Spoken Language and Literacy Assessments: Are They Linked?

Abstract

This chapter reports on the findings of three research studies that investigated aspects of spoken language and how they relate to the performance of Indigenous Australian students in the New South Wales Department of Education and Training’s literacy tests (Year 3 Basic Skills Test 2005. Sydney, AUS: NSW Department of Education and Training, 2005a; Year 5 Basic Skills Test 2005. Sydney, AUS: NSW Department of Education and Training, 2005b). The author, a non-Indigenous descendant of the convicts brought by the first English invaders of Australia, considers herself an ally to the Indigenous populations in New South Wales (NSW). As part of her role with the NSW Department of Education, she currently works on the evaluation of education programs, including those that affect Indigenous communities. She has previously worked on student assessment programs where she was concerned to create assessment practices for Indigenous students that are culturally responsive. As the author is non-Indigenous, an Indigenous educator was consulted about findings from the first two studies, and a local Indigenous person was present during interviews with Indigenous students for the third study. The research studies focused on investigating why Indigenous students have lower mean scores than non-Indigenous students in national and state-wide reading tests.