This analysis examines English language proficiency levels (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) across grade levels K (denoted as 0) through 4 in a K–4 ESL program. The educational problem being explored is uneven language development across domains, where students may demonstrate stronger receptive skills (listening/reading) than productive skills (speaking/writing), or vice versa. Understanding these patterns can help ESL teachers target instruction more effectively and provide appropriate scaffolding for different proficiency needs.
Data Overview & Text
Variables
Within the table below, the following data is found:
column 1 is assigned de-identified codes
column 2 is the grade level of the student
column 3 is their listening score from the ELPA21 test
column 4 is their speaking score from the ELPA21 test
column 5 is their reading score from the ELPA21 test
column 6 is their writing score from the ELPA21 test
Student.ID Grade.Level Listening.Level Speaking.Level
Min. :123.0 Min. :0.000 Min. :1.00 Min. :1.000
1st Qu.:134.2 1st Qu.:1.000 1st Qu.:3.00 1st Qu.:2.000
Median :145.5 Median :2.000 Median :4.00 Median :3.000
Mean :145.5 Mean :1.826 Mean :3.63 Mean :3.261
3rd Qu.:156.8 3rd Qu.:3.000 3rd Qu.:4.00 3rd Qu.:5.000
Max. :168.0 Max. :4.000 Max. :5.00 Max. :5.000
Reading.Level Writing.Level
Min. :1.000 Min. :1.000
1st Qu.:1.250 1st Qu.:2.000
Median :3.000 Median :3.000
Mean :2.696 Mean :2.565
3rd Qu.:4.000 3rd Qu.:3.000
Max. :5.000 Max. :5.000
#| label: data quality assessmentcolSums(is.na(CapstoneData))
The heat map displays the average listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiency scores for students across grade levels 0 through 4. The grade levels are coded as follows:
0 = Kindergarten
1 = First Grade
2 = Second Grade
3 = Third Grade
4 = Fourth Grade
Darker colors represent higher average scores. Grade 1 stands out as the strongest overall performer in the dataset, especially in listening and reading. It has the highest average listening score (4.42), with Grade 3 the next highest at 4.00. In reading, Grade 1 also leads with an average of 3.75, while Grades 2, 3, and 4 are all much lower at about 2.38, showing a clear gap in performance.
A clear pattern appears when comparing receptive and productive skills. Listening and reading (receptive skills) are generally stronger than speaking and writing (productive skills). This is especially noticeable in Grade 1, where listening (4.42) and reading (3.75) are noticeably higher than speaking (3.42) and writing (3.17). The same trend appears across other grades, with listening usually the highest and writing often the lowest.
Speaking in Grade 1 (3.42) is moderate compared to Grade 3 (3.88) and Grade 4 (3.75), so it is not the strongest in that area, but still fairly strong. Writing in Grade 1 (3.17) is still higher than Grades 2–4, which all average around 2.50.
Kindergarten (Grade 0) consistently has the lowest scores across all skills, particularly in reading (2.20) and writing (2.00), showing a clear gap between it and the higher grades. Overall, instead of a steady increase across grade levels, the pattern is uneven. Grade 1 appears to be the peak performing group in several skills, especially listening and reading, where it clearly outperforms the higher grades.
The box plots show the distribution of writing, speaking, listening, and reading scores across grade levels 0 through 4. Overall, there are clear differences in both the central tendency and spread of scores across grades and skills.
For listening, Grade 1 shows a notably high median score compared to other grades, with generally higher and more consistent performance. Grades 3 and 4 also show relatively strong listening scores, but with slightly more variability. Grade 0 (Kindergarten) has the lowest median listening score, indicating weaker receptive language skills at the lowest grade level.
For speaking, scores are more spread out across all grade levels. Grade 3 shows a relatively high median speaking score, slightly above Grade 1 and Grade 4. However, the variability within grades suggests less consistency in speaking performance compared to listening and reading.
For reading, Grade 1 again stands out with a higher median and a tighter distribution, showing more consistent performance. In contrast, Grades 2, 3, and 4 show lower medians and very similar distributions, suggesting that reading proficiency does not steadily increase with grade level in this dataset.
For writing, all grade levels show relatively lower medians compared to the other skills, with Grade 1 performing slightly better than Grades 2–4. The spread of scores is fairly consistent across grades, indicating that writing is a weaker and more uniform skill area overall.
Across all four box plots, a consistent pattern emerges: receptive skills (listening and reading) tend to have higher medians and stronger performance in Grade 1, while productive skills (speaking and writing) show lower scores and more variability across grades. Additionally, the expected upward progression in proficiency with higher grade levels is not consistently observed, suggesting uneven skill development across grades in this sample.
Bar plot
Bar Plot Code/Set Up
# the set up is partially done in the box plot section abovebar_data <- Capstone_long %>%group_by(Grade.Level, Skill) %>%mutate(Skill =factor(Skill,levels =c("Listening.Level", "Speaking.Level","Reading.Level", "Writing.Level"))) %>%summarize(MeanScore =mean(Score), .groups ="drop")
Bar Plot
ggplot(bar_data,aes(x =factor(Grade.Level),y = MeanScore,fill = Skill)) +geom_bar(stat ="identity", position ="dodge") +scale_fill_manual(values =c("Listening.Level"="#db7d93","Speaking.Level"="#f0db90","Reading.Level"="#8bd180","Writing.Level"="#7ca2cf" )) +labs(title ="Average Language Proficiency by Grade Level",x ="Grade Level",y ="Average Score" ) +theme_minimal()
Bar Plot Analysis
The bar plot shows the average listening, speaking, reading, and writing scores across grade levels 0 through 4, making it easier to compare performance across both grades and skills.
Overall, Grade 1 stands out again as one of the strongest groups, especially in listening and reading. Listening is highest for Grade 1 at 4.42, with Grade 3 close behind at 4.00. Reading shows a similar pattern, where Grade 1 (3.75) is clearly higher than Grades 2–4, which are all around 2.38.
A clear difference appears between receptive and productive skills. Listening and reading are generally higher than speaking and writing across all grades. Writing is the lowest overall, with most grades sitting around 2.50, although Grade 1 is slightly higher at 3.17. Speaking varies more, with Grades 3 (3.88) and 4 (3.75) slightly higher than Grade 1 (3.42).
Kindergarten (Grade 0) consistently has the lowest scores across all skills, especially in writing and reading, showing a clear gap compared to the higher grades. Overall, the bar plot supports the earlier findings: Grade 1 performs particularly well in receptive skills, while writing remains the weakest area across the dataset.
Findings Summary
The analysis of the ELPA21 dataset shows differences in language proficiency across grade levels. Grade 1 stands out as the strongest overall group, particularly in listening and reading, where it outperforms most other grades. Across all grades, receptive skills (listening and reading) are generally stronger than productive skills (speaking and writing), while Kindergarten (Grade 0) consistently shows the lowest scores across all domains. Overall, the results suggest variation in performance by grade level rather than a steady developmental progression, with listening as the strongest skill and writing as the weakest. These patterns may also be influenced by the distribution of newcomer students across grades and differences in familiarity with online testing environments, particularly for younger students who may have lower digital literacy.
