Purpose

The purpose of this assessment tool is to evaluate the knowledge of children aged 4 to 7 regarding concepts and conventions of written language. The tool focuses on how children handle books, their ability to identify where a text begins and ends, what is meant to be read in the text as opposed to the image, and their understanding of the concept of a word and a letter. It also examines children’s awareness of the distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters, recognition of the beginning and end of a word, identification of the first and last letter, understanding of word order within a sentence, arrangement of letters within words, punctuation, and print directionality.

Brief Description

During the assessment, the adult reads one or two short stories to the child, which have been specifically designed for this purpose. The child observes and interacts with the text, and through structured questioning, the assessor evaluates the child’s understanding and application of print concepts. The assessment includes a total of 24 questions, organized in such a way as to accurately capture the child’s level of knowledge, preserving the structure of the original edition.

Norming

The tool has been standardized with a sample of 2,774 children from across Greece, providing robust data supporting its validity and reliability. The secondary scale used is the standard score, which enhances the interpretive value of the results.

Scoring Method

Each correct answer is awarded one point. The maximum score a child can obtain is 24. The total performance score is calculated as the sum of all correct responses.

Validity

The tool demonstrates high concurrent validity. Pearson correlation coefficients recorded between teacher ratings of the children and their scores on this tool are at satisfactory levels. Additionally, construct validity was examined through exploratory factor analysis using the principal components method. The results showed that the questions loaded onto four main factors. These four factors, as well as the individual questions, accurately represent the same basic print concepts assessed in Clay’s original version of the tool.

Reliability

The tool’s reliability, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient, was found to be satisfactory across all age groups in the study. For the entire sample, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.91, and the standard error of measurement was 1.77. These results indicate that the tool produces consistent and reliable outcomes during its administration.

Primary Reference

Tafa, E. (2008). Assessment Tool for Concepts About Print. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.