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QRI-6 Video and
Resources Available in
the Pearson eText
Each new copy of the Qualitative Reading Inventory, Sixth Edition, comes with an access code
to the Pearson eText, which includes access to video clips, audio clips, print options, and other
resources previously available on DVD. Please follow the registration instructions on the eText
access code card to gain access to the QRI-6 Pearson eText.
Video Clips
These demonstrate the administrative procedures for the QRI-6.
• VC1: Demonstrates Introduction to a Story and Directions for Concept Questions and
Prediction
• VC2: Demonstrates Retelling Directions
• VC3: Demonstrates Look-Back Procedure
• VC 4A: Demonstrates Think-Aloud Procedure
• VC 4B: Demonstrates Think-Aloud Procedure
Audio Tape Recordings and Corresponding Scoring Protocols

Audio recordings are provided to give the user practice scoring oral reading miscues, retelling,
and comprehension.
• Student #1: Devonte: A beginning reader. Audio tape recording of oral reading, retelling, and
answering comprehension questions
• Student #2: Katrina: A beginning reader. Audio tape of oral reading, retelling, and answering
comprehension questions
• Student #3: Pam: Reading 4th grade story. Audio tape of oral reading, retelling, and
• Student #4: Cynthia: Reading 3rd grade story. Audio tape of oral reading, retelling, and
• Student #5: Miranda: Demonstrating retelling and thinking aloud on high school narrative
Forms & Figures from the QRI-6

Among the Forms and Figures are scored protocols from the audio recordings, material not
found in the book but of potential use, such as scored think-alouds, and figures that can be
printed for use in administration and scoring. These are arranged according to the sections of
the QRI-6.
• Scored Protocols for students reading aloud in the audio clips available in the Pearson eText—
see Section 6 below
vii
• Section 1: Description of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6
Non-Think-Aloud Option: Copies of sixth grade through Upper Middle School passages
without Think-Aloud option
• Section 2: A Research Perspective

Figure 2.3: College and Career Readiness Standards for Reading
• Section 4: Administration of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: Initial Activities

Directions for the Administration of Level-Diagnostic and Inference-Diagnostic Passages
• Section 5: Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: The Word Lists
Window Card
• Section 6: Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: The Passages
Scored PDFs of Devonte, Katrina, Cynthia, Pam, and Miranda
• Section 7: Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: Word

Identification in Context: Oral Reading
Guidelines for Comparing African American English and Standard American
English • Figure 7.3 Counting Total Accuracy • Figure 7.5 Miscue Analysis Work
Sheet • Figure 7.7 Prosody Rating Scale
• Section 9: Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: Assessing
Strategic Reading
Samples of think-alouds and their scoring • The Mining Boom (Modeling Passage for
Think-Alouds)
• Section 10: Summarizing and Analyzing Results of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6
Figure 10.2 Student Profile Sheet for Oral Reading in Context • Figure 10.3 Student Profile
Sheet for Silent Reading • Student Profile Sheet for Oral and Silent Reading • Figure 10.4
Student Profile for Inference Passages
• Section 11: Specific Uses of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

Figure 11.1 Using the QRI-6 to measure the CCSS Foundational Skills
• Section 12: Test Materials: Level-Diagnostic Passages

Student Word Lists • Student Reading by Analogy Lists • Examiner Word
Lists • Examiner Reading by Analogy Lists • All Student and Examiner Passages: Pre-
Primer 1 through High School
• Section 13: Test Materials: Inference-Diagnostic Passages

All Student and Examiner Passages: Level 4 through High School
• Section 14: Technical Development of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

Table 14.7 Leveling QRI-6 Text: Comparing Two Raters’ Use of Fountas and Pinnell (2006),
Harris-Jacobson Readability Levels, and Gunning Classifications on Pre-Primer through
Grade One Passages • Table 14.8 Leveling QRI-6 Text: Comparing Fountas and Pinnell
Levels, Harris-Jacobson, Readability Levels, and Lexiles for Grades 2–4 • Table 14.9
Leveling QRI-6 Text: Mean of Three Readability Formula Estimates and Lexiles Grade 5
through HS • Table 14.11 Leveling Inference-Diagnostic Materials Using the Mean of
Seven, Readability Formula Estimates and Lexiles in Grade 4 through HS • Table 14.15
Means and Standard Deviations and Standard Errors of Measurement of Proportion Correct
Comprehension Scores for Level-Diagnostic Passages on the QRI-6 • Table 14.16 Mean,
Standard Deviation, Standard Error of Measurement and Alpha Reliability on Inference-
Diagnostic Materials
viii QRI-6 Video and Resources Available in the Pearson eText

Preface
T he sixth edition of Qualitative Reading Inventory continues the emphasis on authen-

tic assessment of children’s reading abilities, from the earliest emergent readers to
advanced readers. Like other informal reading inventories, it provides graded word lists and
numerous passages designed to assess a student’s oral reading accuracy, rate of reading, and
comprehension of passages read orally and silently. However, the QRI-6 has several unique
features. The QRI-6 contains narrative and expository passages at each level from pre-primer
through high school. All are self-contained selections highly representative of the structure
and topics of materials found in basal readers and content-area textbooks. For example,
passages at the pre-primer through second-grade levels are presented with pictures. Maps
and illustrations are part of expository selections at fourth grade through high school levels.
Prior to reading, knowledge of concepts important to an understanding of the pas-
sage is assessed, which allows the examiner to label a passage as familiar or unfamiliar to
each student. The QRI-6 measures comprehension in several ways: through an analysis
of the student’s retelling or summarization; through the student’s answers to explicit and
implicit comprehension questions; through the answers to complex inference questions
recommended by the Common Core State Standards; through the use of look-backs, which
separate what readers remember from what they comprehend; and through the use of think-
alouds at the sixth-grade level and above to analyze the student’s thoughts during reading.
New to this • Each new copy of the Qualitative Reading Inventory, Sixth Edition, comes with
Edition anWeaccess
Print a copy of The Mining have code to the
provided Pearson“The
a passage, eText, which
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that includes video clips, audio
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that you can model to demonstrate how to think aloud during the reading process avail-
(see
able on DVD. Please follow the registration instructions
page 269). We recommend that the modeling process be an interactive dialogue between
Watch the following
you and the student. The on the eText
examiner access
shares his orcode card to gaincomment
her think-aloud access toand QRI-6
thethen asks
video to see the think-
aloud procedure modeled
video clip icon Pearson eText.
the student to offer one in kind. However, you can also read the entire passage and model
with a fifth grader. the think-aloud comments• Updated researchparticipating
without the student behind the in QRI-6.
the dialogue. We have found
that both work. It is up to •
youAtosimplified
fit the modeling
systemprocess
of oraltoreading
the needs of the student.
miscue analysis Video
has
Print a copy of Where
the Ashes Are to use as clips print
on aicon
fifth grader and a high school student demonstrate the think-aloud
been developed that focuses on students’ self-correction procedure.
you listen to the audio. When asking students tobehavior. think aloud, usea the
Second, student
prosody scalecopy
was that
added is to
marked with
each pas-
slash marks (//) that indicatesage where the student
from Grades 1–6. should stop and think out loud. At this
Listen to a recording of point, the student is basically
a high school student audio clip icon • Won his or
e have her own,
aligned the reading
beginning thereader
text silently and thinking
assessments with
think-aloud. out loud whenever the slashthe marks are encountered. The examiner can
Foundational Skills of the CCSS. To more closely write the stu-
dent’s think-aloud commentsalign on thetheexaminer’ s copy.
upper grade materials to the CCSS, higher-or-
Based on the research literatureder comprehension skillsour
on think-alouds and canpilot study, we constructed
be measured using new a
system for coding
passages at levelsdifferent types of
four through highthink-alouds. The majority
school. At each of these of think-aloud
levels, there is comments
one nar-
from students in our pilot involved paraphrasing or summarizing the
rative passage (a biography), one social studies passage, and one science passage. text segment, ques-
tioning, and making new meaning, such as drawing an inference or a conclusion. Our pilot
data indicated that questioning think-alouds tended to fall into two categories: questions that
indicated understanding of the text and questions that indicated a lack of understandingixof
the text. Other less-frequent think-aloud comments involved indicating understanding or
a lack of it; reporting a match, absence, or conflict with prior knowledge; and identifying
• Sections of the QRI-5 have been rewritten to make it easier for those with less back-
ground in assessing children’s reading ability. An expansion of this summary follows.
• The current and condensed research review allows the user to quickly identify
an updated research rationale for each element of the QRI-6. The references
include classic studies in the areas of prior knowledge, text structure, and
reading fluency, as well as recent research.
• A simplified miscue analysis system was developed to focus the user on an
analysis of the conditions under which students’ self-corrected miscues that did
or did not change meaning.
• A prosody rating system was added to materials from first through sixth grade to
distinguish fluent reading from reading for meaning.
• A table was added that illustrates how the QRI-6 can be used to assess the CCSS
Foundational Skills in first- through third-grade students.
• The new materials added at levels four through high school are longer thus provid-
ing sufficient text to ask the more complex inference questions recommended by
the CCSS. For example, students are asked to provide evidence for their answers,
to identify and explain the central idea or theme of texts and to summarize an
entire biography or a section of a social studies and science text. Other ques-
tions ask students to compare and contrast elements of the text and to g enerate
the meaning of a word in the context of the sentence or paragraph in which it is
embedded. In nonfiction text students are asked to identify and provide justifica-
tion for the text structure used by the author. Finally, students are asked to identify
and explain the author’s point of view in biographical and historical material.
• The difficulty of all passages has been assessed using readability formulae, Lexiles,
and Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading Levels. The table presenting these compari-
sons allows users to align the results of QRI testing to the leveled readers or advanced
Lexile materials appropriate for the student’s instruction or independent reading.
Acknowledgments We extend our appreciation to the following teachers who aided in piloting of the
ualitative Reading Inventory-6. The following individuals were extremely helpful in
Q
many aspects of the revision process.
• Joan Boyce, Retired, Wauwatosa School District
• Terry Brennan, Wauwatosa School District, Wauwatosa, WI
• Kathi Glodoski, Longfellow Middle School, Wauwatosa School District
• Jackie Mabon, P.J. Jacobs Junior High School, Steven’s Point Area Public Schools
• Julie Norman, Port Washington High School, Port Washington School District
• Mary Lou Qualler, Lake Country Christian Academy, Nashota, WI
• Cheri Rankin, Pigeon River Elementary, Sheboygan School District
• Lynne Roden, Beloit, WI
• Maria Schall, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Port Washington School District
• Jeanne M. Shupe, Ben Franklin Junior High School, Steven’s Point Area Public
School District
• Linda Simmons, Associate Professor, Retired, Cardinal Stritch University
We would like to thank the reviewers of this edition for their valuable input: Sandy
Andrus, Tyhee Elementary; Richard Cass, Boston College, Boston University, Brookline
Public Schools; Kimberly Ilosvay, University of Portland; Ellen Moses, Webster
University, School District of Clayton—Literacy Specialist/Literacy Coach; and Naomi
M. Watkins, University of La Verne.
x Preface
1
Description of the
Qualitative Reading
Inventory-6
The Word Lists

The Passages
Level-Diagnostic Passages
Non-Think-Aloud Option
Inference-Diagnostic Passages
The Qualitative Reading Inventory-6 (QRI-6) is an individually administered informal

reading inventory (IRI) designed to provide information about (1) conditions under
which students can identify words and comprehend text successfully and (2) condi-
tions that appear to result in unsuccessful word identification or comprehension. The
QRI-6 provides graded word lists and numerous passages designed to assess the oral
and silent reading ability and the listening ability of students from the pre-primer
1 through the high school levels. There are two types of passages. Level-Diagnostic
Passages are primarily used to determine a student’s reading level and diagnose areas
of needed instruction. Inference-Diagnostic Passages are used to ascertain a student’s
ability to answer different forms of inference questions allied to the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) (CCSSO, 2010).
The QRI-6 provides a number of assessment options. Results can be used to esti-
mate students’ independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels. Results can
also provide information for designing and evaluating intervention instruction and for
documenting student growth.
The Word Lists The word lists contain words selected from QRI passages at the same level of readability.
For example, the primer word list contains words from the primer passages. The word
lists are designed
1. To assess accuracy of word identification
2. To assess speed and automaticity of word identification
3. To assess CCSS Foundational Skills
4. To determine a starting point for reading the initial passage
Some words on the pre-primer through first grade lists contain high frequency
and phonetically regular vowel patterns. The QRI-6 provides an additional list of
1
low-frequency words that contain the same phonetically regular phonograms. This
additional feature allows the examiner to determine if a student recognizes phonograms
as phonetic units and/or knows the more common or frequent ones. This can suggest a
beginning point for phonics instruction.
Procedures for administering and scoring the word lists are found in Section 5.
The Passages The passages to be read orally or silently assess a student’s ability to read and compre-
hend different types of text. Passages can also be used to assess a student’s listening
level. The passages are designed
1. To determine a student’s independent, instructional, or frustration levels for word
identification in context (pre-primer 1 through upper middle school) and for com-
prehension (pre-primer through high school)
2. To assess a student’s ability to read/comprehend different types of text: narrative and
expository text, text with and without pictures (pre-primer through grade two), and
text of varying familiarity
3. To assess a student’s unaided recall and ability to summarize (grade 4 through high
school)
4. To assess a student’s ability to answer explicit (literal) and implicit (inferential)
questions
5. To assess a student’s ability to use look-backs to locate missing or incorrect informa-
tion (grade three through high school)
6. To assess the variety and quality of a student’s think-alouds (grade 6 through high
school)
7. To assess a student’s ability to answer different forms of inferential questions (grade 4
through high school)
8. To assess ELA Common Core Standards in literature, social studies, and science
(grade 4 through high school)
Procedures for administering and scoring the passages are found in Section 7,
Section 8, and Section 9.
Level-Diagnostic Both narrative and expository pas-

Pre-Primer, Primer, First-Grade, and Second-Grade Passages.
Passages sages are included at the pre-primer through second-grade levels. This allows you to
ascertain the reader’s relative strengths in recalling and comprehending narrative versus
expository material. Because children often have difficulty making the transition from
narration to exposition, we felt that it was important to include expository material at all
levels. The inclusion of expository material also makes the QRI-6 more usable by teach-
ers working with adult beginning readers who might be put off by children’s narratives.
All narrative passages from primer through second grade are presented with pictures
because text with pictures more closely approximates selections presented to beginning
readers. However, at the pre-primer level there are two stories without pictures. The
stories can be used to examine the degree to which a student relies on pictures for word
identification. Beginning at the fourth-grade level all expository materials include pic-
tures or diagrams typical to content textbooks.
All passages contain concept questions that are designed to measure prior knowledge
of three or four major concepts within each passage. While the topics of pre-primer 1
2 Section 1 / Description of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

through third grade passages are generally familiar, scores on the concept task will help
the examiner determine whether the student possesses knowledge of basic concepts
necessary to comprehend the selection.
Passage comprehension is assessed through unaided recall (retelling) and through
explicit (literal) and implicit (inferential) questions.
Third-Grade through Fifth-Grade Passages. The passages for third grade through fifth grade
also include narrative and expository passages at each level. The narratives for fourth
through fifth grades are biographies of famous people. We chose biographies in order
to provide a more controlled assessment of prior knowledge. Because both familiar and
unfamiliar people are included, QRI-6 results can be useful in suggesting why students
are having trouble in comprehension. The expository passages are descriptive science
and social studies materials on various topics, modeled after or taken from represen-
tative textbooks. We included passages that, according to our pilot data, offer a range
in familiarity because of research suggesting that familiarity, as measured by students’
prior knowledge, plays an important role in reading comprehension.
For passages third grade and above, the QRI-6 offers you the option of engaging in
look-backs to differentiate between comprehension and memory. The student is asked
to look back in the text to locate answers to questions that were initially answered incor-
rectly. Procedures for using look-backs are found in Section 9.
Sixth-Grade Passages.At the sixth-grade level, the two social studies and science passages
are on the same topic: ancient Egypt and weather. The second of the two passages has
been formatted to allow you to engage in the think-aloud process with students, and the
examiner copy provides a scoring grid to help you keep track of the type of reader com-
ments. Because the second passage focuses on the same general topic as the first, it can
be used as a pre–post assessment as long as the student’s prior knowledge is considered.
Procedures for administering and scoring think-alouds are also found in Section 9.
Upper Middle School Passages. At the upper middle school level, there are six passages.
The biographies at this level were written by one of us, but all the nonfiction passages
were taken from published science and social studies texts, so they are representative
of classroom materials. Like the sixth grade passages, the two social studies and science
passages are on the same topic, with the second passage in each category formatted for
the use of the think-aloud process. As in the sixth-grade level, the second passage can
also be used for pre–post assessment of progress.
High School Passages. The high school passages were also taken from representative lit-
erature, social studies, and science texts used at that level. The passages within each
content area are sections of a biography in the case of literature or a textbook section
for social studies and science. Readability formulas for determining text level are not
particularly useful at the high school level and different formulas provided us with a
wide range of readability levels for a single selection. We reasoned that readability lev-
els mattered less than the content typically chosen for high school textbooks. We have
therefore included selections that were especially representative of high school content
across several publishers. All high school passages represent relatively unfamiliar topics:
the Vietnam War, World War I, and viruses, and each passage is divided into two sec-
tions. The second section of each selection is formatted so it can be used for engaging in
the think-aloud process.
The Passages 3
Non-Think-Aloud If you do not want to use the second sections of the nonfiction texts as a think-aloud
Option passage at sixth through high school levels, you can find the text without the think-
aloud stop marks (//) at the location marked below. We removed the stop marks (//) so
Print any of the passages
Levels 6–HS that you that the text can be used for post-testing, for assessing note-taking ability, or for other
wish to use without the think- strategic purposes.
aloud format.
Inference-Diagnostic At levels four through high school, three new passages (literature, social studies,
Passages and s cience) are provided. Each is followed by ten inferential questions allied to the
Common Core State Standards. Unlike the Level-Diagnostic Passages, the questions are
inserted within the body of the text and you have the option to administer the questions
orally or ask the student to write the answers. Both options allow and encourage the
student to use the text to craft their answer.
Procedures for administering and scoring the Inference-Diagnostic Passages are
found in Section 9.
In summary, the QRI-6 provides a variety of options for assessing a student’s reading
ability and you can select those that offer the most relevant information related to a stu-
dent’s needs. In addition, QRI-6 provides information on preparing for administration
(Section 4), summarizing and analyzing the results (Section 10).
4 Section 1 / Description of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

A Research Perspective
2
Factors Related to Comprehension Factors Related to Word Identification
Inferential Question Types Knowledge of Letter–Sound Matching
Text Structure Miscue Analysis
Prior Knowledge Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension
Oral and Silent Reading Comprehension Fluency: Beyond Speed and Automaticity
Look-Backs Factors Related to the Use of an Informal
Retelling and Summarization Reading Inventory
Think-Alouds Passage Leveling
Response to Intervention (RtI)
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
Factors Traditionally questions used to assess comprehension have been divided into two catego-
Related to ries: literal and inferential. Literal questions focus on what was explicitly stated in the text
Comprehension and usually begin with such words as “who,” “what,” “where,” and “when.” However, a
variety of taxonomies have identified different types of inferential questions (Applegtate,
Inferential Question Quinn, & Applegate, 2002; Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956; Ciardiello, 1998; Grasser, Ozuru,
Types & Sullins, 2010; Mosenthal, 1996; Raphael, 1982, 1986). These taxonomies contain
both similarities and differences but all suggest that inferential questions vary consider-
ably in what students must do to answer the questions, with some questions being more
difficult than others. Such taxonomies strongly suggest that drawing an inference is not
a unitary concept and that there are different types of inferences with some demanding a
higher level of comprehension than others. Such taxonomies also suggest that the ability
to answer one form of inference may not transfer to a different form.
Perhaps the most well-known taxonomy of question types is that of Bloom’s six
categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evalua-
tion (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956). A revision of Bloom’s original work (Anderson &
Krathwohl, 2001) offered the following levels: remembering, understanding, applying,
analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Other question taxonomies followed. Like Bloom,
they based questions types on the cognitive processes believed to be needed to answer
different kinds of questions.
Davis (1968, 1972), one of the first to conceptualize comprehension as involving
different processes, proposed nine logically distinct comprehension skills: remembering
5
word meaning; determining word meaning from context; understanding explicitly
stated content; weaving together ideas in the text; drawing inferences; formulating the
main thought of a text; recognizing author’s purpose, mood, and/or tone and point of
view; identifying literary techniques; and following the structure of the text. Although
he believed these cognitive processes would be independent, the data showed that only
two factors accounted for differences in comprehension: memory for word meanings
and the ability to make inferences from the content.
More recent attempts to develop question taxonomies have been based on the nature
of the information being sought in a good answer and have reduced the number of
categories to three or four. For example, Graesser and Person (1994) based their taxon-
omy on “the nature of the information being sought in a good answer to the question”
(Grasser, Ozuru, & Sullins, 2010) and categorized question types in three ways:
• Shallow: provide an example, state whether something occurred or did not occur
• Intermediate: definitions, comparisons, determining the value of something
• Complex: interpretations of data, causes or consequences, goals and resources,
goals, instruments and procedures (in science).
Mosenthal (1996) also differentiated questions in terms of the type of information
needed to provide an acceptable answer but added that questions also varied “on how
concrete or abstract different types of requested information are” (p. 323). Similar to
Graesser and Person (1994), Applegate, Quinn, and Applegate (2002) divided infer-
ential question types into three levels: low, high, and response. “While high level infer-
ences are directed toward a specific element or problem in the passage, response items
require a reader to discuss and react to the underlying meaning of the passage as a
whole” (p 176). They criticized existing informal reading inventories for not differenti-
ating or controlling for the type of inference questions used to determine student under-
standing of a text. Four categories of questions were described by Ciardiello (1998):
memory, convergent, divergent, and evaluative. Despite differences in terminology and
number of question categories, all taxonomies recognize that the term “inference” is not
a unitary concept; it embodies a variety of different cognitive activities. These various
taxonomies suggest that inference questions are generally more difficult to answer than
literal questions. In a similar vein it has often been assumed that poor readers expe-
rience more problems in answering them than do good readers. However, Hua and
Keenan (2014) found no difference between good and poor readers in answering infer-
ence questions when they possessed memory for what was read. Using QRI retelling
sheets, they first asked readers to retell what they read and then asked the questions.
No difference was noted between good and poor readers when text memory related to
a specific inference question was perfect, suggesting that “text memory is crucial in dis-
tinguishing poor comprehension” (p. 415). Accordingly, we adjusted QRI-6 retellings to
ensure that components critical for answering inference questions are present in each
retelling scoring sheet.
In practice, taxonomy levels are defined by question stems, that is, the words used
to describe what a student should do. A question stem can use a question word, such as
who, what, when, or where, or it can include a direction such as explain, describe, or ana-
lyze. It is often assumed that students understand the subtle differences between ques-
tion stems. For example, does analyze differ from interpret? Do compare and categorize
carry the same or different meaning? A student’s ability to answer a question obviously
depends on ability to read the text, but it also depends on the student’s understanding
of the question stem. The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSO, 2010) uses
6 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Figure 2.1 Question Stems/Words
Literal Question Stems Inferential Question Stems

who, what, where, analyze, assess, categorize, classify, compare, connect,
when, list, identify, conclude, contrast, defend, define, delineate, demonstrate,
name determine, describe, discuss, evaluate, explain, how,
infer, integrate, interpret, judge, justify, predict, provide
evidence, recommend, summarize, why
fairly uniform question stems across grade levels: determine, cite, analyze, assess, inter-
pret, integrate, evaluate, and compare. Figure 2.1 lists commonly used question stems
divided into literal and inferential.
That inferential questions are not a unitary concept was demonstrated by our recent
research experience with the Content Area Reading Assessment (CARA), a group admin-
istered content area assessment. Over 3,000 students in grades 4–9 with wide-ranging
differences in achievement revealed consistent weaknesses in different forms of infer-
ential comprehension. If average-achieving students show such weaknesses, it seems
likely that struggling readers will do so as well, even when reading materials at their
instructional level.
Therefore, at levels four through high school and in each discipline (literature, social
studies, and science), an added passage provides the opportunity for teachers to assess
different forms of inferential comprehension. The existence of such forms is based upon
the content of question taxonomies described above. QRI-6 question stems remain uni-
form across the narrative passages. Different stems are uniform across social studies and
science text. The stems are identical and/or related to those present in the CCSS anchor
standards for reading (CCSSO, 2010, p.10). The answer keys also identify the type of
inference assessed by a specific question. Examining student comprehension in terms
of discipline (literature, social studies, and science), and question and/or inference type
directs the reading teacher or intervention specialist to more specific areas of instruc-
tion than current IRIs that assess comprehension using primarily literal and generic
or undifferentiated inferential questions. Figure 2.2 illustrates the consistent questions
stems on the QRI-6 according to disciplinary areas.
Text Structure Differences in text structure have often been described as fiction/nonfiction or narrative/
expository. These relatively simplistic categories do not capture the true nature of the
different text structures present in the disciplines of literature, social studies, and sci-
ence. Often presumed to have a common structure, each discipline actually represents
a variety of subdisciplines. For example, literature includes short stories, plays, essays,
biographies, poetry, and novels. Social studies contains the disciplines of history and
political science, while science embraces biology, chemistry, and physics, to name a
few. Each of these subdisciplines has a unique structure and content (Shanahan, 2009).
A student who demonstrates skill in comprehending stories will not necessarily be as
adept when asked to comprehend a play. Similarly, a student who comprehends a his-
tory text may or may not be as successful when reading about a science experiment.
It is highly likely that readers’ familiarity with the structure of narratives is greater
than their familiarity with the structures of expository text. Children have probably
been read more narrative than expository texts. Primary grade instructional materials
are predominantly narratives and the narrative texts with which children have the most
experience tend to have a single common structure. Another reason that narrative text is
Factors Related to Comprehension 7

Figure 2.2 Question Stems for QRI-6 Inferential Passages
Narrative Question Stems Social Studies Questions Stems Science Question Stems
Using details from the text…. What evidence in the text What evidence in the text
CCSS: Determine what the text says indicates ? indicates ?
explicitly…. CCSS: Determine what the text CCSS: Determine what the text
Inference Type: Text Evidence says explicitly…. says explicitly….
Inference Type: Text Evidence Inference Type: Text Evidence
What is a theme or central idea…. The topic of the above paragraph/s The topic of the above paragraph/s
CCSS: Determine a theme of a is . is .
text…. What is the central idea? What is the central idea?
Inference Type: Theme CCSS: Determine central ideas of CCSS: Determine central ideas of
a text…. a text….
Inference Type: Central Idea Inference Type: Central Idea
Explain/describe/analyze how Analyze why or how Analyze why or how
CCSS Describe/Analyze how CCSS Analyze how and why…. CCSS Analyze how and why….
Inference Type: Text Analysis Inference Type: Text Analysis Inference Type: Text Analysis
What does the word/phrase mean What is the meaning of in What is the meaning of ____ in
in the sentence…? the context of ? the context of ?
CCSS: Interpret words and phrases CCSS: Interpret words and phrases CCSS: Interpret words and phrases
as they are used in the text as they are used in the text as they are used in the text
Inference: Vocabulary in Context Inference: Vocabulary in Context Inference: Vocabulary in Context
NA Which text structure best Which text structure best
explains….? explains….?
CCSS: Analyze the structure of CCSS: Analyze the structure of
text…. text….
Inference Type: Text Structure Inference Type: Text Structure
What is the author’s point of view…. Assess the point of view of …. NA
Explain the author’s point of CCSS: Assess how point of view or
view of…. purpose shapes ….
CCSS Explain how an author Inference Type: Point of View
develops a point of view
Inference Type: Point of View
easier to comprehend may be related to readers’ knowledge of content. Students tend to

know more about the topics discussed in narrative writings (people, events) compared
to those usually presented in expository texts. Paris, Carpenter, Paris, and Hamilton
(2005) suggested that a “genuine predictor of reading comprehension is children’s nar-
rative reasoning, the ability to understand the elements and relations in goal-directed
narratives” (p. 153).
In contrast to children’s rather stable knowledge of narrative structure, their knowl-
edge of expository structures is more variable (Klingner & Vaughn, 2004). Children may
be less familiar with any single structure of expository text because of their variety—
sequence or time order, listing or description, compare and contrast, cause and effect,

and problem and solution (Caldwell, 2008). Skilled readers recognize and use these
patterns to facilitate comprehension and memory (Goldman & Rakestraw, 2000; Meyer,
2003) even though they rarely appear in pure form.
Reading literature, social studies, or science does involve similar processes. Readers
identify both unfamiliar and familiar words, attain automaticity in doing so, and com-
prehend connected text. However, in order to comprehend text in different disciplines,
additional skills are required. Reading comprehension is “context-dependent and influ-
enced in part by the kind of text that one reads” (Shanahan, 2009, p. 257).
Children’s knowledge of expository structure is less developed than their under-
standing of narrative structure (Klingner & Vaughn, 2004). History text, for example,
often focuses on chronological accounts and cause-effect relationships; science texts
emphasize procedures and explanations. Using think-alouds and focus group discus-
sions, researchers have identified important differences in how disciplinary experts read
text in their specific discipline (Shanahan, Shanahan, & Misischia, 2011). Historians
paid attention to text authors’ point of view and the source of their information, while
chemists regarded the author as a possible predictor of quality. When the text was writ-
ten was another issue. Historians were concerned this might influence the content,
while chemists were concerned with whether the content represented out-of-date mate-
rial. Finally, the experts’ knowledge base was used in interpreting the article. Historians
focused on whether the author represented a credible source. Chemists defined text
credibility as “plausibility or its congruence with scientific evidence” (p. 420).
As indicated above, if reading comprehension is context dependent, then reading
comprehension assessment and instruction should be as well. It cannot be assumed
that determination of an instructional level in narrative text will transfer to social stud-
ies and science. Differentiating reading level by discipline offers a more specific direc-
tion for instruction. While a student may have an instructional level for narratives that
matches his/her chronological grade level, this may not be true for social studies and/or
science. While past editions of the QRI offered passages that cross all three disciplines,
additional and longer passages have been added to QRI-6 to further assess a student’s
ability to answer inferential questions in three very different disciplines: biography, his-
tory, and earth/life science.
Prior Knowledge Research on the effects of prior knowledge on reading comprehension is over 40 years
old. Initially, studies examined how comprehension differed as a function of the reader’s
perspective, which was often represented by a cultural or religious view (e.g., Lipson,
1983; Steffenson, Joag-Dev, & Anderson, 1979). Then researchers examined the role of
specific content knowledge on students’ comprehension of text (Taft & Leslie, 1985;
Recht & Leslie, 1988). More recently, prior knowledge has been one of several measures
used to predict reading comprehension. These studies examined the relative contribu-
tion of prior knowledge, strategy use, and word decoding to predict comprehension
(Samuelstuen & Bråten, 2005). Because of the consistent power of prior knowledge to
predict comprehension, researchers have measured it and attempted to control for its
effects while studying other variables (e.g., questioning) believed to be related to com-
prehension (Taboada & Guthrie, 2006). In a somewhat similar vein, domain knowledge
has been measured to compare students’ use of strategies to regulate their comprehen-
sion. Students with domain knowledge plan and monitor their comprehension, but do
not engage in note taking or summarizing what they’ve read (Moos & Azevedo, 2008).
These latter strategies are used by those without a foundational knowledge base, pre-
sumably to build that base.

Another area has examined how incorrect knowledge in science (i.e., a misconcep-
tion) can be remedied to improve learning. The question is, what will it take to change
the understanding of a science concept from an everyday point of view to a scientifically
valid point? Research has found that it is not enough to simply explain the scientific
perspective, but rather the particular belief must be refuted by including the miscon-
ception in the text allied to a statement, such as, “if that is what you believe you are
mistaken,” or some other direct indication that the reader’s knowledge is wrong. It is
necessary to explicitly state the misconception, refute it, and then present the correct
conception in order for college students to change their beliefs (Braasch, Goldman, &
Wiley, 2013). It is unlikely that younger students would need less.
The measurement of prior knowledge has taken many forms including, multiple-
choice tests, oral and written interviews, open-ended questions, oral or written pre-
dictions, and “tell me everything you know about ___.” It is likely that each method is
measuring something different. For example, students who can articulate a coherent,
organized essay about their knowledge of a concept likely have a depth of knowledge
far beyond someone who answered many factual questions on a multiple-choice test.
Research from previous editions of the QRI have shown that asking students what a
word or concept means correlates more highly with comprehension of the text than
more general instructions to tell what students thought of when they heard the word.
Therefore, the QRI-6 continues with a direct questioning method to assess students’
knowledge. The purpose of the concept measure is to provide a reason why some stu-
dents do not understand the material that they read. That is, if a student scores below
50% comprehension on a text, it may be because the student had little to no under-
standing of important concepts related to the text.
Oral and For the past 40 years, studies have examined whether students’ comprehension benefits
Silent Reading by reading orally or silently. Two studies have been published since 2000 that compared
Comprehension oral vs. silent reading comprehension. The first found no differences in comprehension
between the modes, but the small numbers of students at each age level prevented the
researchers from analyzing a developmental trend (McCallum, Sharp, Bell, & George,
2004). The other study examined the developmental patterns of comprehension by
having all students read texts orally and silently. This allowed for a comparison within
each individual student and found a developmental pattern. Oral reading was associated
with higher comprehension in grades 1–5, no differences in comprehension between
modes was seen in sixth grade, and in seventh grade silent reading was associated with
higher comprehension than oral reading (Prior et al., 2011). In addition, there was a
noticeable drop in comprehension in both modes at fourth grade likely because of the
shift in genre at fourth grade. Student participants read narratives in grades 1–3, but
shifted to reading all nonfiction texts in grades 4–7.
Look-Backs There are two different forms of look-backs: looking back during reading and looking
back after reading. The former is often examined through analysis of eye movements and
is beyond the scope of informal reading inventory assessment. Looking back after read-
ing often occurs in response to a specific need or direction. The reader may be asked a
direct question about the text or may wish to review, clarify, or expand on what was read.
Looking back in the text has taken on increased importance in relation to close
reading. The Common Core State Standards “focus on students reading closely to draw
evidence and knowledge from the text” (Coleman & Pimentel, 2011, p. 1). Students are

expected to answer text-dependent questions that focus on ideas and information pres-
ent in the text (Hinchman & Moore, 2013). This can involve multiple readings (Fisher
& Frey, 2014) and multiple occasions for engaging in look-backs.
From the viewpoint of literacy assessment, allowing a student to look back in the
text differentiates between understanding during reading and memory for what was
read and understood (Leslie & Caldwell, 2009). Leslie and Caldwell (2001, 2006)
found that students with reading levels above third grade were able to use look-backs
effectively; that is, they were able to skim the text, find the location of the answer, and
respond with a correct answer that was unavailable to them without looking back. If
looking back increases comprehension, this suggests that assessments that do not allow
look-backs may actually underestimate a student’s level of comprehension.
The QRI-6 includes the option of asking students to engage in look-backs after
answering questions in order to resolve comprehension failures. Examining whether
students can look back and correct or add to answers provides valuable information for
instruction. If a student is not able to do this, instruction should point out helpful look-
back components such as topic headings and signal words. Suggestions for and practice
in skimming would also be helpful.
Retelling and Retelling and summarizing are two distinct cognitive skills (Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978).
Summarization Although they are often considered to be interchangeable, they “do not measure equiva-
lent cognitive processes” (Reed & Vaughn, 2012, p. 211).
Like its name suggests, a retelling is usually oral in nature. Because it generally
occurs without looking back in the text, memory plays a large part in the amount of text
recalled. Because it is often assessed in an oral mode, language production also plays a
part (Reed & Vaughn, 2012). Unfortunately, little consensus exists about how retelling
quality should be determined. Scoring rubrics can include such components as gist/
main idea statements, details/story elements, interpretive ideas, generalizations, retell-
ing coherence, retelling completeness, use of linguistic/language conventions, inclusion
of additional information not in the passage, and scorer ratings of effectiveness (Brown,
Pressley, Van Meter, & Schuder, 1996; Hall, Markham, & Culatta, 2005; Romero, Paris,
& Brem, 2005). However, Reed and Vaughn (2012) determined that none of these
clearly discriminate between students at different percentiles for reading and they con-
cluded that “retell scores derived through quantitative methods have not yet demon-
strated they function well in monitoring students’ reading progress or in determining
their understanding of narrative and expository text” (p.198).
In opposition to retelling, a summary generally focuses on “the most relevant ideas
and salient details” (Klingner, Morrison, & Eppolito, 2011, p. 234). Perin (2007)
describes the following operations for summary writing: delete unnecessary and redun-
dant material; select general words to replace lists of items or actions, and select or
compose a topic sentence. Writing a summary usually involves review of the text and
multiple revisions on the part of the author (Helsel & Greenberg, 2007).
Perhaps the issue is not to use retelling or summary to identify current reading level
or measure progress to a higher level. Rather, the goal is to obtain information regarding
a student’s ability in crafting a retelling or summary for the purpose of designing appro-
priate instruction. Retelling and/or summarizing are important skills. Not only are they
important for success in school, they represent tasks that individuals engage in every
day as they describe a sequence of events or summarize the contents of a newspaper
editorial. In addition, acquisition of the skills of retelling and summarizing are often
included in national and state educational standards (CCSSO, 2010).

The QRI-6 provides a user with two options. The Level-Diagnostic Passages provide
an opportunity to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of oral retellings. The retell-
ing scoring sheets have been revised; their format is complete sentences as opposed
to phrase units. Because adjectives and adverbs are meaningful only in connection to
specific nouns or verbs, students receive credit if they identify and/or paraphrase the
noun and verb. After reviewing over 50 studies of retelling as an indicator of compre-
hension, Reed and Vaughn (2012) stated that “little guidance was provided (by research)
for making conclusions about what a desirable percentage of recalled idea units might
be or what percentage might indicated comprehension difficulty.” Therefore we do not
suggest that you derive a numerical score for retellings but instead analyze the quality
of the retelling. Did it include the components of narrative structure? Did informational
recall focus on main ideas with some supporting details?
The Inference-Diagnostic Passages on the QRI-6 provide the opportunity to assess
a student’s ability to summarize a portion of a text. Because composing a summary
involves identification and synthesis of relevant content, the student should be allowed/
encouraged to look back in the text while producing the summary. We also suggest that
the summary be written but evaluated according to the content of the answer key not
according to the mechanics of writing (spelling, punctuation, etc.). Analysis of sum-
mary quality in social studies or science involves the following questions: Did the stu-
dent include an introductory main idea statement? Did the student include content that
matched the answer key? To what extent did the student include extraneous or unre-
lated information? Analysis of a summary in literature is based on the number of story
elements contained in the summary.
Think-Alouds Asking readers to read a selection and think out loud as they do so can provide valuable
information about the strategies that readers use as they attempt to comprehend text.
It offers the opportunity to gather observations about the thinking that occurs during
the reading process. However, an online search indicated that little has been published
on think-alouds as an assessment tool since the publication of QRI-5. What then do we
know about think-alouds that suggests, despite lack of recent research and/or perhaps
interest in the practice, they still remain a viable option for literacy assessment?
Two decades ago, Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) provided a comprehensive sum-
mary of studies that examined the think-aloud process and concluded that skilled
readers and those with higher levels of prior knowledge employ more and varied think-
aloud strategies than poorer readers or those struggling with unfamiliar text. Numer-
ous research studies have investigated a variety of issues related to think-alouds: their
relationship to comprehension; their use with different forms of text and different age
groups; the validity and reliability of the system devised for coding reader comments;
and the amount of text read prior to offering a think-aloud comment. See Leslie and
Caldwell (2009) for a summary of the above issues.
Traditional assessment measures often have predictive validity; that is, good per-
formance on these measures tends to predict average or above-average classroom per-
formance. However, such measures do not assess process and offer no suggestions for
increasing learning. Thinking aloud “captures the process not just the end product
of reading” (Paris & Hamilton, 2009, p. 36). For example, Shanahan, Shanahan, and
Misischia (2011) used think-alouds to determine how specialists in history, mathemat-
ics, and chemistry read and comprehend text in their disciplines. Think-aloud data can
suggest instructional directions, that is, a think-aloud can act as a “method of inquiry
and also as a means of facilitating student comprehension of text (Gavelek & B resnahan,

2009, p. 158). For example, lack of inferential comments by a student may suggest a
need to focus on drawing inferences during instruction.
Researchers use a variety of coding systems to classify think-alouds and these are
quite similar, varying only in the language used to describe the think-aloud comment.
The coding system used in QRI-6 is based on comments identified most often in the
literature: paraphrasing or summarizing; drawing an inference; questioning; noting
understanding; reporting prior knowledge; identifying personally; and noting under-
standing or lack of it.
Factors Related Users of QRI-6 can examine oral reading behavior quantitatively and qualitatively.
to Word The quantitative criteria used to determine independent, instructional, and frustra-
Identification tion levels follow the recommendations of Harris and Sipay (1990) and Betts (1946).
Our pilot data suggested that the best predictor of instructional-level comprehension
Knowledge of is 95% for Total Acceptability, the measure of accuracy attained when only uncor-
Letter–Sound rected meaning-change miscues are counted. While we include Total Acceptability as
Matching an option for those who believe that semantically acceptable miscues should not be
counted as errors, we recommend the use of Total Accuracy in determining reading
levels, a practice endorsed by McKenna and Picard (2006/2007). We do this because
counting all miscues takes less scoring time than deciding whether a miscue did or did
not substantively change meaning. In addition, counting all miscues represents a more
reliable practice because examiners can vary in their interpretation of what constitutes
a meaning-change miscue. For example, while many individuals might not consider
the substitution of “a” for “the” as a miscue that changes meaning, others might dis-
agree and distinguish between the indefinite (“a”) and definite (“the”) articles. In our
classes, we have noticed similar disagreements regarding whether meaning is changed
by miscues such as the following: “song” for “singing”; “broken” for “old”; “find” for
“get”; “drop” for “die”; “special” for “precious”; and “shiny” for “waxy.” In Section 9, we
offer guidelines for determining whether a miscue did or did not change meaning.
At the lower levels (pre-primer through level three), we encourage the examiner
to differentiate between words that contain common and regular letter units such as
vowel phonograms versus words that contain irregular or uncommon sound patterns.
For example, the word “hill” contains a very common vowel pattern, ill, found in
approximately 26 single-syllable words (Fry, 1998). We have differentiated word list
words at the pre-primer through first-grade levels into two general kinds: those con-
taining regular sound patterns and those that do not. Why is this important? Children
who learn a regular sound pattern in one word can easily transfer this knowledge
to other words (Beck, 2006; Cunningham, 2000; Fry, 1998; Gaskins, Ehri, Cress,
O’Hara, & Donnelly, 1996–1997; Stahl, Duffy-Hester, & Dougherty Stahl, 2006). The
recognition and use of such common patterns can provide a critical element in pho-
nics instruction.
The QRI-6 provides a list of low-frequency words that contain 18 frequent pho-
nograms (Beck, 2006; Fry, 1998; Gaskins, Downer, & the teachers of the Benchmark
School, 1997). These phonograms are present in words on the word lists and occur
in from three to 13 passages at the pre-primer through first-grade levels. The words
that contain the phonograms in the lists and passages are high-frequency words as is
appropriate for those levels. Our list of low-frequency words containing common pho-
nograms allows the examiner to determine if the child actually knows the phonogram
and can apply it to decoding unknown words.
Factors Related to Word Identification 13

Miscue Analysis A common assessment practice in many recent IRIs is to qualitatively examine the cue
systems used by a reader using the process of miscue analysis (Goodman, 1965, 1967)
and is still used extensively in literacy assessment. Goodman referred to word pronun-
ciation errors as miscues influenced by three possible cue systems. The graphophonic
cue system refers to the relationships between graphemes (letter and letter combina-
tions) and phonemes (units of sound). If a reader pronounces “jump” as “junk,” one
can infer that the reader is utilizing sound cues in the initial and medial positions and
not attending to semantic cues that signal that the word said did not make sense in the
context of the sentence or story. The syntactic cue system refers to the position of the
word within the syntax of the sentence. If the reader reads “Mary sat on her chair” as
“Mary sat on a chair,” one can infer that sentence syntax influenced the substitution of
an indefinite article for a pronoun and less attention to graphophonic cues. Semantic
cues are meaning cues obtained from the content of what is being read. For example, if
a reader reads the sentence “I received six presents for my birthday” as “I got six pres-
ents for my birthday,” one can infer that the reader is using semantic information in
saying “got” for “received” and less attention to graphophonic cues (received and got do
not look or sound alike).
Goodman’s theory was that reader use of context, as exemplified by the semantic
and syntactic cue systems, was an important and strong influence in word pronunci-
ation (1965, 1967). He believed that, as readers develop word recognition skill and
speed, they use less graphophonic cues. Therefore, miscues that indicate context usage
are strengths because they indicate developing expertise on the part of the reader and
a focus on meaning. On the other hand, overreliance on letter–sound cues suggests a
poor reader or one who may be headed for trouble.
Research has called into question Goodman’s theory of the dominant role of con-
text in efficient word identification (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011; Stahl, 2006; Stahl &
Hiebert, 2005; Stanovich, 2004). These authors propose that as skilled reading devel-
ops the graphophonic cue system takes precedence over the syntactic and semantic
ones but when letter–sound knowledge is emerging or deficient, readers compensate
by use of context. Word-identification skill does not depend on contextual prediction
but rather “the level of word recognition skill determines the extent to which contex-
tual information will be relied on” (Stanovich, 2004, p. 466). To put it another way, as
readers develop skill in using the graphophonic cue system, they use context less and
less to identify words. Finally, context becomes a factor in the comprehension process
as opposed to the word-identification process (Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011; Stanovich,
1993/1994).
McKenna and Picard (2006/2007) also suggest that miscues that retain meaning but
have little similarity to the letters in the text, may not reflect a strength on the part of
the reader. They may actually be evidence of inadequate decoding skills as the reader
attempts to compensate for weak decoding by use of context. Tunmer and Chapman
(2006) found that use of letter–sound patterns and sentence context strongly influ-
enced early reading achievement with use of letter–sounds patterns having more impact
than sentence context. This suggests the need to reevaluate the miscue analysis process
and interpretations drawn from it. We believe that miscue analysis can be helpful but
only if interpreted in accordance with current research.
We encourage qualitative miscue analysis to ascertain how much attention the
reader is paying to the graphic elements of the text and to components of meaning.
We caution, however, that miscues focusing on the graphophonic cue system rep-
resent a strength, not a weakness. We also suggest, based on pilot data, that reader

self-correction may indicate whether the reader is paying attention to decoding or
to overall passage meaning. We examined the self-correction strategies of children
reading pre-primer through third-grade passages. We distinguished between miscues
that changed meaning and were corrected and miscues that did not change meaning
but were also corrected. In levels pre-primer through grade 2, there were little differ-
ences between the correction rates. Children were as likely to correct a miscue that
distorted meaning as they were to correct one that did not. However at level three,
there was a change; children tended to correct significantly more meaning-change
miscues than those that did not change meaning. This suggests that at instructional
levels of pre-primer through grade 2, children are still focused on pronouncing words
and, as a result, little distinction is made between meaning-change or non-meaning-
change correction attempts. However, at the third-grade instructional level, devel-
oping word-pronunciation skill and increased fluency allow them to focus more on
overall passage meaning. Thus they correct more meaning-change miscues. Our mis-
cue analysis worksheet in Section 7 reflects this alternative interpretation.
Miscue analysis, as traditionally used, describes miscues made during oral reading
of passages. However, it may not provide information on a reader’s specific needs in the
area of decoding because such needs may be “masked by context” (McKenna & Picard,
2006/2007, p. 379). A reader aided by context may be able to offer a pronunciation that
is similar to the passage word, while unable to identify the same word or word unit in
a different situation. To put it another way, the same letter and sound patterns may or
may not be an issue if presented in a list devoid of context. This suggests that phonics
must be evaluated apart from context as in a word list format. The QRI-6 provides two
ways of analyzing the cue systems used by a reader. The teacher/assessor can analyze
students’ miscues in context as well as examine students’ ability to read words devoid of
context, on a word list. All words that appear on the word lists also appear in stories at
the same level of difficulty or one level lower.
Oral Reading Other researchers have examined the relationship between oral reading fluency and
Fluency and reading comprehension. This area of research has increased since the development of
Comprehension curriculum-based measures (CBM) of fluency (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001;
Good & Kaminski, 2002). The research surrounding the development of CBM is
beyond the scope of this review, however, we will briefly review some areas that provide
the groundwork upon which the measures of fluency on the QRI-6 have been devel-
oped. First, what is fluency and what is the relationship of fluency to comprehension?
Is fluency more important at some developmental levels than at others? Does the ability
of a student to read quickly and accurately lead directly to comprehension or do flu-
ency and comprehension facilitate each other?
The most simple definition of fluency is the number of words read correctly within
a certain period of time (usually 1 min), termed oral reading fluency (ORF). In essence
ORF measures the accuracy and speed with which a student can read a piece of text.
Because early reading development involves learning to read words automatically, it has
been proposed that ORF be assessed in students who are beginning to learn to read.
ORF is also used to identify young children at risk of learning to read. In fact growth in
ORF during first grade was the best predictor of reading comprehension on the S AT-10
achievement test in first and third grades (Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, & Foorman,
2010). Growth in ORF is particularly important if teachers are using it to measure
improvement from an intervention plan.
Factors Related to Word Identification 15

Fluency: Beyond Speed and automaticity are not the only aspects of oral reading that are important to the
Speed and development of fluent reading. Theoretical analyses of the construct of fluency (Kuhn,
Automaticity Schwanenflugel, & Meisinger, 2010) suggest that fluency also should include prosody,
which is reading “with appropriate expression or intonation coupled with phrasing that
allows for the maintenance of meaning” (p. 233). There are several features of prosody
that include pitch (the regulation of the rising or falling of pitch), duration (the dura-
tion of vowel pronunciation) representing the familiar stress patterns of the language,
and pausing (the frequency and location within or between sentences). As children
become more fluent readers, they make shorter and less variable intersentential and
intrasentential pauses, and larger pitch changes, sounding more like the average adult.
Changes in prosody are most obvious between first and second grade and predict later
fluency (Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2008), supporting the previous finding that ORF
growth in first grade predicts later reading achievement. Miller and Schwanenflugel
(2008) identified pausal intrusions and the extent to which the reading approximates
an adult-like intonation contour as the most powerful factors in predicting fluency and
comprehension at the end of third grade.
The validity of the measurement of prosody is affected by the difficulty of the text
compared to the skills of the reader. Measures of prosody from a text that is easy for
the reader is less likely to be predictive of comprehension than measures from a more
difficult text (Kuhn et al., 2010). The implication for the QRI-6 is obvious. The most
useful measure of prosody is from either instructional level or frustration level material.
Because the examiner may not be able to predict the levels for a student, prosody mea-
sures must be taken whenever the student reads aloud. After determining the instruc-
tional level based on accuracy and comprehension, the examiner should examine the
prosody ratings when the student reads at instructional and frustration levels.
How should fluency be measured in an informal reading inventory? Should accu-
racy and rate be considered separately or should accuracy be subsumed within the
metric, correct words read per minute? What measure of prosody should be used? Is
the scale used by NAEP sufficient (Pinnell et al., 1995)? It combines several measures
of prosody (i.e., phrasing, expressiveness, and adherence to author’s syntax). Should a
multidimensional view of prosody be used that separates phrasing and expression as
one factor, accuracy and smoothness as another, and pacing as the third (Rasinski, Rikli,
& Johnston, 2009)?
A recent study provides us with direction. Valencia, Smith, Reece, Li, Wixson, and
Newman (2010) examined the developmental course of fluency development and its
relationship to overall reading comprehension among second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade
children. Fluency was measured by oral reading accuracy and rate, at 1 min and 3 min,
and the NAEP measure of prosody. Their conclusions were that rate, accuracy, and
prosody should be used as separate measures of fluency so to maximize the predic-
tion of overall reading comprehension and to provide the most diagnostic information.
For example, students with the same words correct per minute (WCPM) could have
very different profiles. One might read accurately, but slowly and the other might read
quickly but make many errors, suggesting different instructional interventions. Not
surprisingly, comprehension of a grade-level passage also added to the prediction of
overall reading comprehension in the Valencia et al. study. An examination of factors
that predicted reading comprehension found that word recognition accuracy was the
more powerful predictor of reading comprehension in first- and second-grade students,
but beginning in third grade fluency was a better predictor (Language and Reading
Research Consortium, 2015).

Therefore, the QRI-6 will continue its use of oral reading accuracy, rate, and com-
prehension to assess student’s reading abilities. And new to this edition is the prosody
rating used by NAEP (Pinnell et al., 1995) at grade levels one through six (Valencia
et al., 2010). We began at first grade because the primary-grade years are when prosody
develops (Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, & Foorman, 2010; Miller & Schwanenflugel,
2008) and continue through sixth grade because prosody is still related to comprehen-
sion in fifth and sixth grades (Klauda & Guthrie, 2008; Valencia et al., 2010). In the
future an automated assessment of oral reading fluency and prosody may become avail-
able (Bolanos et al., 2013).
Factors Related What makes one selection more difficult than another? A common method of describ-
to the Use of ing text difficulty is the use of readability formulas. Readability formulas are based on
an Informal two components. One is word difficulty estimated as the frequency of the word. For
Reading
example, “matriarch” is much less frequent in our language than “mother,” so a text
Inventory
containing “matriarch” might have a higher readability level. Word length is another
aspect of word difficulty. “Received” is a longer word than “got” and its inclusion in a
Passage Leveling text would probably increase the readability estimate. Another readability component
is sentence complexity, often measured by sentence length. Thus, “Because she needed
sugar, Mary jumped in the car and quickly drove to the store” would increase a text
readability estimate more than “Mary needed sugar. She jumped in the car. She quickly
drove to the store.” However, attempts to lower readability by deleting signal words and
transitional phrases such as because, therefore, and in order to may inadvertently make
the text more difficult because removing such connectives obscures syntactic relation-
ships (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013).
Readability formulas provide a general and very rough estimate of text difficulty level
because many other components contribute to the complexity of a text. Readability
scores overlook “the qualitative and reader-specific factors that should be considered”
(Fisher, Frey, & Lapp, 2012, p. 31). Is the text coherent and well written? Does it include
supportive pictures and/or diagrams? Do headings and central idea statements accurately
indicate content? Is it on a familiar topic? Is the topic interesting to the reader? Is the
structure of the text clearly signaled? To what extent does the language of the text parallel
spoken language or does the language represent a stylized and formal form of writing?
A popular measure, the Lexile scale provides two readability levels, a text level and
a reader level. Like other readability formulas, the text level is based on word familiar-
ity and sentence length. Reader levels are based on administration of short passages
with one question each that determine a reader’s score in Lexile units. The reader is
then expected to comprehend approximately 75% of text with the same Lexile level
(MetaMetrics, 2013).
Similar to other readability formulas, the Lexile scale does not address the role of
predictable text, pictures and other graphic features which makes it an inappropriate
measure for pre-primer and primer text. Fountas and Pinnell (2006) have grouped
texts according to characteristics that move beyond traditional readability components.
These include length, print size, layout, difficulty of vocabulary and concepts, language
structure, genre, text structure, predictable language, and support offered by illustra-
tions. They used these characteristics to describe 16 guided reading levels crossing kin-
dergarten through third grade: nine levels for kindergarten and first-grade text, four
levels for grade two, and three levels for grade three. Although the Fountas and Pin-
nell system has achieved wide recognition and usage among teachers it provides only
Factors Related to the Use of an Informal Reading Inventory 17

a moderate amount of support for word recognition instruction and almost none for
decoding instruction in the use of onsets and rimes. In addition, books leveled for use
in Reading Recovery do not consistently increase in word-level demands as their levels
increase (Cunningham et al., 2005).
Hiebert (2013) suggests that determination of text complexity should move beyond
word frequency and sentence length to consider four additional components: levels of
meaning, knowledge demands, language conventions/clarity, and structure. These can
make a text manageable or difficult despite its readability score. Levels of meaning in a text
can range from a focus on relatively straightforward and concrete topics to more complex
issues. Knowledge demands refer to the inclusion or lack of concepts familiar to the reader.
For example, science and social studies texts often focus on unfamiliar content such as
the continental drift theory and post–World War I nativism. Language conventions/clar-
ity refers to the style and structure of the text, as well as the inclusion and/or absence of
definitions or explanations for unfamiliar words and concepts. Content area texts often
“receive inflated readability scores since key concepts that are rare (e.g., photosynthesis,
inflation) are often repeated which increases vocabulary load, even though repetition of
content words can support student learning” (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013, p. 46). Structure
focuses on the existence and clarity of topic headings and central idea/theme statements as
well as the overall structure of the text and how it is signaled by the author.
The nature of the above components may allow a student to read text at a higher
readability level than might be anticipated. The opposite is also true. Despite a read-
ability level appropriate for a specific grade, a student may find the text impossibly
difficult. We have chosen QRI texts with appropriate reading levels according to read-
ability formulas. However, a student’s performance should always be examined in rela-
tion to components that are not addressed by such formulas. If, for example, a sixth
grader meets frustration in the grade level text, the text should be examined for reader
familiarity with the topic as signaled by responses to the concept questions included
in QRI-6. The teacher should also consider the conceptual difficulty of the passages. A
description may be easier to comprehend than an explanation of a process. For exam-
ple, an explanation of temperature and humidity at the sixth-grade level probably rep-
resents more difficult concepts than an account of pyramid building at the same level.
The structure of the passage may also play a part. A narrative structure is generally more
familiar than the structure of expository text, which can employ several different struc-
tures within the same selection.
In attempting to level passages for multiple editions of the QRI, we have subjected each
passage to a variety of readability formulas and at every level, we found wide fluctuations in
the grade levels assigned by different formulas. We chose the level agreed on by at least two
out of three formulas in the lower grades; for grades 5 through high school, we averaged the
scores of three formulas to obtain a more reliable estimate and then tested the appropriate-
ness of the level through piloting. Because of the popularity of the Lexile scale, we chose the
Inference-Diagnostic Passages new to the QRI with Lexile levels appropriate to their grade
level and assessed readability through a consensus among seven formula estimates (http://
www.readabilityformulas.com/free-readability-formula-tests.php). Tables 14.4, 14.5, and
14.6 present the readability levels in Section 14.
Response to In 2004 the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized to give
Intervention (RtI) schools and districts the option of identifying students as learning disabled based on
their response to instruction. In the past, identification of a learning disability rested on

an observed discrepancy between intelligence as measured by an individually admin-
istered IQ test and classroom performance. Now, “a student cannot be considered as
learning disabled until it can be documented that the student has received appropri-
ately targeted and intensified instruction and that instruction has failed to accelerate
the student’s learning to the point where he or she can meet grade-level expectations”
(Scanlon & Anderson, 2010, p. 21).
RtI embodies three tiers. The first is classroom instruction. The teacher implements
screening measures to identify students who are achieving below the level of their peers
(Johnston, 2010; Wixson, Lipson & Johnston, 2010). These students then move into
the second tier of instruction involving additional assessments to identify specifics of
the problem and provision of small-group instruction to address student needs. A stu-
dent who still fails to respond adequately moves into the third tier of instruction, which
is usually individualized in format. At this point, a learning disability may be identified.
The International Reading Association lists meaningful assessment as one of their
guiding principles for RtI implementation (IRA, 2009). Measuring student progress in
RtI often emphasizes short and easy-to-administer assessments: the number of words
read correctly in one minute, the number of passage words recalled in a one minute
time frame, and three minute cloze or maze tasks. However, Dorn and Henderson
(2010) state that “assessment should be direct measures of specific skills and strategies
needed for success in the general education classroom” (p.134). Similarly, assessment
should parallel instruction (Caldwell & Leslie, 2013). Wixson, Lipson and Johnson
(2010) question whether a single assessment is even adequate to determine reading
proficiency. O’Reilly, Sabatini, Bruce, Pillarisetti, and McCormick (2012) comment that
“the information provided in current reading assessment does not provide clear, action-
able information or reports that teachers can use to modify instructional approaches
and better target the needs of their individual learners” (p. 163).
Another issue with regard to RtI implementation is the nature of the instruction
offered to students. This usually involves two formats: use of a standard procedure or
an individualized approach where instruction can change throughout the duration of
the intervention depending upon student progress and needs. Unfortunately there is
minimal research to suggest which is more effective at different grade levels (Wanzek &
Vaughn, 2008).
An overarching concern about implementation of RtI programs is lack of research
to support the various models of assessment and instruction. Reynolds and Shaywitz
(2009) state that there is “an unappreciated paucity of empirical support for RTI and an
overly optimistic view of its practical, problematic issues” (p. 130).
What does this mean for use of an informal reading inventory like QRI 6 in RtI
assessment? We believe that an IRI can be an effective initial assessment as well as an
excellent diagnostic instrument that is helpful to teachers to plan instruction. Using the
QRI-6 for progress monitoring is also possible with some cautions. Passages on the QRI
and any informal reading inventory are not equivalent within a level. Indeed research
on the DIBELS (Francis et al., 2008) found that the DIBELS passages designated by
readability formulae to be at a certain grade level were different in difficulty. Any mea-
sure of growth of an individual child within a grade level must have passages equivalent
in difficulty. There are two ways to address the lack of equivalency in the QRI-6. First,
we have evidence to show that materials at one level are easier than the materials at
the next higher level (see Tables 14.12 and 14.13 in Section 14). Therefore, cross-level
progress can be assessed. Within a grade, however, the best thing to do is to give the
easiest passage in the fall, a more complex passage in winter, and the hardest passage

in May. Table 14.15 provides the average comprehension score on each of our passages.
We do not recommend using the QRI for monthly testing as some have felt necessary to
do to measure progress. Interventions need time to have effects. Although some inter-
vention studies have shown remarkable effects after ten weeks (Leslie & Allen, 1999),
other interventions designed to increase reading rate and comprehension found that the
interventions had no effects after 10 weeks, but showed significant growth at 20 weeks
(O’Connor, Swanson, & Geraghty, 2010). Finally, it is important to consider what kind
of progress is being measured. Increasing reading rate in a student in the early stages of
learning to read is much easier than showing an increase in comprehension in a fifth-
grade student reading at the third-grade level.
The Common Core The Common Core State Standards, first promulgated in 2010 and now adopted by
State Standards the majority of states, substantially differ from previous educational standards. First,
(CCSS) they are text-based, that is, they require readers to comprehend and cite text evidence
as their basis for drawing inferences and explaining text content. Second, the standards
focus on literacy in three very different disciplines: literature, social studies, and sci-
ence. Third, the standards emphasize what has been termed critical thinking, that is,
the ability to analyze, apply, synthesize, and evaluate as opposed to answering ques-
tions by locating literal text components. Fourth, they stress measurement of the above
skills in grade-level text, that is, a fifth grader is expected to read fifth-grade text “inde-
pendently and proficiently” (CCSO, 2010, p. 10).
Figure 2.3 presents the Common Core Anchor Standards for reading. These apply
to three distinct disciplines. As we noted in the section on Text Structure, analysis of a
short story may involve a very different process than analysis of the features that distin-
guish the three domains of life or the motivation behind the federal government’s sup-
port of the transcontinental railroad. That is, the ability to analyze in one discipline will
not necessarily carry over to a different discipline as we explained earlier in this section.
What does this mean for assessment? First, if the standards are the focus of an
assessment, then teachers must ask questions specifically tied to the standards. The
commonly used literal question is no longer a viable assessment option. Questions
must engage students in the process of drawing text-based inferences and justifying an
answer based on the content of the text as opposed to prior knowledge. This is not an
easy task; it involves more than just matching the language of the question to similar
language in the text as is often the case with literal questions. First, the reader must
understand the specific language of question stems such as analyze, summarize, text
structure, point of view, etc. (Table 2.1 provides a list of representative question stems.)
Then the reader must search through the text to find content relevant to the question
and select those components that provide the best match to the question intent.
There are nine standards that can form the basis for question design and a question
based upon one standard may not transfer to another standard. For example, the ability
to determine the central idea of a text may require different cognitive processes than
determining word meaning from context or identifying point of view.
Answering questions based upon specific standards may well represent different cog-
nitive processes. There is an interesting parallel between the language of the standards
and the work of Davis (1968, 1972) who used factor analysis to identify eight activities
that he logically analyzed to represent distinct cognitive skills. However, despite his log-
ical analysis, only two measures predicted students’ comprehension of text, memory for
word meaning, and the ability to draw inferences from the text.

You may wish to print
Figure 2.3 College and Career Readiness Standards for Reading
Figure 2.3. Key Ideas and Details
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical
inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to
support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development;
summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the
course of a text.
Craft and Structure
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining
technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word
choices shape meaning and tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs and
larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene or stanza) relate to each
other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate and evaluate content present in diverse media and formats, including
visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the
validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build
knowledge or to compare the approaches authors take.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently
and proficiently.
Copyright © 2015 Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc. Reproduction is permitted for classroom use only.
Despite continuing controversy regarding the acceptance and implementation of the

Common Core Standards, it is very possible that a district may wish to have a reading
specialist assess an individual’s ability to answer standard-based questions in the disci-
plines of literature, social studies, and/or science. Figure 2.2 indicates how use of the
new inference passages can provide a venue for doing this.

3
Administration and Scoring
of the Qualitative Reading
Inventory-6: Determining
Reading Levels
How Are Reading Levels Determined? How Do I Go about Finding an Instructional

The Independent Level Reading Level?
The Instructional Level Determining Reader Strengths and Needs
The Frustration Level
Documenting Reader Growth
Level Variety
The Qualitative Reading Inventory-6 provides information about a student’s reading per-
formance in three areas:
1. Identification of a student’s reading level(s)
2. Determination of areas of strength and areas in which the student is having difficulty
3. Documentation of growth
How Are The number of reader miscues and the number of questions answered correctly deter-
Reading Levels mine the reading level for text that is read orally. The number of questions answered
Determined? correctly determines reading level for text that is read silently.
Based on these scores, the QRI-6 can identify the levels at which a student can read
independently, with instructional guidance, or with frustration and the relationship
between these levels and grade placement.
The Independent This is the level at which a student can read successfully without assistance. Oral read-
Level: 98%1 ing is fluent, that is, the student reads in phrases and with expression. Both oral and
Oral Reading silent reading are free from behaviors such as finger pointing. Choose materials written
Accuracy and 90%1
at this level for the student’s free-reading pleasure or for tasks that the reader is expected
Comprehension
to perform independently.
The Instructional Materials written at an instructional level are appropriate for reading and content-area
Level: 90%–97% Oral instruction. This is the level at which a student can read with assistance from a teacher.
Reading Accuracy Although oral reading may be less fluent at this level, it retains some sense of rhythm
and 70%–88%
and expression. Use a criterion of 95% accuracy if you are only counting those miscues
Comprehension
22
that change passage meaning. If you are counting all miscues, use a criterion of 90%
accuracy. The student correctly answers 70% of the questions asked.
A student’s instructional level, once determined, can be compared to the student’s grade
placement. Is it below, at, or above the level of materials that are considered appropriate for
that grade level? Such information allows you to estimate the severity of a reading problem
in terms of a discrepancy between the students’ reading level and his or her grade level.
The problem is severe if a first, second, or third grader is a year or more behind or if a
fourth, fifth, or sixth grader is two or more years behind. For students in seventh grade and
above, a severe problem means three or more years behind their grade level.
The Frustration At this level, the student is completely unable to read the material with adequate word
Level: < 90% identification or comprehension. Signs of difficulty are evident. Oral reading lacks flu-
Oral Reading ency and expression; a word-for-word, halting style is common. Accuracy of word rec-
Accuracy and < 70%
ognition is less than 90%, and less than 70% of the questions are answered correctly.
Comprehension
Level Variety Although once common, it is now simplistic to talk about a single independent, instruc-
tional, or frustration level for an individual. The act of reading is highly complex and
contextual. When students possess extensive prior knowledge about a topic, they can
read and comprehend at a higher level than when dealing with unfamiliar material.
This is well illustrated by the difficulty that mature readers often have with an income
tax form or the language of an insurance policy.
Text structure also affects a student’s reading ability. The diverse structure and con-
cept density of expository material in different disciplines makes it more difficult to
comprehend than narrative text.
Whether a student reads orally or silently can affect comprehension, depending on
the age of the student. Younger, less-fluent readers generally do better in oral reading,
whereas older readers are often constrained by the performance aspect of oral reading,
and their comprehension suffers accordingly. The type of questions asked after reading
can also have an effect on determination of reading level. Higher-level inference ques-
tions are generally more difficult than explicit literal questions.
The variety of passages in the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6 allows you to evaluate
the effects of background knowledge, text structure, and reading mode on the inde-
pendent, instructional, and frustration levels of the reader. A reader may have different
levels for familiar and unfamiliar text, for narrative and expository material, and for oral
and silent reading modes. Levels may also vary depending on whether the examiner is
assessing comprehension with or without look-backs. A student who is at a frustration
level for answering questions without referring to the text may achieve an instructional
level when allowed to utilize the look-back strategy.
Which reading level is most important? Given the constraints of time, few examiners
would be able to determine all the possible reading levels that a student might have.
Based on individual purposes and needs, you will have to choose which reading level
is most important for a given student. Which level best estimates the overall reading
ability of the student? Because reading familiar narrative text is generally easier than
dealing with expository and unfamiliar material, the familiar narrative level probably
represents a reader’s highest instructional level. However, in unfamiliar, concept-dense,
and lengthy texts, the level attained after look-backs may be the best estimate of the
reader’s instructional level.
How Are Reading Levels Determined? 23

How Do I Use the word lists described in Section 5 to select a beginning passage that will proba-
Go about bly offer an initial experience of success to the reader. Choose a narrative passage of the
Finding an same readability level as the lowest word list on which the student read at least 70% of
Instructional
the words correctly. Ask the concept questions before the student reads the passage to
Reading Level?
ascertain if the topic of the chosen passage is indeed familiar (see Section 4).
Ask the student to read the passage orally and answer the questions. The num-
ber of oral reading miscues determines the level for word identification. You can count
miscues in two ways, depending on your preference or philosophy. You can count all
miscues regardless of quality and use this total to determine the level. We call this Total
Accuracy. Alternatively, you can choose to count only miscues that change or distort
passage meaning, referred to as Total Acceptability, described in Section 7.
Then count the questions answered correctly to determine the comprehension level
described in Section 8. Once you have the word-identification and comprehension lev-
els, you can determine total passage level. This is represented by the lower of the two
scores. For example, if word identification is at an independent level and comprehen-
sion is at an instructional level, then the total passage level is instructional. Similarly,
if word identification is at an instructional level and comprehension is at a frustration
level, total passage level is frustration. If the student reads silently, determine the total
passage level by the comprehension score.
Guidelines for Determining Total Passage Level

WI: Independent 1 Comp: Independent 5 Independent Level
1 Comp. Instructional 5 Instructional Level
1 Comp. Frustration 5 Frustration Level
WI: Instructional 1 Comp: Independent 5 Instructional Level
1 Comp. Instructional 5 Instructional Level
1 Comp. Frustration 5 Frustration Level
WI: Frustration 1 Comp: Independent 5 Frustration Level
1 Comp. Instructional 5 Frustration Level
If the student scores within the independent or instructional range on the first
passage, choose another familiar narrative passage at the next higher level, con-
tinuing upward until the student reaches a frustration level. If the student reaches
a frustration level on the first passage, move downward until the student reaches an
instructional level. There may be times when you may not choose to find the highest
instructional level. For example, if the student reaches an instructional level at her or
his grade level, determining levels above grade placement or ascertaining the exact
frustration level may have little value.
Once you have found the student’s instructional level in familiar text, you may
choose to have the student read another familiar narrative passage at that level silently.
This allows you to assess the student’s ability in both oral and silent reading. If perfor-
mance is different, the student may typically be more or less successful when reading
orally or silently.
You also have the option to ask a student to read a social studies and/or science
passage. Because such passages are generally unfamiliar in content and structure, a stu-
dent’s performance often falls below his or her instructional level in narrative familiar
24 Section 3 / Administration and Scoring of the QRI-6: Determining Reading Levels

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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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(eTextbook PDF) for Qualitative

Reading Inventory 6th Edition

Audio Tape Recordings and Corresponding Scoring Protocols

Forms & Figures from the QRI-6

• Section 2: A Research Perspective

• Section 4: Administration of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: Initial Activities

• Section 7: Administration and Scoring of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6: Word

• Section 11: Specific Uses of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

• Section 12: Test Materials: Level-Diagnostic Passages

• Section 13: Test Materials: Inference-Diagnostic Passages

• Section 14: Technical Development of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

viii QRI-6 Video and Resources Available in the Pearson eText

T he sixth edition of Qualitative Reading Inventory continues the emphasis on authen-

The Word Lists

The Qualitative Reading Inventory-6 (QRI-6) is an individually administered informal

Level-Diagnostic Both narrative and expository pas-

2 Section 1 / Description of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

4 Section 1 / Description of the Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

6 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Literal Question Stems Inferential Question Stems

Factors Related to Comprehension 7

easier to comprehend may be related to readers’ knowledge of content. Students tend to

8 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Factors Related to Comprehension 9

10 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Factors Related to Comprehension 11

12 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Factors Related to Word Identification 13

14 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Factors Related to Word Identification 15

16 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Factors Related to the Use of an Informal Reading Inventory 17

18 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Factors Related to the Use of an Informal Reading Inventory 19

20 Section 2 / A Research Perspective

Despite continuing controversy regarding the acceptance and implementation of the

Factors Related to the Use of an Informal Reading Inventory 21

How Are Reading Levels Determined? How Do I Go about Finding an Instructional

How Are Reading Levels Determined? 23

Guidelines for Determining Total Passage Level

24 Section 3 / Administration and Scoring of the QRI-6: Determining Reading Levels

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

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