FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING STUDENT’S READING
Student Name:
NTCF ESL Reading Level :
Date:
Task description:
Teacher comment
Action
Orientation to literacy
 What are the learner’s concepts
of literacy? (Check against
Beginning Literacy Analysis)
Task
 How familiar is the
topic/curriculum area to the
learner?
 How well does the learner
understand the demands of the
task?
 What approaches does the
learner use to complete the task (
eg skimming for gist, scanning
for specific information)?
Text
 What is the text structure?
 Is the learner familiar with the
text type (eg the formal
conventions of this text type the
layout – table of contents,
headings, bibliography etc)?
 Does the learner use a range of
approaches according to the
requirements of the individual
texts and task (eg reading word
by word, gaining meaning from
the whole text)?
 What is the speed of the
learner’s reading and processing
of information?
Behaviours Does the learner
 use his/her first language (eg to
show comprehension,
recognising words in
translation)?
 self-correct (in reading aloud)?
 reread word/sentences?
 use/rely on a dictionary?
 ask questions if something is not
understood?
 guess at word meanings?
 decode words (analyse word
parts)?
 Demonstrate the ability to predict
(main story lines, details, word
meanings) from context
(illustrations, headings, previous
text)?
Reproduced from Observation Guide (Reading) in the NLLIA ESL Bandscales, 1994, pp F9.
FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING STUDENT’S READING
Teacher comment
Action
Reading Comprehension Level
 What are the learner’s levels of
comprehension?
Literal – ability to identify
gist, main ideas, characters,
events, processes and some
details
Interpretive -Identifying and
distinguishing – fact from
opinion, fact from fallacy,
implication, attitude
expressed by speakers
Applied – ability to
generalise, synthesis
information from different
sources, evaluate
arguments, deduce, justify
Understanding of cohesion within
texts
Does the learner understand how
cohesion is used
 for omission/substitution (Will he
come? I don’t think so)
 to add information (and, and
then, also, in addition,
furthermore ….)
 to contrast information (but,
however, although…)
 to qualify, express possibility (if,
unless, except …)
 to express time (then, next,
when)
 to refer to ideas, people, things
within the text (From the start the
All Stars Band were very good
musicians and because they had
become popular in one place
they travelled a lot. However in
the Band there was a man called
Miguel who was very smart ,,,,)
Knowledge of vocabulary
 What is the learner’s
recognition/recall (sight vocab)?
 Does the learner show
understanding of vocab (by
explaining word meanings)?
 Does the learner understand
idioms ( eg phrasal verbs such
as go for, cut down on, live up to
…)?
Suggestions for action:
Reproduced from Observation Guide (Reading) in the NLLIA ESL Bandscales, 1994, pp F9.