Assessment may be defined as an evaluation or appraisal; it is about making a judgment, identifying the strengths and weaknesses; it is not simply giving marks though that is usually part of it.
Why assess comprehension?
As a reading specialist it is important that we assess comprehension since this is the ‘bottom line’ of reading. Measuring comprehension provides an indication of how all the sub processes of reading are working together as a team. Inability to comprehend may be caused by a multitude of factors including Poor decoding, limited prior knowledge, poorly developed reading strategies, fluency and vocabulary. Assessment of comprehension may therefore be carried out as a first step to initially determine if there is a reading problem of any kind; this can then be followed by detailed tests of the sub-components if a problem is determined. Two key reasons for assessment are:
• To gauge the degree to which a student has comprehended a particular selection
• To estimate the instructional level of proficiency
How to assess comprehension
1. Questions - questions at various levels (literal, inferential and critical) of thinking can provide a glimpse of how a student has processed a reading selection
2. Cloze assessment – involves deleting words from a prose selection and asking students to replace them on the basis of the remaining context. The ability to provide logical replacement words is thought to indicate the extent to which the student is able to comprehend.
3. Maze – a multiple choice variation of the cloze assessment
4. Oral retellings – the student is asked to orally retell the content of a reading selection
For further information on assessing comprehension http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/session8/sec3p2.html
http://www.faqs.org/copyright/illustrations-for-teaching-and-assessing-comprehension/
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ752767&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ752767
Assessment is a necessary component to instruction. Assessment tools are used to determine what is working and what should be taught. This is necessary to ensure that we plan effective lessons to move our students from known to unknown.
I find Clay's model (1985)useful to address reading difficulties. It states basically:
ReplyDelete1.The student should read familiar material in order to build his confidence. the teacher can help here by reading aloud and having the child model him.
2.The teacher should take running records to assess the student's progress
3. Developing letter identification knowledge, such as developing awareness of sounds in words and examining similarly spelled words
4. Once the students has mastered this, then he should move on to reading new material that is of low readability and high interest, in order to continue building his confidence.