The sub-tests of the STAR Reading Tests, outlined below, are designed to help teachers make better judgements about the quality of the three aspects of their students’ reading abilities.
1. Word Recognition - 4 minutes
This sub-test shows how well students can decode words that are likely to be in their spoken vocabulary (e.g., “bulb”, “mask”, “slipper”). Thus, it assesses decoding. The sub-test achieves this outcome by providing pictures of familiar objects or actions, and asking students to identify the word (from amongst three similar words with which it might be confused) that matches the picture. In the absence of any verbal context, students must decode accurately, using letters and sounds. The words selected in the 10 tests are taken from high-frequency lists, and all appear in The New Zealand Oxford Primary School Dictionary (Shallcrass, 1994). It is clear from the results of this test that, for the majority of students, isolated word recognition of high-frequency and familiar words is a skill that has been mastered well before the end of primary school. However, there are a few students in most classes who are still struggling with word recognition.
2. Sentence Comprehension - 4 minutes
In this sub-test, students show how well they can read for meaning. They read a range of sentences and complete them with an appropriate word, selecting one word that makes sense from a set of four. Thus, the test mainly assesses the skill of decoding, and the ability to use a range of strategies to make meaning. It also reflects, to some extent, students’ knowledge of vocabulary and common idiomatic expressions in English.
3. Paragraph Comprehension - 8 minutes
In this sub-test, the “cloze procedure” is used to assess students’ ability to make meaning in longer texts than that of Sub-test 2. Students read paragraphs and replace words that have been deleted from them, using the context of the surrounding text as cues to meaning. In the “matching cloze” format used in the Years 3–4 tests, a set of six to 10 words is provided for students to select from when replacing the missing words. The correct words are listed in this set, along with several distractors. More linguistic and knowledge cues are called on from surrounding ideas and information than are available in Sub-test 2. The results of such cloze tests have been shown to be valid measures of reading comprehension.
4. Vocabulary Range - 4 minutes
This sub-test focuses directly on the development of reading vocabulary. It measures students’ knowledge of word meanings in context, by requiring them to identify a synonym for each word, from a set of four plausible options.
In the tests for younger students, most of the target words are taken from the NZCER Spell-Write list of 3,400 words in common use (Croft & Mapa, 1998).
For the older students, the words are taken from The New Zealand Oxford Primary School Dictionary. They were selected after extensive trials showed them to be of suitable difficulty for the relevant year groups. (Years 7–9 only)
5. The Language of Advertising - 4 minutes
This sub-test assesses students’ ability to read critically (No. 3 aspect of reading above), and is stressed in the most recent curriculum statements. It requires students to identify emotive words that are typically used by advertisers when trying to attract consumers to buy their products or services. Students read each item and circle the one word that sounds appealing, but provides little or no factual information (e.g., “fabulous”, “prime”, “gotta-go”). 11 STAR Teacher Manual
6. Reading Different Text Types or Styles of Writing- 6 minutes
Students in the senior levels of primary school are expected to read, with understanding, various styles or text types of writing, both formal and informal. To assess this skill, students are given some paragraphs that represent a range of text types, and at particular points in each paragraph they are asked to select one phrase that best fits the style and purpose of the writer from three possible phrases. The text types represented include traditional fairy tales, business letters, informal letters, recipes and computer manuals, amongst others.