Comprehension resources

Students are assessed on their ability to find details to identify the main idea of a text about cultural change in a Pacific context.

This task assesses student ability to find the text features of a science report about moa.

Students read a personal recount about family relationships in a Pacific context. Assessment focus: the author's construction of two characters and an evaluation of them.

Students read a short extract from a legend to answer retrieval and inferential questions.

Students read a narrative about a family's encounter with a stray cat. They then use evidence from the text and their background knowledge to evaluate the characters. SJ-1-3-2008. Text provided.

Students read an advertisement then identify and explain some of its language features.

Students complete a cloze passage and use their vocabulary and knowledge of grammar to create well-formed sentences.

Students make inferences from a poem. SJ-2-4-1993. Text provided.

Students read a newspaper article about outdoor activities then answer some comprehension questions.

This comprehension task assesses a student's ability to make inferences about a character's feelings based on the evidence in a written and visual text, and their own prior experience.

This task assesses students' ability to analyse a text to identify and justify character traits and points of view, including the author's.

This task assesses student ability to find the text features of a science report about one of our native birds. The task is essentially a literacy task in the context of scientific writing, and can also be accessed from the English Bank.

Assessment focus: finding important information and the main idea of an informational text. The text used is about an introduced species of fish which has become a pest. SJ-2-4-2005. Text provided.

This comprehension task involves progressively disclosing a poem. It assesses a student's ability to use evidence to predict what it could be describing. SJ-2-4-1994. Text provided.

This comprehension task involves progressively disclosing a poem to students. It assesses their ability to infer.

A poem is disclosed in stages to students. The task assesses their ability to make inferences using evidence from text and prior knowledge to work out what it could be describing.

To answer mainly multiple choice questions, students retrieve information and make inferences from a text about Socrates.

Students read an extract about selecting suitable trees to build a waka then answer retrieval and inferential questions.

In Part 1, students interpret how the visual techniques used in the presentation of a Māori legend support the meaning of the written text. In Part 2, students are assessed on their ability to communicate and explain their use of visual techniques. Annotated student work samples using Part 2 are provided.

Students study a poster about being safe in an earthquake and then answer retrieval and inferential questions.

Students read a poem and make links between its written and visual information. SJ-2-4-1993.

Students read a narrative that is about being different and about group dynamics. Assessment focus: an evaluation of characters and the author's construction of them. (A link to the text is provided. Reading age <8.) SJ-1-4-2005. Text provided.

Students use evidence in a text to make inferences about a character's feelings. They analyse these within scaffolding activities, synthesising their thinking to suggest the author's message.

A joke about a parrot is the context for this resource that assesses understanding of idioms and the interpretation of humour.

Students are required to read an article, answer questions and complete a retrieval chart.