ESOL Initial Assessment Pack

How to use the ESOL initial assessment material

This guide has been produced by the Scottish Government’s Lifelong Learning Directorate to support practitioners to undertake initial assessment with their learners. Its aim is to help standardise initial assessment approaches, so that the learner can be placed in the appropriate provision.

It is recommended that providers adopt the principles, approaches and ESOL levels within the guide, and adopt or adapt the assessment materials to suit initial assessment procedures within their organisation.

These materials are designed to be used in a wide variety of contexts and settings to assess learners from ESOL literacies beginners to entry to vocational and academic programmes of learning/courses. They can be used by providers across all sectors including colleges, community, voluntary organisations and schools. If you are carrying out initial assessment in a workplace, we would recommend that you use the material from the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) Workplace ESOL Guide document in this section of the ESOL Scotland website. For an overview of this assessment, please refer to step 4 in the Needs Assessment section of the Guide, and for full detail refer to Appendix D Workplace ESOL Learner Assessment Tool in the Appendices to the Guide.

The guidance and materials in this pack are based on the principle that the main purpose of initial assessment is to ensure that all ESOL learners are placed in the most appropriate learning opportunity in order to make progress towards their specific language learning objectives and to achieve their personal, educational or employment goals. Initial assessment is the first stage in a process of diagnostic assessment and the development of an Individual Learning Plan (ILP).

This guide contains materials to assess all four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Speaking and listening are assessed through a learner interview, which also plays a vital role in gathering information about the learner’s past experience and in establishing their aims and aspirations for the future.

The Adult ESOL Strategy for Scotland (March 2007) recommends that the development of an ESOL curriculum be fully linked to the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) and to SQA qualifications; therefore, this guide uses the table (Appendix 1) to relate the outcome of the initial assessment process to SCQF levels.

The levels for each skill are matched against the SCQF and SQA NQ ESOL levels, both of which are derived from the Common European Framework (CEF). There are exemplars of the interview, the assessment of speaking and listening, and of learners’ writing to support standardisation. Detailed commentaries accompany the exemplars and are matched to the assessment criteria used. Grammar is assessed through the tasks completed by the learner in the productive skills of speaking and writing and reference is made to the range of structures used and accuracy of production in the accompanying exemplars (Appendix 2 and 3).

The assessment can be used with individual learners or with groups, and detailed information on how to conduct the assessment in different scenarios is given to support the process.

ESOL learners with dyslexia (see this Scottish Government page)

It is also worth considering the possibility that some ESOL learners may have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. Assessors should be aware of the common characteristics of adult dyslexia and discuss learning preferences with the learner at the outcome stage of their assessment. This should be recorded on the Learner Information Form.

What is effective practice in initial assessment?

The following examples of effective practice have been incorporated into this guide:

Responsibilities of the organisation and the ESOL tutor/teacher:

Learners should always be assessed by a qualified and experienced ESOL tutor/teacher.
ESOL staff must be familiar with the materials, criteria and levels used and should use the exemplars to standardise.
Staff new to the organisation should always have the opportunity to observe an experienced ESOL tutor carrying out initial assessment.
Staff carrying out initial assessment should match the learner to the appropriate learning opportunity and consider future progression routes.
As well as gathering information on the level of the learners' skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, the tutor/teacher should be taking account of levels of confidence, attitudes to learning and preferred learning styles. These factors will inform decisions about the most appropriate learning opportunity.
Staff should also be sensitive to any key cultural, social or religious concerns that learners may have about particular learning programmes/courses.

Conducting the initial assessment:

Staff need to be aware that learners may be very nervous and that this may be their first contact with the Scottish education system or, indeed any form of organised learning.
In all organisations, a key part of the process is an interview and this must be set up to put learners at ease and to build confidence in their abilities.
It is essential that the tutor/teacher gives a clear explanation of the purpose and process so the learner understands why questions are being asked.
The tutor/teacher should create an environment which puts the learners at ease. Translators and interpreters should be used as necessary.
Listening, speaking, reading and writing should be assessed to establish a level in each skill.
Learners should be given feedback on the initial assessment in a way that builds their confidence and they should be clear about what the next steps will be.
There should always be an opportunity for the learner to ask questions about the learning opportunities available and the tutor/teacher should provide clear information about any alternatives.
Learners should leave the initial assessment with a document that clearly indicates when and where they were assessed, their level and recommended learning opportunities.

Initial Assessment Guide After the initial assessment:

Further diagnostic assessment should take place when the learner joins a learning programme to ensure that they are on the right course. If the learner is not on the most suitable course, arrangements should be made to transfer him/her, ensuring that any ILP goes with the learner.
The information gathered during the initial assessment process should always be given to the tutor/teacher who will be tutoring/teaching the learner to begin the process of building an ILP.

In this initial assessment, all four skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing - are assessed. Speaking and listening are assessed through a short interview with the learner and a judgement is made about level using criteria provided. This part of the assessment has two aims:

to assess the level of the learner's speaking and listening skills
to begin to build up a profile of the learner’s needs and goals.

This is just the start of the process of building a profile which will continue when the learner has been placed in a suitable learning programme/course.

Reading is assessed through a series of texts that gradually increase in difficulty. There is an easy to use guide on how to mark these and match to level.

Writing is assessed though a short written task and a judgement is made about level, again using criteria provided. The assessor may wish to talk about the subject of the written task with the learner beforehand, which in turn could help generate ideas for the learner to use in his/her writing. This will eliminate the worry of "what can I write?" and allow the learner to focus on "how can I write about this topic?".

Return to Contents