English as a Second Language

ESL Policy Guidelines 1999 - Reporting the Learner's Progress

Schools are required to ensure that five reports to parents on the progress of all ESL students are provided each year (three formal reports and two informal reports, as per Policy circular 96-08 - Student Reporting).

Letter grades are not appropriate for ESL students, except in the following circumstances:

  • where ESL students are judged to be capable of meeting the provincially prescribed learning outcomes for a particular subject
  • where ESL students are judged to be capable of meeting the learning outcomes for courses in a locally developed program (including ESL courses in a locally developed program)

Districts may approve ESL courses in a locally developed program (Note: at the grade 11/12 level, these courses may provide students with up to eight credits of Selected Studies, as per provincial policy).

In these circumstances letter grades must be used.

Where letter grades are not used, formal reports should include a checklist of language acquisition descriptors and/or structured written comments.

Currently, districts use a variety of descriptors to describe the student's level of English language competency. One familiar scheme that would facilitate communication at this time is the set of descriptors developed by the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Inc. A common set of descriptors is intended to facilitate consistency in the delivery of ESL services. The following is a summary of the TESOL descriptors.

Beginning

At this level, students initially have limited or no understanding of English. They rarely use English for communication. They respond nonverbally to simple commands, statements, and questions. As their oral comprehension increases, they begin to imitate the verbalizations of others by using single words or simple phrases, and begin to use English spontaneously. At the earliest stage, these learners construct meaning from text primarily through nonprint features (e.g., illustrations, graphs, maps, tables). They gradually construct more meaning from the words themselves, but the construction is often incomplete. They are able to generate simple texts that reflect their knowledge level of syntax. These texts may include a significant amount of nonconventional features, such as invented spelling, some grammatical inaccuracies, pictorial representations, surface features and rhetorical patterns of the native language (i.e., ways of structuring text from native culture and language).

Intermediate

At this level, students understand more complex speech, but still may require some repetition. They acquire a vocabulary of stock words and phrases covering many daily situations. They use English spontaneously, but may have difficulty expressing all their thoughts due to a restricted vocabulary and a limited command of language structure. Students at this level speak in simple sentences, which are comprehensible and appropriate, but which are frequently marked by grammatical errors. They may have some trouble comprehending and producing complex structures and academic language. Proficiency in reading may vary considerably depending upon the learner's familiarity and prior experience with themes, concepts, genre, characters, and so on. They are most successful constructing meaning from texts for which they have background knowledge upon which to build. They are able to generate more complex texts, a wider variety of texts, and more coherent texts than beginners. Texts still have considerable numbers of nonconventional features.

Advanced

At this level, students' language skills are adequate for most day-to-day communication needs. Occasional structural and lexical errors occur. Students may have difficulty understanding and using some idioms, figures of speech, and words with multiple meanings. They communicate in English in new or unfamiliar settings, but have occasional difficulty with complex structures and abstract academic concepts. Students at this level may read with considerable fluency and are able to locate and identify the specific facts within the text. However, they may not understand texts in which the concepts are presented in a decontextualized manner, the sentence structure is complex, or the vocabulary is abstract. They can read independently, but may have occasional comprehension problems. They produce texts independently for personal and academic purposes. Structures, vocabulary, and overall organization approximate the writing of native speakers of English. However, errors may persist in one or more of these domains.

Students with Limited Formal Schooling

Students with limited formal schooling (LFS) are generally recent arrivals...whose backgrounds differ significantly from the school environment they are entering. This category includes students whose schooling has been interrupted for a variety of reasons, including war, poverty, or patterns of migration, as well as students coming from remote rural settings with little prior opportunity for sequential schooling. These students may exhibit some of the following characteristics:

  • pre- or semiliteracy in their native language
  • minimal understanding of the function of literacy
  • performance significantly below grade level
  • a lack of awareness of organization and culture of school
Although many LFS students are at the beginning level of oral proficiency, some may have reached the intermediate level. Although not fully skilled in the academic domain, these students possess valuable life skills that can serve as a basis for academic learning.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 Students, (Alexandria, VA: TESOL, 1997, pp 20-21)

Previous | Contents | Next