The PM Benchmark Reading Assessment Resource (PM Benchmarks) provides information about primary students' level of achievement in reading accurately, fluently, and in understanding unseen texts. As part of the assessment, students have to orally retell what they have read and orally answer comprehension questions. This oral use of language…

This article describes part of a study that explored the responses of nine- and ten-year-old children during a picture book read aloud in a small group setting in a New Zealand classroom. The read aloud was interactive, where the participants were encouraged to respond to the book and to each other throughout the session. The authors created a…

We examined earlier oral narrative and decoding and later reading in two samples spanning the first four years of reading instruction. The Year 1 sample (n = 44) was initially assessed after one year of instruction (M = 6; 1 years) and followed through their third year (M = 8; 1 years); the Year 2 sample (n = 34) assessed after two years of…

Current national and international research indicates the summer break can negatively affect students' reading achievement. To counter this effect, our primary school with a range of students worked in collaboration with our local public library to plan and implement a summer reading programme. The purpose of the programme was to increase…

A New Zealand (NZ) version of Word Identification Fluency (NZWIF) was administered to 120 children in their second school year at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, along with a curriculum-based measure of oral passage reading fluency at mid- and end-year. Outcome measures included standardized and high-stakes school-used indicators of…

The prevailing assumption underlying practice in the classroom is that children acquire most of their new words from context during silent reading. The trouble with learning from silent reading is that many pupils do not read widely or quickly enough. Reading aloud to children will, however, allow them to participate in activity that they all can…

Investigates the effects of prior provision of context on the reading behavior of an above-average reader. Results indicate that discussion of context, through examining relevant illustrations, answering questions, and introducing new words, significantly decreased errors and slightly increased the amount of self-correction. (Author/GEA)

Focuses on the issues of skills in reading instruction in New Zealand. Feels that instruction can maintain a reciprocal and mutually supportive relationship between teaching word-level strategies and comprehension strategies. (MG)