student truly knows and is able to do. For instance, providing a native language assessment to an ELL student who has been predominantly instructed in English may not produce a desirable outcome. In this chapter, we introduce the concept of accommodation for ELL students, discuss major issues concerning accommodations, and elaborate on the limitations of the currently used accommodations for ELL students. The chapter also discusses themethodology for conducting studies to examine the effectiveness and validity of accommodated assessments and provides recommendations on best practices of accommodations.
