Yr 1 Phonics test - what if your child can already read?

[MayaAngelCool]

Can we have them exempted from the test? From what I gather, such a child is likely to fail the test as it includes lots of 'fake' words written phonetically. Children who can read well are thought to be likely to try to guess what real word these words are similar to, rather than saying what they actually are, and thus fail the test.

The Pearson Phonic Test information conveniently avoids saying anything about this problem. Anyone know?

Oh, and not every day either - just every so often, esp when we have been learning a new sound.

They also do lots of expansion of vocab, reading and writing at other times, not just during phonics.

there are 20 real and 20 pseudo words which will take 4 -9 mins of the teachers time and will tell the teacher if/where there are gaps in the child's knowledge so that their needs can be planned for ...a really bad use of teacher and child time

and if orchestra was in the test the child would have to read it correctly zebeedee

just to clarify that I am in favour of the phonic screen, for all of the excellent reasons detailed by various people above.

I went slightly off topic over a discussion about the use of formal testing situations at a very young age, which I think is rubbish.

Most Y1 children who have been taught systematically with phonics wouldn't have any difficulty with orchestra (they will know that ch can represent as in Christmas and to try the alternatives to see which sounds right) and even if they do get it wrong no one will stop them or even tell them they are wrong during the test... hopefully the teacher will make a note to teach it in the near future)

However, in a test of reading age, wouldn't they have to get it right the first time. If they have to try lots of alternatives before finally getting it right, surely they have to be assigned a lower reading age.

They can try the alternatives "in their head" surely

Fair enough, in which case the tester would not be aware of it; but if they voiced the wrong pronunciation, would the test not stop at that sentence?

Most reading age tests allow self correction and a number of errors.

CecilyP, if it's the reading age test that I think it is the child can have more than one attempt at a word; if they read it, realise that it isn't right and then correct to the right pronunciation that is fine. You just have to score their 'final' attempt (which is frustrating when a child reads the word correctly the first time and then 'corrects' to the wrong pronunciation!)

Self correcting is a Good Thing. It tells you that the child is comparing the wrong attempt with their receptive and expressive vocabulary, realising it is rubbish and trying alternative pronunciations of graphemes to see if they will produce a word they recognise. Which is what children who have been taught good phonic strategies will do.

I suppose all these tests must come with instructions but you think some teachers might be stricter at administering them than others?

P.S This particular test is a word reading test. The instructions allow the tester to stop whenever they feel the child has reached their limit, but the child can look at the remaining words to see if there are any that they can read.

You are , of course, not allowed to prompt or help, or tell the child if they are right or wrong.

Three things, Karen:

1. It's practice tests. (Specialist literacy teacher, you say? ) And - good lord - you are apparently a literacy advisor aswell.
2. Practice tests are totally unnecessary and completely ridiculous.
3. You aren't allowed to advertise on MN except in Small Business Ads - I've reported your post.

spoil sport I've just got home and missed it!

I agree with phonics being taught. But not sure if made up words are a good idea. I think they would confuse children.

Why?

What theyndo in our school is say "here are the names of some aliens- what are the called?" Or something like that. Why on earth would that confuse children? They deal with nonsense words all the time.

Gruffalo is a made up word ... so are Ninky Nonk and iggle Piggle but I don't think children have difficulty accepting them

Sorry, mrz - you'd have enjoyed this 'expert's' homepage, which was also riddled with errors.

Unfortunately, I can well believe she is a literacy advisor.

Damn and I needed a laugh!

Who on earth came up with that batty idea of nonsense words. Maybe it would be a good idea to ensure children can read and write simple words in every day use for starters. No wonder literacy standards in this country are so poor. A bit of common sense applied wouldn't go amiss.

Children actually enjoy nonsense words - understood by people like Spike Milligan.

Ofgs.

What do you think new words are to children - they might aswell be nonsense words. It's a standard strategy to ensure children have sufficient phonic knowledge to read any string of sounds put together.

It's been used for years as part of good practice in phonics teaching - which has much to do with good sense, as you put it.