Chapter 3 Summary 1

Chapter 3 Summary

Nathan L. Tamborello

The University of Houston

Summer 2018 – CUIN 7331

Chapter 3 Summary 2

Chapter 3 of Darrell Morris’ Diagnosis and Correction of Reading Problems centres

around the administration of multiple informal reading diagnostic tests. Four main reading

assessments occupy the chapter: the assessment of word recognition in isolation, assessing oral

contextual reading, assessing silent contextual reading, and assessing spelling. Each of these

assessments is accompanied by a test instrument by which to score the administration and a

scoring guide to calculate the assessment.

Within the first chapter heading, Morris discusses the assessment of word recognition in

isolation. The rationale expounds upon reasoning for the assessment and content/context to

consider whilst administering this test to a group of students. This assessment is carried out by

utilising a word recognition test, which is made up of ten 20-word lists, ranging in increasing

difficulty from preprimer to eighth grade vocabulary. The purpose of this assessment is to

analyse and assess the speed and accuracy at which students recognise and comprehend words

that are flashed to them - without the assistance of context - to understand whether your student

can read words by automatic sight recognition or whether they struggle sounding out syllables.

The way this assessment is written on paper sounds difficult for only one test examiner to

administer - at least until they get the hang of it. Perhaps the system could be altered for first

time test admins, and instead of the two notecard on paper technique, they could use the

notecards to have the words written on and flashed to the student? One would have to experiment

if one was a first time test administrator attempting to give this to students; it would be bad to be

the cause of distraction to the student who is attempting to take the assessment.

The second heading in the chapter, assessing contextual reading (oral), first describes the

rationale of this assessment and digs into what the test is concentrating on: the student’s oral

reading accuracy, rate, and comprehension at scaffolding stages of difficulty. Morris describes an
Chapter 3 Summary 3

IRI (informal reading inventory) and offers a few suggestions on solid reading inventories to

utilise in your classroom. The main point taken away from the IRI is that whichever one is

chosen should be interesting to the student. This will increase both comprehension and

concentration throughout the assessment. Eight IRIs (level preprimer to eighth) are again utilised

to assess the student on accuracy (were there repeated words, substitutions, omissions, insertions,

or examiner help?). This assessment should be conferred against the isolation test previously

administered to gauge student placement.

In the next subheading, Morris discusses assessing silent reading. With this assessment,

we gauge both the speed at which the text was read and the comprehension the student shows at

the end of the text. When you assess silent reading, it is important to make sure that the student is

truly engaged with the text: is the student silently mouthing words, using their finger to move

along their place in the book, or are they otherwise intent upon their reading task? Again, the

student reads continually advancing excerpts by which to gauge their reading level and the

assessment is ended when the comprehension score after reading falls below 50%.

The last heading deals with the assessment of spelling. This goes beyond the question did

the student spell the word correctly and moves into HOW did the child misspell the word? Since

spelling and reading draw upon the same lexical and morphological processes, it is important to

note how the student is struggling with this assessment. Is the student misspelling words by more

than one feature? Are they omitting letter sounds or vowel sounds?

These tests should be used in conjunction with each other: they all combine to tell a story

of where your students are exactly in their reading comprehension, ability, and accuracy. These

tests are designed to inform the teacher on how best to approach instruction with the child and

how to create curriculum that will cater to the students’ abilities and cognitions.