How less-skilled adult readers experience word-reading.

McHardy, Janet ; Wildy, Helen ; Chapman, Elaine 等

Introduction

Despite decades of arguments regarding the nature of literacy (Street, 1984), and the many ways of considering, acquiring, and measuring it, common current agreement views literacy as involving being able to understand, evaluate, use and engage with written text to participate in society and achieve personal goals, and develop personal knowledge and potential (OECD, 2012). Without the appropriate literacy skills, people may be kept at the margins of society, and vocational and academic opportunities may be limited (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013). By addressing adults' literacy needs effectively, society has the potential to improve the economic, social and health outcomes for adult learners, their families, and their communities (National Research Council, 2012). Internationally, significant numbers of adults continue to have problems with basic literacy (e.g. House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, 2014). Consequently, the question of adult literacy has moved in recent years from the margins of policy to a mainstream consideration (Carpentieri, 2013) with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on adult literacy initiatives (Australian Industry Group, 2013).

Despite strongly voiced perspectives which view literacy as social activities and argue for an understanding of literacy practices as multiple, with social meaning (Street, 2011), current adult literacy initiatives are dominated by a skill focus and the contexts and interactions of industry and economic imperatives, and more specific employment-related competences (Yasukawa & Black, 2016). Against this backdrop, the specific literacy needs of individuals are regularly overlooked (Athanasou, 2011), with individual learner-voices frequently not heard, and learners' lives reduced to reportable statistics and measurable outcomes. Calls are growing to broaden the current discourse and go 'beyond economic interests' (Yasukawa & Black, 2016) to facilitate adult literacy learning to balance the needs of individual learners with the interests of industry.

Reading has long been accepted as an underpinning literacy skill (Street, 1995). Reading skills are central to the development of over-all literacy (Galletly & Knight, 2013). Contemporary society is dominated by the written word and to participate actively individuals need to be able to read (EU High Level Group of Experts on Literacy, 2012). Worldwide, large numbers of adults are able to read only simple texts and form only low-level inferences (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013; EU High Level Group of Experts on Literacy, 2012; House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, 2014; National Research Council, 2012). Such readers are described as less-skilled readers (Binder & Borecki, 2008). A paucity of research exists into the nature of specific difficulties of less-skilled adult readers (MacArthur, Konold, Glutting & Alamprese, 2012). Research is necessary to enable tailored reading instruction to occur (Binder, Snyder, Ardoin & Morris, 2011). The current study focuses on the reading experiences of individual adult readers. To make sense of these experiences the social implications of less-developed literacy skills are explored followed by a section discussing adult reading.

The social implications of less developed literacy skills

Despite debate in the adult literacy field about the consequences of low literacy skills (e.g. Black, Yasukawa & Brown, 2013) there is strong support for the view that literacy skills are important to the growth of social capital and contribute to personal and social wellbeing. This support derives largely from findings of large-scale literacy surveys both international and national. Chief among these is a series of international surveys of adult skills, the most recent of which, the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), involves 24 countries (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013). Across surveyed countries, less-developed literacy skills are associated with low earnings, poor health, and impact on family and social life including civic and cultural participation. Low literacy is linked to the profile of disadvantaged adults (e.g. Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2014; Clark & Dugdale, 2008; Miller, McCardle & Hernandez, 2010; Morrisroe, 2014; National Research Council, 2012; OECD Skills Outlook, 2013).

The survey results are the impetus for numerous national reports which examine, among other things, links between literacy and employment opportunities and earnings. For example, Gyarmati et al. (2014) in Canada, Morrisroe (2014) in the UK, and Shomos and Forbes (2014) in Australia found adults with low literacy are twice as likely to be unemployed, with evidence that those who are employed report challenges in advancing in continuing employment. Higher wages, employability and job retention are associated with strong literacy skills. The National Assessment for Adult Literacy (NAAL) in the US administered to approximately 19,200 adults found individuals with sounder literacy skills generally earned significantly more per year (Miller et al., 2010). Across countries, hourly rates are strongly associated with reading proficiency (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013), with the median hourly rate of workers who can make complex inferences from written text found to be 60 percent higher than workers who are able to read only simple texts (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013). Less-developed literacy is linked to low earnings and poverty (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2014; Shomos & Forbes, 2014).

Strong literacy skills are linked to broader health issues for individuals and communities. Adults with low literacy face a greater risk of poor health (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013). Rudd, Kirsch and Yamamoto (2004), analysing data from US surveys, found evidence that low literacy skill in adult workers is associated with a higher rate of injuries and a longer recovery time. In a Canadian project involving 1,500 workers, participation in adult learning programs contributed positively to healthy behaviours including healthier life style choices and less stress (Gyarmati et al., 2014). Literacy skills facilitates understanding of health care systems and information about healthy living and warning symptoms (Miller et al., 2010; Morrisroe, 2014), and increases confidence in utilising health information and filling out medical forms (Gyarmati et al., 2014; Perkins, 2009).

In contrast, Bynner and Parsons (2006), Parsons and Bynner (2005), and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (2014) drawing on data from the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies, which have followed individuals throughout their lives, found links between less-developed literacy skills and poor mental health and depression. Associated intrapersonal issues such as lack of self-reliance and social marginalisation or isolation were found to be associated with low literacy (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2014). Reasons for voluntarily attending adult literacy programs include 'the need for social contact and the desire to take more control over their lives' (Dymock, 2007, p. 9). In addition, in studies of workplaces in Australia, increased literacy is seen to enhance individuals' confidence and ability to work independently (Perkins, 2009).

Low literacy can impact on families (Miller et al., 2010) and has links to intergenerational disadvantage (Bynner & Parsons, 2006; Morrisroe, 2014; Parsons & Bynner, 2007). Children of parents with low literacy skills have significantly lower literacy levels than those with parents with higher levels (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013). Lack of confidence about personal literacy skill can limit the types of literacy interactions (e.g. reading to children) that parents and caregivers can engage in at home (Miller et al., 2010). Further, the impacts of low literacy extend to social life including civic and cultural participation (Condelli, Kirshstein, Silver-Pacuilla, Reder & Spruck Wrigley, 2010; Miller et al., 2010). For example, with increasing levels of literacy, individuals are more likely to vote, to believe that they have an impact on political processes (OECD Skills Outlook, 2013) and to participate in volunteer activities (Condelli et al., 2010).

Less-skilled adult reading

The reading process requires fluent decoding and word recognition for reading comprehension to occur (National Research Council, 2012). Skilled reading is characterised by the ability to rapidly recognise words in print and general mastery of the word-level components of reading (Holmes, 2012). Where word recognition is not automatic, the reading process stalls. For adults with reading difficulties, less-skilled word-reading has been found to be a major obstacle (Macaruso & Shankweiler, 2010).

Word recognition relies on decoding skill (Mellard, Fall & Woods, 2010), and decoding is facilitated by phonological awareness. However, less-skilled adult readers frequently have deficits in phonological awareness and have slow and unautomatised decoding abilities (MacArthur et al., 2012). Limited to basic decoding knowledge and often incomplete orthographic processing of letter and syllable patterns, less-skilled readers fall back on the strategy of looking at the first letter or syllable of a word and attempting to say the rest of it based on that letter or syllable (Davidson & Strucker, 2002). Thus, unable to decode words, adult readers rely on partial orthographic information to read a word, and on recognition of a limited bank of sight words (MacArthur, Konold, Glutting & Alamprese, 2010).

Projects such as 'A Fuller Sense of Self' (Bowen, 2011) and 'Resilience: Stories of Adult Learning' (Furlong & Yasukawa, 2016) record stories and provide insights into the lives and learnings of individuals in adult literacy programs. More needs to be known about specific literacy practices of individuals (MacArthur et al., 2012). Skilled reading is crucial to literacy development (Street, 1995) and word-level reading skills are crucial to skilled reading (Holmes, 2012). In this study, we sought to understand how less-skilled adult readers experience word-reading, and the implications of the reading experiences for instruction in adult reading programs.

Method

Design

Narrative inquiry, a way of understanding individual experiences in the world, was used to examine individual less-skilled adult readers' experience. The design provides a way of thinking about learner experience through the study of experience as lived and told stories. The researcher works with the universality of storytelling to understand collective experiences, all the while acknowledging individual differences (Trahar, 2013), and the stories allow the individuality and complex nature of reading experiences to be expressed (Clandinin, 2006; Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). While common themes are identified, the themes also represent distinct individual experiences. This enables experiences to be seen in a holistic and integrated way in the speakers' voice, to create for the reader a sense of 'being there'.

Narrative accounts describe how the individual in a given context experiences a given phenomenon (word-reading). The three dimensions of temporality, sociality and place (Clandinin, 2006) are intertwined in the narrative. The place or context involves these adult readers telling their story in a society where reading ability is considered a universal skill. Temporality relates to past, present and future experience as readers, while sociality relates to the personal feelings and reactions of learners, and to the social and cultural expectations of a reader. Individual experiences can only be understood within a social context, and with regard to past experiences that will lead to further experiences (Clandinin, 2006).

Participants

The primary researcher has extensive experience working in the context of community and accredited adult reading programs in Australia and New Zealand, and through these networks, adults were recruited who consider themselves less-skilled readers (i.e. able to read only simple texts and form only low-level inferences). The invitation to participate was sent directly to the respondents by the researcher or forwarded to the respondents by an adult literacy organisation or tertiary institution. Exact numbers of those who received the request to participate are unavailable but the organisations each have networks numbering hundreds of literacy learners.

Forty-one adult readers volunteered and were interviewed. Reading tasks were included in the interview to determine less-skilled word-readers (i.e. the focus of this study). These tasks are commonly used to provide information regarding strengths and weaknesses in word-reading processes and skills. No one test score was used to determine less-skilled word-reading. Rather all results were examined to provide information about the word-reading level of each participant. The Castles and Coltheart reading test 2 (CC2) (Castles et al., 2009) was used to examine single-word and nonword reading. The task includes 40 regular and 40 irregular words, and 40 nonwords with the possible maximum score of 120. The decision about what should be considered a skilled word-reading performance is partly influenced by the particular purpose in carrying out the task (Castles et al., 2009). In this study, individual scores around 35 out of 40 and total scores over 105 were seen to indicate more-skilled word-reading. The blue word-reading list of Wide Ranging Achievement Test (WRAT4) (Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006) was also used to test word recognition. Fifty-five words of increasing difficulty are tested. Scores below 45 were considered to indicate less-skilled word-reading. Phonological processing skills were examined using a phoneme deletion task (Martin, Pratt & Fraser, 2000) and a phonological choice task (Olson, Kliegl, Davidson & Foltz, 1985). Both tasks have 18 items and skilled word-readers score close to the maximum score of 18. Of the 41 who were tested and interviewed, five did not meet the criteria of being less-skilled word-readers. Thus, data from 36 adults deemed to be less-skilled readers were included in the study.

In narrative inquiry, all participants have voice (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) so a trusting relationship between researcher and participant is necessary. The primary researcher has wide practice building appropriate trust with program participants. In addition, the primary researcher was generally recommended and introduced by someone the participant trusted such as a tutor, friend or program coordinator.

Of the 36 participants, 15 were female and 21 were male while 19 were Australian and 17 were New Zealanders. Seven participants were aged 15-19 years, four were 20-24, four were 25-34, seven were 35-44, ten were 45-54 and four were aged over 55 years. Eighteen participants were involved in voluntary adult reading programs, 17 were enrolled in tertiary courses and one participant was not currently doing a program. All participants gave informed consent.

Data collection

Interviews, in conjunction with the reading tasks, were conducted individually by the primary researcher to determine word-reading ability and allow careful observation of skills and strategies used, and to provide an opportunity for individuals to demonstrate and discuss what they do as they read. The interview consisted of two stages: first, personal information was collected, serving to establish a rapport with the participant. The information included age group, gender, nationality and program enrolment.

Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted. Open-ended questions were asked about participants' feelings about reading, and what they were thinking and the strategies they used as they attempted to read words they were shown during tasks. Questions included 'how does it feel when you do not know the word?', 'what do you do when you see this word?', 'what part of the word do you look at first?', 'how did you know to do that?' and 'did that sound like a real word to you?' The semi-structured interview was audio taped and notes of responses and interviewer observations were recorded in a written form.

Analysis

All audio taped interviews were transcribed and listened to several times with reference to the notes. Recurring themes were identified, providing insights into learners' reading experiences. The analysis was confined to word-level components of reading. Themes of limited and partial decoding skill, guessing words based on initial letters, and reliance on sight words reflected what individuals experienced as they encountered known and unknown words.

The themes were used to construct the narratives from the point of view of a less-skilled reader and to tell of readers' thoughts and experience as they read words. The three stages of broadening, burrowing and restorying occurred (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). Broadening was used to generalise about the emotions experienced by readers during particular events. Burrowing focuses on possible origins of the feelings at the time of the events described. Restorying returns the story to present and future considerations and concerns the meaning of the event and how a new story may be created for the story teller and change the significance of it in terms of the larger life story the person may be trying to recount (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). All examples in the narratives are from the interviews. Instances describing similar skills and issues are combined and no particular individual experience is identified.

Narrative accounts

Four themes were identified in the analysis and each is presented as a short narrative. Each narrative presents experiences about trying to read words. The narratives employ a metaphor of attempting to follow a path through woodland to illustrate the difficulties in readers' experiences. When trying to 'travel' through text some less-skilled readers feel they are locked out from the start and do not have knowledge about how to enter the woodland and find the path. A second group of readers are anxious and unsure about the journey and not confident about recognising the path while a third group are more confident but may unknowingly wander from the main path. A fourth group persists to find the way but experience the journey as difficult and draining. To some extent all readers are persisting as they are all resolutely working to develop reading skills. However, for the purposes of drawing fine distinctions in the word reading journeys the label 'persistent' is used for the fourth group. To all less-skilled readers, skilled adult readers appear to travel easily backwards and forwards along the path through the woodland.

Locked out reader. Some less-skilled adult readers are largely unable to make sense of the letters, the sounds and the words. They feel locked out from the understanding demonstrated by others, and make little sense of what others tell them about how to read the word. Locked out readers are unable to make a start on the 'journey' of making sense of text and this is illustrated in this narrative of a locked out reader. Reading was difficult from the beginning. I liked school but cannot remember anything I learned. I felt I was part of the furniture and I never fitted in. When people try to help, they say 'listen to the sounds'; 'what does that mean?' I find it hard to hear sounds. It is frustrating because I just do not hear them. People use words and I have no idea what they mean. I remember one time the teacher was talking. She said something was a 'long vowel sound' and I kept thinking 'how can a vowel sound be long?' I did not hear anything else that she said, but I kept smiling and nodding. I did not want to hurt her feelings, or worse, let on that I was lost. That happened a lot at school; it still happens to me. Others get it and things carry on and I think, 'what was that all about?' I look at a big word. I see the first few letters and sometimes I think 'wow is that even a real word?' I would not have a clue what it says and I cannot put all the letters together. I usually look at the first letter. The 'e' can be a bit hard ... and the 'ch' and 'st' are helpful ... but I cannot get it together so I give it away. I tell myself 'you are not going to get that' so instead I put in a word I know. Usually when I have to read, I leave out hard words. There is a key to this whole lot but if you missed out on those basics at school, it is very hard now. You have to get the key.

Anxious reader. Although able to start on the journey, some less-skilled adult readers are hesitant, anxious and unsure, and make slow progress. Anxious adult readers lacking confidence rely on a bank of sight words to avoid situations where unknown words may be encountered. Anxious readers easily get lost and depend on known 'paths' as discussed in the following narrative. School was a miserable time. I was picked on. I was not that smart. I was put in the dummy class. That was horrible. I did not think much about new words I saw. I just tried to get it right. I looked at the first letter and guessed a word that started like that and might fit in. I usually knew how to say the front and then I knew I was supposed to try to sound the whole word out but I went straight to the end. The middle bit was hard. The 'u's and the 'e's were tricky, especially when there were three vowels all in together. When I read now, I use words that are common. Grocery shopping is hard because I need to know what stuff looks like or what the words look like. It is hard because they can look the same. I buy what I know and if they change the arrangement of aisles or packaging on the boxes I cannot find what I am looking for. It is murder trying to find my way to houses for work. I write down the streets but if I copy one letter wrong I cannot find the street. I cannot help my son do his spelling practice because the words are in a list and I have no clues to help me read them out to him. Sometimes, I look for bits inside the word that I know. For example, I saw ten on the end of a word. It is like finding a word within a word. I am not sure if it is right but that is what I do. It has got to look right but I am not too sure how to say the combinations of them. Initially, when they tried to send me to an adult reading class I said 'I am not going to go there and make a fool of myself again'. But I have kept trying and that is why I have pushed my kids--they are not going to be like me. There are already too many like me in my family.

Wandering reader. Some readers enter the woodland and feel quite confident for parts of the journey. Wandering readers know some of the information needed for the journey but unknowingly take wrong turnings, and may stray from the path. Wandering readers may be aware that they are off the track but have inaccurate information about the correct route. This narrative recounts the reading journey of a wandering reader. Reading the whole word by itself has always been hard but I never liked to ask anyone for help. With the short words, I tried to start with the part that looked the easiest to read or I guessed. The big words were hard to figure out so I left them. I had to get past all the childhood feelings that I cannot read. I keep trying. Sometimes I have no sense of the word until I break it down to two parts. Some I can split three ways. It is hard to break down a word correctly. I am always getting it wrong. Finding out where the syllables are is hard because it changes from word to word. Or it seems to. I look down the middle of a word, looking to be able to split it. Some words I can split; some words I cannot. Like with 'can', you cannot split 'can': you just know 'can'. Now I try to read really big words. I look at the start, and the end, and I will glance through the middle but I am happy to miss letters out. For example, when I am sounding, I may look and decide I do not really need 'a'. I know there is 'e' before the 'a' in most words too. I have learned some tricks to use when I am reading. I try to work out all the sounds that I can get out of the word and put them together. I can use rhyme and find another word that sounds like it. Even if I have never heard of the word I can use rhyme to read it. For example, with the word here [cello] I can rhyme it with hello and I know it is sello. Sometimes I skip the word, and go to the end of the sentence, and then I can figure out what the word is. I know some letters are silent and you have to watch out for that. The tricks make it easier. You have to keep trying.

Persistent reader. Some adult readers are determined to keep trying. Persistent adult readers persevere with word recognition, having mastered many decoding skills. Familiar, effective reading strategies are used. Persistent adult readers expect to get through the woodland by keeping going, and expect to sometimes go back and try another route. The slow, stressful and exhausting progress of a persistent reader is narrated here. For 30 years I kept it a secret that I could not read. Only my wife knew because she had to help me do things. Twenty years ago, I started adult reading classes. I have attended quite a few different programs since then. It is not easy but I knew I had to try. Once, when I was 40, I was in class and reading a hard bit. The tears were running down my cheeks and the teacher kept asking me if I wanted to stop but I did not. It was hard but I wanted to try all the words. You have to have a good whack at it and try to say it. I am feeling more confident now. Finding the holes has helped; working out stuff about different letters and sounds. Some words I know with no hesitation. Some, I will take two or three goes to work out. I look at the word and repeat it; keep on reading the word over and over. I get used to the word, and it is stuck in my brain and stays there. Also, I use a dictionary at home. I look up the word and try and figure it out. When I am at work I can get stuck, and my wife is not there, so I have other ways to work out words. I have not been taught; I just worked the ways out for myself. For example, you use some work-words all the time so I had to learn them. I learned to be thorough going back, getting familiar with words I am going to need a lot. I know most of them now. Context might help. I read through the sentence, and know when I get a bit further I have pronounced it wrong or read it wrong. So I go back, and find something that fits and makes sense. I sometimes come back to it later on and try it again and end up getting it. Sometimes it takes a long time but you have to stick at it. I am determined to get better at reading. I think to myself, 'keep reading, pick up something, anything, and read'. I believe that the more time you practise, the more you are guaranteed to get somewhere.

Discussion

The four narratives illustrate the negative social implications described elsewhere (e.g. Shomos & Forbes, 2014). Each story offers examples of the past and present adverse impacts on personal and family life associated with being a less-skilled reader. The social isolation and marginalisation associated with poor literacy skills (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2014) are evident in the stories and are reflected in an inability to confidently engage in common daily tasks such as grocery shopping or helping a child with spelling homework. Despite the concealing behaviours and reliance on others to complete simple tasks, the narratives reflect the reported resilience of less-skilled readers (Furlong & Yasukawa, 2016).

More importantly, while the reading experiences identified in the stories mirror the assortment of reading difficulties present in the adult population (Scarborough et al., 2013), the stories go further to present a progression of specific word-reading difficulties readers face as they read words. Word-reading experiences are broken down, illustrating levels of shortfalls in phonological awareness and decoding abilities, and also the impact of incomplete information on the word-reading attempt and the word-reader. Further, the narratives corroborate the use of inadequate strategies such as guessing words based on the first letter or from recognisable parts of the word (Davidson & Strucker, 2002), and tell of reliance on limited banks of sight words (MacArthur et al., 2010). Adult reading instruction needs to be sensitive to what learners have already mastered but also appropriately challenging (National Research Council, 2012) and the progression in the stories of learners offer teachers an insight into how multi-layered word-reading experiences can be.

The reading difficulties recounted by individuals persist despite, in some cases, many years of participation in programs. An explanation may lie in the nature of adult literacy programs. To address adverse social impacts of low literacy a major emphasis in adult literacy programs is on developing trusting relationships and supportive learning environments (McHardy & Chapman, 2016; Miller et al., 2010; Perkins, 2009). While the focus on trust and support is an appropriate response to overcoming issues such as lack of confidence and disinclination to ask questions or seek help, teaching practices vary and are not always consistent with available reading research (Kendall & McGrath, 2014; National Research Council, 2012). Teachers are often informed by their own learning experiences and personal beliefs about how adults learn to read, rather than from professional learning about literacy (Kendall & McGrath, 2014; Van Kan, Ponte & Verloop, 2013). To benefit from literacy programs, individuals need teachers who have appropriate technical skills (Perkins, 2009); educators with better knowledge are more likely to help learners improve key skills (Kruidenier, MacArthur & Wrigley, 2010). The narratives suggest participation in reading programs may not effectively address confusion and misunderstanding about reading, and may at times bewilder learners further. A response to the ongoing negative experiences may be to ensure that adult-reading teachers have specific education on how to address individual's word-reading difficulties, and on how to identify when instruction has not met individual's needs.

The narratives describe an assortment of reading needs at the word-level. To build reading skill where reading difficulties persist, instruction must be informed by diagnostic assessment (National Research Council, 2012). Effective instruction requires identification of what each learner knows and what skills are yet to be mastered (Kruidenier et al., 2010; MacArthur et al., 2012). Teachers need to be able to identify confusions and entrenched misunderstandings of learners. Many adult-reading teachers resist any kind of standardised assessment partly because of the perceived lack of adult-appropriate tests and partly because for some less-skilled adults, testing is argued to have negative associations with school (Mendelovits, 2011). However, the variety of word-reading experiences reported in the stories strongly supports the argument for using assessment of crucial word-level components. Without careful assessment to provide information about aspects of learner difficulties, teaching may not be useful (Scarborough et al., 2013), and individuals' needs may not be addressed.

Conclusion

Low literacy is disadvantageous for families and communities (Morrisroe, 2014) but the experiences and needs of individual adult literacy learners are commonly overlooked (Athanasou, 2011). The four narratives build appreciation of individuals' experiences and provide insights for effectively addressing adult readers' learning needs. The confusions of readers and the diversity of reading difficulties described in the narratives provide support for calls for adult-reading teachers to have appropriate professional learning to diagnose and deliver reading instruction that allows learners to change their stories and live stories that offer other possibilities.

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Janet McHardy is a doctoral candidate at the University of Western Australia and has extensive experience working as an adult literacy teacher and advisor in Australia and New Zealand. Although recent research focuses on adult reading at the word level and preparation of adult-reading teachers, she is interested in working with adult literacy learners in a range of contexts.

Helen Wildy, Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Education for the past 9 years, researches and teaches in the fields of research methods, leadership and assessment. She has led research projects worth more than $10m since 2000 including the PIPS project in Australia which assesses the literacy and numeracy of students as they begin schooling.

Elaine Chapman is a researcher in education at the University of Western Australia. She has taught in the area of reading instruction at the Masters level and has supervised numerous research projects in this area over the past 20 years. Her primary field of research is educational psychology. Her teaching falls mainly within this area, as well as in the areas of research methods and assessment.

Janet McHardy, Helen Wildy, Elaine Chapman

The University of Western Australia