Vol.:(0123456789) New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies (2019) 54:69–97 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-019-00133-4 1 3 ARTICLE How Do New Zealand Teachers Assess Children’s Oral Language and Literacy Skills at School Entry? Tracy A. Cameron 1  · Jane L. D. Carroll 1  · Mele Taumoepeau 1  · Elizabeth Schaughency 1 Received: 30 May 2018 / Accepted: 6 March 2019 / Published online: 13 March 2019 © New Zealand Association for Research in Education 2019 Abstract Teachers of year 0/1 students in English-medium schools in New Zealand (1896 schools) were invited to participate in a survey focussed on assessment of new entrant children’s oral language and emergent literacy skills, with an estimated 21% response rate (N = 745). Teachers indicated using a variety of methods for assess- ing children’s skills at school entry, from standardised measures to informal teacher judgements. In response to open-ended questions several dominant themes were identifed: (a) concerns regarding the skill development of many new entrants; (b) a desire for tools to assess oral language and phonological awareness; (c) prefer- ences for tools that were current, efcient, user-friendly and appropriate for use with young children in New Zealand; (d) the need for more time outside the class- room for assessment and refection on assessment results; and (e) interest in profes- sional learning and development, and teaching resources to support oral language competencies. Keywords Oral language · Emergent literacy skills · School entry · Assessment Introduction Children in New Zealand (NZ) start their schooling life with large diferences in their prior literacy-related exposure and competencies (Education Review Ofce [ERO] 2017, ERO 2018; Nicholson 2003; Poulton et al. 2018). In recognition of both the strong reciprocal relationship between oral language and literacy learn- ing (Ministry of Education [MoE] 2010), and the importance of language skills for school success, recent initiatives in NZ have focussed on children’s oral language skills in their early years’ education (ERO 2017; Tolley and Kaye 2017). To sup- port successful language development, ERO (2017) has recommended that early * Elizabeth Schaughency schaughe@psy.otago.ac.nz 1 Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand