Multi-Cultural
Educational Services
HOME
 

 

    The LaRue Reading Skills Assessment
    for Pre-literate Students

    The Reading Skills Assessment for Preliterate Students was developed by Charles LaRue to meet a need for testing students who have very limited English literacy skills, and cannot read and write in their own language. It was created to show which literacy skills and knowledge pre-literate ESL students have. This test is not appropriate for students who have attended school and learned to read and write in any language.

    However, some students have no educational background, and have never learned to write in their native language. They often have great difficulty taking written tests of any kind. This test is designed specifically for these students. It provides the instructor with a starting point for their instruction in learning to read and write English. The skills and knowledge that are needed to begin to learn to read are included in this test.

    This test combines an oral interview by the instructor, along with reading and writing by the student. It allows us to test the student's knowledge of sounds and phonics, as well as other literacy skills. It reveals what skills a student does and doesn't have. The Reading Skills Test for Pre-literate Students can help determine which skills need to be taught next, and whether a pre-literate student has all of the literacy skills needed to join a mainstream ESL class.

    If a student can score a total of 90 points or more on The Reading Skills Test for Preliterate Students, that is strong evidence that they have acquired some basic literacy skills and will be able to function in a regular Level 1 ESL class. The test is available in 3 versions for pre-testing and post-testing. There are instructions and scoring sheets for each version of the test. All the materials are available in pdf for download.

  • Introduction to the LaRue Reading Skills Assessment for Pre-literate Students
  • Scoring Guide for the Test

  • Reading Test for Pre-literate Students Version A
  • Reading Test for Pre-literate Students Version B
  • Reading Test for Pre-literate Students Version C

  • Test Instructions Version A
  • Test Instructions Version B
  • Test Instructions Version C

  • Scoring sheet for Test A
  • Scoring sheet for Test B
  • Scoring sheet for Test C