The Critical Role of Teachers and The Complicated Relationship Between Language Proficiency and Content Knowledge in the Assessment and Instruction of English Learners

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School of Education Brownbag

“The Critical Role of Teachers and The Complicated Relationship Between Language Proficiency and Content Knowledge in the Assessment and Instruction of English Learners” Presented by Lorena Llosa, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Monday, October 24, 2016
12:00-1:00 pm
Education Building 3216
Open to the public

Abstract: Several pressing issues face English language learning and assessment. During the talk, I will address two of them. First, I will focus on the complicated relationship between language proficiency and content knowledge in assessment and instruction. Second, I will focus on teachers and the critical role they play in the assessment of English learners for both formative and summative purposes. Drawing from my research in these areas, I will highlight important findings and outline directions for research.

Bio: Lorena Llosa trained as an applied linguist specializing in language assessment and conducts most of her research in the context of K-16 education. Her scholarship in assessment addresses validity issues related to the uses of assessments to evaluate English learners’ language and academic skills. Her studies have focused on standards-based classroom assessment of language proficiency, assessment of academic writing, placement testing of US-educated language minority students in community colleges, and the integration of language and science instruction and assessment. She is Co-PI of the NSF-funded project “Promoting Science Among English Language Learners (P-SELL) Scale-Up” (PI: Okhee Lee), which investigates the effectiveness of a professional development and curricular intervention designed to improve the science achievement of all students, especially ELLs. She is also Co-PI of the new NSF-funded project “Development of Language-Focused Three-Dimensional Science Instructional Materials to Support English Language Learners in Fifth Grade” (PI: Okhee Lee). Prior to joining New York University, she worked as a research analyst for the Los Angeles Unified School District where she directed a large-scale evaluation of a computer-based literacy program. She also served as a research analyst at the Center for the Study of Evaluation/CRESST at UCLA, where she worked on the development of performance assessments in English and Spanish.

Dr. Llosa’s research has been published in prominent peer-reviewed journals such as Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Educational Assessment, Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, Language Learning, Reading and Writing Quarterly, Teachers College Record, and American Educational Research Journal. She was awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2009. Dr. Llosa received her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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