Table of content
Video Instructions
About the Phonological Awareness Assessment
The Phonological Awareness Assessment (PAA) in its entirety consists of 12 categories with 5 questions in each:
Categories | Definition |
Rhyming Ability | The ability to produce a word that rhymes with a given example. |
Rhyming Recognition | The ability to recognise whether a word rhymes or not. |
Sentence Recall | The ability to accurately recall every word in a given sentence. |
Syllable Division | The ability to identify the syllable in a given word. |
Syllable Omission | The ability to repeat a given word and then reproduce it while removing the required syllable. |
First Sound | The ability to identify and produce the very first phoneme in a word. |
Last Sound | The ability to identify and produce the last phoneme in a word. |
Middle Sound | The ability to identify and produce a middle placed phoneme in a word. |
Word Segmentation | The ability to segment or separate out the phonemes in a word. |
Word Blending | The ability to blend together separated phonemes into a word. |
Sound Deletion | The ability to delete or remove a phoneme in a word. |
Sound Substitution | The ability to delete or remove a phoneme in a word, and substitute another in its place. |
What is Phonological Awareness?
Phonological awareness refers to the ability someone has to recognise and manipulate spoken parts of words and sentences. Rhyming words, recognising alliteration, segmenting sentences into words, identifying syllables in a word, and blending and segmenting are some examples. The most complex skill is called phonemic awareness, and it is the last to develop. It is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.
Why is Phonological Awareness important?
Reading problems can be avoided with explicit instruction in phonological awareness during the early years, and can help support struggling readers of all ages.
Instructions for Educators
In the Phonological Awareness Assessment, you can select the whole assessment or just the categories that you would like to assess.
Ask your student to sit opposite you so that they cannot see your computer screen. You will then read the instructions to your student.
Begin the assessment.
After you ask each question, you will have two options:
a) select the box marked Correct which will direct you to the next question, or,
b) select the box marked Incorrect.
You can leave any relevant comments in the comment box. For example ‘removed blend rather than phoneme’. These will be collated and displayed at the end of the assessment.
Instructions to your Student:
I am going to ask you some questions and I’d like you to have a go at answering them. You’ll need to listen carefully.
Are you ready?
Notes for the Assessor
Should you need to end the assessment at any point, you can select End Assessment at the top right of the screen. You will be provided with the results of any complete categories that have been assessed.