Level B1 Reading and Viewing

The students' performance in these tasks suggest that they are working within the range of Level B1 in Reading and Viewing. The assessing teacher will need to consider a range of student samples in order to determine whether each student is at the beginning of B1, consolidating B1 or at the B1 standard in Reading and Viewing.    

At beginning Level B1 students:   

• show interest in print and recognise some environmental print including their name, can recognise and name some letters
• show an interest in books and focus on illustrations
• demonstrate reading-like behaviour such as holding a book, sitting and looking at a book, turning pages and looking at pictures watch and listen as texts are read aloud to them but may not join in
• rely on peer or teacher support to complete structured activities.

At consolidating Level B1 students:   

• show beginning understanding of the sound–symbol relationships of English
• read some familiar words and phrases in context, and recognise, can name, and know the sounds some common letters and letter groups usually make
• focus on illustrations and other non-print features when reading
• retell a simple familiar story, and sequence a simple familiar process with sentences and pictures
• show early understanding that texts are written for a variety of purposes
• read a wide range of familiar, short, simple, repetitive, fictional and everyday texts, and complete simple, structured activities based on them
• recognise that meaning is carried by intonation, and they listen for key words and for repetition of words and phrases in texts read aloud
• use word lists and personal dictionaries to assist them to read new words.

At Level B1 Achievement Standard students:   

• read short familiar texts, based on simple language structures and features, common vocabulary and familiar contexts
• retell simply, predict likely outcomes, sequence ideas, and complete basic comprehension activities. These texts may be print or digital, including visual, multimodal and interactive.
• show understanding of the basic purposes of texts, and choose texts appropriately
• read and gather basic information from simple, accessible texts, with support
• combine their basic knowledge of English letter–sound relationships, their developing oral and sight vocabulary, their beginning knowledge of the conventions of text organisation, and their emerging knowledge of English grammar as they read
• use appropriate intonation and phrasing when reading aloud, showing an understanding of the text's meaning and the function of basic punctuation
• show a beginning understanding of the purposes of text organisational features such as headings, labels, diagrams and contents pages.
  

Student information

The student is 11 and eight months old and has been in Australia for ten months. He is from Afghanistan and Dari is his home language. In Afghanistan, the student had three years of interrupted schooling and there was a gap of almost three years between his schooling in Afghanistan and his arrival in Australia. He has been attending an English language school for ten months in a Year 6 class.   

Task

The class had been learning about different occupations and jobs. The students had learned the vocabulary and read a variety of texts about different people and their work. Students had also delivered oral presentations to the class about the work done by people in different occupations. There are three parts to this reading activity. The first is a shared class reading of a book which describes different occupations. As a class, the students then match flashcards with descriptions of various occupations with the title of the occupation in the second activity. Finally, the students independently match the names of the occupations with descriptions of the role. In this reading task the teacher is assessing how well the student recognizes and gains meaning from short texts to demonstrate his understanding of the texts. She is observing the extent to which the student uses sight vocabulary of familiar topic-related words to comprehend texts, as well as how successfully the student can read and understand sentences that use a basic subject-verb-object pattern. The teacher is specifically interested in how well the student can:   

• complete a simple task to demonstrate his comprehension of a text
• sequence and recreate a text that had been cut up
• use key words in understanding a text
• independently read sentences about different occupations related to his community
• read aloud in order to demonstrate his reading skills.

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by other students and the teacher are in normal font.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Use a range of cues to support reading and viewing (VCEALL290)
• Use some of the terminology of reading (VCEALL282)
• Read sentences that use basic subject, verb and object patterns, where content and vocabulary are familiar (VCEALL283)
• Identify common syllables and patterns within words (VCEALL288)
• Read some familiar words and phrases (VCEALL286)
• Understand the sequence of key words, phrases or ideas in a familiar text (VCEALL281)
  

Possible next steps for this student's learning

• Identifying initial and final sounds through onset and rime to help decode new words (VCEALL288) 

• Practising using visual clues to support reading unfamiliar content words (VCEALL290) (VCEALL287)
  

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 6 student working within the range of Level B1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway B of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.   

Student information

The student is almost 11 years old and has been in Australia for about six months. Her first language is Vietnamese and she attended school for five years in Vietnam prior to coming to Australia. She has been attending an English language school for five and a half months.

Task

The class had been learning about different occupations and jobs. The students had learned the vocabulary and read a variety of texts about different people and their work. Students had also delivered oral presentations to the class about the work done by people in different occupations. There are three parts to this reading activity. The first is a shared class reading of a book which describes different occupations. As a class, the students then match flashcards with descriptions of various occupations with the title of the occupation in the second activity. Finally, the students independently match the names of the occupations with descriptions of the role. In this reading task the teacher is assessing how well the student recognises and gains meaning from short texts to demonstrate her understanding of the texts. She is observing the extent to which the student uses sight vocabulary of familiar topic-related words to comprehend texts, as well as how successfully the student can read and understand sentences that use a basic subject-verb-object pattern. The teacher is specifically interested in how well the student can:

• complete a simple task to demonstrate her comprehension of a text
• sequence and recreate a text that had been cut up
• use key words in understanding a text
• independently read sentences about different occupations related to her community
• read aloud in order to demonstrate his reading skills.

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by other students and the teacher are in normal font.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Self-correct with guidance (VCEALL291)
  
• Read some familiar words and phrases (VCEALL286)
• Read sentences that use basic subject, verb and object patterns, where content and vocabulary are familiar (VCEALL283)
• Understand the sequence of key words, phrases or ideas in a familiar text (VCEALL281)
• Recognise the function of capital letters and full stops, and use them (VCEALL289)
• Reread familiar texts to increase accuracy and fluency and to enhance understanding (VCEALL293)
  

• Identify common syllables and patterns within words (VCEALL288)
  

Possible next steps for this student's learning

• Practising reading through and pronouncing all the sounds in English words, especially consonant sounds that do not exist in her home language (VCEALL288) 
• Re-reading familiar sentences to increase accuracy and fluency (VCEALL293)
• Practising reading familiar vocabulary in different contexts, for example a simple fiction text with a jobs and occupations theme (VCEALC264)
  

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 6 student working within the range of Level B1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway B of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.

Student information

The student was born in Iran and speaks Persian at home. They had age-equivalent schooling in Iran and came to Australia 4 months ago. They are in Year 5 and currently in a new arrivals program.

Task

The students recently participated in an excursion to the beach as part of a wider unit of work about the beach, in which they learned about sea creatures and the marine environment as well as beach and water activities. In the task, the student was asked to read an unseen narrative text, Special Little Seahorse, then retell and answer simple comprehension questions. The task was completed one-to-one in a familiar environment.  

The teacher is assessing the student’s ability to: 

• use key words understand a simple text
• read aloud in order to demonstrate their reading skills 
• retell main events from a story in sequence
• respond to a text by talking about what characters learned.

The words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. 

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Acquire some information from a small range of images (VCEALC266)
• Respond to familiar and new content in texts (make connection between text and own experience) (VCEALA273)
• Read sentences that use basic subject, verb and object patterns, where content and vocabulary are familiar (VCEALL283)
• Read some familiar words and phrases (VCEALL286)
• Identify common syllables and patterns within words (VCEALL288)
• Self-correct with guidance (VCEALL291)
• Understand a range of simple texts based on predictable language structures and vocabulary (VCEALC264)
• Provide responses to texts (VCEALC268)
• Understand the sequence of key words, phrases or ideas in a familiar text (VCEALL281)
• Use key words to understand the main idea in short texts (VCEALC265)
• Starting to make simple predictions or inferences about a text (VCEALC269)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

• Participate in shared reading, practising making simple predictions or inferences about a text (VCEALC269)
• Continue to build a vocabulary that draws on words of interest, topic words and sight words (VCEALL287)
• Build knowledge of common syllables and patterns within words and apply this knowledge when reading (VCEALL288)
• Practise using capital letters and full stops when reading (VCEALL289)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 5 student working within the range of Level B1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway B of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.

Student information

This student was born in China and speaks Chinese as their home language. They had age-equivalent schooling in Iran and have been in Australia for 5 months. They are in Year 5 and currently in their first term of a new arrivals program. 

Task

The students recently participated in an excursion to the beach as part of a wider unit of work about the beach, in which they learned about sea creatures and the marine environment as well as beach and water activities and water safety. In the task, the student was asked to read an unseen persuasive text, Everyone Should Learn How to Swim, then sort and sequence sentences to reconstruct the text. Two students worked together to complete the task in a familiar environment.   

The teacher is assessing the student’s ability to: 

• use key words to locate information
• read aloud in order to demonstrate their reading skills 
• sequence ideas within a paragraph
• use knowledge of persuasive genre to organise sentences into a whole text.

The words spoken by the student/s being assessed are in bold.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Participate in simple group activities on shared texts, with some support (VCEALC270)
• Understand the purpose and basic organisational features of simple text types (VCEALL280)
• Use some of the terminology of reading (VCEALL282)
• Read sentences that use basic subject, verb and object patterns, where content and vocabulary are familiar (VCEALL283)
• Read some familiar words and phrases (VCEALL286)
• Build a vocabulary that draws on words of interest, topic words and sight words (VCEALL287)
• Understand the purpose and basic organisational features of simple text types (VCEALL280)
• Understand the sequence of key words, phrases or ideas in a familiar text (VCEALL281)
• Use knowledge of base words to read new forms - attempting to read new forms of familiar words, and self-correcting using knowledge of base words and common morphemes, such as ‘walk, walked, walks’ (VCEALL285)
• Understand a range of simple texts based on predictable language structures and vocabulary - demonstrating understanding of simple factual or fictional texts by performing a task (VCEALC264)
• Provide responses to texts (VCEALC268)
• Understand the purpose and basic organisational features of simple text types (VCEALL280)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

• Continue to read a range of short texts and use key words to understand and talk about the main ideas (VCEALC265)
• Continue to participate in simple group activities on shared texts, with some support, and practise constructing brief comments or responses to questions (VCEALC270)
• Identify and compare differences between text types (VCEALL279)
• Continue to build independence in reading familiar texts, and ability to understand the sequence of key words, phrases or ideas (VCEALL281)
• Continue to build vocabulary drawing on words of interest, topic words and sight words (VCEALL287)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 5 student working within the range of Level B1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway B of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.