ABSTRACT
The fluent Stage 3 or Stage 4 reader expects the content to make sense and uses context as an aid to identify unfamiliar words. Phonics in turn are used to check contextual cues by looking at word structure in terms of elements of meaning (e.g. horse-shoe not horses-hoe); syllables (e.g. pho-to-graph) and letter-strings (e.g. streng-th). By noting down errors when hearing the child read, we can determine to what extent he or she is using these strategies and which aspects still need careful teaching.
