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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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 Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:28 pm Post subject: Preparing Students for the ELASH |
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At the university where I teach, all students have to write the English Language Assessment System for Hispanics, also known as the ELASH exam. In order to graduate, all students, regardless of their field of study, must get a score of 127. In order to get a certificate stating that they are bilingual, they must get a score of 151.
Does anyone else have to prepare students for this exam? If so, how do you (or your school) do it? |
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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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| Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Nobody else here does this? |
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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Hmmm... Still no answer. Okay, I will try this question instead: has anyone even remotely heard of the ELASH before? |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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| nope, never heard of it, what country uses it? What is 127? FCE level? |
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MamaOaxaca
Joined: 03 Jan 2007
Posts: 201
Location: Mixteca, Oaxaca
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I have heard of ELASH but thought it was just for Puerto Ricans and other US Citizens from Spanish Speaking Households. |
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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| naturegirl321 wrote: |
| nope, never heard of it, what country uses it? What is 127? FCE level? |
The scale that ELASH uses is their own. 200 is the highest possible score; 40, the lowest. My university requires all professors to write it, and I scored 188. So, it seems to be very much like TOEFL insofar as even native speakers usually can't get a perfect mark on it.
By FCE, I would assume that you mean "(minimum) functional capability in English," right? No, 127 is much, much higher than that. Let me just say that the students at my university have to finish an advanced level course before they write the ELASH. |
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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:20 pm Post subject: |
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| MamaOaxaca wrote: |
| I have heard of ELASH but thought it was just for Puerto Ricans and other US Citizens from Spanish Speaking Households. |
College Board, the company that has created and manages the exam, is based in Puerto Rico. So that's where they started out. I guess now that they have had some success with the exam in Puerto Rico and the United States, they have expanded into other markets.
Remember that the acronym ELASH means English Language Assessment System for Hispanics. So it has been designed to be a proficiency test for all Hispanics, regardless of country of origin. I assumed that because it was being used here in Costa Rica that it was also being used in other Latin American countries. But, considering the lack of responses here, it would appear that its use in other Latin American countries is not that widespread. |
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JosephP
Joined: 13 May 2003
Posts: 445
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| Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| John Hall wrote: |
By FCE, I would assume that you mean "(minimum) functional capability in English," right? |
 
FCE -- First Certificate in English, mate. It's part of the series of Cambridge exams. But I like your interpretation of the abbreviation. |
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jillford64
Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 397
Location: Sin City
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| Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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| You might try posting on the US forum, if you haven't already. I think some school districts use it. |
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FreddyM
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 180
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:55 am Post subject: |
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My jr. high students took the exam last year. I spent the year preparing them for the FCE, and only a small minority could pass it (FCE) by the end of the year. Most had passed the PET already.
They found the ELASH extremely easy, and most got really high scores, despite the fact we never prepared for it at all. I didn't look through the exam while they were taking it, so I don't really know what the structure is like at all. If my students who can barely pass PET could pass ELASH easily however, I wouldn't worry too much about it. |
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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:23 am Post subject: |
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First it was FCE that I got wrong, and now I have to admit that I don't know what the PET is.  Anyone care to enlighten this ignoramus? |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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They're part of the Cambridge Exams.
PET is Preliminary English Test
FCE is First Certificate in English.
CAE is Certificate of Advanced English
CPE is Certificate of Proficiency in English |
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lozwich
Joined: 25 May 2003
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John Hall
Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 452
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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| FreddyM wrote: |
| If my students who can barely pass PET could pass ELASH easily however, I wouldn't worry too much about it. |
I am a bit confused here. PET and FCE, if I understand correctly, are very low level proficiency tests. There is no such thing as passing the ELASH. The ELASH just marks the level of proficiency of the student. Usually, each educational institution decides what they will consider to be the "pass mark," if they require one.
Perhaps the problem here is one that I have caused. There are in fact two ELASH exams, ELASH-I and ELASH-II. I don't deal with the former, only the latter. ELASH-I is a low level test, and perhaps that is the one that FreddyM was referring to. ELASH-II (which I thought was the more common one) is used to test any Hispanic with any level of proficiency in English, from beginner to extremely advanced. |
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naturegirl321
Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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| John Hall wrote: |
| FreddyM wrote: |
| If my students who can barely pass PET could pass ELASH easily however, I wouldn't worry too much about it. |
I am a bit confused here. PET and FCE, if I understand correctly, are very low level proficiency tests. There is no such thing as passing the ELASH. The ELASH just marks the level of proficiency of the student. Usually, each educational institution decides what they will consider to be the "pass mark," if they require one.
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I guess that ELASH is like the Michigan test. PET is low proficiency, however, FCE is uppper intermediate to lower advanced. Usually to teach English, schools require teachers to have FCE level English. |
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