TECHNIQUES FOR ASSESSING READING

SKILLS AND VOCABULARY

BYTHILAGESWARI THIRUMALAI

NALINI BALANYASOTHAI NATHAN

Cycle Of

ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTION

Assessment is a critical part of the instructional cycle; it is not a separate

activity. Its relationship with curriculum planning and instruction is reciprocal (Cobb, 2003).

ASSESSMENT

INSTRUCTION

Once information from assessment is gathered, analyzed, and used to design further instruction, teaching is adjusted, fueled by the new information.

This return to assessment allows the teacher to determine whether teaching has made a difference and then make instructional decisions

Careful examination, documentation, and analysis of each student’s reading performance throughout the year will enable teachers to modify instructional practices when appropriate.

Establishing a data-driven instruction cycle creates a structure to monitor student progress in a systematic way, thus ensuring that instructional time is not lost throughout the school year (Cobb, 2003)

When teachers use assessment to guide their instruction…….

The primary goal is to gather information about what students are doing as they read. The teacher looks for patterns in the students’ work sees strengths and challenges, and then uses this information to design instruction. Results from reliable and valid assessments allow the teacher to base instruction on multiple data to meet the specific needs of each student. Informed instruction is the hallmark of effective teaching and learning.

Just Take A Look On This….

Discrete Feature Test

Discrete Test

• Discrete tests focus explicitly studied knowledge of separate segments of language.

• Sometimes the learner is even asked to reproduce that explicit knowledge (of grammar ‘rules’, etc.)

• Units of language (discrete points); phonology, graphology, morphology, lexicon, syntax and discourse

PUT THE VERBS IN THE SIMPLE PAST OR THE PRESENT PERFECT AND MOTIVATE YOUR CHOICE

1) SHE (BREAK) ____________ HER LEG IN AN

ACCIDENT LAST YEAR.2) SO FAR, THIS TEACHER _____________

(NOT TEACH) US ANYTHING NEW.

For example:

Holistic Test• Tests that go straight to the heart of general

proficiency tend to consist of ‘holistic’ tasks. These are tasks in which mastery of various language elements is required and different skills are intertwined.

• This ‘holistic’ approach to language testing is based on the notion that language proficiency constitutes much more than the sum of grammatical and lexical knowledge. The way in which different linguistic skills are integrated in authentic language use makes up the essence of language proficiency.

Typical examples of ‘holistic’ language tasks are essays (for ‘self-monitored’ proficiency in writing) and interviews (for real-time oral proficiency).

While such holistic tests are obviously more valid than discrete-point tests to estimate a learner’s general proficiency, giving a score to the learner’s performance on a holistic task is a much more complicated issue.

As a result, one and the same essay may be awarded different marks by different assessors and an interviewee may be given different scores by different interviewers.

ASSESSING VOCABULARY IN READING COMPREHENSION

Reading assessment techniques are used to help determine where a child is in his or her reading development.

Comprehension is the most common type of reading test available.

Comprehension assessment involves asking a child to read a passage of text that is matched appropriately for the child, and then asking some explicit, detailed questions about the content of the text.

Other variations of comprehension assessment include asking the child to answer likely questions about information which was implied by the text, or evaluating the child’s ability to re-tell the story in his own words, or summarize the main idea or the moral of the story.

A reading comprehension assessment is most accurate if the child is not reading for an audience.

Another common reading comprehension assessment is called a "cloze" task — words are omitted from the passage, and the child is asked to fill in the blanks with appropriate words.

Also, young children’s reading comprehension can be assessed by asking them to read and follow simple instructions, such as, "Stand up" or, "Go look out the window."

What teachers can do to help at school?

Help build language skills in class by playing oral and written word exercises and games.

Read to your class each day. When the book contains a new or interesting word, pause and define the word for your student.

Engage your students in conversations every day. If possible, include new and interesting words in your conversation.

Help students learn to use context clues to determine the meanings of words.