What is Phonological awareness?
Phonological awareness refers to oral language and is the understanding of the different ways that language can be broken down into smaller parts, such as words, syllables, onset and rime and phonemes (phonemic awareness).
Phonological awareness plays a role in reading and spelling development. Research has found that the development of phonological awareness, along with phonics, are reciprocally supportive and that both are strong predictors of success for developing decoding and encoding skills.
Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment
The Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment is a short, simple assessment that tells teachers how students are progressing in phonological awareness. The assessment can be used for any student from Kindergarten onwards.
The assessment is conducted by teachers with individual students. Teachers may use the tool to assess all students in the class or to assess students on an individual needs basis. The results are then analysed and, if necessary, teachers can plan for any additional support that students might require. The check complements existing strategies to identify students' progress in developing foundational literacy skills.
Further information
Visit the Literacy and numeracy web page for teaching and learning resources.