Reading ability is very difficult to assess accurately. In the communicative competence model, a student's reading level is the level at which that student is able to use reading to accomplish communication goals. This means that assessment of reading ability needs to be correlated with purposes for reading.
Reading Aloud
A student's performance when reading aloud is not a reliable indicator of that student's reading ability. A student who is perfectly capable of understanding a given text when reading it silently may stumble when asked to combine comprehension with word recognition and speaking ability in the way that reading aloud requires.
In addition, reading aloud is a task that students will rarely, if ever, need to do outside of the classroom. As a method of assessment, therefore, it is not authentic: It does not test a student's ability to use reading to accomplish a purpose or goal.
However, reading aloud can help a teacher assess whether a student is "seeing" word endings and other grammatical features when reading. To use reading aloud for this purpose, adopt the "read and look up" approach: Ask the student to read a sentence silently one or more times, until comfortable with the content, then look up and tell you what it says. This procedure allows the student to process the text, and lets you see the results of that processing and know what elements, if any, the student is missing.
Comprehension Questions
Instructors often use comprehension questions to test whether students have understood what they have read. In order to test comprehension appropriately, these questions need to be coordinated with the purpose for reading. If the purpose is to find specific information, comprehension questions should focus on that information. If the purpose is to understand an opinion and the arguments that support it, comprehension questions should ask about those points.
In everyday reading situations, readers have a purpose for reading before they start. That is, they know what comprehension questions they are going to need to answer before they begin reading. To make reading assessment in the language classroom more like reading outside of the classroom, therefore, allow students to review the comprehension questions before they begin to read the test passage.
Finally, when the purpose for reading is enjoyment, comprehension questions are beside the point. As a more authentic form of assessment, have students talk or write about why they found the text enjoyable and interesting (or not).
Authentic Assessment
In order to provide authentic assessment of students' reading proficiency, a post-listening activity must reflect the real-life uses to which students might put information they have gained through reading.
It must have a purpose other than assessment
It must require students to demonstrate their level of reading comprehension by completing some task
To develop authentic assessment activities, consider the type of response that reading a particular selection would elicit in a non-classroom situation. For example, after reading a weather report, one might decide what to wear the next day; after reading a set of instructions, one might repeat them to someone else; after reading a short story, one might discuss the story line with friends.
Use this response type as a base for selecting appropriate post-reading tasks. You can then develop a checklist or rubric that will allow you to evaluate each student's comprehension of specific parts of the text. See Assessing Learning for more on checklists and rubrics.
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.(Proverbs 3: 13-18)
DIVINE CARNATION
- Education For All
- I am creative, outgoing and love nature. I am at the top of it all and I know who got me there. My daily Prayer to the Most High God is-- "Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!"
Welcome
Greetings from The Commonwealth of Dominica.
Dominica is The Nature Ilse of the Caribbean.
Simply natural, green and alive.
The Commonwealth of Dominica is an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, about one-half of the way from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and Tobago. It is the largest and most mountainous of the Windward Islands, with volcanic peaks, mountain streams and rivers, beachesof both black (volcanic) and golden sands, dense forests, quietlakes, waterfalls, geysers and boiling volcanic pools.Dominica is a major eco-tourist destination.
The island, which was originally occupied by Carib Indians(some of whose descendants remain), was discovered by Columbus in 1493 and colonised by the French in the 1600s. In 1805, the island became a British possession and remained under British rule until 1967, when internal self-government was granted, followed by full independence in1978.
The Capital of The Commonwealth of Dominica is Roseau. The official language of Dominica is English. A French patois Creole is spoken by most persons on the island.
The island, which was originally occupied by Carib Indians(some of whose descendants remain), was discovered by Columbus in 1493 and colonised by the French in the 1600s. In 1805, the island became a British possession and remained under British rule until 1967, when internal self-government was granted, followed by full independence in1978.
The Capital of The Commonwealth of Dominica is Roseau. The official language of Dominica is English. A French patois Creole is spoken by most persons on the island.
The Commonwealth of Dominica became an independent state on November 3rd 1978.
The flag of The Commonwealth of Dominica is
Dominica Coat of Arms
The shield is supported by two Sisserou parrots (Amazona imperialis). They are perched on a strip of parchment on which is written in Creole, the national motto: "Apres Bondie C’est La Ter". In the established form accepted by Creole linguists today it would be written: "Apwe Bondye Se La Te." It means, "After God it is the Land". However "La Te" can be translated to mean, the land, the Earth or the soil. But the message of the motto for the people of a mainly agricultural island is that after praising God first, the next most important thing is the land in the form of bearing fruit. It can also be extended to mean the land in the nationalist sense that after your commitment to God then comes your commitment to your country. The use of Creole represents also the influence of France on the island and the part played by African traditions and language in the creation of the Creole heritage.
Dominica
Nature Island
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