Article Citation: Aisha Abdullahi Ibrahim & Hamisu Mukhtar (2019). Testing Accommodation for English Language Learners in Nigeria. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2. ISSN 0794-9316
TESTING ACCOMMODATION FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN
NIGERIA
By
Aisha Abdullahi
Ibrahim & Hamisu Mukhtar
Abstract
The main
objective of writing this paper was to propose the adoption of testing
accommodation for English language learners in Nigeria. It was understood that
English language students were mistreated in the current English language
testing practice and administration in Nigeria. This caused wild report on the
mass failure of Senior Secondary Schools students in English language national
examinations. The English language teachers are not updated on the modern
testing practice and administration, the English language learners’ age,
culture, native and the language of instruction, as well as national regional
differences, constituted additional problems. The paper analyzes these
differences and argues that to provide valid and equal opportunity for all
students in the country, testing accommodation should be adopted. It was
believed to provide room for taking every student along thereby having
inclusive and holistic language testing practice and administration. The paper
suggests that empirical investigation should be conducted on the effects of
testing accommodation on English language learners in Nigeria.
Introduction
Testing in
education is one of the means of evaluation that helps monitor students’
educational progress and the quality of school systems (Nguyen & Le, 2015).
In language instruction, the success or otherwise of language instruction is
measured through testing the four language skills. This is done to find the
language academic performance of the students, the quality of language
instructional delivery of the teachers, the progress of the language
instructional programs, or the quality of language education products. The
result obtained can be used to determine the achievement of the stated language
curriculum objectives. The achievement of objectives is only possible if
students are evaluated according to the ability by respecting the language and
the individuals’ differences. The differences include student’s target language
learning abilities, learning strategies, styles, and personality.
The management
of these differences in English language test-taking process can be considered
as the provision of extra support to such ‘special cases’ so as to ensure
equality, effective participation, inclusion, and holistic test-taking process.
This dynamic testing practice proved effective in the determination of
accountability in language education. This is the case in the United States of
America (USA), where the flux of immigrants led to changes in the second
language (English) students demography and the goal of providing equal
educational opportunities have caused perplexing problems nationwide (Butler
& Stevens, 1997). To achieve accountability in English language and
Mathematics, USA introduces testing accommodations. Later on, the practice was
extended to Science subjects. In multilingual Nigeria, the dearth of such a dynamic
testing practice affects students’ academic performance, decision making,
placement, policy implementation, and the overall curriculum objectives. This
paper argues that some students in Nigeria are being mistreated by the current
language testing practice. To provide reliable, valid, and equal opportunity to
every student, the researchers believe that the adoption of testing
accommodations for English language learners help them to demonstrate their
full language potentials.
English Language Testing and its
Contending Issues in Nigeria
Testing in this
paper is restricted to senior secondary schools public examinations such as the
West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), the
National Examinations Council (NECO), the National Business and Technical
Examinations (NBTE) and the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examinations
(UTME). These are common senior secondary schools standardized public
assessment registered to produce common and internationally acceptable
evaluation system (Abdullahi & Onasanya, 2010). It is disheartening that
these examination bodies report mass failure of senior secondary schools
students in English language and Mathematics every year. This makes researchers
in the English language to intensely devote great resources investigating the
causes of mass failures of students in English language examinations.
Abioye (2010)
laments that teachers in Nigeria lack knowledge of new skills in testing and
the general levels of English proficiency are low. Again, Yusuf and Onasanya
(2007) and Durasaro and Onasanya (2008) study the challenges facing the
administration of educational assessment in secondary schools in Nigeria.
Teachers had been encouraged to employ practical demonstration on data
collection and analysis for effective decision making on the assessment
process.
Snow (1994)
advocates that student of any ages and of any culture are different from one
another in various intellectual and psychometric abilities. This cuts across
both general and specified prior knowledge, in interest and motives, and in
personal styles of thought and work during learning. In addition, Hu (2002)
observes that despite the time devoted by students learning English language in
Nigeria, the general proficiency and achievement of secondary schools leavers
is unsatisfactory and disproportionately low. Mass failures in the English
language public national examinations at secondary schools in the country were
reported over the years.
However,
differences between the students’ L1 and L2 or the language of instruction had
been reported to be a contributing factor to the problems. For instance, Abedi
(2016) states that majority of English Language
Learners (ELLs) may have the content knowledge but are not at the same level of
English proficiency to understand teachers’ instruction and test questions with
L1 speakers. Therefore,
these learners need extra support in the English language to demonstrate that
language knowledge and record their performance in the national examinations.
This ensures equality and predictive validity in language testing practice.
Furthermore,
there are inequalities in the educational systems in Nigeria. Some regions are
labelled Educationally Backward States (EBS) or Educationally Disadvantaged
States (EDS). These states have their contending problems that require
meticulous intervention on assessment measures and administration. There are
also wide gaps between the rich and the poor homes, rural and urban schools,
local and modern Turkish, American, or British systems, yet they sit for the
same set of examinations. Abdullahi and Onasanya (2010) enquires “what
justification are there, for instance, to common examination to the finalist in
International School Ibadan, King’s College Lagos, Adesoye College Offa, and
the finalist in Taraba Secondary School, Taraba State, Talata Mafara Secondary
School, Zamfara State, Danbatta Secondary School, Kano State or Otte Secondary
School, Kwara State? These students, therefore, require testing accommodation.
English Language Learners (ELLs)
Educational Testing Service (2009)
conceives English Language Learner (ELL) as a learner who is “still developing
proficiency in the English language” (p. 1). This defines ELL as a student who
is in the process of learning the English language by undertaking a course
within or outside the formal settings to acquire necessary communication skills
in the language. This feature cuts across people that undergo a formal process
of learning the language and some students that conditions force them to learn
the language through contact in businesses, daily interaction, or on the
street.
Li and Suen (2012) see English
language learners (ELLs) as students who are not proficient enough in English
to fully access the academic content in their classes. These students are
either native or non-native speakers of English language that have no adequate
literacy but are in the process of learning the language to initiate them into
the academic activities. This is in consonance with the understanding of Wolf,
Kao, Herman, Bachman, Bailey, Bachman, Farnsworth and Chang (2008) that English
language learner is used to characterize students who have some degree of
difficulty in speaking, reading, writing, and understanding English.
Abedi,
Hofstetter, and Lord (2004) state that the term student with “Limited English
Proficiency (LEP)” is used to indicate English language learners. This paper
concurs with Li and Suen (2012) that ELLs in Nigeria are students who are on
the process of learning the English language for academic instruction in their
respective schools and a master key into any university in Nigeria.
Testing
Accommodation
Accommodation
simply means adaptation. Butler and Stevens (2001) state that the term
“accommodation” is borrowed from the field of Education With Disability (EWD)
used to characterize the extra attention given to making up for their learning
disabilities. Abedi, Hofstetter, and Lord (2004) conceive accommodation as the
inclusion strategies used during assessments to provide equal opportunities for
learners with low proficiency levels. This conception is very important as it
sees accommodation as the inclusion of low proficiency students in the
test-taking process by helping their needs to cope with their counterparts.
Testing Accommodation has been defined by Educational Testing Services (2009)
as the changes in testing procedures, which researchers have traditionally
considered to include the presentation of test materials, students’ responses
to test items, test scheduling, and test sets. Testing Accommodation,
therefore, refers to any adjustment made to ‘students with special needs’ in
the evaluation of their language proficiency and content knowledge.
Koenig and
Bachman (2004) state that “Accommodation is used as a general term to refer to
any action taken in response to a determination that an individual’s disability
or level of English language development requires a departure from established
testing protocol” (p. 1). Testing accommodation is understood as a special
treatment given to the people that have “special needs” in terms of specified
criterion in a formalized English language tests. These special needs may be
proficiency, personality, psychological, or any form of language disorders.
They are changes employed in testing materials or procedures that enable every
student to participate in language assessments to the best of his/her language
abilities.
Testing
accommodation and testing modification are interchangeably used in literature.
The Department’s Office for Diversity and Access (2018) differentiates between
testing accommodation and testing modification. Testing accommodations are a test-taking process that is presented
to the disable without reducing expectations for learning. The categories of
testing accommodations most frequently required by students are flexibility in
scheduling/timing; flexibility in the setting used for the administration of
assessments; changes in the method of presentation; and changes in the method
of response. Testing modifications are
changes made to the testing process or to the content of the assessment itself
that may change, lower, or reduce learning expectations. Testing modifications
may also alter the underlying construct of the assessment. For example,
simplification, clarification, or explanation of test questions/items; use of
spell-checking devices on a test of the student's spelling skills; and use of a
calculator on a test of the student's computational skills.
Educational
Testing Service (2009) contends that testing accommodations for ELLs can be
Direct Linguistic and Indirect Linguistic support accommodations. Direct
Linguistic support accommodation is a type of accommodation which involves
adjustments to the language of the test. Indirect linguistic support
accommodation is a type of accommodation which involves adjustments to the
conditions under which a test is administered. This categorization limits its
focus on only the linguistic factors and conditions of the tests. There are
other features such as test structure, response types, the structure of the
test items and test timing.
Criteria for
Accommodation
Abedi and Ewers (2013) provides five important conditions under
which accommodations can be valid for ELLs and SWDs. These conditions are (1)
Effectiveness, (2) Validity, (3) Differential Impact, (4) Relevance, and (5)
Feasibility.
Effectiveness:This entails making assessment more accessible
to the students. Tests can be more accessible to students when
construct-irrelevant factors are eliminated. Using simple language
vocabularies, adoption of culture relevant terminologies, and avoid the use of
taboos in a language test.
Validity: This involves the maintenance of fair treatment to all the students.
This indicates ensuring the same standard to every test takers. This can be
maintained by non-alteration of the focal
construct or providing an unfair advantage to the recipients so that the
outcomes of accommodated and non-accommodated assessments should be comparable
and combinable.
Differential Impact: This indicates that the test fits with student’s background characteristics and
their academic standing. The students are quite different in terms of their
personality, family, and educational background. For example, they are
different in terms of their proficiency in their native (L1) and English (L2)
languages (Abedi, 2016).
Relevance: This condition states that accommodations should be consistent with their academic
backgrounds and needs. The most relevant accommodations for ELL students are
language-based accommodations because that is what ELL students need. For
example, ELL students have difficulty with the test items that have a complex
linguistic structure; therefore, accommodations such as providing glossaries of
non-content terms and customized dictionaries would be more relevant.
Feasibility: This ensures the possibility to implement. Accommodations that are effective and
provide valid results may be selected because of difficulty in administration,
for example, providing ELLs with commercial dictionaries. There are two ways
this accommodation is implemented, either student brings his own dictionary or
a standard one is provided to them by test administrators.
Testing Accommodation for English Language Learners in Nigeria
This paper
agrees with Butler and Steven’s (1997) categorization of testing accommodation
and discusses how it can contribute to providing equality, dynamic, and
effective English language testing practice in Nigeria. The two major testing
adjustment needs are modification in the test structure and modification in the
test procedure.
Modification in
the Test Structure
Reduction in the test linguistic complexity: This involves an adjustment in the
complex test vocabularies, syntax and semantic values of the language used in
the test. Since the English language is the second language of the students,
culture and the first language variables affect the vocabulary, the syntax and
the semantics of the English language used in the test. Hence, there is a need
for accommodation in English language testing. It is necessary because the use
of less complex language in the test makes the test items more accessible to
every learner. Accessibility of the test items by the majority of the learners
ensures equity and validity of the test. This is so because of Solano-Flores
and Trumbull (2003) state that the existing testing approaches language testing
lack validity and equity because test administrators overlook the complexities
of the language and cultural background of students.
Additional Visual support: There is an issue of providing additional visual
support of print and graphic supports to the testing items. These include
amongst others the use of large print versions of tests, which are appropriate
only for students with a relevant disability such as visual impairment.
Glossaries in the native language or in English: This involves providing glossaries
in the test takers’ native language or in the English language for students to
reference when the need arises. English language learners may use glossaries
when taking English Language Tests. This glossary may provide only direct
translations, definitions, or explanation of words. It can be provided by the
school teachers, test translators, test items developers. These translated
glossaries serve as a supplement to the students’ text or reference list.
Additional example items/tasks:
This involves
the use of additional items to serve as examples on the test items for students
to study before they embark on attempting rigorous questions.
Modification of the English Test
Procedure
Giving extra English language test time/Time Extension: Test administrators can extend the
test time for English language learners. Examination bodies may use any
reasonable extensions, such as time-and-a-half (the required testing time plus
one-half of that amount of time), in accordance with their best judgment about
the needs of the English language learners. Principals should consult with each
student’s classroom teacher when making these determinations (Abedi, 2016).
Administration of the test individually or in small groups: This involves the grouping of
test-takers in taking English language tests. The idea here is providing a
large or small group for oral, communication or discourse activities for the
students to be accommodated. The use of fishbowl methods, the dramatization are
a good example of these methods.
Administration over several days: This
accommodation strategy involves the administration of the test for several days
to avoid fatigue, tiredness or boredom on the part of the test takers and the
test administrators. Just like practical in the science subjects,
administration over several dates can be jolly funny to the test administration.
Breaks during testing: This
involves giving a short break in the test-taking process. As the English
language is divided into three papers, the papers can be given in separate time
for administration for the students to do their best in making amends on the
errors or mistakes made in the first, second or third.
Giving oral direction in the native language: Test administrators may provide
English language learners with oral translations of the Tests. Tests items must
be read out to students hearing, and students should be given direct
translations of the English editions of the test items. No clarifications or
explanations can be provided. Translators should receive copies of the English
edition of the tests prior to the administration of the test.
Reading aloud the questions in English: This is convenient to the listening
skills. Test administrators can order the examiner to read out the passage or
questions to the students’ hearing about two or three times. He/she can also
use audiotape to play the audio two to three times while students listen.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that testing
accommodation is beneficial to English language learners in Nigeria. This is so
because it promotes equality in English language testing by testing every
student according to his/her language learning ability. It, however, promotes
the validity of the English language test and reduces variation in content area
assessment thereby compensating learners with access to make up with language
learning disability.
Suggestions
i.
Empirical researches should
be conducted on the effects of test accommodation on English language learning
in Nigeria.
ii.
States and Local Government
inspectors of education in the country should plan and carry out English
language content assessment to identify areas of improvement and determine
students that need accommodation.
iii.
Students’ characteristics
should be considered in English language assessment measures and
administration.
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