ASSESSMENT OF

READING AND WRITING

KAB 3023 Teaching English
For Young Learners

Introduction
Assessment is an ongoing process that includes
collecting, synthesizing and interpreting
information about pupils, the classroom and
their instruction.
The younger the child, the more difficult it is to
obtain valid assessments.
Early development is rapid, episodic and highly
influenced by experience.
Performance on an assessment is affected by
childrens emotional states and the conditions
of the assessment.

Defining Performance Assessment

Performance assessment is a continuum
of assessment formats which allows
teachers to observe student behavior
ranging from simple responses to
demonstrations to work collected over
time. (Rudner & Boston)
Performance assessments have two parts:
a clearly defined task and a list of explicit
criteria for assessing student performance
or product.

Performance assessment is built

upon these four assumptions:
I. Knowledge is Constructed
Research tells us that students show
greater interest and perform at higher
levels of learning when they are required
to organize facts around major concepts
and then actively construct their own
understanding of those concepts. They
also retain knowledge better. Active
participation is the key to all performance
assessments.

nd

assumption

II. The Task is Worthwhile

The ideal performance task is "inherently
instructional, actively engaging students
in worthwhile learning activities." (Sweet)
Performance tasks are therefore openended and assess an array of knowledge
and skills related to the curriculum. Thus
the curriculum powers the test, not the
other way around. (Sweet; Kulieke, et al)

3 assumption
rd

III. Better Assessments Improve Teaching

Assessment's overall purpose is "to provide valid
information for decision making." (Kulieke, et al, )
When teachers prepare students for a
performance task, they must carefully describe
the task and the standards that will be used to
evaluate performance.
When teachers are informed of the learning
progress and difficulties of their students they
can then make better decisions about content
and instruction. (Fuchs):

4 assumption
th

IV. Meeting Criteria Improves Learning

Students should be active participants in
their own learning.
They perform better when they know what
goals they are working towards, when they
have the opportunity to examine models of
excellence, and when they understand how
their own performance compares to a set
of established criteria. (McTighe)

Performance assessment
Wiggins (1990) writes that "the best tests always
teach students and teachers alike the kind of work
that most matters; they are enabling and forwardlooking, not just reflective of prior teaching."
The main goals of performance assessment are to
gather data on students that focus on growth over
time rather than comparing them with each other;
to focus on what they know rather than on what
they don't; and to meet the needs of diverse
learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and
proficiency levels.(Tannenbaum)

Designing Performance Assessment Tasks and Criteria

A well designed performance assessment task begins with the

identification of outcomes.
Assessment tasks can relate to real-life experiences, make
connections to personal experiences, and require
demonstrations of competency and mastery.
Ideas for assessment tasks can come from the text, the
curriculum, current events, literature, the arts, reference
books, even realia such as advertising circulars and menus.
After the task is created, the assessment criteria are
developed.
Their purpose is to link the curriculum to the assessment task.
In order to design effective assessment criteria, consideration
should be given to the intended user. They should clearly
communicate the standards of achievement.

Assessing reading
Reading is a complex set of skills that
includes specific abilities, such as
naming letters of the alphabet and
knowing their sounds, as well as
broader abilities such as
understanding that there are
different kinds of print (stories,
newspapers, lists, labels, and so on).

.cont.
The best way to assess children's reading skills at
age 3 is to take note of the whole range of their
language and literacy abilities.
To achieve success in learning to read, children must
have strong oral-language skills, including a wide and
deep listening and speaking vocabulary.
They must have plenty of exposure to books, both
hearing them read aloud and exploring them on their
own.
And finally they need to have plenty of opportunities
to write and draw, using a variety of pencils, crayons,
chalk, and kinds of paper.

Reading & language skills

By age 4:
Recognize 10 or more letters of the alphabet
Know some sounds that letters make
Find the front cover of a book and leaf through the
pages
Retell a story by looking at the pictures
Recognize one's own name in print
Recite favourite nursery rhymes
Predict what will happen next in a story
Read or recognize print around them in the
environment, such as a stop sign
Make scribbles that resemble letters
Make actual letters, such as those in one's name

Reading Assessment Techniques

Reading comprehension
These are the most common forms of published reading tests
available. Commonly, a reading comprehension test comprises
of the child being made to read a small text passage, and then
the child is asked a few detailed questions related to the text.
However, there are certain variations to this kind of reading
assessment. For instance, instead of being asked detailed
questions, the child can be asked to answer certain inferential
questions which have to be read in-between-the-lines in the
text passage.
Another common reading comprehension assessment is the
cloze task, wherein words are purposefully omitted from the
passage and the child will be asked to fill in the blanks with the
appropriate words.

cont.
Language Comprehension
Language comprehension can be measured in the
same way that you would assess reading
comprehension.
However, with language comprehension, the child
will not be asked to read any text.
From the instructions to the questions, everything
will be verbally presented to the child. It is wise to
compare a childs reading comprehension with his
language comprehension to make sure that he
understands the text both ways.

cont.
Decoding
Oral reading is another form of decoding assessment,
but it isnt a very clean assessment.
Most of the time, children tend to guess words that are
based on the text or clues that are provided by pictures.
This way, the difficulties within the childs guesses are
plainly visible and their difficulties in decoding are
revealed.
However, sometimes the child guesses correctly and so
the teacher will believe that the child decoded the word.
Decoding is typically done by measuring the childs
ability to read words out of the context.

cont.

Linguistic Knowledge
Semantics
Cipher Knowledge
Phoneme Awareness
Letter Knowledge
Background Knowledge
Phonology
Syntax
Lexical Knowledge
Knowledge of the Alphabetical Principle
Concepts about Print

SCORE SHEETS
Refer to notes given

USING A READING SCALE

1:Beginning reader
Uses just a few successful strategies for tackling
print independently. Relies on having another
person to read the text aloud. May still be unaware
that text carries meaning.
2:Not-yet-fluent reader
Tackling known and predictable text with growing
confidence but still needing support with new and
unfamiliar ones. Growing ability to predict meanings
and developing strategies to check predictions
against other cues such as the illustrations and the
print itself.

Reading scale
3:Moderately fluent reader
Well-launched on reading but still needs to return to a familiar
range of reader text. At the same time beginning to explore
new kinds of texts independently. Beginning to read silently.
4:Fluent reader
A capable reader who now approaches familiar texts with
confidence but still needs support with unfamiliar materials.
Beginning to draw inferences from books and stories. Reads
independently. Chooses to read silently.
5:Exceptionally fluent reader
An avid and independent reader who is making choices from a
wider range of material. Able to appreciate nuances and
subtlety in text.

ASSESSING WRITING
Refer to notes given

Samples of writing

Sample
Sample
Sample
Sample

1
2
3
4

Conclusion
Recent years have seen a growing public interest in early
childhood education. We must guarantee that assessment
reflects our highest educational goals for young children
and neither restricts nor distorts the substance of their early
learning.
This brief sets forth the criteria for a comprehensive and
balanced assessment system that meets the need for
accountability while respecting the well-being and
development of young children.
Such a system can include testing, provided it measures
applicable knowledge and skills in a safe and child-affirming
situation. It can also include informal assessments, provided
they too meet psychometric standards of reliability and
validity.