Phonological knowledge is important for both word recognition skills and reading comprehension. Students who demonstrate difficulties in these areas may not automatically recognise and use frequently occurring sound patterns. This restricts the student’s ability to read words accurately and rapidly.
Assessment task
This assessment can be used to identify the areas of phonological knowledge that students need to develop to read words accurately and rapidly.
The assessment includes three interrelated parts:
Part 1: Manipulating sounds in words
In this assessment, students demonstrate their ability to manipulate sounds within words. There are three assessment tasks in Part 1.
Deleting sounds in words
In this task, students demonstrate their ability to delete sounds in words.
Instructions
- Say to the student:
'I am going to say a word. Then I am going to make a sound out of the word and say the word that’s left. Listen to how I do it. "Camp". I take out the "m" and I have the word "cap".'
- Ask the student to practise doing this with the word ‘spend’. Say to the student: 'I start with the word "spend" and take out the "p". What does the word say now?'
- Using the same instructions as above, ask the student to delete the sounds specified from the following words to assess their ability to delete sounds in words:
- Four-sound words: 'flat' (delete 'l') and ‘pond’ (delete 'n').
- Five-sound words: ‘'clamp' (delete 'l') and ‘stand’ (delete 't').
- Record the student’s response on the
Phonological knowledge profile years 3-6 (doc - 168.5kb)
Substituting sounds in words
In this task, students demonstrate their ability to substitute sounds in words.
Instructions
- Say to the student: 'I am going to say a word. Then I am going to change one of the sounds in the word to another sound. Listen to what I do. I start with the word "camp". I swap the "c" for "l". My new word is "lamp". I changed "camp" to "lamp".'
- Ask the student to practise doing this with the word ‘step’. Say to the student: 'Listen to this word. "Step". Swap the "p" with "m". What word do you get?'
- Using the same instructions as above, ask the student to substitute the sounds specified from the following words to assess their ability to substitute sounds in words:
- Four-sound words: 'rest’ (swap 's' with 'n') and 'went' (swap 'n' with 'p').
- Five-sound words: 'plant' (swap 't' with 'k') and 'spend' (swap 'd' with 't').
- Record the student’s response on the Phonological knowledge profile years 3-6 (doc - 168.5kb)
Adding syllables to words
In this task, students demonstrate their ability to add syllables to words.
Instructions
- Say to the student: 'I am going to say a word. Then I am going to add a syllable to the end of the word and say the word it makes. Listen to how I do it. I start with the word "mark". I add "et" to the word "mark". My new word is "market". I changed "mark" to "market".'
- Ask the student to practise doing this with the word ‘lock’. Say to the student: 'I start with the word "lock" and add "et" to the word. What word do you get?'
- Using the same instructions as above, ask the student to add the specified syllables to the following words to assess their ability to add syllables to words:
- Two-syllable words: ‘art’ (add 'ist’) and ‘car’ (add ‘ton’).
- Three-syllable words: ‘regard’ (add ‘dis’ to the beginning of the word) and ‘missing’ (add ‘dis’ to the beginning of the word).
- Record the student’s response on the Phonological knowledge profile years 3-6 (doc - 168.5kb)
Part 2: Synthesising syllables into words
In this assessment, students demonstrate their ability to synthesise syllables into words.
Instructions
- Say to the student: 'I am going to say the syllables of a word. Then I am going to blend the syllables into a word that I know. Listen to what I do. I start with the syllables "pro", "tec" and "tion". I blend the syllables into a new word. "Pro-tec-tion". My new word is "protection". I blended "pro", "tec" and "tion" to make to "protection".'
- Ask the student to practise doing this with the word ‘market’. Say to the student: 'Listen to these syllables. "Mark" and "et". Blend the syllables together. What word do you get?'
- Using the same instructions as above, ask the student to substitute the sounds specified from the following words to assess their ability to substitute sounds in words:
- Two-syllable words: 'bandage' ('band-age') and 'damage' ('dam-age').
- Three-syllable words: 'enjoyment' ('en-joy-ment') and adventure ('ad-ven-ture').
- Record the student’s response on the Phonological knowledge profile years 3-6 (doc - 168.5kb)
Part 3: Analysing sound patterns in words
Instructions
- Say to the student: 'I am going to say two words that have one sound that is different. Then I am going to say the sound that is different. Listen to what I do. I start with the words "hand" and "band". The sound that is different in the word "band" is "b".'
- Ask the student to practise doing this with the words 'bike' and 'hike'. Say to the student: 'Listen to these words. "Bike" and "hike". What sound is different in the word "hike"?'
- Using the same instructions as above, ask the student to identify the sound that is different in the following words to assess their ability to analyse sound patterns in words:
- Two-syllable words: 'packet' and 'pocket' ('a' to 'o') 'butter' and 'better' ('u' to 'e').
- Record the student’s response on the Phonological knowledge profile years 3-6 (doc - 168.5kb).
Instructions
- Click on the links provided above to access the instructions for administering each part of the assessment. All parts of the assessment are to be completed to provide a comprehensive overview of the student’s phonological knowledge.
- Record the student’s responses on the Phonological knowledge profile years 3-6 (doc - 168.5kb)
Timing
The assessment can be administered over a few days. Part 1 of this assessment should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and Part 2 should take approximately 3-5 minutes to complete.
Analysing the results
Using the Phonological Knowledge Profile years 3-6, review and analyse the student’s responses to identify what the student can already do and where they may need additional support.
If the student requires additional support, the focused teaching strategies in this resource can be used to support their development within this area of knowledge. The strategies are presented in a developmental sequence to systematically teach aspects of phonological knowledge.
See: Phonological Knowledge - Focused teaching years 3-6 (ages 9-12).