Word-Attack Skills Assessment
Source: Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall
Topics: Middle Years (5-9), Reading Building Blocks, more...
The word-attack skills test (see table below) is designed to serve (1) as a quick screening test to determine at what level a student is reading, and (2) as a preliminary indicator of what phonic and structural elements a student does and does not know.
Note that we use the word "indicator" because no one test is definitive. Correctly identifying a word with a phonic element does not necessarily mean that the student could identify the same phonic elements in other words. For example, the student may read the word hawk correctly but not be able to generalize to another aw word such as claw.
The assessment is an individually administered oral test in which students read words in a list. The words are ordered according to the sequences we recommended for introducing phonic and structural skills. Each word is designed to test a specific phonic or structural skill. The element tested is written in parentheses in front of the word.
The teacher would make a list of the words in regular sized print. This student page would not include the elements in the parentheses in table below.
Word-Attack Skills Test
| __ 1. | (th) | bath | __ 21a. | happier | __ 41. | (ness) | darkness | |
| __ 2. | (er) | matter | __ 21b. | (y) | funniest | __ 42. | (tion) | invention |
| __ 3. | (ing) | handing | __ 21c. | cried | __ 43. | (ist) | artist | |
| __ 4. | (sh) | shop | __ 22. | (ay) | pray | __ 44. | (ible) | sensible |
| __ 5a. | handed | __ 23. | (ou) | proud | __ 45. | (age) | package | |
| __ 5b. | (ed) | licked | __ 24. | (ir) | thirst | __ 46. | (sion) | mission |
| __ 5c. | hopped | __ 25. | (ur) | curb | __ 47. | (ence) | sentence | |
| __ 6. | (wh) | when | __ 26a. | taped | __ 48. | (ish) | selfish | |
| __ 7. | (qu) | quiz | __ 26b. | (VCe) | hoping | __ 49. | (ation) | vacation |
| __ 8. | (ol) | fold | __ 26c. | timer | __ 50. | (pre) | preschool | |
| __ 9. | (y) | sunny | __ 27. | (kn) | knock | __ 51. | (ex) | expect |
| __ 10. | (est) | biggest | __ 28. | (oi) | boil | __ 52. | (over) | overtime |
| __ 11. | (oa) | loan | __ 29. | (oy) | enjoy | __ 53. | (ion) | million |
| __ 12. | (ar) | cart | __ 30. | (ph) | graph | __ 54. | (ship) | friendship |
| __ 13a. | fine | __ 31. | (wr) | wrap | __ 55. | (com) | compare | |
| __ 13b. | (VCe) | hope | __ 32. | (au) | haunt | __ 56. | (ure) | adventure |
| __ 13c. | cane | __ 33. | (aw) | hawk | __ 57. | (ive) | detective | |
| __ 14. | (ea) | neat | __ 34. | (con) | confuse | __ 58. | (ac) | accuse |
| __ 15. | (oo) | toot | __ 35. | (ment) | payment | __ 59. | (ous) | joyous |
| __ 16. | (le) | candle | __ 36. | (teen) | sixteen | __ 60. | (inter) | interfere |
| __ 17. | (ee) | meet | __ 37. | (ful) | handful | __ 61. | (for) | forward |
| __ 18. | (ai) | pain | __ 38. | (dis) | distant | __ 62. | (ize) | realize |
| __ 19. | (ch) | lunch | __ 39. | (able) | enjoyable | |||
| __ 20. | (or) | port | __ 40. | (less) | useless |
Excerpted From:
© 2004, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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