in the additional materials

Should ESL Students be Subjected to Standardized Test
IntroductionToday, the process of learning has been made easier by technology. In class today, it is possible to study almost everything, regardless of your background or any other aspect. In learning languages, there are a few groups of students. One very prevalent group of students is the English Second Language (ESL) students. These are students whose primary language is any other than English, and they would require some additional help to develop their skills in reading and writing English. More often than not, ESL students find themselves in tricky situations as they have to take standardized tests, regardless of their in-capabilities. This essay attempts to answer the question if ESL students should also take standardized tests or not. ESL students should not be subjected to standardized tests since it undermines their performance (Kim et al. 2015).
Synthesize Assessments
Assessment is the process by which a student’s progress and performance are monitored to help the teachers, parents, and caregivers know about a student’s strength. Assessment test used should match the reason for the assessment. Formal assessment measures the general achievement of a student compared to other students in there level or grade. Therefore, the standardized tests aim at comparing the ESL students to others. ESL students are often treated unjustly when they are subjected to standardized tests. As a tutor one can decide to use the non-integrative testing approach whereby the test focuses on one unit in a language, this ensures that by the end of the class the student has the basics of that particular unit.

This kind of tests can be recognized by directions. Unlike the standardized test where the students fail to understand the requirements of these tests, due to their poor command of the English language. Naturally, students like to compete against each other, and when they are defeated, they either get discouraged or struggle to work harder. In the case of ESL students, the probability is that they give up, for the reason that sometimes, they may not even understand why they could not perform (Northwest Educational Regional Laboratory 2006).
Teachers combine the formal and informal tools to be able to assess a student’s language and curriculum knowledge. These tools include observations, day to day assessments, and formal assessments that might have been analyzed already. Assessments over a period of time are always necessary to comprehend a student’s strength and weakness. There are times when a formal assessment is the most appropriate. For an ESL student, the most appropriate tool is the observation and the day to day assessment. Therefore, it would be undoubtedly unfair to subject these two different types of students to a standardized test. It is better if an individual student is subjected to their tests depending on the factors surrounding their learning of the language (Horwitz 2013).
Statement on Assessments
In my opinion, teachers should not use standardized test on the ESL students because of students test anxiety. What happens is that students get nervous and forget what they have learned, for ESL students they become extra nervous because they may have to decipher on what the question is asking in the first place. Also, a test doesn’t give a student enough time to complete the test. And this does not imply that by not finishing the test they don’t understand the material. Some people think that one’s mastery of English can be used as a measure of intelligence. This is, however, false and misguided. Mastery of a language does not have anything to do with the intelligence of a person. Since people have subscribed to this belief for a long time, it looks as if it is true. ESL students who subscribe to this belief often find themselves failing in almost every test. Failure is often followed by a feeling of helplessness and self-pity, a situation which is not very healthy for a leaner. All this is brought by standardized tests (Horwitz 2013).
Recommendation
A test is meant to gauge the level of understanding of a student and identify their weak areas in order to help them. However, standardized tests may slow down the process of learning for ESL students (Ovando & Combs 2018). When it comes to learning a language, there are many factors to consider. Therefore, teachers should use a different model in examining the level of understanding of their students (Ovando& Combs 2018). For instance, the tutors may group their ESL students in groups after considering some few factors. Students whose first language requires that they learn an entirely different set of alphabets to learn English should be grouped together and take similar tests. Students whose first language does not require that they learn a different set of alphabets should also take their tests. In fact, it is not even wise to teach these students all in one class. This is because they are in two entirely different worlds in terms of learning a language. Native speakers students may take standardized tests because their command of the English language is good.
Closing Remark
In conclusion, it is right to note that ESL students often go through a lot in achieving their educational goals. On average, they get more failures than English Native Language students (ENL). The fact that they take standardized tests is a significant contributor towards their failure. To solve this situation, ESL students should be allowed to take different tests from other students. This way, they would learn at a quicker pace and post better results.
References
Horwitz, E. (2013). Becoming a language teacher: A practical guide to second language learning and teaching. 2nd edition. Boston, MA: Pearson
Kim, D. H., Wang, C., Ahn, H. S., & Bong, M. (2015). English language learners’ self-efficacy profiles and relationship with self-regulated learning strategies. Learning and Individual Differences, 38, 136-142.
Northwest Educational Regional Laboratory. (2006). The next step: Assessment and the
English language learner. Portland, OR: Author. Retrieved August 10, 2007, from http://www.nwrel.org/nwedu/11-03/step/Ovando, C. J., & Combs, M. C. (2018). Bilingual and ESL classrooms: Teaching in multicultural contexts. Rowman & Littlefield.