Collecting Information

When a second language is taught, it is important to take into account many factors, especially when instructing, evaluating and assessing.  In order to do this correctly not only is necessary to gather information but also to make an analysis and an interpretation of it (qualitative and quantitative information).  It is necessary to mention that for ESL Teachers it is important to be aware enough about collecting the necessary/ specific information and its possible implications when assessing and making decisions.  As it is said by Genesee & Upshur, all information whether qualitative or quantitative, refers to characteristics of something: students or teachers, textbooks or videotapes, texts or realia, blackboards or ministries of education.  We need to be clear about our information in order to avoid misunderstandings.  For doing so, it is relevant to highlight three principles: Practicality, Reliability and Validity.

When talking about Practicality it is necessary to mention the cost and time of the tools we are using.  Some procedures, such as standardized tests, can be very expensive and therefore their use is limited.  On the other hand, time or administration time can be important especially in schools with fixed class periods.  Trying to schedule questionnaires, tests, activities, etc., that require more time than a single class can cause more problems. (Genesee & Upshur).  Some other attributes to mention when talking about practicality are Compilation Time which is related to the time to score and interpret the information gathered; Administrator Qualifications which is related to how teachers are qualified to use the information collection method and Acceptability which is related to how acceptable is the collected information to students, parents and the community.

As it is said by Genesee & Upshur before, reliability is concerned with freedom from nonsystematic fluctuation.  It can be divided in a) Assessor/rater -related Reliability which has to do with the instability among the people collecting the information; b) Object/ person-related Reliability which concerns the person about whom information is being collected, it can be enhanced by assessing, especially when human abilities or qualities are the object of assessment in second language; and c) Instrument-related Reliability which resides in the procedures used for collecting information, can be improved by using a variety of methods of information collection.  In this way the inaccuracy resulting from the use of one method will be offset by other methods.

Taking into account that Validity refers to the extent to which the information gathered is the information needed, it can be said that in some cases it is difficult to know which information is relevant and wanted; when talking about a second language learning process it is even more difficult because due to the fact that validity can only be valid when is reliable.