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[Jetgirly]

I'm being asked to help administer Woodcock Munoz Language Surveys to ESL students. I'm not really sure if I'm being asked to this because the school needs the information, or if they're just "doing me a favour" by letting me try it out. I've seen them be adminstered in the past, but I've never actually been the administrator before. For those who don't know this test, it has four parts. First, the student has to tell you the name of the object in the picture. It goes from (something like) "cat" to "chandelier" in terms of difficulty. Then, there's a verbal analogy section with questions like, "Salmon is to fish as dalmation is to what?" In the third section students first have to match "stick-figure" type drawings to realistic, full-color illustrations of the same objects, then they have to read written words aloud and pronounce them properly. Finally, there's a dictation portion that progresses in difficulty. When a student gets six consecutive questions wrong, that becomes his or her proficiency level.

I'm doing these tests with students in Grades 7-9 (because of their varied English levels they range in age from 10 right up to 16). From my previous observations, I've found that a lot of students have trouble with the verbal analogies. I don't think they're old enough to have been exposed to the concept of analogy in their native tongue, so they don't understand what they're being asked. That whole section feels more like an IQ test than a language test. Otherwise, I think it's a pretty good language assessment tool.

Has anyone used this test before? Do you love it? Hate it? Why?