Individual Language Assessment

Individual Language Assessment

Content Area Language/Literacy

Step 1: Prepare 2 copies of a 100- to 300- word typed, double-spaced passage from our textbook or typical reading material containing a main concept or idea from our studies.

Context and Justification: My seventh grade English students (including my focus student, K.C.) are reading the nonfiction book Ice Story with my student teacher. I decided to use excerpts from this book for the Individual Language Assessment and for the Instructional Conversation because it is fresh in the student’s mind, assessing the student with this book can support his success in learning as well as check it, and these exercises can lead to a product usable for him and for his classmates (authentic tasks).

Step 2: Determine reading level of materials.
The lexile level for this book is 1130. (See below for readability level according to Microsoft Word.) Though the readability level of the text is high, the text is supported with pictures and maps, and the reading is supported with various activities, explanations, reading aloud by the teacher, and group work (including reading together as a class and in small mixed-ability groups).

Readability Statistics from Microsoft Word:
Words: 248
Sentences per paragraph 4.7
Words per sentence 17.1
Characters per word 4.7
Passive sentences 7%
Flesch Reading Ease 60.7
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 9.0


Excerpt from
Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. Ice Story Shackleton's Lost Expedition. New York: Clarion Books, 1999.

From Chapter Fifteen: Across Uncharted Mountains

Shackleton and his small crew rested on the shore of King Haakon Bay for several days. If he could have immediately gone on, Shackleton undoubtedly would have done so. He knew, however, that even he needed to rest and recover for several days before he would be strong enough to begin the trek over the mountains to the Stromness whaling station. Sometime later, Shackleton confided to Worsley that he had felt one more day in the boat would have killed them, so weak was their condition.
Their cave was small but well suited to their needs. They arranged their sleeping bags in a tight circle around the fire and spent the next few days leisurely, leaving the cave only to hunt for food or to investigate their surroundings. A stream provided fresh drinking water, and a local colony of albatross, a large seafaring bird, provided a supply of food. All they lacked was blubber to fuel their fire and stove. After three months on the ice, camping on the harsh beach on Elephant Island, and two weeks of wet and frozen conditions on the Caird, the cave was like a palace. The Caird’s sails were draped over the entrance like curtains, keeping everything inside warm and dry. It was impossible to relax completely, however, knowing their companions back on Elephant Island were enjoying no such luxurious conditions. [end of excerpt]

Other books read as a class in seventh grade:
The Outsiders 750L
The Giver 760L
Words By Heart 750L
Stand Tall 620L
The Book of Three 720L
The Call of the Wild 780 – 1120L

Step 3: Conduct the
Individual Language Assessment -- Content Area Language/Literacy
Student: K.C. Date: 3-12-09
(The passage we used included the excerpt above, but was longer. The students had already read several chapters from the book.)
Background knowledge:
Question 1: What can you tell me about the story we are reading about Shackleton?
K.C.: It is an adventure book. A movie would be a documentary about real people.

Question 2: Can you give me some examples of problems this group had already had?
K.C.: Their ship was frozen in the ice -- a shortage of food -- the cold

Question 4: How do you know about this topic?
K.C.: I'd heard a little before we read the book.

Question 5: Why is this topic important?
K.C.: It could be to teach about survival skills, but it doesn't pinpoint those things.
[Teacher note: As well as practicing reading skills -- especially skills for reading nonfiction (including using external text features and internal text structures), we were learning about leadership and about exploration.]

Pre-Reading Strategies: I had him look quickly through the passage. He skimmed the text and looked at an illustration/photo.
Question 6: What is this text going to be about?
K.C.: Elephant Island. They need to get food -- elephant seals -- getting off the island.

Question 7: How can you tell?
K.C.: I'd read part of the book already. I looked at the picture.

Question 8: What do the headings or chapter title tell you about the topic?
K.C.: They're on a remote island. Mountains are a problem.

Question 9: What do subheadings tell you?
This question was skipped since there are none.

Questions 10: What do the graphics/pictures tell you?
K.C.: They need to get food. [Teacher prompts: How did that island get its name?}
K.C.: It's named after elephant seals.

Step 4: Text Retelling
The student read silently.

Step 5: Oral Retelling
Subject Matter: Unaided: They were in the cave, short of food. I can't remember the name -- ______ and the captain went to explore and hunt -- They needed to hunt.
Prompted: The crew was hungry, but to get food they had to walk to the other side of the bay. [Teacher comment: Actually they needed to get to the other side of the bay in their boat.]
Unaided: They killed an elephant seal and played a trick. They were happy for the meat and blubber. They were walking to the other side of the bay.
Prompted: [What was washed up on the beach? ] Part of boats that had sunk. [Actually, they had lost their rudder, and fortunately, it washed up right where they were.]
Unaided: They felt better and stronger, but weak, so they went to hunt.

Step 6: Writing Sample
I asked K.C. to write about what he learned or remembers from reading and retelling the text passage.