371: Phonics Based Reading & Decoding week 1 Dq 1

MLPP Second Edition/2000 149Proof #6 4/20/01

Section XI

Hearing and Recording Sounds

Rationale This assessment helps teachers understand specifically what individual children know about hearing and recording sounds in words in order to establish instructional priorities for each child in the early stages of literacy development.

Assessing the child’s recording of a dictated sentence can determine if the child hears individual sounds buried within words and represents sounds with appropriate written symbols. Teachers’ observations are crucial and critical factors informing their decisions about whom and when to assess.

Definition Hearing and recording sounds in words are behaviors that indicate the child’s ability to hear individual phonemes and then record them as letters.

Assessment Guidelines

Materials The directions and scoring guide for administering and assessing Hearing and Recording Sounds are needed. Choose lined or unlined paper for students to use. The choice of paper should reflect the developmental needs of the students and should be consistent with typical classroom practice.

Procedure 1. The assessment area should be quiet and free from major distraction. Students can be tested individu-

ally or in small groups. Teachers should select the most appropriate format.

2. Preview the instructions for Hearing and Recording Sounds.

3. Selected stories have equal value for assessing sounds. Issues of tense, person, and phonetic features have been considered.

4. Assess the student’s ability to record sounds. Note: Do not score the child’s writing and letter formation.

5. Any of the three stories may be used for repeated assessment.

6. Score one point for each correct response as demonstrated in the scoring guide.

7. Record any other observations, such as close approximations, significant comments made by the child, and how the child responds to print.

Analysis Analysis of the student’s performance on this assessment is useful for instruction when considered in relationship to the phonemic awareness assessment, the isolation of sounds, and symbolic representation in a writing sample.