ENGLISH
ICAS ENGLISH ASSESSES
READING & LANGUAGE SKILLS
IN A RANGE OF CONTEXTS
SKILL AREAS
Students are required to locate, identify, interpret, infer and synthesise information in and about texts. The skill areas assessed are:
- Reading for meaning in factual texts
- Reading for meaning in literary texts
- Textual devices, syntax and vocabulary.
CONTENT
Students read a variety of texts which narrate, describe, explain, argue, persuade and review. These include extracts from picture books, novels, poems, play scripts, transcripts of interviews, letters, diary entries, advertisements, web pages, feature articles, opinion pieces and comics. These texts cover a range of topics and may include tables, diagrams, maps and other visual information.
The texts increase in complexity with each assessment, moving from simple texts dealing with familiar subjects and topics to complex texts incorporating abstract concepts and sophisticated language structures.
LEARN MORE
- Ask for an appointment at your school
- Download the comprehensive ICAS English Assessment Framework
- View sample assessments
- Watch introductory videos
HOW IS ICAS DIFFERENT?
ICAS is developed annually by a team of highly experienced assessment developers and psychometricians, with rigorous reviews at each stage of construction. Subject matter experts develop new ICAS questions each year, drawing on their in-depth understanding of the way students learn. All ICAS assessments are reviewed by experienced teachers to ensure that they accurately assess students’ skills and are relevant to what they are learning at school.
This ensures that ICAS is:
- Valid
- Consistent from one assessment cycle to the next
- Appropriately targeted for the students being assessed
- Objective and reliable
- Fair (effect of gender, language background, cultural background is minimised through sensitivity reviews and statistical analyses)
- Constructed using appropriate examples and authentic contexts
- Represented in a visually appealing way to capture student attention and interest
- Underpinned by methodologies from psychometric measurement theory
ICAS International Assessment Expert, Literacy
UNSW Global
SKILLS ASSESSED
- Reading for meaning in factual texts
- Reading for meaning in literary texts
- Syntax
- Textual devices
- Vocabulary
- Algebra and patterns
- Chance and data
- Measures and units
- Textual devices
- Number and arithmetic
- Space and geometry
- Observing and measuring
- Interpreting data
- Measures and units
- Applying data
- Investigating
- Reasoning and problem-solving
- Common operating systems and hardware
- Graphics and multimedia
- Internet and email
- Programming and scripting
- Spreadsheets and databases
- Word processing
