How We Learn to Read: A Dramatic History
“Reading wars” have raged for decades with various experts disagreeing about the best way reading can be taught (Castles et al. 2018). For a long time all arguments were valid...
Literacy Research - Need to Know
A Plea - Start Them Strong & Stay Involved
Let’s take a moment to talk about the state of reading in Australia. The Grattan Institute published a report in February 2024 called the Reading Guarantee. It revealed that 1...
The Big Six: Oral Language
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?This is a big one. Oral language refers to the words and conversations we share to communicate our ideas, memories and wishes. It is biologically...
The Big Six: Vocabulary
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?A person’s vocabulary refers to the words in which they know. There is receptive vocabulary which is all the words you understand and expressive vocabulary...
The Big Six: Phonological Awareness
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?Phonological awareness is a sensitivity to sounds and sound patterns of language (Stone, 2018). It is the ability to perceive and manipulate word parts including...
The Big Six: Phonics
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?Phonics is the matching of the sounds of spoken language (phonemes) to a letter or group of letters (grapheme). If you hear or think of...