All Info About Reading

 All good education programs begin with getting specific information about what the student already knows.  With this information in hand, the teacher/tutor/mentor can best plan how to move the student’s skills forward and towards his or her goals.  This baseline information also allows the teacher to document progress, and perhaps most importantly, it is invaluable in showing progress to the student.  Documentation of progress can forestall frustration and help provide motivation for continued effort.

Reading assessment has a number of important components because reading is a complex set of skills working in concert to help us achieve literacy.  Students need a solid command of basic sight words (the common words that make up over half of most text, but often do not follow the usual rules of phonics).  Struggling readers need to master some key understandings about how words work, such as common sound-symbol patterns, syllable and affix rules, and concepts such as rhyme and sequence.  Comprehension of text is dependent upon knowing lots of words (vocabulary), memory, ability to see larger concepts like main ideas, and the ability to make inferences or to put bits of information together and reach a conclusion.  

The simplest way to assess a student’s knowledge of sight words is for him or her to demonstrate this skill.  Choose a list of common words, make a checklist, and have the student read through them.  Common lists of sight words include the Dolch list and Essential Sight Words, which are organized by grade level, and the Fry list, which is presented in order of frequency in everyday text.  When working with adults or teens, many professionals prefer to use the Fry list because it offers the quickest reward of reading more text quickly.  Remember that these words must be recognized automatically.  Don’t count them as known if there is any hesitation or stumbling.

Phonics, phonemic awareness and word attack strategies are a bit more time-consuming to assess.  Readers need to know not only the sounds of each letter, but also common letter clusters.  Try checking to see if your student can produce correct sounds for the consonants b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, qu, r, t, v, w, x, y, and z.  The letters c, g, and s have two common sounds each.  Check the consonant digraphs sh, ch, th, wh, and ph.  The vowels (a, e, I, o, and u) need special attention: they each have a long and a short sound, and many can make an indeterminate, unclear sound similar to a short u when in unaccented syllables.  Check the vowel-r combinations and the common dipthongs oi, oy, au, aw, ie, and ei.  The letter y sometimes functions as a vowel.  It can say a long I sound as in tyke, a short I sound as in gym, or a long e sound as in silly.  See what your student does with the common long vowel-silent vowel patterns like ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ue and the long vowel-consonant-silent e pattern.  You’re likely to discover that your student has good command of the consonant sounds but stumbles over vowel sounds.

Next, it’s important to find out what your student knows about word patterns.  The quickest way to uncover this information is to have him or her sound out letter clusters that follow common phonic and syllable patterns, but do not make real words.  Reading nonsense syllables like these will help you determine whether or not your student truly understands the phonic patterns or is simply relying on memory to read specific words.  Many inefficient readers are under the mistaken impression that words must be individually memorized rather than decoded.  You can create these nonsense words or use a commercial test.

Word patterns to check include CVC syllables with all five short vowels, CVCe syllables, CVVC syllables, and CVCy/CVCCy constructions.  Check syllables containing vowels with R’s and those with consonant - le on the end.  Put standard prefixes and suffixes on nonsense syllables like repaz or cleaming.  Check polysyllabic nonsense words, too.  It’s easy to make up your own nonsense syllables by simply changing first, medial or final sounds of real words.  An example would be changing the b in bark to a v, making vark or changing the c in caper to a b, making baper.

These pieces of information (sight words, knowledge of letters and letter clusters, and the ability to decode nonsense syllables) are vital to learning enough about your student to efficiently plan the first reading lessons.  With a few checklists and simply having your reading student demonstrate specific skills, you will best be able to start reading lessons positively and confidently.

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Click here for information about Assessing Comprehension Skills.

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