TRILIN Integrated Services, Inc. San Antonio, TX

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TRI-LIN Integrated Services, Inc. San Antonio, TX

• Presenters Valerie Youngblood and Amarilys
  Galindo

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Background on TRI-LIN

• Pearson Educational Measurement
• ETS
• Harcourt
• Texas Education Agency
• New Mexico Public Education Department
• Puerto Rico Department of Education
• Delaware Department of Education
• Northside ISD (San Antonio)
• San Antonio ISD
• Other School Districts Nationwide
• Several publishing companies

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From One Language to Another

• As contractors, we have the responsibility to
  clearly understand the authors intended message
  and be able to transmit it in a different
  language.

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Translation vs. Transadaptation

• Translation
• Closely resembles English version of document
• Runs risk of being literally translated
  (looses/changes meaning and sounds awkward)
• Voice is sometimes lost (Reading and Writing)
• Figurative language is lost (Reading and Writing)
• May be culturally unattainable to some
  populations

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• Transadaptation
• Resembles essence of English document but has
  freedom to deviate when appropriate
• Tone and voice can be enhanced (Reading and
  Writing)
• Figurative language can be included (Reading and
  Writing)
• Able to change content in order to make material
  culturally significant for students
• English items can be replaced by unique items,
  making it possible to assess standards that
  otherwise would not be able to be assessed

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• The degree of freedom contractors have to deviate
  from English versions should be determined by the
  client.
• Transadaptations work better than translations
  in educational settings.
• The key to successful transadaptations is the
  staff!
• It is important for staff members to have the
  ability to identify the true meaning of
  figurative language in English and be able to
  produce its counterpart in Spanish. Literal
  translation of figurative language DOES NOT work.

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Transadaptation and Unique Development

• Transadaptation
• Works well with Math and Science. Process flows
  rapidly since each item stands alone
• Contractors must have Math and Science teachers
  on staff with STRONG academic Spanish

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• Transadapting Reading material is more time
  consuming and represents a bigger challenge than
  transadapting other subjects. Nothing stands
  alone. Passage and items are dependent upon each
  other.
• Contractors must
• Determine degree of deviation necessary
• Ensure fluency remains throughout passage
• Use correct terminology in expository passages
• (New terms in English sometimes do not have
  official names in Spanish. i.e. newly discovered
  species, new technology, etc.)

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Unique Development in the Spanish Language

• Unique development in Spanish is beneficial
  because writers can express themselves in an
  authentic manner
• Topics can be hand selected to be culturally
  significant for students
• Full range of content standards can be assessed

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Steps for Unique Development

• Development of topic proposals for passages
• Topics are approved by client
• Passages are developed
• Passages are reviewed by client
• Changes are made upon client request
• Final passages are approved by client
• Items are developed (Some minor changes to
  passages can be made during item development to
  accommodate items)
• Final passages WITH items are reviewed by client
  and contractor (Unique development AND
  transadaptations)
• Needed changes are made
• Materials are reviewed by teacher committees

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Teacher Committee Meetings

• Contractors must have the ability to lead teacher
  committees and/or support clients in such
  meetings
• Strong note-taking skills are needed to ensure
  teacher comments and changes are recorded
  accurately
• Contractors should have psychometricians on hand
  to train teacher committees on how to interpret
  statistics from field tests and to answer
  teachers questions about data

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Challenges

• Meeting the needs of different state testing
  programs poses many challenges for contractors
  working with State Departments of Education.

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VOCABULARY

• Source PEIMS 2005

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• But what does Hispanic mean, and which Spanish
  register should we use???
• Mexico (Northern, Central, or Southern???)
• Puerto Rico
• Peru
• Costa Rica
• Argentina
• El Salvador
• Etc.

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• It is important to use standard Spanish, as
  accepted by the Real Academia Española and avoid
  regionalisms.
• However, some state agencies may request
  regional vocabulary to be used depending on their
  population.
• Spanish style guides developed by state agencies
  are an important tool for contractors.

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STAFF

• A diverse staff is vital to the success of an
  assessment program
• Staff members from different
• Spanish-speaking countries
• Hispanic Americans

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The Content Specialist

• Leads team in development of assessment materials
  in Spanish as well as transadaptations
• Assures content accuracy

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A Strong Content Specialist

• Content expertise
• Teaching experience
• Native Spanish speaker with strong English skills

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Freelance Writers

• Must be able to write in Spanish with American
  style/conventions
• Should receive training on specific projects
• Feedback should be given for benefit of future
  projects

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Editorial Staff

• Evaluates documents and assures readability and
  grammatical accuracy
• Detects inconsistencies in documents and reports
  them to the Content Specialist

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Requirements for Editorial Staff

• Strong grammatical skills in Spanish
• Ability to checks facts
• Assures style guidelines are being followed

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Production Staff

• Formatting
• Recording audio material
• Inputting last minute changes
• Looks for any inconsistencies in documents and
  reports them to the Content Specialist

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Requirements for Production Staff

• Strong computer skills
• It is recommended that they have strong Spanish
  skills as they are reading hand written
  information in Spanish that must be input into
  electronic documents

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OTHER CHALLENGES

• Schedule
• The transadaptation process must stay on
• schedule almost parallel to the English
• development schedule
• Transadaptations begin with an English version of
  a test that is not the final version
• As time goes by, changes are made to the English
  document. This requires continuous communication
  channels between the English and Spanish teams
  and extra effort from the Spanish team

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Published Materials

• Some states require their students to read
  previously published
• stories and answer corresponding questions.
• This poses great challenge in a Spanish testing
  program
• because
• Childrens literature and magazines in Spanish
  are not as readily available as they are in
  English
• Vocabulary level used in childrens literature in
  Spanish is typically higher than the Spanish used
  in U.S. classrooms
• Word count in Spanish childrens literature is
  usually much higher than its English counterpart
• Adaptations to published texts many times require
  permission directly from author (difficulty in
  contacting)

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• Structure/style is different than what is taught
  in U.S. classrooms
• Many topics in Spanish childrens literature are
  considered inappropriate in a U.S. setting (i.e.
  death, illness, guns, funny stories about
  elderly people that would be considered mocking
  in the U.S., stories about other cultures are not
  presented in a politically correct manner,
  etc.)
• Obtaining publishing rights from Latin American
  countries can take up to 6 months (Strong
  follow-up skills are needed)
• Staff must be able to communicate both orally and
  in writing with Latin American contacts

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Assisting the Community

• Staff development for teachers helps the school
  community
• Academic Spanish
• Standard alignment
• Teaching Spanish-speakers how to read
• Writing for Spanish-speakers
• Etc.

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• For More Information
• http//www.tri-lin.com
• Telephone [phone]