Unit 3: Assessment of Language- Questions

Fill in the blanks:

1. In the Auditory-Verbal Approach (AVT), the ________ is considered the primary therapist rather than the clinician.
2. Cummins defined ________ as the conversational, playground language that takes 1 to 3 years to develop.
3. On a standard Bell Curve, a Standard Score anywhere between 85 and ________ is considered perfectly normal or average.
4. The “Test-Teach-Retest” model, used to measure a child’s learning potential, is a key characteristic of ________ assessment.
5. In the development of Teacher-Made Tests (TMTs), a 2D grid that maps content against Bloom’s Taxonomy objectives is called a Table of ________.
6. Under the “Content” category of language, ________ is the rule system governing the meaning of words and word combinations.
7. In the ABC data collection model used for informal assessment documentation, the “A” stands for ________.
8. Before a standardized test is published, it must be given to a massive ________ sample to establish what is considered typical for each age group.
9. The AVT strategy where a parent says “Listen,” points to the object, and then removes the visual cue to say “Listen” again is called the Auditory ________.
10. Calculating the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) by counting units of meaning is a common way to assess the ________ of a child.

Answers:

1. Parent
2. BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills)
3. 115
4. Dynamic
5. Specifications (or Blueprint)
6. Semantics
7. Antecedent
8. Normative
9. Sandwich
10. Morphology

Tick the correct option:

1. Which standardized test score is despised by psychometricians because it is highly misleading and incorrectly implies a child has stopped growing?

A) Percentile Rank

B) Standard Score

C) Raw Score

D) Age Equivalent

2. A 5-year-old saying “tat” instead of “cat” demonstrates a breakdown in which aspect of language?

A) Phonology

B) Pragmatics

C) Semantics

D) Morphology

3. Which of the following is NOT a core principle of Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT)?

A) Parent as the Primary Therapist

B) Encouraging the use of speechreading (lip-reading)

C) Early Diagnosis & Immediate Amplification

D) Using a natural speaking voice

4. Which type of informal assessment involves gathering subjective, qualitative data from the people who know the child best?

A) Portfolio Assessment

B) Naturalistic Observation

C) Questionnaires and Interviews

D) Criterion-Referenced Checklists

5. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy in test planning, a question asking a student to “Define a noun” primarily measures:

A) Application

B) Knowledge

C) Understanding

D) Synthesis

6. Form, Content, and Use refer to the three broad categories of language. Pragmatics falls under:

A) Form

B) Content

C) Use

D) Syntax

7. A standardized test’s ability to produce consistent, stable results over multiple administrations (e.g., testing on Tuesday and again on Thursday) is called:

A) Validity

B) Reliability

C) Norming

D) Standard Administration

8. Stage 4 of AVT (Advanced Comprehension) utilizes which strategy to force a child to use expressive language to make a request?

A) Auditory Sandwich

B) Learning to Listen (LTL) Sounds

C) Sabotage and Wait Time

D) Acoustic Highlighting

9. Why do informal assessments possess high “Ecological Validity”?

A) They are normed against thousands of other students.

B) They occur in the natural, chaotic reality of the real world.

C) They calculate the standard deviation of a behavior.

D) They evaluate the child in a quiet, sterile room.

10. One of the main limitations of Teacher-Made Tests (TMTs) is:

A) They perfectly align with what was taught in class.

B) They provide immediate feedback to the teacher.

C) They are highly prone to teacher bias and subjectivity during grading.

D) They can be easily customized for different reading levels.

Answers:

1. D (Age Equivalent)
2. A (Phonology)
3. B (Encouraging the use of speechreading)
4. C (Questionnaires and Interviews)
5. B (Knowledge)
6. C (Use)
7. B (Reliability)
8. C (Sabotage and Wait Time)
9. B (They occur in the natural, chaotic reality of the real world)
10. C (They are highly prone to teacher bias and subjectivity during grading)

True or False

1. Traditional Oralism and Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) both encourage the use of speechreading alongside listening.
2. If an examiner breaks the specific reading script or gives a hint during a standardized test, the score becomes technically invalid.
3. Teacher-Made Tests (TMTs) are typically norm-referenced.
4. A child with Autism may have a highly advanced vocabulary (semantics) but still possess very low pragmatics.
5. Writing “The student was lazy today and refused to do his math” is an example of objective, professional ABC data documentation.
6. Morphology is the rule system governing the internal structure of words and how to alter their meaning using prefixes and suffixes.
7. A Standard Score in the 25th percentile means the student answered exactly 25% of the questions on the test correctly.
8. In AVT, therapists actively teach parents to sit beside or behind the child to prevent lip-reading and force reliance on sound.
9. Criterion-referenced checklists compare a child’s performance against thousands of other children of the exact same age.
10. When drafting a TMT, grouping similar item types together (e.g., all True/False together) helps reduce cognitive switching fatigue for students.

Answers:

1. False (Traditional Oralism encouraged lip-reading; AVT strictly removes visual cues to force the brain to rely on sound).
2. True
3. False (TMTs are criterion-referenced; they measure if students learned what was taught, rather than comparing them to a national norm).
4. True
5. False (This is highly subjective. Objective ABC data records exactly what physically occurred without assuming laziness).
6. False (Phonology governs speech sounds; Morphology governs internal word structures like prefixes/suffixes).
7. False (It means they scored as well as or better than 25% of children their exact age; it is a ranking, not a percentage correct).
8. True
9. False (Norm-referenced tests compare children to thousands of peers. Criterion-referenced tests compare a child to a specific skill checklist).
10. True

Very Short Answer Type Questions:

1. What is the fundamental difference between BICS and CALP?
2. Define “Reliability” in the context of standardized testing.
3. In the ABC data collection model, what does the “C” represent?
4. What is the primary purpose of a Table of Specifications (Blueprint) in TMTs?
5. What specific language domain is being assessed when calculating a child’s Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)?
6. Name the AVT strategy where a parent says a word, points to the object visually, and then says the word again without the visual cue.
7. Give one example of a language domain that falls under “Form.”
8. Why is an Age Equivalent score considered dangerous or highly misleading by psychometricians?
9. What is a “Raw Score”?
10. Define “Ecological Validity” as it pertains to informal assessment.

Answers:

1. BICS is conversational, everyday playground language taking 1-3 years to develop. CALP is formal, textbook academic language taking 5-7 years to master.
2. Reliability is whether a test produces consistent, stable results if given to the same child multiple times.
3. Consequence (What happened exactly after the behavior).
4. To map content against objectives (Bloom’s Taxonomy) to ensure the test is balanced and doesn’t just measure rote memorization.
5. Morphology (It counts units of meaning like prefixes and suffixes).
6. The Auditory Sandwich (Listen-Look-Listen).
7. Phonology, Morphology, or Syntax.
8. It implies that a child has stopped growing rather than showing they are just growing on a lower developmental curve.
9. The total number of items the child answered correctly before any statistical conversion is applied.
10. It means the assessment measures how the child actually functions in the real, noisy, and chaotic world, rather than in a sterile testing room.

Short Answer Type Questions:

1. Explain the “Test-Teach-Retest” model used in Dynamic Assessment.
2. What is the core difference in what Formal Assessment and Informal Assessment are trying to measure?
3. Describe the “Auditory-First” principle in Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT).
4. List the four stages of developing a Teacher-Made Test (TMT).
5. How does a child speaking in telegraphic fragments (“Me go store”) beyond age 3 indicate a breakdown in Syntax?
6. What is the “Floor Effect” in standardized testing, and why is it problematic for children with profound intellectual disabilities?
7. Explain how the ABC Data Collection Model helps an educator identify the function of a behavior. Provide a brief example.
8. What are the specific Audiological Pre-requisites required for AVT to be successful?
9. Differentiate between Semantics and Pragmatics, providing a brief example of each.
10. Why is writing an IEP goal like “The student will improve their basic language competence” considered clinically and legally useless?

Answers:

1. In Dynamic Assessment, the educator Tests a child on a novel task, Teaches them how to solve it using mediated assistance/scaffolding, and then Retests them to measure their learning potential and how well they applied the strategy.
2. Formal assessment is norm-referenced, answering “Is this child’s development typical compared to thousands of peers?” Informal assessment is criterion-referenced or ipsative, answering “How does this child function daily, and what specific skill do I need to teach them next?”
3. The Auditory-First principle in AVT requires guiding the child to use hearing as their primary sensory modality. Therapists teach parents to sit beside or behind the child to block visual cues (lip-reading), forcing the auditory cortex to wire itself for sound.
4. Stage 1: Planning and Weightage; Stage 2: Preparing the Blueprint (Table of Specifications); Stage 3: Drafting the Items; Stage 4: Assembling, Formatting, and Instructions.
5. Syntax is the rule system for combining words into grammatical sentences. Speaking in fragments like “Me go store” at an older age shows the child cannot organize words into a logical, rule-based sequence (like Subject-Verb-Object).
6. The “Floor Effect” occurs when a standardized test is too difficult from question one for a child with profound disabilities. The child scores a “0,” which provides the educator with absolutely no data on what the child can do, rendering the test useless.
7. By recording the Antecedent (what happened before), Behavior (the action), and Consequence (what happened after), the educator can see patterns. For example, if a child screams (Behavior) every time reading starts (Antecedent), and is sent to the corner (Consequence), the function of the behavior is “escape from reading.”
8. Maximum Acoustic Access (hearing aids/implants must be optimal enough to provide access to all high-frequency conversational sounds) and Consistent Device Wear (devices must be worn all waking hours).
9. Semantics is the meaning of words (e.g., knowing the definitions of “hot” and “cold” or that an apple is a fruit). Pragmatics is the social use of language (e.g., making eye contact, understanding sarcasm, or knowing not to interrupt a speaker).
10. It is useless because it is not observable or measurable. An IEP goal must target a specific aspect of language (e.g., “The student will initiate a peer interaction using a greeting 3 times per recess”) so data can be reliably tracked.

Long Answer Type Questions:

1. Discuss the core principles of the Auditory-Verbal Approach (AVT) as outlined by the Alexander Graham Bell Academy. How does this model shift the traditional power dynamic from the therapist to the parent?
2. Analyze the key characteristics required for a test to be considered “formal and standardized” (Standard Administration, Norming, Validity, Reliability). Explain the anatomy of standardized scores (Raw, Standard, Percentile, Age Equivalent) and their implications for educators.
3. Evaluate the limitations and cultural biases associated with standardized language tests, particularly when assessing Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students or students from marginalized cultural backgrounds.
4. Compare and contrast the five types of informal assessment detailed in the text (Naturalistic Observation, Checklists, Portfolios, Questionnaires, Dynamic Assessment). Why is triangulating these methods critical for special educators?
5. Describe the “Golden Rule of Objectivity” in documenting informal assessments. How does the ABC Data Collection Model prevent the “Flaw of Subjectivity”? Provide a specific scenario comparing a subjective note to an objective ABC note.
6. Outline the four stages of developing a Teacher-Made Test (TMT). Delve deeply into Stage 2; why is preparing a Blueprint (Table of Specifications) across Bloom’s Taxonomy vital for creating a fair assessment?
7. Detail the limitations of Teacher-Made Tests compared to standardized tests. Given these limitations, justify why TMTs remain an essential, irreplaceable tool for measuring daily progress and Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals.
8. Define Basic Language Competence and differentiate between Form, Content, and Use. Provide a detailed breakdown of the five specific language domains (Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics).
9. Explain how an educator or speech-language pathologist would specifically assess a student’s incompetence in Morphology, Syntax, and Pragmatics. Outline the specific markers of incompetence an educator would look for in each domain.
10. Synthesize the roles of Formal Assessment, Informal Assessment, and Teacher-Made Tests in special education. How does an educator use these three distinct tools collectively to diagnose a disability, track daily functional behavior, and measure academic curriculum progress?

Answers:

1. AVT Principles: The core principles include Early Diagnosis & Immediate Amplification, the Parent as the Primary Therapist, Auditory-First strategies (blocking lip-reading), using a Natural Voice, and aiming for Mainstreaming. This model radically shifts the power dynamic; the therapist does not “fix” the child. Instead, the therapist acts as a coach to the parents, teaching them how to turn everyday routines (bathing, eating) into continuous listening environments, empowering the family to facilitate language 24/7.
2. Formal Test Characteristics & Scores: A test must have Standard Administration (strict scripts/no hints), Norming (tested on thousands of children to find averages), Validity (measuring what it claims to), and Reliability (consistent results). Scores include the Raw Score (meaningless correct answers), Standard Score (placed on a bell curve where 85-115 is average), Percentile Rank (ranking out of 100 peers), and Age Equivalent (a misleading metric comparing raw scores to younger ages). Educators must use Standard Scores and Percentiles to accurately explain clinical severity to parents.
3. Limitations & Bias in Standardized Tests: Standardized tests are usually normed on typical, hearing, monolingual children. Comparing a DHH child with a cochlear implant to this sample is fundamentally flawed. Tests also suffer from linguistic and cultural bias; a child from a rural area might fail a vocabulary question about a “subway” due to lack of cultural exposure, not a language deficit. Finally, the “Floor Effect” provides no useful data for children with profound intellectual disabilities who cannot access the baseline questions.
4. Types of Informal Assessment: Naturalistic Observation watches the child without interference (good for pragmatics). Checklists measure against developmental scales. Portfolios collect physical work samples over time (excellent for showing parents tangible growth). Questionnaires gather subjective data from parents/teachers. Dynamic Assessment (Test-Teach-Retest) measures learning potential. Triangulating these methods is critical because it removes the sterile artificiality of a testing room, providing a holistic, ecologically valid picture of how the child functions across different real-world contexts.
5. Golden Rule of Objectivity & ABC Data: Informal assessment lacks statistical validity, so it relies entirely on the educator’s objectivity. The “Flaw of Subjectivity” occurs when educators record inferences. Subjective Note: “Tommy was being lazy and refused to do his math.” (Cannot be measured). The ABC model (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence) forces objectivity by recording only what a camera could see. Objective ABC Note: “Antecedent: Teacher handed out math. Behavior: Tommy put his head on the desk and closed his eyes. Consequence: Teacher prompted him after 10 minutes.”
6. TMT Stages & Stage 2 Blueprinting: The stages are Planning (weighting topics), Preparing the Blueprint, Drafting Items, and Assembling/Formatting. Stage 2 (The Blueprint/Table of Specifications) is a 2D grid mapping topics against Bloom’s Taxonomy (Knowledge, Understanding, Application). It is vital because it prevents the teacher from creating an unbalanced test that only measures rote memorization. It forces the educator to design a test that assesses higher-order thinking and accurately reflects the time spent teaching each topic.
7. TMT Limitations vs. IEP Justification: TMTs have questionable reliability (they aren’t statistically tested), high subjectivity in grading essays, a limited scope (cannot compare to national averages), and are time-consuming to create. However, they are irreplaceable because standardized tests only happen yearly and do not align perfectly with daily instruction. TMTs provide immediate feedback, allow for vital special education accommodations (differentiating for reading levels), and are the only way to track highly specific, customized IEP goals on a weekly or daily basis.
8. Basic Language Competence Framework: Basic Language Competence is the foundational ability to communicate daily needs without adult translation. It is divided into three categories: Form (the structure), Content (the meaning), and Use (the social context). These contain five domains: Phonology (rules of speech sounds), Morphology (internal structure of words, like prefixes/suffixes), Syntax (rules for combining words into sentences), Semantics (vocabulary and meaning), and Pragmatics (social rules like turn-taking and eye contact).
9. Assessing Form and Use (Morphology, Syntax, Pragmatics):
   • Morphology is assessed by calculating MLU (Mean Length of Utterance). Marker of incompetence: missing grammatical markers (saying “Two shoe” instead of “shoes”).
   • Syntax is assessed by having the child describe action pictures or follow directions. Marker of incompetence: using telegraphic fragments (“Me go store”) or failing to understand passive sentences.
   • Pragmatics is assessed via naturalistic observation on the playground. Marker of incompetence: interrupting, poor eye contact, standing too close, or dominating a conversation without reading the listener’s cues.
10. Synthesizing Assessment Roles: Formal Assessments (standardized tests) are the diagnostic gatekeepers; they provide the legally required standard scores to prove a disability exists and secure funding. Informal Assessments (ABC data, observations) operate daily to find the functional impact of that disability in the real world, telling the educator exactly what behavioral or social skills to put on the IEP. Finally, Teacher-Made Tests (TMTs) are the agile classroom tools used weekly to assess whether the student is actually mastering the academic curriculum and making measurable progress toward those established IEP goals.