Reading Tests

[MrsGWay]

I am trying to decipher what we were told at my daughter's parents evening. Her reading ability had been tested and she is beyond the reading scheme, despite bringing home turquoise level books. She needs to work on her expression (very true) but finds the books terribly boring. In fact she is a reluctant reader.
Apparently in the test she only got 10 words wrong which gave her a score of 30. Does anybody know which test this might be?

By Y1 they are experts at nonsense words if the teacher approaches it correctly, so I wouldn't worry about it. Well, my DS is. It's just one of those things that schools do at the moment. It's much more fun to try to get DS to have a go at proper words which may well catch out a fair few grown ups . He enjoys this! He also knows that grown ups are not infallible re pronouncing words, far from it (he corrected my pronounciation of iguanodon the other day), so it's best just to have a go (I think this stops some of the better readers who think they ought to know the word?)

Could it be that the test is 'easier' to pass for lower level readers in the sense that they are likely still sounding etc whereas higher level readers presume there's a mistake and read the word differently (even though they could read nonsense words but just presume its something else)? Not saying its right but just that's they're not expecting odd words?

Jamtoast - I guess that is why they are told they may not be able to understand the aliens who want to communicate iyswim.

Loads of books have nonsense words in like Dr Suess....

Could it be that the test is 'easier' to pass for lower level readers in the sense that they are likely still sounding etc whereas higher level readers presume there's a mistake and read the word differently

I'm sorry, but that is an absolutely absurd argument. Do you seriously think that a six year old has a full reading vocabulary and will never ever encounter an unfamiliar word again?

I have been reading for 50+ years and I still come across unfamiliar words from time to time. Am I stupid enough to try to turn them into words I 'know'? Would you do that? I don't think so. So why support faulty reading in a six year old and allow them to develop a potentially very bad habit?

PS. I also sound out and blend unfamiliar words. It's not a crime; it's a necessary skill.

jamtoast- I think five and six year olds may do this if they have not been taught well. My son certainly has become a lot more confident over the last year in tackling new words.

Perhaps many children go through a stage in their reading, between hestitancy and fluency where they are pretty fluent but can become frozen by a word they don't know. It's at this stage that it takes a sensitive teacher/parent to coax and encourage/insist (depending on child's personality type!) that they sound out using their phonic knowlege with the letters/sounds they see, rather than guessing.

Jamtoast - I was thinking the same tbh when dd1 was doing the practice test.

I was wondering if she would find it as easy next year when she would expect the words to make sense.

Presumably there has always been a bottle on the shelf and you've never had to ask an assistant for help learnandsay.

carriedawayannie if a child doesn't meet the expected level (last year it was 32/40) they will be given extra support.
If the test is administered correctly there is no reason why she should expect the pseudo words to make sense,

For the record all our very good readers scored 40/40

Thanks mrsz.

No one at dd1s school has mentioned this test, she's in reception. Is that normal?

Six year olds should not be expecting every word they read to 'make sense'. They will not have a full receptive or expressive vocabulary and will be encountering lots of spoken words which are not in their vocabularies. Likewise, if they are 'good readers' and reading widely they will also be encountering unfamiliar written words. If they consistently try to turn these into words that they 'know' they will be well on the way to becoming inaccurate poor readers. I am really shocked that people seem to be unable to understand this.

Very normal the phonics check happens in June of Year 1

I think lots of schools got an unpleasant surprise with the results of last year's check carriedawayannie which is possibly why some schools are practising in reception. It shouldn't be necessary.

Thanks

And also why some HT/schools don't agree with the phonics test....

Because it shows up their inadequate teaching, Simpson?

Exactly!!!