FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING STUDENT’S READING

Student Name: / NTCF ESL Reading Level : / Date:
Task description:
Teacher comment / Action

Orientation to literacy

  • What are the learner’s concepts of literacy? (Check against Beginning Literacy Analysis)

Task
  • How familiar is the topic/curriculum area to the learner?
  • How well does the learner understand the demands of the task?
  • What approaches does the learner use to complete the task ( eg skimming for gist, scanning for specific information)?

Text

  • What is the text structure?
  • Is the learner familiar with the text type (eg the formal conventions of this text type the layout – table of contents, headings, bibliography etc)?
  • Does the learner use a range of approaches according to the requirements of the individual texts and task (eg reading word by word, gaining meaning from the whole text)?
  • What is the speed of the learner’s reading and processing of information?

Behaviours Does the learner

  • use his/her first language (eg to show comprehension, recognising words in translation)?
  • self-correct (in reading aloud)?
  • reread word/sentences?
  • use/rely on a dictionary?
  • ask questions if something is not understood?
  • guess at word meanings?
  • decode words (analyse word parts)?
  • Demonstrate the ability to predict (main story lines, details, word meanings) from context (illustrations, headings, previous text)?

Teacher comment / Action

Reading Comprehension Level

  • What are the learner’s levels of comprehension?
-Literal – ability to identify gist, main ideas, characters, events, processes and some details
-Interpretive -Identifying and distinguishing – fact from opinion, fact from fallacy, implication, attitude expressed by speakers
-Applied – ability to generalise, synthesis information from different sources, evaluate arguments, deduce, justify

Understanding of cohesion within texts

Does the learner understand how cohesion is used
  • for omission/substitution (Will he come? I don’t think so)
  • to add information (and, and then, also, in addition, furthermore ….)
  • to contrast information (but, however, although…)
  • to qualify, express possibility (if, unless, except …)
  • to express time (then, next, when)
  • to refer to ideas, people, things within the text (From the start the All Stars Band were very good musicians and because they had become popular in one place they travelled a lot. However in the Band there was a man called Miguel who was very smart ,,,,)

Knowledge of vocabulary

  • What is the learner’s recognition/recall (sight vocab)?
  • Does the learner show understanding of vocab (by explaining word meanings)?
  • Does the learner understand idioms ( eg phrasal verbs such as go for, cut down on, live up to …)?

Suggestions for action:

Reproduced from Observation Guide (Reading) in the NLLIA ESL Bandscales, 1994, pp F9.