How Can Teachers Help Assess Struggling Readers In Their Class?

Assess student progress to ensure effective learning with reading…

All students meet and understand class text in different ways, depending on the “files” they have gathered since birth. A teacher’s awareness of how easy or difficult the text is for each student makes learning stronger for everyone.

Reading is the foundation to learn. The first step in implementing good reading instruction is to determine student baseline performance. Some students enter the classroom with special needs that require review of basic skills in reading, while others may have mastered the content a teacher intends to cover. Due to the various student levels, it is necessary that teachers design the literacy instruction keeping in mind learning needs of each student. These assessments provide teachers with the information needed to develop appropriate lessons and improve instruction for all students, including students with disabilities (Rhodes & Shanklin, 1993).

There are various ways to gather assessment data. Assessments can measure five main components of reading:

1. Phonomic Awareness
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound, that make up spoken words and Phonomic Awareness is defined as the ability to “focus on and manipulate phonemes in spoken words.”
Phonomic awareness impacts meaningful reading, and thus it is critical for students to develop this skill. When a person hears and says that the word ‘cat’ has three sounds, or phonemes /k/ /a/ /t/ they’ve demonstrated their understanding. Skills involved in phonomic awareness include: Identifying specific sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words. A child lacking in their development benefits from specialized instruction in this area.

2. Phonics
Phonics are a set of rules that specify the relationship between letters and sounds. The English language has such rules that help predict the sounds in new words. However, it is not always consistent. Learning about phonics will help students read and spell easily and accurately. It involves recognizing letter-sound relationships and then using those relationships to read connected text.
There are different approaches to teaching Phonics, and it is best learned in a systematic manner. Some reading assessments focus on this area. Students having difficulty in phonics will struggle with reading and writing activities across subject areas.

3. Fluency
Fluency is the accurate and rapid recognition of words in a text and using phrasing and emphasis in a way that makes what is read sound like spoken language. Fluency is important for reading comprehension, because it frees up working memory in the brain providing an opportunity for students to comprehend what they are reading.
Students struggling in this skill may need support and guidance to improve their reading fluency. Various assessments assess for the specific skill of fluency.

4. Vocabulary
Vocabulary refers to the words that we use in reading, writing, listening and speaking. A good vocabulary helps ease word recognition, and thus makes reading easier. When students see a new word that is not recognized as part of their oral vocabulary, they’ll find both reading it and comprehension of the sentence to be difficult.
Vocabulary needs to be taught directly, even though a lot of vocabulary is actually learned indirectly. Repeated exposure to new words is essential and words are best learned when taught in context. Thus, active participation in vocabulary tasks helps students to better learn vocabulary.

5. Comprehension
Comprehension is the final goal of reading. This involves being able to connect what has been read to what the reader knows, constructing meaning that is reasonable and accurate and then, contemplating this information until the meaning is understood.
While teachers often focus on this aspect of reading, it is important to understand that difficulties in this area are often a result of deficits in other aspects of reading. In addition, there are several strategies that can help improve comprehension.

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