Test of Language for Learning-Kindergarten [TOLL-K]

Abstract language skills of kindergarten students vary across a wide range.

· Some kindergartners can talk about events remote in time and space (decontextualized language). These students are ready to benefit from classroom instruction.

· Other kindergartners can only understand language about objects and actions present in their classroom (contextualized language). These students require hands-on experiences.

· Additional students are transitioning from contextualized language abilities to decontextualized language skills.

Document the decontextualized language level of your kindergarten students with this quick 30-minute group-administered language screen.

· Students complete a 22-item booklet in response to classroom instructions. (A Spanish version is available upon request).

· Teachers score the booklets, then enter the results in an Excel template (available for download at no charge).

· The resulting Excel worksheet can be used to create colorful pie charts representing the range of classroom decontextualized language levels.

What could you do with a measure of kindergarten oral language levels?

You might:

· Modify curriculum presentation to build measured language levels.

· Determine which children you might refer for additional speech and language screening.

· Track the relation between classroom learning and language levels

· Measure the impact of classroom experiences on language growth

· Use the color-coded pie charts to support requests for additional resources.

For 25 years, I have found that this 22-item test of kindergarten language yields consistently useful results. I spent some of my career as a district consultant on language and learning, some as a speech-language pathologist, and some as a University clinic director and faculty member. Now that I’m (semi) retired, it’s time to share this with anyone who might need to know language levels of students:

· Title I teachers and administrators

· ELL teachers and administrators (yes, there is a version in Spanish)

· Individuals conducting research on language and literacy

· Speech language pathologists wishing to use this as a language screen.

There are also FREE support files:

· An Administration and Scoring file provides step-by-step instructions for giving the TOLL-K and scoring it.

· An Excel file creates pie charts from testing results.

· An Introduction file provides some background information.

· An Indicators and References file offers observations for each Language Level.

The test is based on the language levels described in my book, Preparing for Success: Meeting the language and learning needs of young children from poverty homes. The original form was developed and researched in the 1990s as part of the language kit K-TALK. Here is a partial list of references used in its construction.

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Blank, M., Rose, S., and Berlin, L. (1978a) The language of learning: The preschool years. New York: Grune & Stratton.

Blank, M., Rose, S., and Berlin, L. (1978b) Preschool Language Assessment Instrument: The language of learning in practice. New York: Grune & Stratton.

Bloom, L., & Lahey, M. (1978). Language development and language disorders. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

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Cazden, C. (1968). The acquisition of noun and verb inflections. Child Development, 39, 433-448.

Chomsky, N. (1967) The formal nature of language. In Lennenberg, E. (Ed.) The biological foundations of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Clay, M. (1998). Accommodating diversity in early literacy learning. In Olson, D. & Torrance, N. (Eds.) The Handbook of Education and Human Development: New models of learning, teaching, and schooling. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Clark, E. (1972). Some perceptual factors in the acquisition of locative terms by young children. Proceeding of the Chicago Linguisitic Society, 8, 431-439.

Cross, T. (1977), Mothers’ speech adjustments: the contribution of selected child listener variables. In Snow, C, & Ferguson, C. (Eds.). Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Farran, D. (1982). Mother-child interaction, language development, and the school performance of poverty children. In Feagans, L. & Farran, D. (Eds.) The Language of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press.

Feagans, L. (1982). Narratives for school adaptation.. In Feagans, L. & Farran, D. (Eds.) The Language of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press.

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Heath, S. (1983a). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Lahey, M. (1988) Language Disorders and Language Development. New York: Macmillan.

Loban, W. (1976). Language development: Kindergarten through grade twelve. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English.

McGinness, G. (1982). The language of the poverty child: Implications from center-based intervention an devaluation programs. In Feagans, L. & Farran, D. (Eds.) The Language of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press.

Milosky, L. (1987) Narratives in the classroom. Seminars in speech and language. 8:7.

Ninio, A. & Snow, C. (1996). Pragmatic Development. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Paul, R. & Cohen, D. (1982). Communication development and its disorders: A psycholinguistic perspective. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 8, 279-293.

Pearson, D. & Fielding, L. (1982). Research update: Listening Comprehension. Language Arts, 59 617-628.

Slobin, D. (1985). The cross-liinguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Snow, C., Dubber, C. & Blauw, A. (1983). Routines in Mother-Child interaction. In Feagans, L. & Farran, D. (Eds.) The Language of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press.

Snow, C, & Ferguson, C. (1977). Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Stein, L. (1979) How children understand stories: a developmental analysis. In Katz, L. (Ed.) Current topics in early childhood education, Vol. 2. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Sulzby, E. (1986). Young children’s concepts for oral and written text. In K Durkin (Ed.), Language development in the school years. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

Tough, J. (1982). Language, poverty, and disadvantage in school. In Feagans, L. & Farran, D. (Eds.) The Language of Children Reared in Poverty. New York: Academic Press.

Tyack, D. & Gottsleben, R. (1986). Acquisition of complex sentences. Language, Speech and Hearing Services I the Schools. 12, 42-56.

Weiner, C. and Creighton, J. (1987). Documenting and Facilitating “school readiness language” in the kindergarten classroom. Journal of Childhood Communication Disorders, 11, 125-137.

Weiner, C, Lyons, T. & Creighton, J. (1989) Kindergarten-Teacher Administered Language Kit (K-TALK). Tucson, AZ: Communication Skill Builders.

Wells, G. (1986). The meaning makers: Children learning language and using language to learn. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Westby, C. (1985). Learning to talk—talking to learn: Oral-language differences. In Simon, C. (Ed.) Communication Skills and Classroom Success. San Diego, CA: College Hill Press.