Running head: LITERACY PORTFOLIO 1

Literacy Portfolio

Haleigh A. Dykes

University of South Florida

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Table of Contents

Introduction of Student .................................................................................................................3

Attitude Towards Reading ......................................................................................................4 – 6

Elementary Reading Attitude Survey .....................................................................................4 – 6

Print Concepts, Letters and Sounds, and Phonemic Awareness .........................................6 – 9

Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation ........................................................................6 – 9

Word Knowledge: Vocabulary and Word Study ................................................................9 – 14

Elementary Spelling Inventory.............................................................................................9 – 12

CORE Vocabulary Screening.............................................................................................12 – 14

References .....................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction of Student

My focus student, Samuel (pseudonym,) is from Columbia and his first language is

Spanish. He has lived in the United States for less than two years. He is very quiet, and rarely

talks to anyone and he does not participate in class discussions. Samuel’s language arts teacher

said that she believes that Samuel is afraid to make mistakes and that may be why he is so quiet.

Despite being a very reluctant reader, Samuel enjoys reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. His

teachers believe that he simply lacks the confidence with reading.

Samuel has very neat writing, but often makes errors with verb tenses. However, when

asked to reread his paper he can often find the mistakes that he made.
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Elementary Reading Attitude Survey

The Purpose of the ERAS

The purpose of the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, also known as ERAS, is to

provide teachers with a quick indication of a student’s attitude toward reading. It can be

administered to the entire class, or an individual student. The ERAS can be administered within

ten minutes and it is very simply worded. After each statement is a picture of Garfield designed

to show different emotional responses from very happy to very unhappy.

Administration of the ERAS

You begin administering the ERAS by telling the student(s) that you are administering

the ERAS because you wish to find out what their feelings toward reading are. It is important to

emphasize that this is not a test and that there are no right or wrong answers. Make sure they

know that sincerity is key.

After passing out the survey forms, hold up a copy so that they can see the first page.

After each statement, there are four pictures of Garfield. Take the time to have the student (or

students) that you are administering the test to, analyze the facial expressions Garfield is making

(very happy, somewhat happy, somewhat unhappy, very unhappy) and then have them circle the

face closest to their feelings toward the statement. Make sure the students know that they are

responding based on their own personal feelings toward the statement rather than what Garfield

may feel about the statement.

When I administered this to Samuel, he was able to understand the facial expressions

Garfield made very quickly, and I noticed he took his time on choosing the answer. I allowed

him to use a pen that was his favorite color while taking this because I believed it would make it

more fun for him, and thus encourage his sincerity.

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ERAS Results

Samuel really seemed to enjoy reading when it was done during school hours, or when he

did not have the ability to do anything else in his spare time. However, when asked about if he

liked reading instead of playing, reading during summer vacation, or reading at home, he felt

very negatively about this.

He enjoys reading his school books, but he does not enjoy having to discuss them with

the class and he does not like to read them aloud. However, he did feel strongly in a positive

way about learning things from reading.

Overall, Samuel scored a raw score of 28 toward recreational reading and a raw score of

25 in academic reading. His full scale raw score was a 53, which apparently makes him pretty

indifferent toward reading – which is something that shows throughout his coursework.

Interpretation of ERAS Results

Overall, Samuel only scored higher than 38% of the average fourth-grader who was

surveyed to create the norms. Recreationally, he scored above 41% of fourth-graders and

academically he scored above 40% of students in the fourth-grade. Based on these numbers,

Samuel definitely has a much lower attitude toward reading than most other students that are his

age and in his grade.

Instructional Decisions

To try to encourage Samuel to enjoy reading more, I would find more ways to make

reading a fun activity for him. For example, I would try to incorporate fun games about things

we read such as “Doing the Story,” a comprehension method I learned in my Emergent Literacy

course. Not only do I feel that may help him enjoy reading more, but I think that maybe it would
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help him open up more instead of being so quiet and unwilling to participate in the classroom

discussions.

Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation

Literacy Practices Observed

My student Samuel (pseudonym) does not enjoy reading things aloud and is not fond of

speaking out during class discussions. He rarely even communicates while working in groups.

During spare time, he does enjoy reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and he mentioned when I

administered the ERA previously, that he enjoys reading for learning but not out loud and not

when he can be playing instead.

When he is writing, he makes mistakes with verb tenses, but he can often find these

errors and correct them when he is asked to reread for errors and mistakes.

Since I have been working with Samuel, I have noticed that he has started to feel a little

more comfortable with these things. When I taught my lesson, he was willing to share out and

that is very uncommon for him. He tends to participate more in math and science, because those

are his favorite subjects.

Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation

The Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme segmentation is given to students to assess individual

students’ levels of phonemic awareness. It is a critical assessment to find out where your

students are in their phonemic awareness. By knowing where your students are, it makes it

easier for you to be able to provide the extra assistance that your students may need who are

below level.

Overview of Administration
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To administer the Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation, there are several steps to

follow. The first thing that you are to do is to have a test sheet for every student that you are

planning to administer this to. It is strictly oral; the students should NOT see the words that are

on the list. Even if you are administering the assessment to the entire class, you are supposed to

assess them each individually in a quiet place. You should keep the assessment informal and

explain the assessment to the student exactly as the directions specify. As with most things, it is

important that you model for the student what they need to do with each of the practice words,

and have the student break them apart with you.

You start the assessment by telling the student, “Today we are going to work with words.

I am going to say a word and I want you to break the word apart. You are going to say the word

slowly, and then tell me each sound in the word in order. For example, if I say ‘old’ you should

say, ‘/o/-/l/-/d/’. (The teacher says the sound, not the letters.) Let us try a few words together.”

(Yopp-Singer, 1990) Then you try the words ride, go, and man with the student. You help them

with each of the sample items, and segment the item if necessary and encourage them to repeat

the segmented word. After the student has finished the sample items, you give them the 22-item

test. When correct, the teacher lets the student know that they are correct and when they are

wrong you correct them by providing the appropriate response.

You score the test by counting the number of items that were correctly segmented – there

is no partial credit. So, for example, if a student says /c/-/at/, that is recorded on the line and no

credit is given. If the student says ‘cat’ you tell them that yes, that is the word but can they

segment it into individual sounds? If they again repeat the word ‘cat’ you record that response

and do not given them credit. This is also the case if the student spells the word for you instead

of splitting it into the phonemic sounds. Also, if a student shrugs and refuses to respond, restate
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the item and encourage a response and if no response is then given you tell them the correct

response and move on to the next item, giving them no credit for this response.

Results are sorted into the following: students who score 17-22 items correct can be

considered to be phonemically aware. If they score from 7-16 that are displaying emerging

phonemic awareness. Students who score 6 or fewer correct lack appropriate levels of phonemic

awareness.

Summary of Results

Samuel was able to correctly segment 15 of the 22 words on the Yopp-Singer test. The

most frequent mistake that Samuel was making was taking the words and splitting them up into

two parts instead of splitting it up by each individual phoneme. An example is he segmented

keep by say /ke/ /ep/ instead of /k/ /ee/ /p/. He also repeated a few sounds frequently, for

example with the word red he said /red/ /d/. I believe this is because of him also being an

English language learner.

Samuel’s score places him at the emerging phonemic awareness stage, but I believe that

with some extra instruction or practice segmenting phonemes, Samuel could definitely become

proficient with phonemic segmentation.

Instructional Decisions

The Yopp-Singer test suggests that when students score low intervention needs to occur

or the student will likely experience difficulty with reading and spelling. Linguistic stimulation

that helps with the sound structure of their language can be very beneficial.

If I were Samuel’s full time teacher, I would consider encouraging him to share out more

frequently and talk within the groups more often since the more he speaks and hears others
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speak, the more likely I feel he would be to be able to understand the phonemes and be able to be

more fluent with the sounds he is using in his language.

Since I am not able to see him in his ELA classes, I am unable to tell whether or not an

ESOL teacher comes in to speak with him while he is there to assist him with his work. If he is

not receiving that assistance, I think maybe it could be beneficial for him.

Reflection

Upon reviewing the results from the Yopp-Singer, I found it to be very enlightening and

gives me a better idea of where my focus student is at. I definitely plan to incorporate this into

my lesson plans when I have my own classroom in the future because I know that it will give me

the ability to better understand my students and be a more effective teacher.

I also really like that it is done individually so the students are not comparing themselves

to others and I think that makes them feel more comfortable and less afraid of making mistakes.

Having examples that you do with the student to begin is also extremely beneficial because they

can hear how it is done, and modeling always make things even more helpful in my opinion.

Elementary Spelling Inventory

Description of the Assessment

Spelling inventories consist of words that are chosen to represent spelling features at

different levels of difficulty. They do not include all orthographic features, just enough to assist

a teacher in identifying a stage and planning instruction. It is taken similarly to a spelling test,

though it is not used for grading purposes.

The Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI) is generally used in first grade through sixth

grade, however it is recommended especially for third grade through fifth grade. It consists of a

list of twenty-five words, beginning with bed and ending with opposition, that increase in
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difficulty. Most students in third grade can try to spell all twenty-five words, but it is

recommended that If they spell more than five in a row, or become visibly frustrated, that you

stop the test. If a student does exceptionally well and spells twenty or more correctly, you

should give them the Upper Spelling Inventory (USI) instead. (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, &

Johnston, 2012)

Overview of the Assessment

The spelling inventory that is chosen is based on grade level and student achievement

levels. After the assessment, the spellings are analyzed using a feature guide to identify the

orthographic features that students know and what they do not know. This inventory can be used

multiple times per year to monitor progress.

Since the spelling inventory is not used for grading purposes, so students should not

study the particular words before or after the test. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to administer

an inventory. It is important to explain the following to them before the inventory because some

students may become anxious:

“I am going to ask you to spell some words. You have not studied these words and

will not be graded on them. Some of the words may be easy and others may be

difficult. Do the best you can. Your work will help me understand how you are

learning to read and write and how I can help you.” (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton,

& Johnston, 2012, p. 29)

You can also explain to your students that as long as they try their best, they will receive

an A for the assignment. This helps ease their anxiety and they are more likely to give their best

effort when spelling the words. (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2012)
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When administering the spelling inventory, do not draw out any of the sounds or break it

up into syllables. Say each word naturally and allow the students to break it apart themselves.

You will say each word twice and use it in a sentence to help them understand the context of the

word.

Summary of Results

When I administered this to my focus student, Samuel (pseudonym), he did not seem to

have any struggles with the test. I could tell that he was trying his hardest to sound out the words

he did not know. Samuel ended up spelling 14 of the 25 words correctly and got 44 of the 62

feature points. This gave him a total of 58 of 87 possible points. Because of his total words

spelled correctly, Samuel would be at the early syllables and affixes stage. Though, he was just

one correctly spelled word away from scoring at the middle syllables and affixes stage.

Scoring at below 70 percent correct on certain features, the features that Samuel struggled

with were digraphs, common long vowels, inflected endings, syllable junctures, unaccented final

syllables, harder suffixes, and bases or roots. However, Samuel did very well with consonants,

both initial and final, short vowels, other vowels, and scored all of the blends correctly.

One of the words Samuel struggled with was ‘bright’ which he spelled as ‘breat.’ He got

the ‘br’ blend correct but unfortunately missed the ‘igh’ long vowel sound. He also missed the

word ‘cellar’ and spelled it as ‘sawer.’ Because of this, he missed both the syllable juncture (ll)

and the unaccented final syllable (ar).

Instructional Decisions

Since the feature guide gives you the areas where a student struggles, I would find a way

to focus on the features that Samuel is not grasping when working with him. He is very close to

be considered in the middle syllables and affixes stage, and so I believe that with a little extra
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help in these areas he could easily be at the middle stage by the end of the school year, possibly

even late syllables and affixes stage.

In addition to some one-on-one work, maybe his ELA teacher could send him home a

packet of things to practice individually – something for each feature. I think this would be

beneficial because if she made a packet for each feature, then she could pass out the appropriate

feature packets to the students that need them based on their scores on the ESI if/when she

administers the test to her class of students.

Reflection

I feel like I learned a lot about where my focus student currently is within his reading

ability and writing ability. I found this particular assessment to be very enlightening and I

definitely plan to use this in my future classroom when I graduate.

One thing that did not go as planned was I did not have access to the ESI sentences, only

the words, so I had to improvise and make up my own sentences as I would read the words, and I

feel like that made things a lot more difficult because I felt very flustered. Luckily, Samuel was

very understanding and still knew what I was talking about, it just took me some time to come up

with sentences that he would be able to understand.

CORE Vocabulary Screening

Description of the Assessment

The CORE vocabulary screening measures the students’ knowledge of the meanings of

grade-level word that they are reading silently. The assessment involves reading a word from a

box and then choosing the synonym of the word from the three words that follow. It is

considered a pure measure of reading vocabulary because the student does not need to

comprehend the text to choose the correct word and there are not any context clues available.
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As you can imagine, having vocabulary knowledge is crucial when it comes to

understanding a text. Even if a student is good at decoding, they may have difficulty

comprehending if they do not have proficient vocabulary knowledge. By administering the

CORE vocabulary screening, you can identify students who have lower vocabulary knowledge

and provide them with the assistance that they need. (Milone, M., 2008)

Overview of the Assessment

You may test your students in groups or individually. They will read the word in the box,

and then they will read three words on the same line. They are to underline which of these three

words is a synonym to the word in the box.

While giving the directions, you will perform the sample from the top of the page.

Which, in my case since I did the fourth grade one, was the word mention. The possible answer

choices are cheek, rise, and say. Explain that the correct answer is ‘say’ and have your students

underline it. Give the students time to ask any questions and then have them begin.

Summary of Results

Samuel scored at the strategic performance level. He only got 18 of the 30 questions

correct. I noticed while he was taking it, that he seemed to guess on the ones that he was not

familiar with. He seemed to get the more common words correct, such as knowing that the word

‘locate’ and ‘find’ were similar. However, with the word ‘whirl’ he chose ‘flow’ as the synonym

instead of ‘spin.’

I considered giving him the higher level of the third-grade CORE screening, but because

he did score over half of them correctly, I decided not to do this because I did not want to stress

him out.

Instructional Decisions
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In the CORE screening background information, it has a “What is Next?” section. There,

it is explained that through direct instruction and practice, a student can improve their vocabulary

development. However, this method only somewhat increases their development. A student is

going to achieve higher development through oral interaction and choosing reading materials that

have a rich vocabulary.

It is also important that the student is reading, and hearing, grade level text or higher

because that can help them expand their vocabulary. Independently reading grade level materials

is also very beneficial. Of course, receiving instruction from their teacher is also beneficial.

Reflection

Looking back on the assessment now, I do wish that maybe I had begun with a lower

level inventory to do a few samples together, and then moved on to the grade-level appropriate

assessment. While he did not score terribly, he was very close to getting half of them incorrect.

I am not sure if this was due to anxiety and him just guessing instead of taking his time, but I do

think that had I done something differently he would have scored better and thus received a

better score on the assessment.

Overall, I really did find this vocabulary inventory to be something I want to administer

to my students in the future. I think it would actually be nice if this assessment was administered

at the beginning and end of the year, with copies saved for their teachers when they move on to

the next grade. That way, the teacher from the following year has an idea of where they stand

and where they need help that way they know how to help them at the beginning of the year.
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References

Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (n.d.). Words Their Way (5th ed.).

Pearson Education.

Dykes, H. (2016). Component 1: Attitude Toward Reading. University of South Florida.

Dykes, H. (2016). Component 2: Print Concepts, Letters and Sounds, and Phonemic Awareness.

University of South Florida.

Dykes, H. (2016). Component 3: Word Knowledge: Vocabulary and Word Study. University of

South Florida.

Mckenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring Attitude Toward Reading: A New Tool for

Teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(8), 626-639.

Milone, M., Ph.D. (2008). CORE Vocabulary Screening. In (pp. 120-147). Academic Therapy

Publications.

Yopp, H. K. (1995). A Test for Assessing Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. The Reading

Teacher, 49(1), 20-30.