EAL/ESL Report Comments: Reading, Primary
Reading covers decoding, word recognition and reading aloud, and understanding at word, sentence and whole-text level. Students make meaning using pictures, prior knowledge, bilingual dictionaries and home-language reading skills, and later find information, summarise and infer across subjects.
Below are 13 sample sentences for Primary (ages 5-11): two strengths and one next step for each of the 4 comment levels (Competent / fluent / Developing competence / Early acquisition / New to English), plus a tip for families. They are a small selection from the 178 reading sentences in the full pack. Copy one, then add a detail only you know about the student.
Jump to: Competent / fluent · Developing competence · Early acquisition · New to English · Writing tips
Fills in the name and pronouns on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Competent / fluent D
Strengths
- [Name] explains the hidden meaning in a poem or picture book and can say why a joke or a play on words in a story is funny.
- [Name] summarises a longer text accurately, separating the most important ideas from the details that support them.
Next step
- A useful next step is to explain how a poet's word choices help the reader imagine a person, place or event, using examples from the poem.
Developing competence C
Strengths
- The pictures in a book help [Name] check the meaning of new words and predict what will happen next.
- When a text is longer, [Name] reads it in short sections and checks [his/her/their] understanding before moving on.
Next step
- [He/She/They] could use the question words on a word mat (who, what, where, why) to ask questions about each page of a story.
Early acquisition B
Strengths
- Sharing [his/her/their] reading book with an adult, [Name] uses the pictures to talk about what is happening on each page.
- Using a picture dictionary, [Name] finds the meaning of new words and adds some of them to [his/her/their] word list.
Next step
- Re-reading favourite picture books will help [Name] recognise familiar words more quickly.
New to English A
Strengths
- [Name] finds [his/her/their] drawer and coat hook by reading [his/her/their] name label, which helps [him/her/them] follow daily routines.
- [Name] recognises [his/her/their] written name and finds it on labels, books and the class list.
Next step
- Sharing a picture book with an adult each day and naming the things in the pictures will help [Name] learn new words.
Support at home
- Visiting the local library together is free, and you can look for books in your home language as well as in English.
How to write reading comments for Primary (ages 5-11)
- Separate decoding from understanding. A child may sound out the reading book confidently but miss the meaning, or understand a picture book well while still learning phonics, so say which is which.
- Mention the tools the child uses, such as pointing to pictures, the sound mat or matching word cards to classroom labels. These show families how reading is being built, beyond the level of the reading book.
- For home reading, suggest sharing books in the home language alongside the English reading book. Talking about a story in any language builds understanding that carries over into English.
Watch out: Avoid judging reading by reading aloud alone. Smooth decoding can hide gaps in understanding, and hesitant reading aloud can hide good understanding, so ask a question about the text and report what the answer shows.
Rate each skill separately, since many students understand more than they can say. At stage D, write about precision and range; at C, growing independence with errors still showing; at B, short phrases and visual support; at A, what the student does now and the support that helps. Show the stage through evidence rather than naming it.
What Reading covers
In these comments, reading covers these behaviours:
- decodes and recognises words in English and reads aloud
- understands texts at word, sentence and whole-text level
- uses pictures, prior knowledge, dictionaries and home-language skills to make meaning
- reads for different purposes across subjects, including inference at later stages
More EAL/ESL comments
- Listening, Primary (ages 5-11)
- Speaking, Primary (ages 5-11)
- Reading, Secondary (ages 11-18)
- Writing, Primary (ages 5-11)
- Vocabulary and Grammar, Primary (ages 5-11)
- Language-Learning Behaviours, Primary (ages 5-11)
- Opening and closing sentences
- All EAL/ESL skills and grade bands
- For the same report: Subject Report Comments for Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary, Stages 1-9
- Build a comment with the comment picker
How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.