Reading prosody rubric: score your child's expression
Prosody is the expression in reading aloud: a voice that rises and falls with the meaning, words grouped into phrases, a smooth flow and a talking pace. To score it, listen to your child read a page they haven't practiced, then rate each of those four parts from 1 to 4. The total runs from 4 to 16, and the lowest part is the one to practice next.
Score a reading
Pick the description that fits what you heard most of the time, not the best or the worst sentence. The four parts follow Zutell and Rasinski's Multidimensional Fluency Scale; the descriptions are written for parents by Readigo, an iOS reading-practice app for children ages 6–12.
Reading prosody rubric
How did that reading sound?
0 of 4 parts scored. The result appears when all four are done.
How to listen
- Pick a page at the right level. Your child should know almost every word on it. It's hard to read with expression while still working out words, so if they stumble several times on a page, choose an easier book.
- Don't rehearse. A first read shows where things stand. A page they have practiced shows their best, which is worth scoring too, as long as you know which one it is.
- Listen for a minute or two, then score. Recording the reading on your phone lets you listen again before you choose.
- Score again in a few weeks with a new page at the same level, and compare the parts, not just the total.
The NAEP oral reading fluency scale
A quicker check with a single score. The National Assessment of Educational Progress used it in its 2002 oral reading study, where US 4th graders read the same passage aloud. Levels 1 and 2 count as non-fluent, levels 3 and 4 as fluent. Next to each level: the share of 4th graders who read at it and their average score on the main NAEP reading test.
Level 1 (non-fluent) · 8% of 4th graders · average score 177
Reads primarily word by word. Two- or three-word phrases are rare or don't follow the meaning of the sentence.Level 2 (non-fluent) · 32% of 4th graders · average score 207
Reads primarily in two-word phrases, with some three- or four-word groups and some word-by-word reading. The groups can sound awkward.Level 3 (fluent) · 51% of 4th graders · average score 234
Reads primarily in three- or four-word phrase groups that keep the author's sentence structure, with little or no expression.Level 4 (fluent) · 10% of 4th graders · average score 252
Reads primarily in larger, meaningful phrase groups. Slips don't break the structure of the story, and some or most of it is read with expression.
The NAEP scale mostly hears phrasing and expression. The four-part rubric above also separates smoothness and pace, which tells you what to practice.
Questions parents ask
What is prosody in reading?
Prosody is reading with expression: the timing, phrasing, stress and rise and fall of the voice that make reading aloud sound like speech. Together with accuracy and rate, it is one of the three parts of reading fluency.
How do you assess reading prosody?
Listen to a child read an unpracticed passage at their level aloud, then rate it on a rubric. The NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale gives one score from 1 to 4. Rubrics built on Zutell and Rasinski's Multidimensional Fluency Scale score expression and volume, phrasing, smoothness and pace separately, 1 to 4 each, for a total of 4 to 16.
What is a good prosody score?
A rubric scored by a parent has no grade norms, so read it as a profile: a 3 or 4 means that part already sounds like talking, and a 1 or 2 is the part to practice. On the NAEP scale, levels 3 and 4 count as fluent; in NAEP's 2002 oral reading study, 61% of US 4th graders read at those levels.
How can I help my child read with more expression?
Read aloud to them with full expression, then try echo reading (you read a sentence, they copy it), repeated reading of a short passage over a few days, and Reader's Theater, where a performance is the reason to reread. Point out what punctuation does to your voice: a short pause at a comma, a full stop at a period, and a question that sounds like a question.
Sources
- Daane et al. (2005) - Fourth-Grade Students Reading Aloud: NAEP 2002 Special Study of Oral Reading (NCES 2006-469)
- Zutell, J. & Rasinski, T. V. (1991) - Training teachers to attend to their students' oral reading fluency, Theory Into Practice
- National Reading Panel (2000) - Teaching Children to Read (fluency: accuracy, speed and expression)
$9.99/mo or $59.99/yr. Cancel anytime.