Statewide phonics test for Year 1 students at South Australian government schools

YEAR 1 students at state schools will be required to undergo a compulsory phonic test after a trial revealed alarming results in tests designed to measure their grasp of simple letter combinations.

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YEAR 1 students at state schools will be required to undergo a compulsory phonic test after a trial revealed alarming results in tests designed to measure their grasp of simple letter combinations.

Previously, the first annual phonics pronunciation test of 4406 students by Flinders University experts found Reception students could only correctly pronounce an average of 11 of the 40 samples while Year 1 students had an average of 22.

The Federal Government has pushed ahead with phonics testing in all Australian schools, in which children are asked to say 20 real words such as “drank” and 20 made-up combinations like “frex”.

The aim is to see if they understand the sounds made by letter combinations rather than just memorising spelling.

On Monday, the State Government announced a phonics screening check in term three for Year 1 students at all government-run schools.

The result of the Flinders University phonics testing.

Education Minister John Gardner said the tests are useful for teachers to identify students who required a little bit of extra help.

“The Flinders University review of last year’s trial showed a number of particularly important outcomes,” Mr Gardner said.

“Rather than being an imposition, as some had feared, it was described as ‘complementing’ other existing assessment tools.”

“A number reported being surprised at the outcomes of the check — with more students failing to successfully sound out all of the words than had been expected.”

Education experts generally agree that understanding the phonic sounds of letter combinations is as important as learning the spelling of words by Reception.

In the Flinders University trial, Reception students struggled the most with haunt, which only 5 per cent could correctly pronounce and stair, 14 per cent.

Year 1 students also struggled the most with haunt, 20 per cent correct, and stair, 44 per cent.