When the kids were just learning to read, I was anxious whether or not we’re doing enough. On the one hand, I seldom tested how fast they read. Because it is apparent that when you persist, you will see the result. On the other hand, I still fretted and spent some time looking up just how many characters they should know. Of course, in hindsight, I can say it’s about persistence and consistence, plus your CLA (Chinese Language Environment).
But what do the experts say? Here’s the first of two tests you can do.
Here’s where I got the test from: Brain Learning Lab
Instructions
- Download both the random characters text and the paragraph reading text.
- Have the child point their fingers at each character and read from right to left, top to bottom. Time them for 1 minute.
- Count how many characters they read right. It’s okay if they ‘added’ characters or mispronounced homonyms.
A second grader should be able to read 120 characters/minute of text or 80 characters/minute of random characters.
When I tested myself, I read 280 char/min on regular text and 160 char/min of random text. The website itself also has a list of how fast a kid should read by grade level. But since it’s from research papers, it is all over the place, though mine looks to be inline with one of them for 6th grade.
So when should you take this test?
Depending on the kid, it may be kind of disheartening to have a parent mark the paper (of characters they missed or mispronounced) as they read, so probably when you’re certain they can read >95% of the characters?
If your kid has an end of first grade reading level, or has learned to read with zhuyin about half a year, or knows Sagebooks 500, they probably can read all of the characters, they’re pretty easy.
But the goal of this test is to figure out fluency, with the idea that if you’re more fluent at reading, it means that you actually comprehend what you’re reading.
