The nine tapes of Year 4 students reading provided two passages from each
student for analysis. Therefore a total of eighteen passages were viewed.
16% (3 passages) scored 80% or above
55% (10 passages) scored 60% or aboveOf these ten examples above 60%:
One was 100%
Two were 80%
Seven were 60%Of the remainder:
11% scored 40%
22% scored 20%
11% scored 0%
| Word Accuracy - Comprehension Links |
While only 16% scored 80% or above and only 55% scored 60% or above incomprehension,
83% were reading with word accuracy at 90% and above (that is, at instructional
or easy level). Quite clearly the majority are reading at a very good
word accuracy level, but their standard of comprehension falls far short
of this.
There was little difference in comprehension scores between those reading
at instructional and easy levels and those reading hard text, with the
latter in fact doing a little better.
Instructional / Easy text: 36% of questions correct
Hard text: 40% of questions correct
| Question Types |
There was a marked difference in results achieved on the literal questions
compared with the questions requiring higher order thinking.
Literal (3 questions) 61% answered correctly
Higher order (2 questions) 25% answered correctly
| Self Correcting Behaviour |
Efficient self correcting behaviour is an important skill
in good reading. Marie Clay in the reading Recovery Programme looks for
a self correction rate of from 1 in 1 to 1 in 5. Beyond this the readier
has increasing difficulties due to inability to self correct adequately.
The average self correcting rate was a ratio of 1:7.
Accepting that self correction rates that are useful range from excellent
at a ratio of 1:1 to satisfactory at 1:5, many students in this sample
are not displaying adequate behaviours in this area.
An acceptable rate of self correction was achieved by 33% of the sample,
but it needs to be noted that two thirds of these were at the outer limit
with ratios of 1:4 or 1:5.
Along with the self correction ratios a look at the students recorded
reading behaviour shows little evidence of strategies such as re-running
or reading on to utilise meaning and structure sources of information.
All the evidence shows that where there was self correcting behaviour
there was a heavy reliance on visual cues.
The ten tapes of the
Year 8 students reading provided two passages from each of nine students
and three passages from the tenth student. Therefore a total of twenty
one passages were viewed.
14% (3 passages) scored 80% or above
38% (8 passages) scored 60% or aboveOf these eight examples above 60%:
Two were 100%
One was 80%
Two were 70%
Three were 60%Of the remainder:
47% scored 40%
5% scored 30%
5% scored 20%
5% scored 10%
| Word Accuracy – Comprehension Links |
While only 14% scored 80% or above and only 38% scored 60% or above in
comprehension 95% were reading with word accuracy at 90% and above (that
is, at instructional or easy level). Most were in fact scoring in the
high nineties. A large majority are reading at a very good word accuracy
level but the comprehension results fall well below this.
The nine students reading at the instructional/easy text levels scored
51% of the questions correct and the one student who read text at the
hard level scored 40% in the comprehension.
| Question Types |
There was a difference between the results achieved on the literal questions
compared with the questions requiring higher order thinking but this wasn’t
as marked as with the Year Four sample.
Literal (3 questions) 57% answered correctly
Higher order (2 questions) 38% answered correctly
| Self Correcting Behaviour |
The average self correcting rate was a ratio of 1:4.3. An acceptable rate
of self correction (between 1:1 and 1:5) was achieved by 62% of the sample
with 23% of these at the outer limit (ratios 1:4) and 1:5).
| Passage Independent Questions |
For each passage read students were asked five questions. Three of these were literal questions and two were of the inferential/higher order thinking type. The thirty nine passages read had seventy eight of this later group of questions attached to them and of these twenty three (29%) were not asked in the NEMP testing because they were considered by the test developers to be passage independent or requiring specialised knowledge outside of the context of the text.
An analysis of these passages independent questions shows that they don’t rely on the reader requiring specialised prior knowledge but rather higher order thinking skills and the ability to think laterally and draw on generalised prior knowledge. Students who are interacting well with the context of the text, taking risks and thinking deeply will be using skills of analysis, application, synthesis and evaluation and able to respond in an acceptable way to these passage independent questions.
A closer breakdown of the two higher order questions in each passage reveals:
Year Four
Passage dependent: 27 questions, 33% answered correctly
Passage independent: 9 questions, 0% answered correctly
Year Eight
Passage dependent: 28 questions, 30% answered correctly
Passage independent: 14 questions, 53% answered correctly
These results for both year groups confirm observations of students’
limited understanding of text. The Year Four students showed in both observations
of their responses to the passage independent questions and the very poor
result in this area that they tended not to think about the text, interact
with it or make links with their own knowledge about the subject or related
subjects. The Year Eight students displayed not only a better result (just
over 50% answered correctly) but also a willingness to take risks, think
laterally and attempt responses drawing on wider thinking and links with
other knowledge. They were able to give interesting responses to questions
which required input beyond the text.
eg Are there ways a wolf might have avoided being in this situation?
”He could have found a shelter for winter and gathered enough food before the snow came.”
Suggest reasons why Laura is fearful of the warning?
“She knows something is going to happen, she has heard the warning but can’t do anything about it.”
It is interesting to note that all but one of the twenty three passage
independent questions are in Bands Four and Five of the text selections.
| Difficulty Levels of Passages Read |
Year Four
Easy (96-100%) 28% of students
Instructional (90-95%) 56% of students
Hard (<90%) 16% of students
Only one out of nine read both passages at the easy level and eight out
of nine read at least one passage at instructional level.
Year Eight
Easy 66%
Instructional 28%
Hard 5%
Six out of ten students read both passages at the easy level. Four out
of ten read at least one passage at the instructional level.
| Administration of the Assessment |
Observations were made of the following aspects of assessment administration
(Appendices 3 and 4) and the responses are summarised as follows:
|
