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Khulani Teacher Assessment Assistant
11 Jul 2025
9: Practical Assessment Toolkit: Decoding Reading Readiness & Phonics (Grades R-3)
Developing reading readiness and phonics skills is a critical component of the English Home Language curriculum in the Foundation Phase. This toolkit provides practical assessment pointers to identify key milestones in a child's journey towards independent reading.
Key Indicators for Reading Readiness (Grade R - Early Grade 1 Focus):
- Print Awareness: Does the child understand that print carries meaning? Do they know that we read from left to right and top to bottom?
- Book Handling Skills: Can the child hold a book correctly, turn pages, and identify the front and back covers?
- Picture Comprehension: Can the child "read" a story from pictures, predicting what might happen next?
- Letter Recognition: Can the child identify and name most uppercase and lowercase letters?
- Rhyming Words: Can the child identify and produce rhyming words?
- Syllable Awareness: Can the child clap out syllables in words?
Key Indicators for Phonics Skills (Grade 1-3 Focus):
- Sound-Letter Correspondence: Can the child associate sounds with their corresponding letters (e.g., knows 'a' makes the /a/ sound, 'b' makes the /b/ sound)?
- Blending: Can the child blend individual sounds together to form a word (e.g., /c/-/a/-/t/ = cat)?
- Segmenting: Can the child break a word down into its individual sounds (e.g., cat = /c/-/a/-/t/)?
- Decoding CVC words: Can the child read simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words (e.g., 'dog', 'sun')?
- High-Frequency Words: Can the child recognize common "sight words" instantly without needing to sound them out (e.g., 'the', 'and', 'is')?
- Word Attack Strategies: Does the child attempt to sound out unfamiliar words using phonic knowledge?
Contexts for Observation:
- Story Time: Observe how children engage with books, point to words, or attempt to 'read' known words.
- Phonics Games: During activities involving letter sounds, word families, or rhyming.
- Shared Reading: Note how children participate in reading aloud, tracking words, and predicting outcomes.
- Independent Work: Observe attempts to decode words during early writing or reading tasks.
By providing these specific indicators, you will be able to identify a child's progress in developing the foundational skills necessary for reading success.
