Assessing Reading Comprehension
Assessing reading comprehension is something that is ongoing and many of the methods discussed can also be used to practise and improve comprehension. Many teachers use cloze worksheets as a form of both practising and assessing reading comprehension; however there are many other options.
There are three types of questions that should be used to assess reading comprehension: literal, Interpretive and Inferential or in a slightly different form the 4 H's. The 4 H's are Here (literal comprehension: what happened, how many, how did), Hidden (interpretative / Inferred comprehension: why did, what was, do you think), Head (applied / evaluative comprehension: What else could she do, how would you, do you agree, what would happen if) and Heart (Emotive Comprehension: how do you feel about, how did you feel when). Linked closely with Bloom's theory (discussed below) if students are assessed using all of these types of questions students are encouraged to think deeper about the text.
Bloom's theory of comprehension also encourages both practise and assessment over 6 levels; knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, each level requires a higher level of thinking and therefore a higher level of understanding. If as teachers we assess over all 6 of these levels we will have a much greater understanding of how well our students comprehend and how well they can apply that understanding to other situations.
It is important to know what to do once you know a student's level of comprehension. It is far too easy to assess a student's reading ability on its own and suddenly students are reading books that they can not understand and then will often become unmotivated and disengaged with reading. It is vital for a student's learning that books are at the appropriate level for their comprehension as well as reading ability, the importance of choosing the right book based on reading and comprehension ability, age appropriateness and interest is a vital balancing act that students need assistance with.
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