Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Diagnostic Assessments
Teachers rarely use grammar, usage, and mechanics diagnostic assessments to determine individual needs. All too often, students either receive the same grammatical instruction year after year (the eight parts of speech come to mind) or they miss out on important instruction in phrases or clauses because teachers assume someone else has taught them these syntactic features. When grammar, usage, and mechanics diagnostic assessments necessary?
“… Whether or not a student has a documented language disorder, sentence-level problems should also be suspected in students who have difficulty with both listening comprehension and reading (Scott, 2009). Under the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), reading problems can result from either poor word recognition or poor listening comprehension…” (as cited in researchgate.net).
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Diagnostic Assessments
Following are accurate and teachable diagnostic grammar, usage, and mechanics assessments and corresponding recording matrices to help teachers determine what students know and what they do not know. Each assessment is comprehensive, not a random sample, to enable teachers to teach to the results of each test item. The author’s grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and high school grammar, usage, and mechanics programs provide the corresponding resources for assessment-based whole class and individualized instruction.
GRAMMAR, USAGE, AND MECHANICS DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENTS
Diagnostic Grammar and Usage Assessment with Recording Matrix (Printable Copy)
Use this 45 item assessment to determine student’s knowledge of parts of speech, subjects and predicates, types of sentences, fragments and run-ons, pronoun usage, modifiers, verb tenses and verb forms.
Mechanics Assessment (Printable Copy)
Use this 32 item assessment to test students’ ability to apply correct usage of commas, capitalization, and all other essential punctuation.
Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessment (Google Apps)
- Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessment (self-correcting Google forms)
- Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessment recording matrix (Google sheets)
RECOMMENDED GRAMMAR PROGRAMS APPLYING ASSESSMENT-BASED INSTRUCTION
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Pennington Publishing Grammar Programs
Teaching Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and High School) are full-year, traditional, grade-level grammar, usage, and mechanics programs with plenty of remedial practice to help students catch up while they keep up with grade-level standards. Twice-per-week, 30-minute, no prep lessons in print or interactive Google slides with a fun secret agent theme. Simple sentence diagrams, mentor texts, video lessons, sentence dictations. Plenty of practice in the writing context. Includes biweekly tests and a final exam.
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Interactive Notebook (Grades 4‒8) is a full-year, no prep interactive notebook without all the mess. Twice-per-week, 30-minute, no prep grammar, usage, and mechanics lessons, formatted in Cornell Notes with cartoon response, writing application, 3D graphic organizers (easy cut and paste foldables), and great resource links. No need to create a teacher INB for student make-up work—it’s done for you! Plus, get remedial worksheets, biweekly tests, and a final exam.
Syntax in Reading and Writing is a function-based, sentence-level syntax program, designed to build reading comprehension and increase writing sophistication. The 18 parts of speech, phrases, and clauses lessons are each leveled from basic (elementary) to advanced (middle and high school) and feature 5 lesson components (10–15 minutes each): 1. Learn It! 2. Identify It! 3. Explain It! (analysis of challenging sentences) 4. Revise It! (kernel sentences, sentence expansion, syntactic manipulation) 5. Create It! (Short writing application with the syntactic focus in different genre).
Get the Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessments, Matrix, and Final Exam FREE Resource:
