Miscue Analysis: Toward a Parsimonious Approach to Assessment of Oral Reading Errors in the Classroom

Several informal, classroom-based methods currently exist for evaluating reading performance, but the daily demands teachers face require that assessment be as efficient and effective as possible. The purpose of this study was to examine two different approaches to analyzing oral reading-- assessment of word recognition ability and miscue analysis-- in search of a parsimonious approach to children\u27s reading assessment in a sample of second-grade children. Children\u27s word reading was assessed through administration of context-free word lists, and oral reading miscues were gathered from reading of connected text. The results suggested that substitution miscues and self-correction of errors were significantly correlated with reading comprehension. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that various types of substitution miscues, particularly those that preserved the meaning and grammar of the text, were better predictors of comprehension than were norm-referenced word-reading tasks. Implications for educators and school psychologists are discussed