Get all children reading…
Give them the five keys to
unlock literacy
WHAT’S NEW?
The literacy strand of the revised Australian Curriculum contains content that is not evidence-based and which is likely to hamper the early reading development of students.
Read Dr Jennifer Buckingham’s article published in The Australian.
Participate in the consultation and review process by
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Providing feedback on the draft revision of the English curriculum through the ACARA survey.
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Supporting an open letter to ACARA about the draft revision of the English curriculum.
recent publications
New Nomanis!
If you want free, easy to read, evidence informed articles on teaching using the Science of Reading, look no further.
Nomanis Issue 10 has articles by Tim Shanahan, Tom Bennett, Stephanie Le Lievre, Emina McLean, Beth Budden, Nicola Bell, James Chapman and more…
Visit the Nomanis website for the back catalogue.
Clayton South Primary School makes the Primary Reading Pledge!
The Primary Reading Pledge is a call to action and evidence-based framework to make sure all students learn to read by the time they finish primary school.
Principal Greg Clement signs the Primary Reading Pledge
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Children need explicit instruction in the five essential components
of reading in every classroom, every day.
This should begin in the foundation year of school when most children turn five years old.
Thousands of studies of the teaching of reading, and how children learn to read, have been published in scientific and academic journals. This extensive body of research shows that there are five essential skills for reading and that a high quality literacy program should include all five components.
| Phonemic Awareness | The ability to identify and manipulate the distinct individual sounds in spoken words |
| Phonics | The ability to decode words using knowledge of letter-sound relationships |
| Fluency | Reading with speed and accuracy |
| Vocabulary | Knowing the meaning of a wide variety of words and the structure of written language |
| Comprehension | Understanding the meaning and intent of the text |
The links below provide information about the evidence-base for the five keys to reading, as well as useful documents and videos.
HOW TO TEACH READING
Major reviews of reading not only agree on the key components of reading programs – the five ‘keys’ to reading – but also the most effective way of teaching them. They find that explicit or ‘direct’ instruction is the most effective teaching method, especially for the fundamental code-based components ― phonemic awareness and phonics.
According to Professor Keith Stanovich, “That direct instruction in alphabetic coding facilitates early reading acquisition is one of the most well established conclusions in all of behavioural science.”
Explicit instruction is a teaching model, rather than a specific teaching program. The links provide information about the evidence base for explicit instruction in general and for phonics in particular, as well as useful documents and videos.
It is …crucial to teach phonic work systematically, regularly and explicitly, there is ample evidence to support the recommendation of the interim report that, for most children, it is highly worthwhile and appropriate to begin a systematic programme of phonic work by the age of five, if not before for some children, the way having been paved by related activities designed, for example, to build phonological awareness.
Because these are both foundational and essential skills for the development of competence in reading, writing and spelling, they must be taught explicitly, systematically, early and well.
