Primer testing questions

Testing a primer involves

• teaching the entire primer
• carefully observing the teacher, the primer, and the learners who are being taught
• recording your reactions as well as their reactions, and
• analyzing your records.

As you observe the testing and learning sessions, you need to consider every aspect of the situation.

Here are some questions to ask yourself and observations to make as you test a primer:

• How do the learners react to key pictures and other illustrations?
• Do they have any problems recognizing them?
• Do they understand the point of each illustration?
• Are they critical of any illustrations?
• Do they have suggestions for improvements?

• How do the learners react to the keywords?
• Are the words appropriate and easy to remember?
• Do they correspond obviously with the key picture?

• How do the learners respond to the drills?
• Can they read them without problems?
• Are the drills neatly and accurately arranged and easy to follow?
• Do they seem to be reading the drills or are they memorizing them?
• Can they read built words without help?
• Are there enough drills or do they need more?
• Do they want to skip the drills and go directly to the stories?

If there are functor drills:

• Can the learners read them?
• How do they react when they encounter the functors in sentences?

• Can the learners read the new words from the lessons when they occur in the stories?
• Do they use the clues from the keyword and drills to read new words?
• Do they need help to read the stories?
• Can they read them fairly well or do they hesitate and make mistakes?
• Are they learning to read smoothly, with the proper intonation and rhythm?
• Do they understand what they read? Can they answer questions about the content?
• Do they like the stories?

• Are the writing exercises suitable (not too difficult and not too easy)?
• Do they reinforce the reading skills?
• Are the learners progressing from copying to writing from dictation and to creative writing?

• Do the lessons teach too much or too little?
• Are the learners sometimes overwhelmed by having too much to learn or are they bored by having too little to learn?
• Are some drills very easy for them; are some difficult?
• Are they sometimes confused by learning letters or words that look or sound alike too close in succession?
• Can they finish each lesson in the time allowed?

• Do they seem to learn what the lessons intended?
• How can the teacher find out if the learners have learned the new feature in a lesson?
• Is there adequate time and material provided for regular review of what they have learned?
• Does the primer approach and teaching method seem to fit their learning style?
• Do they understand and recognize small letters and capital letters?

• Are the teachers able to understand and follow the lessons and teach them well?
• If there are written instructions, can the teachers follow them easily?

If there are teaching aids:

• Does the teacher understand what the aids are for and know how to use them effectively?
• Are they easy to use?
• Are they helpful to the teacher and learners?
• Are there other teaching aids that would be helpful and practical?

• If the teacher is expected to make the aids:

  • Are the materials available and affordable?
  • Are the aids difficult to make ?

• The materials testing process

• Fact module: Primer testing questions, by Leah B. Walter (compiler)
• In overview module: Literacy materials, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler)
• In modular book: Implement a literacy program, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler) and Leah B. Walter (compiler)
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 16 September 1999

© 1999 SIL International