Literacy profile examples

Phonological skills

Mason can identify rhyming words and count syllables in multisyllabic words.

Phonemic segmenting skills

Mason can segment three- and four-sound words into separate sounds. They can also identify initial and final sounds in consonant-vowel-consonant, consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant and consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant words. Mason’s ability to identify medial sounds, particularly vowels, is not yet consistently accurate.

Phonemic blending skill

Mason can blend the separate sounds in three- and four-sound words fairly consistently although some errors are made on long vowels.

Level of phonemic development

Mason’s phonological awareness and phonemic skills are best described by the indicators in the National Literacy Learning Progressions.

Types of words read independently

Mason can read exceptional words (words with unusual or uncommon spelling) accurately at a Year 1 level.

Word analysis strategies for unfamiliar words

Mason’s ability to decode single, one-syllable words (containing three to five graphemes) is inconsistent. Errors are typically made on words containing long vowels, particularly diphthongs.

Complexity of texts student can comprehend reading out loud

Mason reads texts that describe everyday events at an age-appropriate level.

Use of comprehension strategies

Due to Mason’s inconsistent decoding skills, they are reading simple, highly phonically controlled books only. The books they are attempting to read independently contain phoneme-grapheme pairs that Mason has mastered.

Comprehension – retell

Mason can retell portions of the decodable books that they read.

Comprehension – literal

Mason can answer literal questions about the decodable books that they read with approximately 60 per cent consistency. As Mason needs to expend a lot of cognitive energy on decoding the words, their ability to retain the contents of the book is somewhat compromised at present.

Comprehension – inferential

It is not yet appropriate to assess Mason’s inferential comprehension of written text.

Out loud

Mason can spell some regular two- and three-sound words that have a short-vowel sound.

Writing

Mason’s written spelling of regular two- and three-sound words with a short vowel is fairly consistent, and they recode most single consonants and consonant digraphs well.  Single syllable words that contain long vowels are spelt with far less accuracy. For example, Mason spelled ‘fod’ instead of ‘food’ and ‘gay’ instead of ‘gave’.

Ability to express ideas

Mason understands that writing is speech (language) that is written down and that writing is used to express ideas. They can write three- to five-word/one-event sentences about familiar topics or topics discussed in class.

Some grammatical errors are apparent, particularly in relation to inaccurate use or omission of morphological markers (see section on oral language for more detail).

Use of writing conventions

Mason knows that print goes from left to right, top to bottom and has spaces between written words. They overuse uppercase letters, for example, Mason wrote ‘He Is a doG’.

Write for a purpose

Mason can explain what they intend to write before starting to write and often says each word out loud as they write it.

Handwriting

Mason uses an appropriate pencil grip, paper placement and posture for writing. Letter writing is accurate and Mason's short sentences are clear and legible.

Oral language skills

Ideas they communicate – vocabulary, sentences and prose: Mason’s communication is best described by the second half of Foundation in Speaking and Listening. Mason’s vocabulary comprehension and use are limited, and they generally speak in simple one-event sentences. Mason takes time to compose each sentence. They can stay on a topic over three to four sentences.

Their listening comprehension is limited to two or three sentences at a time.

Conventions they use – phonological, grammatical and genre

In terms of articulation, Mason shows delayed development with respect to pronunciation of some speech sounds, including ‘r’, ‘s’, ‘z’ ‘th’ and ‘l’. This means that certain words are pronounced in error. Overall, Mason’s speech production is intelligible and they are able to make themselves understood.

Mason’s grammatical skills in oral language are mildly delayed. They tend to over-generalise morphological rules such as adding ‘ed’ to verbs. For example, saying ‘the dogs swimmed’ instead of ‘the dogs swum’, or otherwise adding ‘s’ to pluralise nouns, for example, ‘foots’ or ‘feets’ instead of feet.

Mason still makes occasional errors with subject–verb agreement. For example, Mason said: ‘They “drinks" iced tea’ instead of ‘They “drink” iced tea’.

They use coordinating conjunctions to join clauses into compound sentences, for example: ‘I watched the tennis and Dad watched the football’. They are less likely to use subordinate conjunctions to form complex sentences yet.

Purposeful communication

For the most part, Mason uses verbal communication effectively, for example, to ask for help or for something else, to give and follow instructions and directions. Mason can pair this with relevant nonverbal cues. Mason speaks at an appropriate volume and pace and uses intonation well.

Letter name and sound links

Mason was able to recall the names of all letters other than q, z, u, j and k. They also had difficulty recalling the common sounds (phonemes) for the letters j, c, v, y, z, x and q.

Rapid automatised naming skill

Mason took a long time to name the letters they could name correctly. Mason’s RAN score was in the fifth percentile range for their age group.

Concepts about print

Mason understands early key concepts about print (book orientation and handling and directionality of print) and has a sound understanding of books, pages, words and letters. As noted earlier, Mason’s knowledge of the alphabet is not fully embedded.

Language development

Languages spoken at home, development of language, identified language issues, reading practices at home, communication skill.

Mason’s home language is English, although Mason does understand some Macedonian. School records indicate that Mason reached developmental benchmarks in language and communication more slowly than their peers in Prep and Year 1. The existing data about Mason’s language ability suggests the need to gather additional data about their reading practices and use of language at home.

Sensory issues

Sensory issues include earlier visual and auditory perceptual problems.

Mason’s school records indicate that they do not have a history of visual-perceptual or auditory issues. Mason does not use hearing or visual aids of any sort.

Emotional, social issues

Emotional social issues include emotional management ability, social interaction difficulties.

Mason is a well-liked student who socialises easily with peers and without difficulties, aside from underdeveloped oral language skills.

Physical issues

Physical issues include physical development and motor co-ordination. Mason has no known physical development and motor co-ordination issues.

Intellectual development and skills

Intellectual development and skills includes general reasoning ability, developmental milestones, conceptual maturity, ability to remember, retain ideas in short-term memory.

School records show that Mason has not had a formal general ability assessment. Following development of adjustments and a new program of learning, this may be necessary.

Medical issues

Medical issues include early medical issues that impacted on readiness for literacy learning.

Mason has no known medical issues.

Interventions

Previously, Mason has not received additional literacy support or intervention beyond the differentiated, evidence-based delivery of curriculum.

Periods of successful learning

Mason’s other teachers did not have data about this. However, Mason does tend to enjoy more success when working one-on-one with a teacher and during silent reading and writing times when they are less likely to be distracted.

Breaks in attendance

Mason has not had any significant breaks in attendance.

Family history of literacy difficulty or slower language development

Mason’s parents have reported no family history of literacy difficulties or delayed language development.

Attitude toward reading and writing

Mason is a reluctant reader. Mason does not read for interest or pleasure at home and does not enjoy writing or sharing ideas about texts with others at school. Mason sees reading and writing as something that they must do but over which they have no control.

Self-efficacy

Mason has a low opinion of their abilities when it comes to reading and writing. Mason doesn’t believe that they can be successful as a reader or writer and often says things like ‘I’m not good at reading’ or ‘I’m a bad speller’ and even ‘I’m dumb’.

Use of appropriate task-organisational strategies

Mason rarely thinks ahead or plans how to approach texts or writing. Mason has difficulty keeping focus and staying on-task and has started distracting others during silent reading or writing times.

Conclusions

Mason’s literacy profile provides a base for planning a program of learning and relevant interventions. Across all areas of literacy knowledge and pre-requisite literacy learning skill, Mason’s existing skills are roughly at Foundation level.

Mason’s literacy learning difficulty seems to be due to gaps in their oral language as well as phonemic awareness and orthographic knowledge. Before their reading and writing knowledge and skills can grow, Mason’s pre-requisite literacy knowledge and skills must be improved, embedded and mastered. Based on teachers’ observations, Mason will most likely benefit from small-group instruction to achieve this.

Mason’s engagement with and attitudes toward literacy learning are not positive. Mason experiences frustration and is reluctant when reading and writing. Mason does not hold a high opinion of their own literacy abilities and potential. Mason will benefit from additional encouragement and recognition of their progress. Mason’s teacher should draw on reflective questions during interactions. For example:

• What do you know now that you didn’t know before?
  
• How has reading helped you? What can you do now that you couldn’t do before?
  
• How do you think you might use what you have learned in the future?
  

It's important to help students like Mason see that reading and writing can help them feel different emotions like happiness, curiosity, excitement or amusement. Encourage students to talk about what they imagine when they read, to describe the ‘pictures’ they see in their minds. Check-in and see how well they remember these pictures by asking about them the following day or week.

In recognition of the fact that Mason’s existing literacy and pre-requisite literacy skills are in the first six months of Foundation, the early goals of intervention should target the knowledge and skills that are typically developed during the second half of Foundation.

For more information, refer to Key literacy knowledge and skills for students in Prep to Year 2.

Next steps

Mason’s teacher needs to focus on developing Mason’s oral language, as well as phonemic awareness and orthographic skills. Improving Mason’s attitude toward literacy, self-efficacy and organisation skills are also important.

Mason's profile potentially points to the need for specialist evaluation of their general abilities as well as their oral language if there is little change over the next six months. Formal assessments may help determine which aspects of a broad area of knowledge a student has in place, and which areas need to be targeted in the intervention.

Consider the following questions when planning interventions or adjustments to support a student’s learning:

• What does the student need to learn next? Use developmental pathways (for example, the Victorian Curriculum F–10: English) that can locate the student and their existing knowledge and skills as a guide for what to teach.
  
• How will you sequence what they need to learn? Certain knowledge and skills may need to be developed before the student can demonstrate others or meet literacy goals.
  
• How will you develop their attitudes toward literacy and themselves as learners and users of literacy?
  
• What organisational skills will you teach the student to develop their capacity to teach themselves.
  
• How will you adapt your classroom to be a better environment or culture for learning?
• What will continue to require scaffolding? How will you gradually release responsibility for learning back to the student?
  

Peter’s reading comprehension was assessed using Linear English tests from the Digital Assessment Library (DAL).

Peter’s outcome on the Level 5 Set A Assessment was scored as ‘Not enough information’.

Peter did not answer sufficient items correctly to permit a valid inference of their learning. Peter’s outcome on the Level 4 Set A was scored at Range 1. Their performance suggests that Peter is beginning to develop literacy skills and knowledge at Level 4.

The complexity of the texts Peter can comprehend, the comprehension strategies they can use independently and the types of comprehension outcomes they can display, were inferred by identifying the items Peter answered correctly on their Item Summary Response Report and on the Guttman Chart. These can be arranged for each strand and substrand of English for each level.

Complexity of texts student can comprehend

Peter correctly answered 45 per cent of the items at Level 3 and none of the items at Level 4. Their ability to respond to written texts and to use appropriate language knowledge and skills is developing at Level 4.

The following information outlines the types of comprehension outcomes Peter displayed in terms of the strands and substrands.

Literacy – interpreting, analysing and evaluating at Level 3

Peter correctly answered 40 per cent of the items assessing VCELY257 and the item that assists VCELY256. Peter did not correctly answer any of the 12 Level 4 items that assess VCELY288.

Literature – responding to literature

Peter correctly answered 80 per cent of the items assessing Level 4 VCELT283.

Language – expressing and developing ideas

Peter correctly answered the Level 4 item assessing VCELA292. Peter answered incorrectly the Level 5 items assessing VCELA323 and VCELA325.

Language – text structure and organisation

Peter correctly answered the Level 4 item assessing VCELA277 and 50 per cent of the Level 4 items assessing VCELA290. Peter answered incorrectly the Level 5 item assessing LA309.

Peter’s use of comprehension strategies indicates that they:

• understood various Levels 3 and 4 language features (items 2, 5, 23)
  
• manipulated ideas in simple sentences (items 7, 30)
• identified the features of a report (item 1)
  
• Identified directly stated information in both Level 3 narrative and information texts (items 16, 30, 35, 39)
  
• Comprehended figurative language in a narrative
  
• Inferred detail in a Level 3 information text.
  

These data suggest that Peter uses independently some text comprehension strategies typical of Level 3. They use these with both fiction and non-fiction at this level. Peter’s language skills support the comprehension of Level 4 texts.

Types of words read independently

Peter accurately read individual words at their age level.

Word analysis strategies for unfamiliar words

Peter used letter cluster and morphological awareness strategies effectively to segment multi-syllabic words and blended the sound patterns effectively. Peter displayed an appropriate understanding of the schwa (a vowel sound in an unstressed syllable, where a vowel does not make its long or short vowel sound. It usually sounds like the short 'u' sound, such as: balloon).

Peter correctly spelt words of up to four syllables, including some that had exceptional patterns.

Ability to express ideas

Peter’s selection of vocabulary is limited and they appear to have an underdeveloped set of Tier-2 vocabulary words. They tend not to use shades of meaning and a limited number of phrases. Their sentences usually communicate meaning clearly, with comparatively few separate ideas organised about a main idea or theme. Peter is aware that a narrative begins with a context and includes a complication and a resolution. Peter’s texts are standard and sometimes superficial, demonstrating little imagination or creativity in ideas or organisation.

Use of writing conventions

Peter sentences usually consist of one or two events with few embedded clauses. They are usually grammatically correct and have correct and appropriate punctuation. Peter uses comparatively simple conjunctions and pronouns to achieve cohesion between sentences. Their texts are usually organised into appropriate paragraphs, with each paragraph developing a meaning over two or three sentences.

Write for a purpose

Peter can write for a range of purposes (recount, tell a story, persuade, explain or instruct). Peter can select the text structure to match each of these purposes and can say the goal for a text before they begin to write it.

Peter shows a basic awareness of needing to take account of the audience and reader expectations. They are aware that in narratives, for example, that they need to provide the reader with a description of the main protagonists and the setting. On occasions, however, these are brief.

In summary the texts Peter writes are typical of Level 3 writing ability.

Oral language skills

Peter’s oral language skills were compared with their peers in retelling and recounting tasks, listening comprehension and regular language discourse in the classroom.

Ideas they communicate – vocabulary, sentences and prose

Peter uses a small range of listening strategies (asking what, when, why, questions about a text they heard). Peter recalls literally texts they have heard and recalls fewer ideas than their peers. They frequently request statements to be repeated.

Peter understands and correctly expresses a range of meaningful relationships about familiar events. These include cause and effect using ‘because’ or ‘for’, conditions using ‘if’ or ‘when’, generalisations, exclusive relationships using ‘except’ and ‘however’ and persuasive relationships using modals such as ‘would’, ‘could’ and ‘might’.

Peter composes and expresses relatively simple sentences that use little differentiation of vocabulary. Peter’s vocabulary is more general than specific, and their spoken presentations are short, with a few connected sentences on familiar and learned topics.

Conventions they use – phonological, grammatical and genre

Peter’s pronunciation of words is generally age appropriate. Their use of grammatical skill is typical of Level 4. Peter uses sequences ideas and events appropriately, generally uses correct grammatical forms (pronouns, plurals), appropriate structure and form, adjectives, adverbs and some relative clauses to elaborate meaning. Peter uses genre conventions to organise and sequence sentences logically, including conjunctions such as ‘then’ and ‘next’.

Purposeful communication

For the most part, Peter uses verbal communication effectively. Peter engages in speaking and listening in small group and whole-class discussion for a range of purposes or goals. They interact using appropriate language and communication protocols (for example, taking turns as speaker and listener, expressing agreement and disagreement), they stay on and extend the topic in an exchange and vary their intonation or volume and pace with pausing for emphasis to suit the purpose and audience.

Phonological and phonemic skills

Peter displayed generally age-appropriate phonemic development. They segmented and blended the sound patterns for multi-syllabic words and displayed an understanding of the schwa and its use in multi-syllabic words.

Language development

Language development includes languages spoken at home, development of language, identified language issues, reading practices at home, communication skill.

Peter’s home language is English. The data in their literacy profile suggests that Peter’s language ability may require further evaluation.

Sensory issues

Sensory issues include earlier visual and auditory perceptual problems.

Peter’s school records suggest they do not have visual-perceptual or auditory issues.

Emotional, social issues

Emotional and social issues include emotional management ability, social interaction difficulties.

Peter is perceived to be generally emotionally stable and socially competent. They usually manage their emotional expression well.

Peter experiences increased stress and anxiety when required to engage in activities that involve reading comprehension. Peter knows they can read words accurately and cannot understand why they have difficulty understanding what a text is saying. Peter doubts their own ability to comprehend text and seeks to avoid engagement in these activities. Peter has difficulty keeping focus and staying on-task, they are easily distracted and distracts peers during silent reading comprehension or writing activities.

Physical issues

Physical issues include physical development and motor co-ordination. Peter has no known physical development and motor co-ordination issues.

Intellectual development and skills

Intellectual development and skills include general reasoning ability, developmental milestones, conceptual maturity, ability to remember, retain ideas in short-term memory.

Peter has not had a formal general ability assessment. Following development of adjustments and a new program of learning, this may be necessary.

Medical issues

Medical issues include early medical issues that impacted on readiness for literacy learning.

Peter experiences migraines, on average, six to eight times a year. They have medication to take if they feel a migraine coming on and can reliably detect this sensation.

Interventions

Peter has not had earlier access to additional literacy support or intervention.

Periods of successful learning

Peter’s school did not have data about this.

Breaks in attendance

Peter would not attend school for two to three days at a time because of migraine. In the last year, attendance has been much more consistent now that they are able to pre-empt the onset of a migraine and take medication.

Family history of literacy difficulty or slower language development

Peter’s parents have reported no family history of literacy difficulties or delayed language development.

Attitude toward reading and writing

Peter has negative attitudes to reading comprehension and writing, and is somewhat reluctant to engage in reading and writing tasks for fear of failure. Peter reads news about sport for interest or pleasure at home but little else. Peter sees reading and writing as activities they must do but have no control over.

Self-efficacy

Peter does not feel confident in their own ability to comprehend text and is perplexed about what they need to do to improve their ability.

Use of appropriate metacognitive strategies for text comprehension

Peter is not aware of the actions they can take to manage or improve their reading comprehension activity. Peter has assumed that saying text out loud is sufficient for reading comprehension. Peter does not actively plan in a reading session, monitor for meaning as they read, or review and consolidate during the activity.

Conclusions

Peter’s literacy profile provides a starting point for planning a teaching program. Peter’s text comprehension ability is developing at Level 3. The text interpretation, analysis and evaluation skills Peter uses independently are at this level. Peter comprehends literally aspects of both narrative and information texts and displays limited inferential skills at this level.

Two areas of knowledge underpin reading comprehension: word reading accuracy and oral language comprehension. Peter’s word reading and spelling ability were typical for their age and year level. Their level of text comprehension ability is attributed to their oral language knowledge and skill. The assessment indicates that the language skills Peter needs to support text comprehension are developing at Level 4.

The description of Peter’s oral language in both speaking and listening supports this interpretation. Peter’s ability to comprehend and express ideas in oral language is generally immature. Their knowledge of the conventions of language and their purposeful communication are better developed.

Peter’s negative engagement with and attitude toward reading comprehension and writing are linked with a lack of knowledge of effective comprehension strategies. Peter doesn’t know what they can do to improve their comprehension and writing. When Peter improves their use of comprehension strategies and their metacognitive management of them, they will perceive they have more control over their reading activity and self-efficacy in this area is likely to improve.

It's important to help students like Peter see that reading and writing can help them feel different emotions like happiness, curiosity, excitement or amusement. Encourage students to talk about what they imagine when they read, to describe the ‘pictures’ they see in their minds. Check-in and see how well they remember these pictures by asking about them the following day or week.

Next steps

Before Peter’s Year 5 reading and writing knowledge and skills can be developed, their pre-requisite literacy knowledge and skills must be improved, embedded and mastered. Based on the teachers’ observations, Peter will most likely benefit from one-on-one support and small-group instruction to achieve this. The next steps are to focus on developing Peter’s oral language and improving their attitudes toward literacy, self-efficacy and metacognitive skills for reading.           

Consider the following questions when planning for interventions or adjustments to support a student’s learning:

• What does the student need to learn next? Use developmental pathways (for example, the Victorian Curriculum F–10: English) that can locate the student and their existing knowledge and skills as a guide for what to teach. The Guttman Chart Report is a valuable tool for planning the teaching for any student. It indicates the order of difficulty of the test items for a cohort. Each item assesses a particular comprehension skill. The order of difficulty of the items indicates the order of difficulty of the skills the items assess and therefore the order in which you need to teach the skill that matches each item. The item intents describe these skills.
• How will you sequence what they need to learn? Certain knowledge and skills may need to be developed before the student can demonstrate others or meet literacy goals. The Guttman Chart also indicates where in the sequence of items you can begin the teaching for any student; this is the items where the student’s outcomes first change from being correct to incorrect. For Peter’s class, the chart shows the order of difficulty of the easiest 10 test items as follows, with those answered incorrectly by Peter indicated by an asterisk:  1, 13*, 24, 30, 22*, 12*, 8*, 39, 21*, 23. You would probably begin the teaching by targeting the skills that match items 13 and 22.
• How will you develop their attitudes toward literacy and themselves as learners and users of literacy? You can draw on reflective questions during interactions with the student, for example:
  • What do you know now that you didn’t know before?
  • How has reading helped you? What can you do now that you couldn’t before?
  • How do you think you might use what you have learned in the future?
    
• What organisational skills will you teach the student to develop their capacity to teach themselves?
  
• How will you adapt your classroom to be a better environment/culture for learning?
• What will continue to require scaffolding? How will you gradually release responsibility for learning back to the student?
  

For more information refer to Helping students to become independent learners.