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Emergent Literacy Testing - Case Study of William
Consuelo Blake
RED 4312
University of South Florida
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
William is a 7-year-old boy enrolled in the second grade at Hemenway Elementary
School in Framingham, Massachusetts. William’s birthday is in July and he is described by his
mother and his teachers as a social, outgoing, and competitive boy who is often critical of
himself and can frustrate easily. William is eager to please, friendly, and confident. He enjoys
sports, loves to play baseball, and has a baseball card collection. William has a baby sister, and
his mother, Pam Daley, volunteers at Hemenway Elementary, often assisting in William’s
computer and art classes. There are 24 students in William’s inclusive education classroom: 12
special needs students and 12 regular education role models.
Hemenway Elementary School is a public school located in the city of Framingham,
Massachusetts, outside and west of Boston. Based on data provided by the National Center for
Education Statistics, in the 2015-2016 school year, Hemenway Elementary had a student teacher
ratio of 14:1 with a total of 562 students. Seventy-five percent of the students were Caucasian,
9% were Hispanic, 7% were Asian, and 4% were African American; 23% of the students are
free/reduced lunch recipients (Hemenway, n.d.).
The ERAS Assessment
The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS) was developed by Professor Michael
C. McKenna of Georgia Southern University and Professor Dennis J. Kear of Wichita State
University in 1990 in response to a growing need to gauge literacy attitudes in young readers. As
attitude and achievement have been proportionally linked for successful readers (Purves &
Beach,1972), McKenna and Kear hoped to provide a public-domain assessment tool for
educators to estimate the attitude levels of children. ERAS provides teachers with an efficient
and reliable literacy tool for instructional planning that is based on their students’ viewpoints on
reading. The survey, comprised of twenty single-sentence questions regarding a student’s
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
thoughts and feelings about recreational and academic reading, can be administered in a short
time frame, about 10 minutes. To respond to the questions, children are asked to choose one of
four drawings of the cartoon character Garfield. The playful cat is pictured as (1) Excited, hands
in the air, (2) Smiling, arms crossed, (3) Dissatisfied, arms crossed and (4) Frowning, fists
clenched. In short, Garfield’s attitude is made to mirror the students’ feelings about each topic.
The assessment continues with assignation of values for each posture: four points for Exited,
three for Smiling, two for Dissatisfied and one for Frowning. The study includes a scoring sheet,
with raw and sub score differentials and the percentile ranking in each category. All data is based
on results from the 18,138-student study group used for their study (McKenna & Kear, 1990, p.
637).
William’s Results
At the beginning of the school year, the ERAS was administered to William and his
classmates (Appendix A, Figure 1). Class averages were established for both recreational and
academic reading. A raw score of 28 in recreational reading placed William in the 37th
percentile when compared to grade-level peers. His academic raw score of 28 positioned William
in the 23rd percentile. The difference in the two numbers revealed that William had a slightly
more positive attitude towards recreational reading than he did academic reading (Appendix A,
Figure 2). Although it is typical for children of this age to prefer recreational over academic
reading, William’s results are cause for concern as his academic score is quite low, near 21
(McKenna and Kear, 1990, p. 628). Answers in William’s ERAS exposed a general dislike for
reading. Dissatisfied and Frowning Garfields trended, reflecting negative attitudes towards
spending free time reading, reading instead of playing, and reading testing. The ERAS also
showed that William would not appreciate a book for a present and had no desire to go to a
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
library or bookstore. These inclinations are aligned with William’s low total score of 51 which
placed him in the 26th percentile of second graders; nearly 75% of his peers have more positive
attitudes towards reading than William does. The scores are reflective of a struggling reader at
the onset of second grade (McKenna and Kear, 1990, p.628).
Instruction
Attitude testing with ERAS provides a qualitative and quantitative tool to gauge students’
attitudes toward reading. With this reflective tool, educators can utilize the survey to develop
instructional planning focused on increasing reading attitudes and, subsequently, the student’s
ability to read. In William’s case, the ERAS data revealed that there is a need for a
comprehensive developmental plan aimed at increasing his desire to read both in and out of
school. Running records noting William’s word fluency were also taken at the beginning of the
school year and showed that William was struggling with reading at above his grade level. Part
of William’s developmental plan will include using the word running record method during
guided reading to determine his proficiency at specific reading levels. Reading at William’s
proper level will build his confidence and allow him to make significant learning strides. To
support William’s proficiency and reading advancement, teacher modeling via read aloud and
shared reading will be incorporated at the beginning of each month during individual instruction.
Once the proper reading level is determined, William will be moved to a new small reading
group with peers at similar reading levels. William’s browsing box will be adjusted to contain
the appropriate books for his level. This will be done in partnership with William to ensure that
the books chosen are appealing and to his liking. It is important for William to enjoy what he is
reading. During independent reading, frequent check-ins will be conducted to monitor William’s
subject comprehension. In addition to guided and independent reading, regular vocabulary and
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
writing activities must be incorporated into William’s instructional plan to build word
proficiency and comprehension.
Reflection
As William’s teacher, having an assessment tool designed to gauge his attitude towards
reading is invaluable. Knowledge truly is power and knowing how William really feels about
reading has been essential in developing an accurate and reflective instructional plan. William’s
eagerness to please, his confidence, and his competitive desire can both fuel and hinder him if
not properly balanced. At first William attempted to “play off,” and hide his lack of
comprehension by posing as a better reader than he was. With many typical standardized tests,
the basis of William’s feelings relating to reading are ignored and he could conceivable become
an unseen student, getting by and smiling but not really growing and moving forward attaining
his potential. Using the ERAS has allowed me to have a window into William’s reading mind.
This knowledge coupled with the directed teaching strategies outlined above will provide a solid
building block on Williams road to lifelong literacy.
The Yopp-Singer Assessment
The Yopp-Singer Test of Phonemic Segmentation was developed to quickly and
accurately assess phonemic awareness in primary grade children. The direct positive relationship
between phonemic awareness and reading success has been well documented (Yopp, 1995). The
more phonemically aware a child is, the better he or she will read and spell through elementary
school and beyond. Yopp, in her 1995 study, noted that Stanovich concluded that, “phonemic
awareness is a more potent predictor of reading achievement,” surpassing common literacy skills
such as nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary, and listening comprehension. Clearly, phonemic
awareness is key to developing literacy. As one of the five pillars of literacy instruction,
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
phonemic awareness rates first of the five. Yopp also refers to Adams noting that children who
are not phonetically aware have difficulty developing print proficiency (Yopp, 1995).
Using twenty-two words familiar to young children, the Yopp-Singer test measures a
child’s aptitude to accurately segment words into their phonemes. The test is typically
administered to kindergarten students. Due to the high modality between phonemic awareness
and reading, the Yopp-Singer test is useful for assessing phonemic gaps in kindergarteners and
first graders. The test can be conducted quickly, in 5-10 minutes, by a teacher or a teacher’s
aide/paraprofessional. It is most often administered in a quiet place to an individual student by a
teacher and is presented as a word game. Simple and familiar words are used; for example: ride,
go, and man. The teacher and student work together to correctly segment the words
phonemically: (/r/-/i/-/d/, /g/-/oo/, and /m/-/a/-/n/). The student is then asked to break down each
of the test’s twenty-two words into their separate sounds by themselves. The child cannot read
the words and need only listen to the teacher say the word before segmenting it throughout the
assessment.
Scoring for the test is simple. When a child properly segments the word(s) by sounding
out the phonemes, the teacher circles the question number, acknowledges the child’s correct
response, and moves to the next word. If an incorrect response is given, the teacher then provides
a verbal correction and may note the scoring sheet if desired; but that answer would be marked
as incorrect. There is no partial credit; even if a child properly segments one or two phonemes in
the word. The entire word must be segmented properly in the student’s initial (and only) attempt
to be marked as correct. When complete, the number of correct answers is tallied. In Yopp’s
1988 study, the mean score for kindergarteners taking the test in their second semester was
11.78. Other studies reported a mean score for kindergartens at this stage at 11.39 (Yopp, 1988).
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
Students who scored perfect or nearly perfect scores are deemed phonemically aware. Any
students missing several words, showing a specific (incorrect) trend, or unable to segment any of
the words, will need instructional intervention. This tool gives teachers the ability to target
students lacking phonemic awareness via a simple assessment. The Yopp-Singer Test is
invaluable to teachers of primary grades. Educators at primary grade levels can use this test to
quickly evaluate their students’ levels of phonemic awareness and then take immediate steps
towards developing the proper instruction plans for each student.
William’s Results
When tested (Appendix B, Figure 3), William scored a 19 (out of 22) – he is
phonemically aware. This number is consistent with William’s ability to read well in his grade
level. William stumbled on blended words, first with fine /f/-/i/-/n/ which he segmented as
/f/-/ine/, grew (/g/-/r/-/e/-/w/) which he segmented as /g/-/rew/, and that /th/-/a/-/t/, which he
segmented as /th/-/at/. William was corrected after each miscue and was able to properly
segment blended words in the second half of the test, such as three (th/-/r/-/e/).
Instruction
As William’s teacher, the results from the Yopp-Singer test can be used to tailor
phonemic awareness instruction to William’s needs; specifically, to improve his blended
phoneme sound ability and his segmentation proficiency. Given William’s positive score of
19/22 on the assessment, he needs only a few short phonemic exercises to clarify his auditory
and verbal interpretation and comprehension of blended words. A “Say It Move It” activity with
explicitly focused blended phonemes would suffice. This exercise was developed for two-
phoneme words and can easily be adapted for three- and four- phoneme words (Honig, p.154). In
this activity William would be able to hear the proper phonemes as modeled by the teacher and
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
then work to separate and blend the phonemes together. Buttons would be placed in the center of
the circle, the word “grill” (for example) would be said and then William repeat the word and
move a button for each phoneme, /g//r//i/ /ll/,onto the line and then work to blend the phonemes
together, pronounce the word, and then say it swiftly.
SAY -IT! MOVE-IT
_________________
As Williams gains proficiency with sound separation and blending, sight recognition of
the same and similar blended words would be introduced. Then as he combines sound and sight
word identification, William’s vocabulary and confidence will improve. Knowledge of his
phonemic awareness level acquired from the Yopp-Singer assessment will allow me to place
William in appropriate small learning groups with other phonemically aware children with
blending issues. The inherent desire to learn and read well fuels this competitive child. Reading
aloud and working with others on segmenting blended words will increase William’s confidence,
his phonemic awareness, and word utility. William is also sure to benefit from individual
teacher-student phonemic practice coupled with positive recognition. William scored well on the
Yopp-Singer Assessment and only needs targeted instruction to correct his deficiency. The
assessment will be given to William after two weeks of directed blended sound instruction and
small group reading collaborations to gauge his progress.
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
Reflection
The Yopp-Singer Assessment allows me to gain a deeper understanding of my case study
student. While William does not seem to have any phonemic challenges on the surface, the test
clearly revealed that he had issues with blended sounds and their segmentation. The ERAS
established that William is an on grade-level reader and the Yopp-Singer phonemic test
supported that assessment. William is on target as a first semester second grader. The focused
instruction, brought to light by the Yopp-Singer assessment, will allow me to get him to the next
level. As a teacher, I welcome any assessment that informs me of the needs of my students. The
Yopp-Singer assessment, a test as that can be quickly administered and provides targeted results,
is a boon to any educator. Working through this assessment allowed me to increase my
knowledge of Williams’s needs and aid him to become the fluid reader he wants to be.
The Spelling Inventory
In order to effectively plan instruction, teachers must have a solid understanding of what
their students “already know about words and what they are ready to learn” (Bear, p. 23).
Without such information, educators would be unable to implement effective instructional
planning. Spelling inventories for educational use were first developed in the late 1990’s (Bear,
p.26). These inventories are quick and easy to administer and are usually comprised of list of 25
or so words that students have not previously studied. The Elementary Spelling Inventory was
administered to William at the end of October. This specific inventory consisted of 25 words,
each increasing in difficulty and is in Words Their Way by Bear et al. The test begins with simple
words such as bed and ship, and spelling complexity increases with each word as a student
moves on to words such as place, shopping, chewed, pleasure and ends with opposition. The
student is given blank paper with lines and was asked to write down the spelling of the word
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
after the teacher has said it aloud. Test administrators should say the word clearly and naturally
two times and the use it in a short sentence. This clarifies any confusion as to the meaning of
similar sounding words such as seller and cellar. The entire inventory should take about twenty
minutes. For younger students, the test should be stopped after five words are spelled incorrectly.
According to Bear et al, instruction should begin after a student has made two or more errors in
spelling features; but it is better to have too many than too few words.
Once the child’s written answers are received, the teacher then tallies the assessment with
a scoring sheet. The scoring sheet is divided into developmental stages based on the key spelling
features of each word. Correct spelling of the word is used for the child’s power score. The
features guide and power score allow educators to analyze a student’s errors and determine their
spelling stage designation (Bear, p. 30). Early, Middle, and Late stages are subcategories within
the basic emergent spelling stages of Letter-Name-Alphabet, Within Word Pattern, Syllables and
Affixes, and Derivational Relations.
William’s Results
The Elementary Inventory is valid for grades 1-6 and focuses its developmental range on
letter name-alphabetic to early derivational relations. According to Bear, at the beginning of this
stage students “may only segment and represent the most prominent beginning and final
consonant sounds, demonstrating only partly phonemic awareness” (p. 149). Along their path to
full phonemic awareness, students will encounter and master diagraphs, blends, and short
vowels. Appendix C, Figure 4 shows the results of William’s spelling inventory. Here, we see
how William wrote the words he heard. William had no problem with the spelling words at the
onset of the inventory, correctly writing down initial and final consonants, middle vowels, and
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
digraphs. Out of the first seven words, Williams correctly spelled five of the seven words and
only missed beginning plus ending consonants in only one of the seven words.
Once William’s spelling test was evaluated using the scoring sheet, specific patterns
begin to emerge. Appendix C, Figure 5 shows William’s scoring sheet. Check marks indicate
correct feature identification in William’s spelled words. A circled number indicates that
William’s spelled the word incorrectly and a circled feature indicates improper spelling of the
feature.
William successfully demonstrates his spelling proficiency in the Emergent Stage by
correctly identifying all features incorporated in correctly spelling the first three words, bed,
ship, and when. His proper identification of the short vowel sounds and the diagraphs of those
same words, advances William through the Early Lettername-Alphabetic stage. At word number
four, lump, William’s first misspell is encountered. Although properly identifying the first
consonant and the short vowel features, l and u, William was unable to properly identify the
blended ending feature of the word, writing op instead of mp. He successfully spells the next
word, float, displaying some knowledge of spelling blended features. However, in his spelling of
the next four words, train, place, drive, and bright, the scoring sheet shows his struggle with
consistently identifying and spelling blended features. The tenth word on the inventory,
shopping, again shows William’s proficiency in digraphs and short vowels, sh and o, but
contains a misstep with the inflected ending, pping. The next fifteen words are all misspelled.
William does continue to correctly identify the digraphs in those words as well as exhibit some
proficiency with final syllables. Based on this information, the test reaches its natural stopping
point after the tenth word, shopping. This places William in the Late Lettername-Alphabetic
developmental spelling stage. This stage place is additionally supported by the tallied scores at
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
the bottom of the score sheet. Williams begins to consistently miss two or more key features per
word beginning at the Late Lettername-Alphabetic stage.
Instruction
Instruction for William should begin at the Late Lettername-Alphabetic stage. Based on
information in Words Their Way, William is on target for an early second grader, with a full
alphabetic reading phase and a late beginning reading stage (Bear, p. 45). I would start
instruction for William by anchoring his use of diagraphs to build his confidence. Lessons
revolving around sound/spelling correspondence would include the use of picture cards with
digraphs at both the beginning and the end of the word, like ship and fish. As William shows his
proficiency with ending sounds, blended words could be introduced, such as train, pluck, drove,
and bring. Moving towards the Early Within Word Pattern stage, common long vowel words like
pale, grave, team and smile, as listed in Words Their Way, page 370.
Word study in small groups of William’s peers would occur with two- to three-day cycles
introduced at the beginning of the week and adding on additional words on as the week
continues. Once the initial words are mastered, William would benefit from using his newly
found digraphs, blended words, and long vowel words in echo and repeated reading exercises to
increase his fluency, prosody, and comprehension. In Words Their Way, Bear makes book level
suggestions for William’s stage, including Lexiles at the 200-400 level, F/G letter stage book, or
10-12 books using the numbers level (p. 45). Finding engaging books for William within these
levels will be beneficial to continue his word knowledge. Writing activities, like word maps and
word/graffiti walls, would be attached to the reading exercises to reinforce word sound/sight
correlation. Spell checks, much like mini-spelling inventories, would be administered after three
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
weeks of instruction. Afterwards, a monthly cycle would be created with a spell check given
during the first week of the month, instruction during subsequent weeks, and a follow-up
assessment at the end of the month to monitor William’s progress as he continues his journey
towards fluency.
Reflection
The spelling inventory is another resource in my “Teacher Toolbelt.” It informs me of
just where my student is in his learning continuum. It helps me guide William on his path to
literacy. By knowing what he knows, I can then know what I need to teach him. Use of the
spelling inventory is helpful throughout the year as well, allowing me to gauge his progress and
helping me determine which steps to next take. The spelling inventory can also be an effective
tool when working with parents to quantify and relate their child’s spelling development in a
more concrete format. Parents can immediately see where their child may have struggled and
where they have succeeded. By doing so, it enables teacher and parents to engage in a better-
informed partnership for the student.
The test also reaffirms my previous assessments of William. William is “on point” as a
second grader in the beginning of the school year. He is a capable learner and is eager to improve
his skills. William wants to read well and enjoys reading at home. The moment Williams learns
how to do something right, his face lights up and he wants to use that knowledge to excel.
During parent-teacher-student conferences, he loves showing his mother, Pam Daly, the
improvement in his work. William takes pride in a job well done. I found administering the test a
simple and straightforward process. Scoring the test is not so simple. Much attention to detail
must be paid when scoring a spelling inventory. Certain errors are not counted as a negative,
such as a reversal, where a student, meaning to write the letter d in dog, reverses the letter and
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
writes bog. Teachers need to take their time when scoring the assessment, should be neat and
organized in their writing, need to double check their math, and use a pencil.
Conclusion
Early detection of literacy deficiencies and needs is key in planning instruction for the
emergent reader. The assessments in this case study were administered to determine William’s
points of difficulty (Askew and Fountas, p. 128). It is critical to know where a child “IS” in order
to get them to where they need to “GO.” William is a bright and competitive student who,
initially upon entering the second grade, was not progressing well as a reader. Children cannot
articulate their instructional needs, and it is the teacher’s role to build instructional planning on
specific knowledge of students during their early literacy experiences (Askew, p.132). The
ERAS provided the context within which to relate William’s attitudes toward reading. By
knowing he enjoys recreational reading much more than academic reading, I worked to close his
reading chasm and bridge that gap by find connections between reading at home and in school.
Choosing book types that William enjoyed reading at home and incorporating them into
William’s IRLA block alongside leveled reading texts greatly increased his desire and enjoyment
of academic reading. All language is a code and how we hear words and decode them is the first
step in literacy. The Yopp-Singer assessment helped determine William’s phonemic awareness.
Knowing how William breaks down the words he hears, allowed me to isolate a few
segmentation deficiencies that were easily corrected with individualized targeted instruction. The
Spelling Inventory pinpointed William’s location on the developmental scale by isolating the
features needing attention and allowed me to provide specific instruction anchoring diagraphs
and providing word study in small group setting. The assessments showed that, while William is
on target for a second grader, he did have specific needs. Armed with the results from the
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
assessments, I had the ability to create instruction specific to William’s key needs, creating a
successful roadmap for his path to literacy. These assessments proved to be effective tools for
creating targeted quality instruction for William and for communicating his needs with parents
and fellow teachers through easily explainable, quantitative data.
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
Appendix A – ERAS Results
Figure 1: Sample from William's ERAS
Figure 2: William's ERAS Scoring Sheet
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
Appendix B – Yopp-Singer Assessment
Figure 3: William's Yopp-Singer Scoring Sheet
EMERGENT LITERACY TESTING
Appendix C – Spelling Inventory
Figure 4: William's Spelling Inventory Test
Figure 5: William's Spelling inventory Scoring Sheet
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References
Askew, B. J., and I. C. Fountas. "Building an Early Reading Process: Active from the Start." The
Reading Teacher 52 (1998): 126-134.
Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2012). Elementary spelling
inventory. Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling
instruction, 270-271.
Hemenway. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2019, from
https://elementaryschools.org/directory/ma/cities/framingham/hemenway/250498000721/
Honig, B., Diamond, L., & Gutlohn, L. (2018). Teaching Reading Sourcebook. Oakland, CA:
Arena Press.
McKenna, M.& Kear, D. (1990). Measuring Attitude Toward Reading: A New Tool for
Teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 629-630.
Purves, A.C. & Beach, R. (1972). Literature and the Reader: Research in Response to Literature,
Reading Interests, and the Teaching of Literature. National Council of Teachers of
English. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED068973
Yopp, H. K. (1995). A test for assessing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading
Teacher, 49(1), 20-29.