ABSTRACT
The Hunter-Grundin Literacy Profiles used for the study consist of five tests: four group tests assessing attitudes to reading, reading for meaning, spelling and free-writing; and one individual test assessing spoken language. Despite the importance attributed to reading, it is desirable that progress should be assessed in a wide spectrum of language skills. The Hunter-Grundin battery uses a picture as a stimulus to conversation and distinguishes five elements in oral language at infants' level: confidence, enunciation, vocabulary, accuracy and imagination. These are assessed using a five-point scale. Older children can be assessed on their 'free-writing' performance, using measures of legibility, fluency, accuracy and originality. Unusually for schools designated as social priority schools, a very high proportion of infant and junior children revealed positive attitudes towards reading. Strategies and supporting materials have been developed which have widened, deepened and informalised parental involvement in many of the schools concerned.
