Australia Association for Research in Education
Phonics
There are definitely better ways to teach reading
. Recent blog posts and articles in The Age have yet again stirred debates about the reading wars. …
No. There isn’t one perfect way to teach reading
Learning to read is foundational. The importance of literacy in the first years of schooling is not in …
A Brief History of ‘The Reading Wars’
The so-called ‘Reading Wars’ have a long history within reading education. They began as a series of competing …
Over 180 literacy educators voice their concerns over Dan Tehan’s expert task force on reading
This open letter voices the concerns of over 180 literacy educators on the composition (and implied terms of reference) of the “expert task force” created to advise the Australian Government on the teaching of phonics and reading. In his press release of 15th October 2019, the Federal Minister for Education, the Honourable Dan Tehan, announced …
The flawed thinking behind a mandatory phonics screening test
The New South Wales Government recently announced it intends to “trial an optional phonics screening test” for Year One students. This seems to be following a similar pattern to South Australia where the test, developed in the UK, was first trialled in 2017 and is now imposed on all public schools in the state. The …
Here’s what Australian parents think about teaching phonics to pre-schoolers
Phonics remains one of the most controversial literacy instruction topics debated in Australian education. Early childhood prior-to-school settings …
Teaching of synthetic phonics in Australia based on flawed evidence
What is phonics for? Where does it fit into an overall pedagogy of literacy? Without clear answers to these questions, the contestants in the phonics debate will continue to circle each other like blindfolded prizefighters. The aim of literacy teaching is to produce readers who tackle texts on paper or screen with confidence and understanding, …
How the national phonics test is failing England and why it will fail Australia too
A national test of phonics skills will not improve faltering literacy standards in Australia. The test is being imported from England where it has been in place since 2011. It has failed to improve national standards in reading in England. Instead the phonics frenzy of testing and practicing nonsense words that has accompanied the implementation …
What’s new about dyslexia?
A learning disability may be thought as a kind of ailment, difficulty, trouble, condition, even an illness in …