Students have difficulty reading words when they lack the phonological and phonemic knowledge to analyse the letter information or are unable to recall the names and sounds of letter clusters rapidly.
Assessment task
This assessment can be used to identify the nature of a student’s word reading difficulty.
The assessment includes word reading profiles and student word lists that provide words of increasing complexity aligned to the Victorian Curriculum. The word reading profiles and student word lists are presented within the Victorian Curriculum levels: 6−7, 7−8 and 8−10.
Instructions
- Follow the instructions for administering the Word Reading assessment below.
- Record the student’s responses on the appropriate Word Reading Profile:
Administering the word reading assessment 6-10
In this task, students demonstrate their ability to use letter-sound (ls) knowledge and sight vocabulary (SV) to read words.
Resources
Administering the assessment
This assessment should initially be administered within one of the Victorian Curriculum levels based on knowledge of the student’s reading behaviours. If the assessment is appropriate for the student’s word reading level, they will respond with less than five errors.
To ascertain the appropriate level for focused teaching, the assessment may need to be administered within more than one level.
Instructions
The following instructions outline the steps to take before the assessment, during the assessment and after the assessment:
Before the assessment
- Access the Student's Word List and use the appropriate set of words to complete the assessment.
- Pseudo or nonsense words are included in the word list to assess the student’s ability to apply phonic knowledge and skills to decode unfamiliar words.
- Access the corresponding Word Reading Profile, which will be used to record the student’s responses.
- Read the following instructions to the student: I am going to show you a list of words. You may not have seen some of the words before. I would like you to try to say each word correctly and as quickly as you can. You are allowed to change your mind about how you say a word. I will write down what you say for each word. I’d like you to begin reading the words.
During the assessment
- Record the student’s responses on the Word Reading Profile under the student response column and tick the appropriate response pattern for analysis as described below:
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Automatic and correct – The student reads the word correctly and rapidly
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Hesitates – The student reads the word correctly after a delay
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Says parts first – The student reads the word correctly after saying parts of the word first
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Self corrects – The student reads the word correctly after reading the word or parts of the word incorrectly
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Incorrect with shared letters – The student reads the word incorrectly but the response shares some letters with the word
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Incorrect after parts correct – The student reads the word incorrectly after saying parts of the word correctly
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Incorrect or no response – The student reads the word incorrectly or no response is given.
- If the student reads five incorrect responses, cease the assessment and administer the assessment for the previous level.
- Continue to administer the assessment at a lower level until the student responds with less than five errors.
- If the student reads five incorrect responses for the 6−7 assessment, refer to the assessment tasks provided for previous levels in
Word reading years 3-6 (assessment ages 9-12).
- Record the number of letter-sound (ls) knowledge and sight vocabulary (SV) words the student read for each response pattern using the table provided on the Word Reading Profile.
- Using the Word Reading Profile, review and analyse the student’s responses. For further information see:
Word reading years 7-10 (assessment ages 13-16) – Analysing the Results.
Timing
The assessment can be administered in one session. It should take approximately 5-8 minutes to complete.
Analysing the results
Using the Word Reading Profile, review and analyse the student’s responses to identify what the student can already do and where they need additional support. Additional information is provided on interpreting the results.
See:
Analysing the response patterns for the Word Reading Profile (doc - 203.5kb)
If the student requires additional support, the focused teaching strategies in this resource can be used to support their development within this area of knowledge. The strategies are presented in a developmental sequence to systematically teach aspects of word reading.
See:
Focused teaching years 7-10 (ages 13-16).