[Bestplus] Scoring question

[Dori McCormack]

This is an interesting question BECAUSE there really are two different ways
of looking at it.

On the one hand, as Betty says and Teresa suggests, a lot of filling in is
required to "get" what the learner is communicating - which would give it a
1 in communication.  On the other hand, CAL's Trainer's Manual states that
the "expected response" from a photo question is "words, phrase(s),
sentence(s), strings of sentences. SO..... if words are what is expected,
and words are what you get, then wouldn't that warrant a 3?

Good question, Teresa!

Dori McCormack
SABES Associate Coordinator
Holyoke Community College
303 Homestead Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040

Phone: (413) 552-2393
Fax: (413) 552-2067
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Betty Stone" <bjstone13 at yahoo.com>
To: "Brown, Teresa" <teresa at CambridgeMA.GOV>;
<Bestplus at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: [Bestplus] Scoring question


> Hi Teresa,
>
> Great question, and even greater to have a chance to chat about it BEFORE
the big September push.
> My gut inclination is to score a 1 for Communication based on the need to
"fill in" the entire thought the student might be trying to express. Without
a little more meat (I know we score the main course in this area in
Complexity) the communication is quite ambiguous: Does the woman want to buy
eggs, is she holding eggs, and so on. On the other hand, a rudimentary
phrase "buying eggs" or even "buy eggs" intoned as a phrase vs. a list of
words: "woman, eggs, buy," would push me to a 2 in Communication.
>
> Can't wait to hear what the rest of you think!  We are sooooo lucky to
have a sharing group to process these questions. In my trainings I tried to
encourage people to create chat groups at their agencies so they could
brainstorm scoring issues.
>
> Betty
>
> "Brown, Teresa" <teresa at CambridgeMA.GOV> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I have a question about Communication scores for the very low level ESOL
students. When we say "Tell me about this picture," some students look at it
and just give some nouns, or maybe a verb, for example, "eggs, woman,
store", or "car, truck, drive". The words are perfectly comprehensible and
accurate, but there's nothing in our training that explains how to score it.
There aren't any hesitations, but the answers aren't enough of a phrase to
be 'everyday' English (i.e. In response to a question, "with my friends" got
a 3 for Communication).
>
> Are you all scoring these kinds of replies a 2? or a 1? I think this
question will come up more in September than June, so I'd like for all our
teachers to be consistent from the start.
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Teresa Brown
> ESOL Coordinator
> Community Learning Center
> 19 Brookline Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
>
>
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>
>
> Betty J. Stone
> ESOL Program Administrator
> SCALE - Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences
> 167 Holland Street, Somerville, MA 02144
> Phone: 617-625-6600, Ext. 6933
> FAX: 617-623-8528
> bjstone13 at yahoo.com
>
>
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