English progression map guide

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English progression map

guide

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Introduction

English progression maps

There are maps for reading, writing and speaking and listening. These can be found at www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/nationalstrategies (search for progression maps). They are resources designed to help teachers plan tailored support for pupils identified as needing to make better progress.

What is a progression map?

A map is useful if you are going on a journey. You need to know your starting point, your destination and the points in between. The progression map is to help you plan the learning journey for pupils who are achieving below expectations and need to make better progress. It helps you identify where the pupils are, where they need to go next and how you can help them get there.

About this booklet

This booklet summarises the model of progression in reading that is at the heart of the English progression maps. It is in two parts: the first part showing a typical model of pupils’ progression; the second part listing recommended curricular targets for pupils.

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Progression in reading

A typical pattern of progression in reading is described below by characterising six stages of development:

 the budding reader  the developing reader  the competent reader  the active reader  the reflective reader  the versatile reader.

Each stage is subdivided to make 12 steps altogether, with each step aligned to a National Curriculum level or GCSE grades that are the likely attainment measures. This progression map is designed to help teachers recognise next steps in learning for pupils who need to make better progress. For guidance on assessment standards teachers are advised to refer to the National Curriculum level descriptions, the Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) assessment criteria and standards files for reading (available at www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/nationalstrategies or as part of the Assessing Pupils’ Progress in English at Key Stage 3 – Teachers’ handbook, Ref: 00643-2008PCK-EN). Standards at GCSE are described in specifications issued by examination boards.

A note on targets for pupils’ personal, independent reading

A key aspect of pupils’ development as readers is their growing ability independently to select, read and respond to texts that reflect their own individual tastes and interests. This is essential to the building of reading skills, experience and to the perception of reading as an enjoyable activity.

The targets in the English progression maps are based on assessment focuses (AFs) that derive from National Curriculum testing and do not therefore directly reflect this aspect of reading. Teachers may therefore wish to set separate targets for pupils’ independent personal reading. Such targets should seek to encourage pupils in relation to the amount, range or level of challenge of their reading.

Some suggested independent reading targets:

 Recognise that reading can be useful and interesting  Talk constructively about a text that has been read  Know where to look for reading material

 Know how to select material that will be appropriate and interesting  Select and read independently a range of fiction and non-fiction texts

 Evaluate my reading habits: my strengths as a reader and areas I would like to develop. You can find teaching and coaching ideas as well as examples of whole-school strategies for encouraging pupils to read widely and independently in:

 Teaching for progression: Reading, Ref: 00750-2008PDF-EN-01

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Budding reader

Likely to be assessed as low level 2 in Key Stage 3

These readers are in the process of learning the basic skills needed for reading. They have a basic grasp of phonics although they may struggle with some vowel digraphs. They are beginning to acquire strategies to read and work out the meaning of unfamiliar words that have regular patterns but may still need support in choosing the most appropriate one to use. They are likely to be more confident when reading familiar texts where they can rely on recognising key words on sight.

These readers are learning to construct the meaning of simple texts. They are able to make plausible inferences, express some likes and dislikes about texts, and can notice and say something about a text’s basic features. When reading aloud, they are likely to take account of simple punctuation to read with some expression.

These readers are likely still to need targets to take them to level 2 in some AF areas.

Likely to be assessed as secure or high level 2 in Key Stage 3

These readers are in the process of developing and becoming more confident in using the basic skills needed for reading. They have strategies to read and work out the meaning of new and unfamiliar words including some that have complex patterns and their knowledge of phonics is more secure. Their reading of texts is generally accurate and they are able to read simple texts independently.

In their reading of simple texts, pupils will demonstrate some understanding. These readers express opinions about major events or ideas in stories, poems and non-fiction. At Key Stage 3, these readers are likely to have an understanding of how texts work which, because of some years of reading exposure, is likely to be more advanced than their ability to decode and read fluently for meaning.

These readers are likely to need targets to take them to level 3 in some AF areas.

Developing reader

Likely to be assessed as low level 3 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE grade G in Key

Stage 4

These readers are beginning to master the basic techniques of reading and, as a result, are developing greater fluency and accuracy. Their reading experience has provided them with a range of strategies which they are able to use to establish the meaning of unfamiliar words. They have an increasing range of words that they recognise on sight and they are developing the capacity to hear their errors and self-correct.

As a result of this, pupils at this stage are moving beyond decoding and are beginning to read more purposefully for meaning. They are able to engage with the literal meaning of

straightforward texts, identify obvious points and make straightforward comments based on a single point of reference. They can sometimes refer to parts of a text when answering a question.

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Likely to be assessed as secure or high level 3 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE

grade G/F in Key Stage 4

More secure developing readers have a growing range of strategies to support their reading and are able to apply them to longer and more complex texts. They are increasingly confident in their reading of new and unfamiliar vocabulary and they are tackling extended sentences, often scanning ahead to see where they end and how they are structured.

These readers are also beginning to engage with the imaginative world of the fiction texts they encounter and take an interest in the range of information with which they are presented in non-fiction. They are beginning to play a more active role as a reader, asking questions, speculating and making judgements, even empathising and sympathising with characters and situations. They are able to identify some basic features of language and text organisation and also show some understanding of why a text has been written.

Competent reader

Likely to be assessed as low level 4 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE grade F in

Key Stage 4

Pupils who are becoming competent readers have secured sufficient reading strategies, such as phonics, contextual cues, word-attack skills and sense of grammar, to tackle new and unfamiliar texts, with confidence, on their own. While they may still read hesitantly on occasion, they possess sufficient self-help strategies to hear their errors and self-correct when necessary. They not only scan ahead to tackle longer, complex sentences; they are beginning to look beyond the sentence to paragraphs, chapters and whole-text layout.

Pupils at this stage read for meaning and are willing participants in the imaginative world of the text, visualising, empathising, and making judgements about what they read. Private reading can be a rewarding and self-sustaining activity for them, worthy of the time and energy they invest in it. They see what reading has to offer them.

These readers are still likely to need targets to take them to level 4 in some AF areas.

Likely to be assessed as secure or high level 4 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE

grade F/E in Key Stage 4

Pupils who are securely established as competent readers read with understanding at a literal level and can also read beyond the text and between the lines. They infer and deduce both hidden and implied meanings and, even though their inferences may not always be securely rooted in the text, they generally make sense.

Pupils at this level deploy a range of imaginative responses to text, such as empathy,

prediction and speculation. They may compare the world of the text to their own experiences and are able to make simple comments about a writer's viewpoint as well as the effect of the text on the reader.

In both fiction and non-fiction texts, pupils are able to pick out relevant points, supporting them by some generally relevant textual reference or quotation as well as identifying and making simple comments about the writer's use of language and organisational features.

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Active reader

Likely to be assessed as low level 5 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE grade E in

Key Stage 4

Pupils who are becoming active readers are able to pick out relevant points from different places in a text and support them with textual evidence. They make inferences drawing on evidence from across a text. In short, their responses are more securely rooted in the text than those of the competent reader.

The main shift, however, from the competent reader to the active one is that active readers have begun to understand the constructed nature of texts. They have progressed from being readers who engage with and respond to texts at face value to readers who actively

recognise that the text is an artefact created by a writer in order to create an effect on the reader. They are beginning to sense the writer at work behind the text.

Likely to be assessed as secure or high level 5 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE grade

E/D in Key Stage 4

Secure active readers are conscious of the writer at work and see the way language and organisational features are used to manipulate and create an effect on the reader. They are actively aware of the writer's craft and the way a point of view can be developed or promoted in a text, for example through the use of rhetoric. They can recognise the way a writer

chooses words and sentence structures to influence the reader. Readers at this level know that the writer and the narrator may not be one and the same and that texts are often

constructed in order to put across a particular message or view of the world. In short, they are beginning to read with a writer's eye.

Through their encounters with more challenging texts, such as those including analysis, evaluation and comparison, they are well on their way to becoming more-critical readers of fiction and non-fiction.

Reflective reader

Likely to be assessed as low level 6 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE grade D in

Key Stage 4

Reflective readers not only identify relevant points in a text but are able to summarise and synthesise information from different texts or from different places in the same text. They are able to incorporate apt quotation or textual reference neatly into their argument to support their ideas, linking examples and explanations or comments coherently in their responses to text.

Readers at this stage are beginning to move from straightforward inference to more

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Furthermore, they are becoming aware of the wider implications of information, ideas or events in a text as well as the deeper significance of the writer's use of language and organisational features and the way these contribute to the text as a whole.

Likely to be assessed as secure or high level 6 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE

grade D/C in Key Stage 4

Secure reflective readers are able to grasp the 'wholeness' of a text; they are able to explore the way a writer uses language or makes structural choices but they are able to go further, reflecting on the way these features support the writer's overall theme or purpose or

contribute to the overall effect on the reader. This might involve tracing the development of a theme or character across the text as a whole, tracing an image throughout a text or

exploring the way the writer builds up to an unexpected ending.

Furthermore, they understand how the writer's overall purpose or viewpoint may be located in the choices made at word and sentence level. In other words, they understand the 'bigger picture' as well as the 'nuts and bolts' of the text but, more importantly, they are beginning to understand their interdependence.

Pupils at this stage are beginning to think more independently and more critically about writers, texts and readers.

Versatile reader

Likely to be assessed as low level 7 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE grade C in

Key Stage 4

The versatile reader can read widely and independently and is able to apply more analytical reading skills to a varied range of fiction and non-fiction texts.

These readers are able to communicate both personal and critical perspectives on a text. They make clear judgements about texts but they are able to step outside the text as well, increasingly aware of how their judgements are being formed and how writers are seeking to influence them. They are willing to reread to clarify and re-evaluate.

They sense the artifice of text, are comfortable with alternative interpretations and are able to sustain detailed links between and across texts. They read increasingly with insight,

demonstrating an understanding of the way structural, dramatic and linguistic techniques can shape the reader's response.

Furthermore, the versatile reader is able to implement these skills without support and under pressure of time when necessary.

Likely to be assessed as secure or high level 7 in Key Stage 3 or GCSE

grade C/B in Key Stage 4

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Through their experience of a wide range of texts, they have a growing awareness of literary traditions and the place of a text within its cultural, social and historical context. As readers, they are becoming increasingly analytical and evaluative and are able to develop and secure a point, response or argument by weighing up the evidence across a range of textual sources.

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Reading targets

Curricular targets are an integral part of tailored intervention support for pupils. Once the teacher and the pupil have agreed a small number of targets which are the pupil’s next crucial steps in learning, the teacher can take account of these in lessons in:

 questioning

 guided group work

 directing a TA or learning support assistant  task setting

 resources  marking.

Pupils can expect to:

 be given opportunities to develop the target areas  focus on the targets when they are working  evaluate themselves on progress towards them  receive feedback from the teacher in these areas.

Setting curricular targets

Use the pupil’s APP assessment guidelines sheet to identify target assessment focus areas and choose pupil targets from those shown below. Alternatively, if APP assessment is not available, select the most appropriate targets based on your knowledge of the pupil’s work.

Aim to set a strictly limited number of targets and support the pupil in achieving them as quickly as possible.

You can see teaching ideas which exemplify the targets by visiting the progression maps on the National Strategies web area.

Targets for pupils working towards level 2 in Key Stage 3 in

aspects of their reading

AF1

Targets for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area 1. Read a range of key words

2. Work out how to read some words I don’t know

3. Use punctuation to help me when I read aloud

AF2

Targets for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area 1. Remember things about a text I have read

2. Know where to look for information

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Targets for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area

1. Use the words and pictures in a text to work out how a character is thinking or feeling in a book I am reading

2. Use the words and pictures in a text to work out why something has happened in a book I am reading

AF4

Target for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area 1. Notice the way texts have beginnings, middles and endings

AF5

Target for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area 1. Pick out interesting words in a text

AF6

Targets for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area 1. Find an opinion in a text

2. Say what I like or dislike about a text

AF7

Targets for readers working towards level 2 in this AF area 1. Read and understand some different types of texts

2. Pick out some differences between types of texts

3. Understand that books can be written about different times and places

Targets for pupils working towards level 3 in Key Stage 3 or

GCSE grade G/F in Key Stage 4 in aspects of their reading

AF1

Target for readers working towards level 3 in this AF area

1. Choose the best strategies to read and work out the meaning of words I do not know

AF2

1. Find information in the fiction and non-fiction texts I am reading

2. Comment on texts I am reading

3. Find sections of the text that back up my comments

AF3

1. Use at least two of the following reading strategies: questioning a text; making mental pictures based on what I read; predicting what might happen next in a text

2. Understand what clues in a text are showing me

AF4

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2. Pick out some of the punctuation in a text

AF5

Target for readers working towards level 3 in this AF area 1. Pick out some interesting choices of words in a text

AF6

1. Work out what I think the writer is trying to say in a text as a whole

2. Say what I think and feel about a text

AF7

Targets for readers working towards level 3 in this AF area 1. Find some similarities between texts

2. Identify a text’s setting or its background

Targets for pupils working towards level 4 in Key Stage 3 or

GCSE grade F/E in Key Stage 4 in aspects of their reading

AF2

Targets for readers working towards level 4 in this AF area 1. Skim and scan to find information quickly

2. Select the information I need in a text

3. Pick out some words or phrases to back up my comments

AF3

Targets for readers working towards level 4 in this AF area 1. Comment on what clues in a text are showing me

2. Find clues from different parts of a text to help me answer a question

AF4

Targets for readers working towards level 4 in this AF area 1. Identify the layout or structure the writer has used

2. Comment on how the writer has shaped the text

AF5

Targets for readers working towards level 4 in this AF area 1. Identify the sorts of words the writer has used

2. Comment on the sorts of words the writer has used

AF6

Targets for readers working towards level 4 in this AF area 1. Work out the writer’s main purpose in a text

2. Comment on what a text makes readers think or feel

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AF7

Targets for readers working towards level 4 in this AF area 1. Comment on similarities between texts

2. Comment on a text’s setting or background

Targets for pupils working towards level 5 in Key Stage 3 or

GCSE grade E/D in Key Stage 4 in aspects of their reading

AF2

Targets for reading working towards level 5 in this AF area 1. Identify most of the main points in a text

2. Support my comments with suitable quotations or references to the text

AF3

Targets for reading working towards level 5 in this AF area

1. Explain what clues from different points in a text are showing me

2. Make sure I can find evidence in the text to support my comments when I read between the lines

3. Write a paragraph with a point, some evidence and some explanation (PEE)

AF4

Target for reading working towards level 5 in this AF area

1. Explain why I think a writer has organised a text in a particular way

AF5

Target for reading working towards level 5 in this AF area

1. Explain why I think a writer has chosen particular words or phrases

AF6

1. Understand the writer’s general point of view in a text I am reading

2. Explain the likely effect of a text on its readers

3. Understand that writers of stories create narrators with particular viewpoints

AF7

1. Comment on similarities and differences between texts or versions

2. Explain the importance of a text’s setting or background

Targets for pupils working towards level 6 in Key Stage 3 or

GCSE grade D/C in Key Stage 4 in aspects of their reading

AF2

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2. Bring together information from different sources or from different places in the same text

3. Use a short, well-chosen quotation within a sentence to show that I can refer closely to a text

AF3

Targets for readers working towards level 6 in this AF area 1. Explore different possible meanings in a text

2. Comment on the wider importance of events or ideas in a text

AF4

Targets for readers working towards level 6 in this AF area 1. Comment on the impact of how a text is organised

2. Explore how a writer’s theme or purpose is presented across a text

AF5

1. Explain in detail how language is used at different points in a text

2. Comment on how language choices can contribute to a text’s overall effectiveness

3. Use the appropriate terms when I comment on a writer’s techniques

AF6

1. Use clear examples from across a text to explain how a writer puts across a particular point of view

2. Use clear examples from across a text to explain how a writer creates particular effects on readers

AF7

Targets for readers working towards level 6 in this AF area 1. Comment on the typical features of texts from different times

2. Discuss examples of a how a text’s meaning is changed by the time and place in which it is written and read

Targets for pupils working towards level 7 in Key Stage 3 or

GCSE grade C/B in Key Stage 4 in aspects of their reading

AF2

1. Select evidence precisely to help me argue my point about a text

2. Refer to other sources to help me argue my point about a text

AF3

1. Make connections between my insights into a text to make an overall interpretation

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1. Give my own judgement on the effectiveness of some of the writer’s choices about structure and organisation

AF5

1. Make precise comments analysing how language is used in a text

2. Show how a wide range of language features contributes to the overall effect of a text on the reader

AF6

1. Analyse the position of the writer, the narrator and the readers in a text

2. Show my understanding of a writer’s use of irony

3. Evaluate how viewpoints are established and managed in a text

AF7

1. Analyse how a text is influenced by earlier texts of the same type

2. Analyse how different meanings and interpretations of a text relate to the contexts in which it is written and read

Targets for pupils working towards level 8 in Key Stage 3 or

GCSE grade B/A in Key Stage 4 in aspects of their reading

AF2/AF3

1. Combine insight, evidence and wider textual knowledge to make a full interpretation of a text.

AF4/5

1. Show precisely and with insight how text structure and language contribute to meaning AF6

1. Write critical responses that are based on a secure understanding of a writer’s purposes AF7

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Appendix

Assessment focuses for reading

AF1 – use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning AF2 – understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text

AF3 – deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts

AF4 – identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level

AF5 – explain and comment on writers' use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level

AF6 – identify and comment on writers' purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader

AF7 – relate texts to their social, cultural and historical traditions

GCSE English assessment objectives (2010)

AO2 Reading

 Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

 Develop and sustain interpretations of writers’ ideas and perspectives.

 Explain and evaluate how writers use linguistic, grammatical, structural and presentational features to achieve effects and engage and influence the reader.

 Understand texts in their social, cultural and historical contexts.

GCSE English language assessment objectives

(2010)

AO3 Studying written language

 Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

 Develop and sustain interpretations of writers’ ideas and perspectives.

English progression map guide