There was no evidence that the students had the opportunity to choose their own reading materials or subject matter during the examiner’s observation. The classroom did not have a library of books, but there were boxes of Spanish-language magazines in a variety of topics, such as People en Español, AutoMundo (Car World), and the now-defunct SI (Sports Illustrated) Latino. These magazines are geared toward advanced readers and native speakers and many include jargon that could be considered difficult even to a seasoned learner of the Spanish language. . 

The BRI was administered to find Manolo’s independent, instructional, and frustration reading and comprehension levels using graded word lists, oral reading and comprehension exercises, and listening comprehension exercises. The BRI was administered over the course of 3 consecutive Wednesdays in the first period of the day for about 20 minutes each. After Manolo was seated at the table, the examiner briefly explained the different portions of the BRI and what was expected of Manolo.

The Graded Word Lists were the first portions of the BRI to be administered, and produced the following results:

This portion of the BRI allows the examiner to assess Manolo’s word recognition skills and the strategies he employs when he encounters a word he does not immediately recognize. This portion of the test allowed the examiner to determine Manolo’s independent, instructional, and frustration levels in terms of word recognition. The graded word lists revealed that Manolo’s independent level for word recognition is sixth grade level, although he did not achieve 100 percent until tested on the fourth grade level. The word lists for grade levels seven, eight, and nine were all in high- to mid-level instructional. The examiner administered the test starting one grade level above his current grade and worked backward, so Manolo met frustration at the eleventh and tenth grade word lists. 

Manolo attempted to pronounce each word on the lists quickly and the examiner had to ask him to slow down. In between words, Manolo would look up from the list and look in the direction of his classmates as they were doing work. He often substituted more common words with similar spellings for the more unusual words on the lists or used Spanish pronunciation and emphasis. In Spanish, the second to last syllable in a word always receives emphasis unless there is an accent mark, which denotes the accented syllable. Each Spanish vowel has a single sound that is always made with no exceptions, with diphthongs created when two vowels are next to each other. Manolo would improperly emphasize the second to last syllable in many of the incorrectly pronounced words or substitute Spanish vowel sounds for English vowels, especially the vowel u, which is pronounced as an “ooh”. For example, he pronounced obituary as o-bi-TOO-airy, saturate as sah-TOO-rate, slur as sloor (rhyming with “floor”), and chauffeur as chow-FAY-oor. (Capitalized syllables denote emphasis). 