Oral Language Assessment

Alondra Reyes Ponce learned her languages sequentially.  She is a native Spanish speaker who started learning English at the age of seven when she came to the U.S.  However, her predominant language at school is English.  In fact until yesterday Alondra had never spoken to me in Spanish.  This is part of the reason I chose to work with her.  I know that Alondra’s family places much value on both education and being bilingual because her mother has told me so.  I am wondering how she will fare without direct Spanish language learning in place at school.  Orally she seems to being doing quite well.

Alondra’s dominant language is Spanish.  However, at school Alondra predominanatly speaks English.  It is rare to hear her speak to anyone except her friends in Spanish and even then she tends to speak more English than Spanish.   During our meeting Alondra shared that she prefers to discuss personal problems with her friends in Spanish because it offers her more privacy.  Speaking in Spanish makes it more difficult for others to understand otherwise she prefers to practice her English while she is at school.  When I asked Alondra which language she prefers to speak at home she responded very quickly with "Spanish".  She said that at home she speaks at least 90 percent of the time in Spanish.  According to Alondra she and her little brother sometimes practice English with mom, but otherwise they speak in Spanish.   She told me that when they practice they speak in Spanish and then fill in words to practice in English …deliberate code-switching?  I asked Alondra to elaborate in Spanish about where else she might use English outside of home and at school.  Her response was...“hay cosas como un check up que tienes que hablar en inglés.     

Alondra and I also spoke in English about her favorite pastimes and what she likes to do at home.  She told me about how much she loves poetry.  I asked her if she noticed any differences between poetry written here in the U.S. and poetry written in Mexico.  She had some very interesting insights.  One of them included some very clear code switching, “A veces in English they write them in cursive”.   There was also some transfer as she referred to Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends as The End of the Sidewalk.     

 In analizing Alondra’s Oral English development I would place her at a level 4 expanding according to the WIDA standards.  Alondra not only told me several stories about her family, and her likes and dislikes, but expanded on her opinions by explaining to me why she liked poems in English and in Spanish.  She also was able to discuss how it would benefit her to have a class for Spanish speakers instead of an exploratory class in the middle school (creating solutions to problems).  She explained that it would help her write well in Spanish and learn the things she can’t do at home.   Alondra’s oral proficiency score (ACCESS test for 2009-2010) of 3.9 supports this analysis. 

In Spanish I would place Alondra at a level 6.  She is able to freely discuss, debate and defend her ideas and thoughts in Spanish.  Alondra is a very articulate young lady.  She was able to clearly express her opinions on why being bilingual is important, giving several examples and sharing her personal plans to improve both of her languages.  

What I found most interesting about Alondra’s oral language is the richness she is exposed to at home in Spanish.  Her mother and father highly encourage Alondra to practice both languages at home and strongly support her reading and writing in Spanish.  Further, her mother is from Puebla and her father is from Veracruz.  Alondra told me that they often use different words for the same items and have to describe to one another what they are referring to using circumlocution.  Of further interest is that Alondra is also exposed to her mother’s native Nahuatl (a native Mexican language) when mom speaks on the telephone with her aunts.  I asked Alondra whether or not she has learned any Nahuatl, but she said though she understands a few words and childrens’ songs that her mother sang to her as a baby she hasn’t had the chance to practice it yet.