Listening to children reading - simple or not?

One of the most regular activities that primary schools ask parents to do is to listen to their child reading. Some schools understand the importance of this, and provide advice or training for parents, but many just send a Book Bag home, sometimes with a record sheet for the parent to complete, and expect the parent to “get on with it”.

In such cases, the teacher's understanding of the reading process and his/her knowledge of both the child and the reading material is vitally important. The skilled teacher will have assessed the child’s ability and will know what type of challenge is presented by the book that has been sent home in the Book Bag.

Is the child reading a book that is at their independent reading level, so that the parent's role is a monitoring one, and the reading of the book is for pleasure and practice?

Is the child reading a book that is at their instructional level? This is the level at which most learning can take place, so, unless the school has provided training, it is possible that both parent and child might find reading homework quite challenging, and a chore to get through. The teacher is the person being paid to teach and instruct! (If training has taken place, the parents will have been shown how to respond to hesitations, repetitions, and other miscues/mistakes.)

Is the child reading a book that is at their frustration level? We all understand how frustration can be de-motivating, so hopefully if the child has a book at this level it has been made clear to the parents that their role is to read this book to the child, and not for the child to be expected to read the book to them.

All over the country schools and teachers are regularly expecting parents and children to read at home. What sounds simple and straightforward is, in reality, far from it!