EAL/ESL Report Comments: Reading, Secondary
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 Secondary (ages 11-18): 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
- When studying poetry, [Name] interprets figurative language such as metaphor and irony and supports each idea with a short quotation.
- [Name] uses reading skills from [his/her/their] home language as a real strength, comparing how ideas are expressed in both languages.
Next step
- A next step is to comment on how a writer's structure, such as flashbacks or changes of viewpoint, shapes the reader's response.
Developing competence C
Strengths
- [Name] reads mathematics word problems carefully and, with some guidance, identifies the information needed to solve them.
- [Name] recognises common text types, such as stories, instructions and reports, and uses their layout to find information.
Next step
- [He/She/They] could prepare for homework reading by writing down three questions that the text might answer.
Early acquisition B
Strengths
- [Name] brings good reading habits from [his/her/their] home language to short English texts, such as looking at the headings first.
- [Name] matches short written sentences to pictures and can put a simple sequence of events in order.
Next step
- Pre-teaching five or six new words before each topic will help [Name] follow subject textbooks and worksheets.
New to English A
Strengths
- In subject lessons, [Name] copies important English words from the board into a vocabulary book and is learning to read them back.
- By watching others, [Name] follows along when books are opened, pages are turned and texts are read together.
Next step
- Using picture-supported texts on class topics will help [Name] read for meaning while [his/her/their] English vocabulary grows.
Support at home
- Talking with your child about school topics in your home language helps them understand the ideas they meet in English texts.
How to write reading comments for Secondary (ages 11-18)
- Where a secondary student already reads well in their home language, say so. Skills like skimming and predicting transfer, and a next step can build on them, such as reading a topic summary in the home language first.
- Name the subject text, such as a science worksheet, a history source or a mathematics word problem. Say what helps, like a glossary of key terms or highlighting, and what the student now reads without it.
- At stage D, move from understanding to analysis: inference, comparing sources, spotting an author's purpose or bias. A next step might be a longer or more challenging text in a subject the student enjoys.
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, Secondary (ages 11-18)
- Speaking, Secondary (ages 11-18)
- Reading, Primary (ages 5-11)
- Writing, Secondary (ages 11-18)
- Vocabulary and Grammar, Secondary (ages 11-18)
- Language-Learning Behaviours, Secondary (ages 11-18)
- 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
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How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.