non-words · Nonsense Word Sound Swap · Phonics screening check

The whys and hows of using non-words.

Ever since the Phonics Screening Check was introduced, an argument has raged around the introduction of non-words as a means by which to test the literacy of children in Y1 (aged five to six years). Sounds-Write has been using non-words in an activity/game called Nonsense Word Sound Swap for many years. The activity involves asking… Continue reading The whys and hows of using non-words.

Attenborough · prefixes and suffixes · The Hunt

The Hunt for word-combining elements

If you are watching the latest David Attenborough series, ‘The Hunt’, you’re probably being reminded of the kinds of terminology we rarely come across in everyday, spoken communication. Words like ‘megaherbivore’ and ‘biogeodiversity’ keep popping up, both of which, as I type, my spellchecker doesn’t want to recognise and is complaining about. Many of the… Continue reading The Hunt for word-combining elements

Misty Adoniou · Peter Daniels · phonics · The Conversation · William Vright · Writing systems

Why Misty makes me see magenta

How can I tell that we’re back in autumn, which seems to be not so much a season of mellow fruitfulness as a season of a dearth of academic ‘astutefulness’? Well, because Misty Adoniou, a senior lecturer at the University of Canberra, has been at it again! What is the ‘it’ that she’s been ‘at’?… Continue reading Why Misty makes me see magenta