ABSTRACT
When responding to open-ended or constructed-response assessment items written in English, English language learners (ELLs) are required to undertake multiple steps: reading and interpreting a question, devising a solution or strategy for responding, recording their answer, and communicating their reasoning. The response usually includes some language, and the response is often scored by monolingual native English speakers. Yet, for many of these students some of the linguistic and cultural features of their responses may be unfamiliar to the scorers, and a review of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science items and student work concluded that this unfamiliarity may contribute to inaccurate scoring in typical large-scale situations (Kopriva and Lara, 1997). Time pressures also compound the problem as it is not unusual for scorers to evaluate responses at the rate of one per minute for short answers or three to five minutes per essay question for up to eight hours per day.
