With regard to conducting assessments with English language learners (ELLs), researchers suggest that 

- their language proficiency in first and second language in all four domains of reading, listening, writing, and speaking be considered.  
- their performance be compared with their “true peers” who have similar language proficiency and cultural background. 
- their linguistic and cultural differences and previous educational history be considered for data interpretation. 

How can we implement these suggestions? Specifically, regarding standardized tests with ELLs, ecological validity is emphasized. Ecological validity is defined as “the extent to which behavior sampled in one setting can be taken as being representative of an individual’s cognitive processing in a range of all the settings.”

In order to be ecologically valid, the measure should be authentic to the person’s routine experiences. Students who are from low economic status and/or who are linguistically and culturally diverse are asked to respond to items or questions that are not aligned with their routine experiences.

Next, the condition to be ecologically valid will be to work in settings that are similar to the individual’s socio-cultural environment. Thus, we need to consider to what extent this student and the community from which the student comes is familiar with the social situation of the test.