Trust Your Own Observations: assessment of reader and tutor behaviour in learning to read in English and Māori

In our previous article, we reported on a research project designed to improve the attending, reading, and writing behaviour of nine older low-achieving children in a special class in an urban primary school. We attempted operational definitions of important reader and tutor behaviours that occur during one-to-one oral reading, and we applied direct observational principles to coding and recording their occurrence from transcribed tapes of children's regular reading with their teacher. This provided data that served to monitor short-term and long-term change in both child and tutor (teacher) behaviour during oral reading interactions. In the present paper, we describe how these direct observational principles have contributed to the development of assessment and tutoring strategies for both adults and peers in the English language Pause Prompt Praise and the Māori language Tatari Tautoko Tauawhi reading tutoring programs. The assessment strategies generated from observations of reader and tutor interaction around written texts have provided strong support for students learning to read in both English medium and Māori medium contexts. They have also served as powerful components of successful professional development programs for teachers.