SEA

                                       

                                  William Venables

                            

     Practicum III (MAS 7998)

                       

 Structured External Assignment

Tests that measure an individual’s intelligence, reading level, auditory level, visual level and psychological level are extremely important in identifying where an individual is at in his/her education and life in general. Any test that diagnoses and can help improve one’s life needs to be taken by that individual. I realize that not every individual will take all six tests that I have gone over below in his/her life. However, everyone needs to understand the purpose behind each one of them so that parents, teachers and the individual can understand just how impactful they can be.

Test	Purposes	Strengths	Weaknesses	Appropriateness
Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT)	An individual’s intellectual ability is measured.	There are no penalties for individuals that get upset under pressure, have handicaps and/or other issues that may lead to going over the preferred 10-20 minutes.	The only thing that I consider a weakness in this test is the fact that it ranges from ages 4 through 65 which means that anyone after the age of 65 wouldn’t be able to take it.	This test is given to individuals ranging anywhere from age 4 through 65. The quickness of the test and the no-penalty for handicappers and/or individuals with other issues makes this a very accurate and ideal test to be administered.
Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT)	An individual is given a quick screening test to determine his/her reading level.	There are different point print sizes (14, 18, 24) to help suit the needs of students with word size preferences or those with handicaps. Target words have been carefully chosen to figure out exactly how far a student is from reaching a high school level in just 3-5 minutes.	The quickness of the test may seem ideal but if a student is having a bad day and lacks concentration this could cause a wrong reading level placement.	This test has been updated to suit the needs of Native Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Pacific Island Americans which can be fantastic, but the quickness of the test can be a problem for many students.
Basic Reading Inventory (BRI)	The BRI determines a student’s reading level based off the information that was gathered from a reading inventory.	All three levels (independent, instructional, frustration) of the BRI allows students to be placed in the right levels and gives teachers the understanding of where the student’s reading level is at.	Teachers that administer the BRI may frustrate a student too soon which may cause a student to be placed in a wrong level	The BRI has three reading levels which teachers use to assess. These levels are independent, instructional and frustration. These levels tell a teacher exactly where the student is at which makes it ideal for targeting a student’s reading level.
Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test	The Wepman’s test assesses a student’s ability to understand the differences between phonemes that are used in the English speech.	This is a test that can be completed in just five minutes and the understanding that the student has will be a 100% accurate to the teacher because the student reads the words out loud.	This is an outdated test that is recommended for children 4 to 8 years of age. Although the test would be high priority for early elementary students it most likely wouldn’t be for any other age group.	Forty pairs of words are read out to a student usually ranging from age 4 to 8 and the test can be completed in just five minutes. Although this test is somewhat outdated it still can be considered ideal for elementary teachers to administer to students.
Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) Visual Discrimination Test	The purpose of this test is to evaluate visual perceptual accuracy.	This test is broken up into six modules: attention, language, spatial, memory, executive functions and screening. The fact that these modules are broken up gives the individual the opportunity to have his/her visual perception accurately established.	This is a rather longer test that is 75 minutes long and ranges from ages 18 to 97. This means that this test is generally geared at individuals that have finished school. Therefore teachers at the secondary level most likely would have no involvement in this test.	This is a great test to be administered to those individuals that are 18 to 97 years of age and need a certain module to be measured. In other words, this test can be broken down to one module instead of worrying about all six if need be.  This is a very helpful test.
Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) Psychological Reading Test	This is a psychological assessment that is used to determine visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills in children and adults.	This test is done by a clinically trained examiner which is obviously very important due to its seriousness.	Although this test is administered by a clinically trained examiner there have been cases when diagnosis have been incorrect and individuals have been treated for brain damage but did not actually have any damage.	This assessment is given to determine an individual’s visual maturity, integration skills, style of responding, organizational skills and motivation. All of these things are very important in determining if an individual has possible brain damage.

All six of these tests have important characteristics that give an individual/student the opportunity to understand where he/she is at. For instance, the Slosson Oral Reading test and the Basic Reading Inventory give the individual and the teacher the opportunity to understand what reading level the individual is at. The intelligence test measures an individual’s intellectual ability. The visual, auditory and psychological tests measure visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills. All of these tests may be administered to the individual at different times in his/her life. For instance, the BRI would most likely be given to a student early in his/her schooling unlike the Visual discrimination test that an individual cannot take until the age of 18.

All of these tests can be done by anyone as long as they fit inside the age qualifications. All of these tests have their own significance (including BRI), but generally an individual will not take all of them in his/her life. However, all of these tests are very important and every student/teacher/parent(s) should be aware of their importance so that everyone can reach his/her highest potential.

Sources:

Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT)

http://www.slossonnews.com/page7.htm

Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT)

http://www.slossonnews.com/page4.htm

Basic Reading Inventory (BRI)

http://comprehensiveliteracy.wikispaces.com/Basic+Reading+Inventory

Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Wepman_Auditory_Discrimination_Test

Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) Visual Discrimination Test

http://www.hogrefe.co.uk/clinical-and-educational/neuropsychology-child-and-adult/nab-visual-discrimination-test.html

Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) Psychological Reading Test

http://www.minddisorders.com/A-Br/Bender-Gestalt-Test.html

Description of How Children Learn to Read

Description of How Children Learn to Read

 

 

Practicum III 7998

               

 

William Venables

 

 

                Children learn to read through five components which are phonemes, phonics,

vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Each of these components has its own importance that

increases a child’s reading ability. However, these components are not just meant for children as

they could be meant for adults that do not understand the English language. Adults/students that

do not understand the English language will follow the same steps that a child would except for

obviously speaking, but even for a foreigner that does not understand the English language

speaking or sounding out words in the English language can be quite difficult as well. However,

unlike an adult (even one that does not understand English language) everything is new to a child

once they enter into this world. Children in the early years begin to learn what they see. In other

words, they begin to put labels to what they see, “During their first year, babies hear speech as a

series of distinct, but meaningless words. By age 1, most children begin linking words to

meaning. They understand the names used to label familiar objects, body parts, animals, and

people” (Koralek & Collina). This is an absolutely fascinating time being that I am a father of a

two year old girl. In the last year after she began to talk, I have watched her begin to put labels to

what she sees. With the help of her mother, she can say what she sees. For example, if she sees a

dog than she says dog.

            Once a child begins to speak and put labels to what they see and begin a sense of

understanding than they can continue to do this on a developing level. This is where phonemes

really being to soar. Phonemes are small units that make up spoken words, “Phonemes combine

to form syllables and words” (Antunez). In the beginning of a child’s life, he/she begins to

connect what they see with words. However, it is obviously very important that the parents or

loved ones of the child acknowledge that what he/she is calling a dog is in fact a dog. After

phonemes comes phonics, a process where readers use relationships to ultimately recognize

words that he/she does understand and to evaluate words that he/she does not, “Phonics is the

understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken

language) and graphemes (the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written

language)” (Antunez).  This is a very important stage in a child’s life because it is where a child

usually learns the alphabet and can begin to dissect letters into words. My daughter has not

reached this stage at the age of two. However, she is beginning to sing the alphabet without any

help and is beginning to say letters as we point them out to her. The process of phonemes to

phonics is huge because it begins the process of reading for a child, “What our NICHD research

has taught us is that in order for a beginning reader to learn how to connect or translate printed

symbols (letters and letter patterns) into sound, the would-be reader must understand that our

speech can be segmented or broken into small sounds (phoneme awareness) and that the

segmented units of speech can be represented by printed forms (phonics)” (Lyon).

            Although children utilize phonics consistently around the age of five, children have

learned so much prior to that age when it comes to language simply by living everyday life,

“Young children make numerous language discoveries as they play, explore, and interact with

others. Language skills are primary avenues for cognitive development because they allow

children to talk about their experiences and discoveries. Children learn the words used to

describe concepts such as up and down, and words that let them talk about past and future

events” (Koralek & Collina). Around the age of five is the age where everything generally begins

to take form and children learn to advance their vocabulary because they have learned to

understand and pronounce words, “By the time most children leave the preschool years and enter

kindergarten, they have learned a lot about language. For five years, they have watched, listened

to, and interacted with adults and other children. They have played, explored, and made

discoveries at home and in child development settings such as Head Start and child care”

(Koralek & Collina). The first five years of a child’s life allows him/her to put labels to images

that he/she sees and gives him/her confidence to investigate new words so that he/she can have a

more advanced knowledge of vocabulary.

            Ultimately, vocabulary development is when children begin to read. Children cannot read

if they do not have a sense of understanding when it comes to the words that they are sounding

out, “Vocabulary development is important for beginning reading in that when a student comes

to a word and sounds it out, he or she is also determining if the word makes sense based on his or

her understanding of the word” (Antunez).  This is so true because I can remember when my

little cousin entered the first grade and was asked to read a book on tree houses. He already had a

sense of what the words in the book stood for because of his obsession with tree houses.

However, he came to many words that he didn’t know how to pronounce, but he worked through

those words and ended the book with a better vocabulary, “Ultimately, children's ability to

understand what they are reading is inextricably linked to their background knowledge. Very

young children who are provided opportunities to learn, think, and talk about new areas of

knowledge will gain much from the reading process; with understanding comes the clear desire

to read more and to read frequently, ensuring that reading practice takes place” (Lyon).

            As children begin to enter grade years such as 1^st and 2^nd, the expectation of reading

fluency becomes a given for a teacher to anticipate. The teacher should never expect all students

to read fluently but a teacher has to prepare students and give students the opportunity to read

aloud so that he/she can diagnose student reading levels, “Reading fluency is a critical factor

necessary for reading comprehension. If children read out loud with speed, accuracy, and proper

expression, they are more likely to comprehend and remember the material than if they read with

difficulty and in an inefficient way” (Antunez). Reading fluency is the key to mastering

comprehension. Although most children begin to read fluently after the age of five, every child is

different in what they can read and how fast they can read it. This is where parents and teachers

need to realize the reading level that the child is at and help them in any way that they can so that

the child can catch up to his grade level. Obviously a child cannot read what a college student

can read and sometimes even college students have a hard time understanding some reading

material depending on what it is. With that said, once a child begins to understand words and

how to read them in a fluent manner than they comprehend and can move on to bigger words.

            Reading comprehension is the final component that shows us that a child understands

what he/she is reading, “Reading comprehension is the culmination of all of the reading skills

and the ultimate goal of learning to read. The purpose of mastery of each of the four previous

skills is to enable comprehension” (Antunez). Comprehension is essential because if a child

cannot comprehend what he/she is reading than he/she is not ready to take the next step which

may put him/her behind their grade level. The development of reading comprehension of a child

is very important to a teacher or parents. In other words, regardless of how much a child knows

he/she will always run into something that he/she does not understand. The reading

comprehension of child is beyond important, it’s absolutely essential to a child’s success in

school and in the outside world, “The development of reading comprehension skills, like the

development of phoneme awareness, phonics, and reading fluency, needs to be fostered by

highly trained teachers. Recent research shows that the teacher must arrange for opportunities for

students to discuss the highlights of what they have read and any difficulties they have had when

reading” (Lyon).

           Reference List

Antunez, B. (2002). English language learners and the five essential components of reading

instruction. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/341/.

Koralek, D., & Collina, R. (1997). How most children learn to read. Retrieved from

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/386/.

Lyon, G. R. (1997). How do children learn to read?. Retrieved from http://www.

readingrockets.org/article/356/.

 

Article Summary

   Title

How Can Reading Comprehension Be Improved Through   Research Validated Instruction?

                                      Journal

Comprehension Instruction: What Makes Sense Now, What Might Make Sense Soon.

                                      Author

                                  Michael Pressley

                              

Date of Publication

     September 2001

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                     William Venables

 

 

 

 

 

            Michael Pressley provides explanations in great detail with how reading comprehension

can be improved through reading validated instruction. Pressley explains that educators need to

understand and evaluate all student strengths and weaknesses when it comes to reading

comprehension. All students are different and have different ways that they can improve their

reading techniques. However, Pressley’s main belief is that all teachers can maximize his/her

students reading comprehension by mastering the understanding of decoding, vocabulary, world

knowledge, active comprehension strategies and monitoring. His thought is that if a teacher

understands these five levels and can master them than they can use these levels to increase

his/her students reading comprehension. Pressley covers all five of these levels in great detail

and explains the importance of each one of them. He believes that you cannot have one without

the other. First, a student must love what he/she is reading. This can be where world knowledge

comes into play because if a reader has prior knowledge on a topic than that can impact the

passion a reader has for reading in general. Decoding and vocabulary are two levels that are

important because we all know that the deeper the vocabulary a reader has the further a reader

can advance in reading levels. Decoding allows a smoother approach to reading because the

reader is learning how to pronounce words.

However, Pressley explains that active comprehension strategies and monitoring is the

key in a reader’s ultimate success and even considers these levels to be the most important. The

reason that Pressley feels so strongly about this is because although a reader may have great

world knowledge, decoding skills and vocabulary skills it still does not mean that their reading

comprehension will improve. There has to be good active comprehension strategies in place so

that a reader can evaluate and/or determine where they are going wrong. All readers are not

perfect and they will make mistakes, but good active comprehension strategies will allow them

to take the information and be able to determine where his/her mistakes are being made.

Monitoring is just as important not just on an independent level, but on an educator/parent level

as well because all readers will struggle and may not see his/her mistakes and parents/educators

can monitor these issues and can help them recognize the mistakes that are being made so that

the reader can fix them.

Ultimately, Pressley points out the five steps that have to be mastered so that a reader can

develop and maintain good reading comprehension. This article shows people why an educator

or a parent has to take notice of these steps so that a student/child can have good reading

comprehension skills. Pressley acknowledges that readers can develop throughout grade levels

with decoding and vocabulary skills and become decent readers. However, he also points out that

just because a student/child can read well does not necessarily mean that he/she thoroughly

understands what he/she is reading. These five steps are all important, but constructing good

active comprehension strategies and monitoring those strategies is key in maintaining good 

reading comprehension, “Such teaching should occur across every school day, for as long as

required to get all readers using the strategies independently which means including it in reading

instruction for years” (Pressley, 2001).   

I believe that that every teacher should read this article and thoroughly understand what

Pressley is talking about so that they can use this in his/her classroom. I also believe that parents

who homeschool their children or just parents that care for his/her child’s reading comprehension

in general should use this process in their household as well. The reason that I feel so strongly

about this is because I want to see every child and/or student succeed when it comes to reading

comprehension and I believe that Pressley’s article can guarantee success as long as it is

thoroughly understood by the parent and/or teacher. For instance, all five levels are important. A

reader can be as successful as he/she wants to be as long as they have the right instruction.

Pressley talks about the importance of instruction and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Some

readers may succeed by instructing themselves, but most all students can succeed if they have

good instruction and they want to learn. All five levels have their own significant importance in a

reader’s comprehension. Students start off with decoding (pronouncing words) which leads to

understanding better vocabulary. Ultimately, a student cannot do one without the other and grasp

a thorough understanding of pronunciation and meaning of words. World knowledge is very

important as well because it can give the readers motivation to want to read because they have

prior knowledge on what they are reading. It is also important because it takes a reader’s

knowledge on the topic and improves it in a way that not only makes him or her have better

knowledge on the topic, but it also improves their reading techniques and betters their

understanding of vocabulary.

            I also thoroughly believe that by creating active comprehension strategies in a classroom

and/or home is the key in maintaining improvement within a reader’s comprehension. There has

to be strategies in place that can allow a reader to improve on comprehension. This starts with

the educator and/or parent(s) and is then used independently by the reader. Monitoring follows

this process because everything needs to be monitored by a teacher/parent to make sure that their

student/child is following the right path in their reading comprehension. Monitoring can be

considered the most important step because it gives the reader the advantage of moving along

more smoothly in his/her reading process because they are learning how to fix and/or improve

their techniques. Ultimately, I believe that this article and the strategies that Pressley presents is

extremely valuable and should be used in classrooms as well as homes.

                                                          Reference

Pressley, M. (2001, September). Comprehension instruction: What makes sense now, what might

make sense soon. Reading Online, 5 (2). http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index

.asp? HREF=/articles/handbook/pressley/index.html.