Reading Passages

Jake was given the Pre-Primer 2, Pre-Primer 3, and Primer passages. All of the passages

were narrative-based stories. There were not expository options for Pre-Primer 2 or Pre-Primer 3.

After administering the Primer narrative, it was evident that the passage was at Jake’s frustration

level and as a result, the Primer expository passage was not presented to Jake. The results for

each of the reading passages are outlined in detail below.

Pre-Primer 2: Instructional

The Pre-Primer 2 passage was titled “Just Like Mom.” In reading the passage, Jake

demonstrated a total of five miscues, three of which were meaning changing. Before outlining

the miscues, it is important to note that all were made at the end of the story. It was apparent

during the administration that Jake was not exhibiting a positive attitude, and as a result, the

results may not be an accurate representation of his abilities.

For the first miscue, Jake made insertion of the word my in the repeated phrase “just like

Mom,” reading the phrase as “just like my Mom.” This insertion occurred twice at the end of the

story, but it did not hinder Jake’s understanding of the meaning of the story. Likewise, Jake’s

other miscues all occurred as substitutions within the same sentence. For instance, the story read

“I can do lots of things.” However, Jake read the sentence as “I can do losing the off.”

Substituting losing in place of lots illustrates Jake was reading too quickly. Lots is an easily

decodable word, so it is apparent that Jake simply substituted it with a word he could think of

that also began with a letter l. For the second portion of the sentence, it is possible that Jake

simply guessed the off because they looked similar to of things, though it is clear that Jake

switched the order of the similar-looking words. It is crucial to note that in this instance Jake was
again unable to decode the -ing in things. This miscue confirms Jake’s need for explicit

instruction with welded sounds.

Because Jake had three meaning changing miscues, the chart at the end of the reading

selection determined that the Pre-Primer 2 passage should be placed at Jake’s frustration level.

However, because the miscues only occurred in one sentence at the end of the passage, it is

assumed that Jake was most likely reading quickly and carelessly in order to complete the

reading. Likewise, considering his poor attitude during the reading – for reasons unrelated to the

passage itself – it is assumed that Jake’s score would likely increase if he had read the passage at

another time. Therefore, Pre-Primer 2 was considered to be at Jake’s instructional level.

Pre-Primer 3: Instructional

Because Jake’s scores from the Word List assessment demonstrated his instructional

performance to be at Pre-Primer 2/3, a Pre-Primer 3 passage was also selected to assess Jake’s

reading abilities. There was no expository option for Pre-Primer 3 so only a narrative selection

was completed. The results for this passage are outlined in detail in the following paragraph.

The Pre-Primer 3 story was called “Lost and Found.” Jake exhibited a total of nine

miscues with four of those being meaning changing. The first miscue Jake made in the passage

was a substitution for reading lost as losed. This substitution maintains the integrity of the

passage’s meaning, and it reflects the manner in which Jake speaks. It appears that Jake knew,

based on the context, what word should go there, and therefore, he substituted his own oral

depiction of the word. A frequently occurring miscue was Jake’s decoding of where as we’re. It

is surprising that Jake misread where a number of times because he correctly identified this word

on the Pre-Primer 2/3 list of words. Yet another miscue Jake illustrated was in reading outside in

place of inside. It is evident that Jake used the context to decode the word; however, because of
the lack of similarity between the phonemes at the beginning of each word, it is apparent that he

simply guessed. An important aspect to note, however, is that both inside and outside occurred in

other parts of the passage, and in those instances, Jake was able to accurately decode the words.

It may be beneficial to provide Jake support in decoding compound words; teaching Jake to

chunk words into syllables may promote his success in decoding. An additional miscue that

became apparent during the reading was when Jake deleted the e in same, causing him to read it

as sam. By third grade, it is assumed that Jake has learned the phonics rule for silent e words.

However, review of this concept may be beneficial. Lastly, Jake substituted the word under for

out. This mistake may have occurred because outside was written in the following line of the

passage. Jake self-corrected this mistake, and when under appeared again in the passage, Jake

accurately decoded it.

Based on the chart following the reading passage, Jake’s performance should have scored

him at the frustration level. However, compiling his miscues with his performance with the pre-

concept questions and comprehension questions that followed the passage, it is evident that Jake

had a clear understanding of the story. Therefore, though the miscues were considered meaning-

changing, they did not hinder Jake’s ability to comprehend the story. As Jake progresses in his

reading endeavors, it is important that he does not demonstrate a significant number of miscues

on reading passages as this may inhibit his ability to comprehend more difficult concepts in

reading. As a result, Jake should receive explicit instruction on decoding strategies in order to

accurately and automatically identify words in context.

Primer: Frustration

The Primer passage was used to confirm that Jake’s instructional level resides at Pre-
Primer 2/3. Upon completion of the narrative Primer passage, it was evident that Jake performed

at the frustration level. As a result, the expository Primer passage was not completed with Jake.

In reading the Primer narrative titled “The Pig Who Learned to Read,” Jake demonstrated

a total of 22 miscues. Twelve of Jake’s miscues were considered to be meaning changing.

Frequently throughout the selection, Jake added s as the ending for words that typically ended

with d. For instance, Jake read lived as lives, and he decoded read as reads. This coincides with

what was observed from analysis of the Yopp-Singer results in which Jake incorrectly identified

the final phoneme in some of the words. An additional miscue exhibited numerous times by Jake

were substitutions. Jake substituted his in place of he, are in place of after, and there in place of

that. In order to assist in the recognition of high frequency words, Jake should be provided direct

instruction. Finally, there were several instances in the reading selection in which Jake could not

decode a word, and therefore, it had to be read to him. Observing his facial expressions and

verbal complaints, it was apparent that Jake was incredibly frustrated. Although Jake’s behavior

has been discussed as a disclaimer throughout various assessments, it should be noted that his

attitude at the beginning of the passage was noticeably positive and motivated. Towards the end,

Jake’s frustration had increased and was apparent.