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A. Word Identification in Content: Oral Reading
B. Unaided Recall
C. Comprehension Questions

What You Need:
1. A student copy of two narrative oral reading passages and one expository reading passage at each predicted grade level  (at least a range of three grade levels to be prepared for all types of students)
2. An examiner’s copy of each graded oral reading passage, the retelling scoring sheet, and the comprehension questions that accompany each passage

Purpose:

1. to determine a student’s independent, instructional and /or frustration levels for word identification in context
2. to determine a student’s independent, instructional and /or frustration levels for comprehension
3. to assess a student’s ability to read different types of text (eg. narrative, expository, familiar, unfamiliar, with and without pictures)
4. to assess a student’s ability to comprehend in different modes (eg. orally or silently)

A. Word Identification in Context: Oral Reading

Procedure:

1. Selecting a passage: The examiner must choose a passage for the student to read, using guidelines from the word lists, concept questions and/or prediction tasks to ascertain familiarity with the topic of the selection.    Choose a level where the student has attained the independent level on the accompanying word list.  If time is short, once you obtain an instructional level, you can often estimate the independent and frustrational level.

• If student scores within independent or instructional range on 1st passage, choose another familiar narrative passage at the next highest level.  Continue moving upward until the student reaches a frustration level.
• If student reaches frustration level on 1st passage, move downward until the student reaches an instructional level.
• For unfamiliar text, the examiner should begin one level lower than the level attained in familiar material.
• (Optional) At instructional level, if the student reads first passage orally, s/he should read the second one at the same level silently to compare performance in two different reading modes. If the first is read silently, s/he should read the second one orally.

 2. Administering the Oral Reading Passage

Oral Reading: Examiner says “I have some passages for you to read.  (Optional for Grade 3 and above: Some you will read out loud and some you will read silently.) I will be writing down what you say, and because I cannot remember everything you say, I will also be taping you.   I cannot help you in any way.  If you come to a word you do not know, just do the best you can and continue on.  After, I will ask you to tell me about what you can remember about the passage just as if you were telling it to someone who had never heard it before.  I will also ask you some questions about what you have read.  Ready?  The first passage is called _________”.Remember to note the starting and ending time of reading to estimate words read per minute.

Optional: Sometimes I ask an older, weak reader to read the passage silently first and then to read it out loud while I record miscues.  You can note this on the recording form and use this as an instructional strategy to compare with a passage that the student only reads silently or only reads out loud for overall comprehension.

Silent Reading: It is better to evaluate expository text through silent reading, particularly for students at Grade 3 level or above.  You can also assess the transition to reading silently with reading passages at Grade 2 or 3.  Use the same directions to the student as for Oral Reading.

3. How to score results

1. Oral Reading Miscue Analysis:

• Count the number of oral reading miscues to determine a level for word identification in context (determine one of two totals – Total Accuracy is faster to score to determine whether to move up a level; however, Total Acceptability is the best predictor of instructional level comprehension, it is more efficient to assess this after the testing situation)
a. Count all miscues to get a score for Total Accuracy -  use chart for fastest scoring (for more exact scoring: subtract # of miscues from total # of words in passage, then divide this number by # of words in passage)    [Indep=98%; Instruc=90-97%; Frus=less than 90%)
b. Count all miscues which change or distort meaning or is ungrammatical to get a score for Total Acceptability (insertions, omissions, or substitutions that change meaning)
• After the testing situation, more closely examine the types of miscues (whole word substitutions, non-word substitutions, omissions and insertions); you can assess two qualities of each miscue using the miscue analysis worksheet
• Was the miscue semantically acceptable (was meaning kept)?
• Was the miscue graphically similar?  (B,M,E)

 Special Notes:

• Each mispronunciation of the word is scored as a separate miscue.  (only one miscue if the mispronunciation does not change meaning and is consistent across the entire passage)
• An entire line omitted counts as one miscue
• Comparing miscues made at instructional level vs. those made at frustrational level can give insight into how a student employs different strategies

 

 
 

B. Unaided Recall:

Procedure: After the student has finished reading the selection, the examiner should remove the passage and say, "Now I'd like you to retell what you just read as if it were being told to someone who had never read or heard it before."  After the student has retold as much as s/he can, the examiner  asks "Is there anything else you would like to say about the passage?  Can you remember anything else that the author wrote about?  Does the title help you remember any other details?"

Scoring: Place a check next to each explicit idea listed on the scoring sheet.  As an option, you can indicate the sequence of each idea as retold by the student (after listening again to a tape recording).  Write in any additional recalled ideas.  This recall can be evaluated for completeness, accuracy, sequence and use of narrative and expository structure.  You can also compare the quality of this unaided recall to the student’s ability to answer explicit and implicit questions about passage content in the next comprehension question section.

What does this test tell you?
This test can provide valuable information with implications for instruction.

• Do the retellings of narrative material retain the basic structure of the narratives?  Is the most important information included? (If not, student may not have understanding of story structure)
• Do the retellings of expository material retain the main idea and supporting detail structure of the selection? If the most important information included? (If not, student may not understand main ideas and details in exposition.)
• Has the student internalized enough of the structure of the passage to use it to help his recall?
• Are the retellings sequential?
• Is the recall accurate?

C. Comprehension Questions:

Procedure: After the student has retold to the best of his or her ability, the examiner should ask the comprehension questions.  Record the student’s response in the space provided as mark as correct or incorrect.  Students that provide answers from background knowledge can be asked “But what do the clues in the passage tell you?”  Count the number of questions answered correctly to determine the comprehension level.  Compare the number of explicit questions answered correctly vs. implicit questions.  Use the chart at the end of the examiner’s passage scoring sheet to record these totals and to quickly approximate a level to know whether to have the student continue reading at the next level or stop.

Scoring: Award one point for each correct answer.  Use the chart at the end of the comprehension questions to record these numbers.  Answers to explicit questions are only correct if the answer is stated explicitly in the passage.  Answers to inferential questions are only considered correct if the answer relates to a clue in the passage; answers from background knowledge are not considered correct. At the pre-primer level, there are no inferential questions, but students may use information from the pictures to answer an explicit question. You  must score the questions as you go along.  The scores tell you when to move to higher passages and when to stop.

What does this test tell us?

• The results of this test can help determine the reading level of a student. The criteria for each level is as follows: [Independent = 90% or above, Instructional = 70%-89%; Frustrational = below 70%]
• If scores for explicit questions are compared to scores for implicit questions, a substantial difference between these two scores may suggest that the student needs instruction in either remembering what the author stated explicitly in the text or in using clues in the text to make inferences, depending on which score is higher.

Finding an Instructional Level: (see formulas and percentages on p. 49 and 50)

Using the Miscue Analysis Worksheet

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