M01-U01 — Diagnose reading needs

M01-U01 · Diagnose reading needs

Unit outcome: after this unit you can run a 15-minute reading diagnosis with one adult and name the single barrier that explains the results: decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, or print literacy. You will support the name with at least two recorded observations.

Audience: trainee teachers. The example learner is an adult French speaker in a hospitality job in Reunion. You do not need a real English learner to complete this unit. Any adult who agrees to read with you will do until the supported practice route opens.

Time: 45 to 60 minutes of preparation, then a 15-minute session with an adult. Version 0.1.0. This is a CEFR-informed diagnostic procedure, not a validated level test.

1. See a worked example

The diagnostic passage. Print it or show it on screen. It is a 62-word email at roughly A2 level, the kind a hotel receptionist actually receives.

Dear Ms Hoarau,
Your airport transfer on 14 March is confirmed. The driver will wait in the arrivals hall with a sign showing your name. Because your flight lands at 21:35, the pickup time is now 22:15, not 21:50. Please reply to confirm.
Regards,
Ludo, Reception

The diagnosis uses three probes, in this order. Each probe isolates one thing.

Probe 1, word task, isolates decoding. Show eight words from the email on a card, one by one: confirmed, arrivals, driver, lands, pickup, reply, sign, hall. Ask the learner to read each one aloud. Do not correct. Write exactly what you hear. Two francophone patterns to listen for, not to fix during the diagnosis: final consonants dropped or softened (lands said as “land”, confirmed said as “confirme”), and stress placed on the last syllable, as in French.

Probe 2, sentence task, isolates vocabulary. Read these three questions aloud and let the learner look at the email while answering. Who holds the sign: the driver or Ms Hoarau? Where does the driver wait? What number changed in the email? A learner can decode a word and still not know it. This probe catches that.

Probe 3, text task, isolates comprehension. Cover the email. Ask three questions without letting the learner re-read. What time will the driver meet Ms Hoarau? Why did Ludo write this email? What must Ms Hoarau do next? Note whether the learner answers from the earlier reading or guesses.

Then run the separator: the read-aloud probe. If the learner answered probe 3 poorly after silent reading, read the email aloud at normal speed and ask the same three questions again. Better answers after hearing it mean the barrier is decoding, not comprehension.

Here is a completed profile from a fictional but realistic learner.

Learner: Nadia, 34, receptionist, French first language, strong Creole, no English since school.
Probe 1: 5 of 8 words recognisable aloud, all slow. Dropped final -s on lands. Arrivals read as “arrivales”.
Probe 2: 3 of 3 correct, quick on driver and sign, slow on arrivals hall.
Probe 3: 1 of 3 after silent reading, about 40 seconds spent on the email. After the read-aloud probe: 3 of 3.
Barrier: decoding under time pressure, not comprehension.
Next teaching decision: do not move to harder texts yet. Build reading speed on short, familiar workplace texts and high-frequency words first.
Do not claim: a CEFR level. This was not a level test.

2. Understand the teaching decision

A single placement score gives you a number. Teaching needs the barrier, because the barrier decides the first lesson. Comprehension texts given to a learner who cannot decode waste a month. Decoding drills given to a learner who reads fine but lacks vocabulary waste a month too. The probes exist to prevent that mis-spend.

The probe order matters. Words before sentences, sentences before text, silent reading before the read-aloud probe. Each step removes one explanation for a failure at the next step.

The print literacy case. Most adults in Reunion know the Latin script, so “unfamiliar script” will be rare in your teaching. But some adults have interrupted schooling and strong oral skills. If a learner struggles in every probe and also struggles when you translate the content into French or Creole and ask the same questions about a printed text, English is not the barrier. Print literacy is. Do not label that learner “beginner in English” and do not try to teach your way out of it. Say what you observed, and refer the learner to adult literacy support where it exists.

3. Inspect a weak example and its correction

Weak diagnosis, the kind generated by a placement test mindset:

“I gave Nadia a placement test. She scored 60 percent. Level A1. I will start with A1 reading materials.”

What is wrong: a percentage is not a diagnosis. No observed behaviour appears in it. A level label came out of one instrument and the plan does not follow from the evidence, it follows from the label.

Corrected version, using the same session:

“Nadia read 5 of 8 target words aloud recognisably but slowly, dropping final consonants. She answered 1 of 3 comprehension questions after silent reading, then 3 of 3 after I read the email aloud. Barrier: decoding speed under time pressure, comprehension intact. First lessons: re-reading short workplace texts for fluency, not new harder texts.”

The correction costs one paragraph more and changes the whole first month of teaching.

4. Do the practical task

Run the three probes and the read-aloud separator with one adult. A colleague, a friend or a family member who reads is fine for this practice run; you are training your observation, not placing the person. Keep the session to 15 minutes. Fill in the profile form below as you go, or immediately after. Write what you heard, not what you intended.

5. Compare with the answer guidance

Check your completed profile against these criteria.

• It names exactly one barrier, chosen from: decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, print literacy.
• It cites at least two recorded observations, quoted or paraphrased from notes, not remembered impressions.
• It separates silent-reading results from read-aloud results. A profile that omits the read-aloud probe cannot distinguish decoding from comprehension, and is incomplete.
• The next teaching decision follows from the barrier. Decoding barrier, fluency work. Vocabulary barrier, high-frequency workplace lexis before new texts. Comprehension barrier, question types and text structure, not faster reading.
• It claims no CEFR level and no disability or attention diagnosis.

If your profile meets all five, it is portfolio evidence. If not, the checklist usually shows which probe to rerun.

6. Revise and try again

The commonest gap is the read-aloud probe, skipped to save three minutes. If you skipped it, rerun the session with it. The second commonest gap is level language that crept back in: “she is A1”, “he is weak”. Rewrite those as observations. “He answered 2 of 3 questions on the transfer email” is an observation. “He is A1” is a claim this unit does not license you to make.

7. Materials to print

All three materials work in black and white, no login, no video. Print them or copy the text into any document.

Learner task sheet: the transfer email above, then the eight probe words in large type, then the six questions from probes 2 and 3, with space to write answers. The learner never sees the word “diagnosis”. The sheet is titled “Reading check: an email from a hotel”.

Teacher guide: the probe order, the two francophone listening notes, the timing, and the reminder script for the read-aloud step: “Now I will read the email to you once. Same three questions.”

Learner profile form: the blank fields used in Nadia’s example above. Learner first name and job, probe 1 results in your own phonetic notes, probe 2 and 3 scores out of 3, read-aloud result, one barrier, one next teaching decision, one line stating what you do not claim.

8. Keep evidence and identify the next step

Evidence: the completed profile form, dated. It feeds directly into M01-U04, where one observed difficulty becomes two verifiable goals. If you teach or will teach writing, collect a writing sample in the same week and hold it for M01-U02.

Sources and review: source anchors C1, D2 and R9 in the evidence register. This is an original procedure for this course, informed by diagnostic practice; no source certifies it as a validated assessment. Version 0.1.0, educator review pending. Errors go to the contact page.

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