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jdog2050
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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 Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:44 am Post subject: Good ways of assessing reading comprehension |
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Hey guys,
What are some good ways of assessing reading comprehension? This thread is selfish  but I'm sure it'll help other people if enough contribute. |
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Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:46 am Post subject: Re: Good ways of assessing reading comprehension |
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| jdog2050 wrote: |
Hey guys,
What are some good ways of assessing reading comprehension? This thread is selfish but I'm sure it'll help other people if enough contribute. |
What level are you trying to assess?
I teach in the English department of a university. If I need to assess a student's reading comprehension, I provide them with a level appropriate text, typically an intermediate/advanced TOEIC/TOEFL practice test, and ask them to answer questions based on the content of the text. Their performance gives me an indication of the student's reading level. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
What level are you trying to assess?
I teach in the English department of a university. If I need to assess a student's reading comprehension, I provide them with a level appropriate text, typically an intermediate/advanced TOEIC/TOEFL practice test, and ask them to answer questions based on the content of the text. Their performance gives me an indication of the student's reading level. |
Answering questions is a very weak way to assess reading comprehension. Questions typically measure intelligence and not comprehension (beyond the mere knowledge level of Bloom).
The best way to measure comprehension in an ESL / EFL situation is to have the student reuse the reading material in their own fashion. This can be through retelling in their own words / organizing the reading through graphic organizers or relating it to some other piece of reading (comparing/sequencing/evaluating are much better indicators of comprehension).
If you want something quick - get one of the hundreds of reading inventories on the market. Standard and most teachers should be able to administer them to a whole class over a couple of periods.
Make sure when choosing appropriate reading levels, you use the 3 finger rule. If the student can put out 3 fingers for words they don't understand / page - chuck the book.
When I get a moment later today, I'll post some links to .pdfs outlining some basic ideas for assessing comprehension in reading. And/or just go to our files at http://mediafire.com/eflclassroom and search for these under either reading or EFL books - On Teaching.
Cheers,
David
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
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Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:45 am Post subject: |
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| I shall add some reading lessons tomorrow to this thread that I have created. |
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Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 5:39 am Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
| Quote: |
What level are you trying to assess?
I teach in the English department of a university. If I need to assess a student's reading comprehension, I provide them with a level appropriate text, typically an intermediate/advanced TOEIC/TOEFL practice test, and ask them to answer questions based on the content of the text. Their performance gives me an indication of the student's reading level. |
Answering questions is a very weak way to assess reading comprehension. Questions typically measure intelligence and not comprehension (beyond the mere knowledge level of Bloom). |
I should have been more specific; I use content questions, similar to those used on the TOEIC/TOEFL practice tests. Results correlate positively with their performance in other areas as well.
The observation that answers to questions are a reflection of a persons intelligence is so broad that it is meaningless; to answer questions one requires intelligence. One assumes that the answers to questions being asked to assess a students reading comprehension are implicit in the text, and therefore a measure of their comprehension.
| ddeubel wrote: |
| The best way to measure comprehension in an ESL / EFL situation is to have the student reuse the reading material in their own fashion. This can be through retelling in their own words / organizing the reading through graphic organizers or relating it to some other piece of reading (comparing/sequencing/evaluating are much better indicators of comprehension). |
I have issues with the approaches that you describe. The retelling of a text is predicated upon a students oral fluency, a skill that develops more slowly than reading comprehension. The retelling of a text might therefore give the impression that the student understood less than they actually did. Using graphic organizers is also problematic; abstract texts are not suitable for pictorial representation and the proper sequence of pictures is often evident, even if the student did not fully understand the text. This may give the impression that the student understood more than they did. |
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