Assessing Reading

By B. A. Mey Reynolds Panton

Reading is an interactive skill that links the reader´s background knowledge to the new material. Since Reading cannot be observed, teachers need to develop techniques to get an idea of how learners understand texts. For classroom assessment, there are some reading skills that are divided into major and minor reading skills.

Major reading skills include: §  Reading quickly to skim §  Reading carefully for main ideas §  Information transfer to nonlinear texts §  Drawing inferences

Minor reading skills include: §  Understanding vocabulary, syntax, cohesive markers §  Identifying what pronouns it refers to §  Understanding the meaning of graph or chart labels

 

Grammar and vocabulary are part of reading passages. Moreover, reading tests use various formats such as: Recognition or selective-response formats that include multiple choice questions, true/false/no given, and matching and cloze; in which students have to select from given answers.

The specifications help educators join the course objectives with the assessing instruments, as the specifications include: Content (material that the test covers, students’ performance and the type and number of texts), conditions (structure, formats, access to the text and timing) and grading criteria (how they would be evaluated).

Reading texts can be taken from authentic material (from newspapers, magazines, brochures, instruction guides) or adapted. Nevertheless, teachers must avoid texts with controversial or prejudiced material (paragraph about religion, abortion, or international disputes), because they could lose the purpose of the evaluation.

Questions must be written in a level than the reading. Reading comprehension questions should be in the same order as the material in the passage.