What Informal Data Can Tell You About ELLs' Literacy Background

What I'd like to say is data informs instruction, and it doesn't have to be formal data. I can have a discussion and see how much, ask questions, ask them to describe, see how much they can describe to me in this second language, or ask a community helper to ask kind of the same questions, see how much they can describe in their home language. Then that tells me about their language structure. Are they making sentences and creating sentences? Do they follow a sequence? What is the length and complexity of the sentence? Where are we in that continuum of language? And I can do the same with reading. Can they read in their home language? Can they read in this second language? Are they reading words, sentences, paragraphs? Can they understand?

So as you're listening, you don't even have to know the language to realize, “Oh, this is slow and labored. Seems like the student keeps repeating himself, really struggling through this, kind of getting a little bit worried or frustrated,” or does it seem like the student is reading it at a good pace? It seems like words are coming out at a good pace, following along, that kind of thing. You can observe a lot.

And then I can generate through artificial intelligence. Can you put this in their home language? Can you create this at this grade level for this student? And I can actually have that and have them read it to me, have the discussion about it, summarize it to me. Through those summaries, we learned a lot about their language and their comprehension. And so little things like that can actually give me so much information and it doesn't take that much time. And that time is so worth it because then you really will know so much more about your students. I know we have lots of tests in school, but every day we are collecting data and that data is every time a child speaks to you, reads to you, writes for you, engages with you, that is data.