Page 2844 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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The ACT Government recognises phonics is an essential component in building students’ literacy skills. This includes the teaching of phonics knowledge and word recognition as part of the Australian Curriculum. The explicit and systematic teaching of phonics and phonological awareness is provided through the use of connected texts and rich engaging reading and writing experiences.
Explicit teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension are very important to reading and are included within the Early Years Literacy Initiative (EYLI). The EYLI also includes oral language as a key to effective reading. Current research demonstrates that morphological instruction (that is, the recognition, understanding, and use of word parts that carry significance - this includes identifying the root word, any prefixes, suffixes, and grammatical inflections) needs to be systematically and explicitly taught alongside phonics instruction. All of these elements are encompassed in the EYLI and the place of phonemic awareness and phonics can be noted in particular in Practices #4 and #5 of the 10 Essential Instructional Practices for Literacy:
• Practice #4- Activities that build phonological awareness
• Practice #5- Explicit instruction in letter-sound relationships.
Ms Christine Topfer, a teacher and educational consultant, has been engaged by the Education Directorate to provide both intensive in-school professional learning and support and leadership capability development through a masterclass series to the participating schools.
The EYLI promotes the use of abundant reading material and reading opportunities in the classroom. This includes high quality texts that both motivate and engage young readers and support their developing reading skills. In addition to ‘trade’ picture and information books, there are quality learning to read books made by Australian educational publishers that meet this need well. Many high-quality texts contain the same elements of decodable readers that support the development of phonological and phonemic awareness (rhythm, rhyme, repetition) and can be used as resources in the explicit and systematic teaching of phonics while also teaching the joy of reading. While the ‘Decodable Readers’ associated with some phonics commercial programs may form a small part of a school’s library of reading resources, they should not be the main resource presented to children to support their reading development and the ACT Education Directorate does not support mandating decodable readers.
All schools, regardless of whether they are part of the intensive consultancy program, are able to access the various universal professional learning associated with the EYLI. These universal professional learning opportunities include “Phonological Awareness and Interactive Writing K-2”, “10 Essential Practices in Preschool”, “Writing K-3”, “Comprehension K-3” and “Word Conscious Classroom”. New workshops this year include “Supporting Striving Readers and Writers” (primary schools) and “Supporting Struggling Adolescent Readers and Writers” for secondary schools. All EYLI professional learning for teachers is accredited by the ACT Teacher Quality Institute.
Workshops on “Supporting Striving Readers and Writers” focus on a range of instructional strategies that may support students with a dyslexia diagnosis or any processing issue that makes reading and writing more of a challenge. The
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