Reading Competency
Reading competency is the level of understanding a subject has achieved in regards to written
text. Reading comprehension works together with writing comprehension as the two subjects
work simultaneously with one another. Proficient reading competency includes the ability to
quickly recognize and analyze words and understand the cognitive concepts behind the words.
Vocabulary plays a significant part in reading competency as it allow for an expansion of terms
in one's dialect and it assists with word and sound association.
Essential Components of Reading
In accordance with our commitment to deliver reading programs based on research-based
instructional strategies, Read Naturally’s programs develop and support the five (5) components of
reading identified by the National Reading Panel:
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemes, the smallest units making up spoken language, combine to form syllables and words.
Phonemic awareness refers to the student’s ability to focus on and manipulate these phonemes in
spoken syllables and words. According to the National Reading Panel, teaching phonemic
awareness to children significantly improves their reading more than instruction that lacks any
attention to phonemic awareness.
Phonics
Phonics is the relationship between the letters (or letter combinations) in written language and the
individual sounds in spoken language. Phonics instruction teaches students how to use these
relationships to read and spell words. The National Reading Panel indicated that systematic phonics
instruction enhances children’s success in learning to read, and it is significantly more effective than
instruction that teaches little or no phonics.
Fluency
Fluent readers are able to read orally with appropriate speed, accuracy, and proper expression.
Fluency is the ability to read as well as we speak and to make sense of the text without having to
stop and decode each word. The National Reading Panel’s research findings concluded that guided
oral reading and repeated oral reading had a significant and positive impact on word recognition,
reading fluency, and comprehension in students of all ages.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary development is closely connected to comprehension. The larger the reader’s vocabulary
(either oral or print), the easier it is to make sense of the text. According to the National Reading
Panel, vocabulary can be learned incidentally through storybook reading or listening to others, and
vocabulary should be taught both directly and indirectly. Students should be actively engaged in
instruction that includes learning words before reading, repetition and multiple exposures, learning in
rich contexts, incidental learning, and use of computer technology.
Comprehension
Comprehension is the complex cognitive process readers use to understand what they have read.
Vocabulary development and instruction play a critical role in comprehension. The National Reading
Panel determined that young readers develop text comprehension through a variety of techniques,
including answering questions (quizzes) and summarization (retelling the story).
Spelling
The National Reading Panel Report did not include spelling as one of the essential components of
reading. The report implied that phonemic awareness and phonics instruction had a positive effect
on spelling in the primary grades and that spelling continues to develop in response to appropriate
reading instruction. However, more recent research challenges at least part of the National Reading
Panel's assumption. A group of researchers found that, although students' growth in passage
comprehension remained close to average from first through fourth grade, their spelling scores
dropped dramatically by third grade and continued to decline in fourth grade (Mehta et al., 2005).
Progress in reading does not necessarily result in progress in spelling. Spelling instruction is
needed to develop students’ spelling skills.
Competencies in Reading
Spelling, word recognition, reading fluency, phonological skills, phonics decoding, spelling,
vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. word recognition, reading fluency, vocabulary,
comprehension, and writing related to authentic texts.
But we feel that no matter what program is popular at the time, an effective literacy program
should always encompass these six basic components: phonemic awareness, phonics,
vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing.
The four main types of reading techniques are the following:
Skimming.
Scanning.
Intensive.
Extensive.
Some of the barriers to effective reading are as follows-
Lack of grammatical and linguistic competence:
Many people cannot read effectively because they fail to decrypt grammatical
and lexical units of language in the text. They lack the ability to differentiate and
recognize the words, sentences, expressions, used in the text. It hampers the
process of reading. The reader may stop reading further if he fails to understand
the text grammatically.
Lack of motivation:
Reading for information and knowledge requires motivation and discipline. Many
people think reading as boring and time consuming task. Lack of proper
motivation and goal may create barrier to reading.
Lack of concentration:
If the reader lacks concentration while reading, he just will turn pages after pages
without much comprehension. Reading is psycholinguistic process. It requires
careful attention of the reader.
Proper light and ventilation:
A reader has to struggle a lot to read in dim light or dark rooms. If proper
ventilation is not there in the reading room, reader may feel suffocated or tired.
Size of the book:
Normally, people prefer reading small size articles and texts. If the book contains
volumes of pages, it decreases the interest of the reader.
Articulating the words and sentences loudly:
Many readers have habit to articulate loudly or murmur the words in the text.
They buzz each word which creates a barrier to speed reading.
Putting finger, pen or any object on the words and sentences while reading:
Many people put their finger or pen on the text while reading. They move the
finger or object from word to word which lowers down the process of reading.
Narrow eye span:
Many readers read the text into independent eye shift between each and every
word. They have narrow eye span. It not only decreases the speed of reading but
also affects the comprehension. Shorter the eye span, slower the speed and
comprehension. Readers require proper training and techniques to expand their
eye span.
Assessment examples for specific areas of
reading
There are various ways to gather assessment data (Rhodes & Shanklin, 1993). Teachers can test
students, analyze student work samples, observe students performing literacy tasks, or interview
students on their reading skills. Teachers can gain the most information by administering all of
these methods to collect data. The following information describes various types of assessments
for different areas of early reading. Each assessment identified is described in the resources
section of this brief.
Letter knowledge: the ability to associate sounds
with letters
One example of an assessment for letter knowledge is to present a student with a list of letters
and ask the student to name each letter. Another example is to have a student separate the
letters from a pile of letters, numbers, and symbols. Students can also be asked to separate and
categorize letters by uppercase and lowercase (Torgesen, 1998; Wren, 2004).
The following list is a sample of assessment measures to test letter knowledge skills:
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment (ERDA)
Phonemic awareness: the ability to hear and
manipulate sounds in words
These assessments examine a student's knowledge of how sounds make words. A student can be
asked to break spoken words into parts, or to blend spoken parts of a word into one word.
Additionally, a student can count the number of phonemes in a word to demonstrate
understanding, or a student can delete or add a phoneme to make a new word (Torgesen, 1998;
Wren, 2004).
The following list is a sample of assessment measures to test phonemic awareness skills:
Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP)
DIBELS
ERDA
Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
Phonological Awareness Test (PAT)
Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI)
Emerging practice
The theory of multiple intelligences is one that many educators support and believe to be
effective. Dr. Gardner developed this theory in 1983, and he suggests that eight different
intelligences account for student potential (Armstrong, 1994; Gardner, 1983). They include:
1. linguistic intelligence
2. logical mathematical intelligence
3. visual spatial intelligence
4. bodily kinesthetic intelligence
5. musical intelligence
6. interpersonal intelligence
7. intrapersonal intelligence
8. naturalist intelligence
Dr. Gardner believes these intelligences should be used to assess students' strengths and
weaknesses and teachers should develop assessments that allow students to demonstrate these
intelligences. Although support can be found in some schools for this theory, it is not supported
by rigorous research evidence at this time. Therefore, the Access Center considers the theory of
multiple intelligences to be an emerging practice that requires further investigation.
Decoding: the process of using lettersound
correspondences to recognize words
An assessment that examines a student's decoding skills looks at a child's reading accuracy. One
example of this type of measure is to have a student read a passage of text as clearly and
correctly as possible. The teacher records any mistakes that the student makes and analyzes
them to determine what instruction is needed. Another example of an assessment of decoding
skills is to present a student with isolated words and ask them to read each word aloud (Wren,
2004).
The following list is a sample of assessment measures to test decoding skills:
ITBS
PAT
TPRI
Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE)
Fluency: the automatic ability to read words in
connected text
The most common example of an assessment for fluency is to ask a student to read a passage
aloud for one minute. Words that are skipped or pronounced incorrectly are not counted. The
number of correct words read is counted and this total equals a student's oral reading fluency
rate.
The following list is a sample of assessment measures to test fluency skills:
Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM)
DIBELS
Gray Oral Reading Test IV (GORT - 4)
TOWRE
TPRI
Reading comprehension: the process of
understanding the meaning of text
There are many types of reading comprehension assessments. One type involves a student
reading a passage that is at an appropriate level for the student, and then having the student
answer factual questions about the text. A second type involves a student answering inferential
questions about implied information in the text. A third type involves a student filling in missing
words from a passage. A fourth type is to have a student retell the story in their own words
(Fuchs & Fuchs, 1992; Wren 2004).
The following list is a sample of assessment measures to test reading comprehension skills:
Degrees of Reading Power (DRP)
ERDA
GORT4
ITBS
TPRI
Four Types of Reading Assessments
AUGUST 20, 2012 BY JULIE LEAVE A COMMENT
Assessment and intervention is the heart and soul of Response to Intervention
(RtI). Prior to beginning either a school-wide program or developing an
intervention plan for a particular student, it is critically important to have
assessment data. There are 4 types of reading assessments that comprise a
comprehensive K-3 reading assessment plan. Each type of assessment is
important in its own right and provides valuable information to school teams in
the RtI process. So, take a look at these types of assessments. How
comprehensive is your K-3 reading assessment plan?
1. Screening- The purpose of a screening assessment is to identify students
who are at-risk for reading difficulties. Identifying the students early on who
are likely to struggle with learning to read is important as we can then develop
intervention plans that, hopefully, PREVENT a life-long reading deficit.
The DIBELS Next and the Aimsweb assessments are the two most commonly
administered screening assessments in schools. Our schools utilize the
DIBELS Next assessments. Students are screened three times a year using
the particular assessments designed for each grade level. For example,
students in 2nd-6th grade read 3 grade level passages for one minute. The
number of words correct per minute (wcpm) is calculated and compared to an
expected level of performance. The assessments are easy to administer and
take no more than 8 minutes per student. When the data is entered into the
computer-based system, a variety of charts/graphs are provided for school-
based problem solving teams to analyze. Below is a sample of a class list
report that a teacher will receive after each benchmark period.
2. Progress Monitoring- The purpose of progress monitoring is to track
student performance during an instructional period. Once a student is
identified as at-risk for reading difficulties, an intervention plan is developed.
Every week or every other week, the student is assessed with a progress
monitoring probe (usually a one minute assessment). The purpose of the
assessment is to determine if the student is making progress when provided
with the additional support. Below is a sample of a progress monitoring chart
measuring oral reading fluency for a 2nd grade student.
Both DIBELS Next and Aimsweb offer progress monitoring assessments.
3. Diagnostic- Diagnostic assessments provide the teacher with more in-
depth information about the student’s skills. Diagnostic assessments can
range from standardized assessments to teacher-made classroom
assessments. The Quick Phonics Screener and the Primary Spelling
Inventory are two assessments that we use to help us target specific deficits
in the area of phonics. We also find that having a running records
assessment is helpful when designing interventions. Several schools use the
Rigby Running Records while others use the Diagnostic Reading
Assessment. In Michigan, we use the Michigan Literacy Progress Profile to
assess letters/sounds and specific phonemic awareness skills.
4. Outcomes- Outcome assessments are typically administered once a year.
These assessments are usually referred to as “high stakes” assessments and
the data is used to assess curriculum design, implementation and teachers’
efforts over the course of a school year. Outcome assessments provide
standard scores and percentiles so that the problem solving team (and
parents) can compare a particular student’s performance to peers across the
nation as well as peers within the district. The two outcome assessments
used in my schools are the Gates-MacGinitie for kindergarten and the Iowa
Test of Basic Skills. Although these assessments provide valuable
information, they are costly and time consuming to administer.