Why High-Volume Word Exposure Improves Spelling Outcomes
Why spelling progress depends on word exposure One of the most important factors in spelling development is exposure to words. Students cannot learn to spell
When selecting educational resources, alignment with the NSW Literacy Syllabus K-10 is often the primary concern for teachers and administrators. However, true mastery goes beyond simple box-ticking. Words Rock Online is designed not just to meet, but to exceed the rigorous standards of the NSW Literacy Syllabus K-10 by integrating deep pedagogical research with student-led engagement.
Please validate and provide examples of how the Tenderer’s tool aligns with the NSW Syllabus and any parts that do not. Please also detail how the Tenderer maintains currency with NSW Syllabus developments (the Tenderer’s response should align with the year groups indicated at 1.1 above).
If the Tenderer’s tool does not currently align with the NSW Syllabus, the Tenderer should detail alignment to Australian national/state/territory syllabuses.
Words Rock Online was released in 2020. It is designed to build literacy skills for students from K to 10. At the core of Words Rock is a sequence of over 3,000 Questions that progressively covers phonics, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and pre-literacy. Each Question is one-to-one correlated with the finest grained elements of both the Australian Curriculum and the NSW Syllabus. These direct one-to-one, activity-to-outcome links mean that each student response to each question can be correlated against specific outcomes in both the Australian Curriculum and the NSW Syllabus. Teachers are currently able to set content using both the NSW Syllabus and the Australian Curriculum taxonomies.
The curriculum correlations are maintained in a bespoke editing tool and when updates to the relevant curricula are released the new correlation data is entered into the editor and then applied to the website.
For more information see Words Rock Curriculum Correlations and Words Rock Literacy Content.
To view the linking to the NSW Syllabus: 1) Go to the Main Menu of Words Rock, 2) Click on the Questions Only button at the bottom of the screen, 3) Click the New Selection tile, 4) From the Based On Curriculum drop down menu choose the NSW Syllabus, 5) Navigate using the nested taxonomy with the + and – buttons to navigate down to the question level and then click on the question descriptor to see the actual question.
Builds Pre-Literacy skills with preparatory Questions to draw young students into using words in meaningful ways through play.
Promotes confidence in understanding and using correct spelling.
Explores vital strategies so that students can confidently deal with the various building blocks of words.
Carefully builds recognition of words that use both simple and complex spelling patterns.
Stimulates students to understand and remember how word parts fit together.
Promotes confidence in understanding and using correct grammar and punctuation.
Provides explanation of more difficult concepts in spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Fosters understanding and enjoyment of language.
Promotes higher-order language thinking and problem-solving skills.
Expands and enriches vocabulary and stimulates each student’s ability to use words in context.
Soaks students in language – enriching their knowledge and providing a broad word base on which to build.
Identifies and systematically resolves the more baffling aspects of English spelling and other common difficulties.
Includes: idioms, clichés, word roots, borrowings from other languages, archaic expressions, alliteration, connectives, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, onomatopoeia, collective nouns
The activities in Words Rock correlate with the following outcomes from the NSW 2022 English Syllabus and the National Literacy Progressions
ENE-SPELL-01: applies phonological, orthographic and morphological generalisations and strategies to spell taught familiar and high-frequency words when creating texts
EN1-SPELL-01: applies phonological, orthographic and morphological generalisations and strategies when spelling words in a range of writing contexts
EN2-SPELL-01: selects, applies and describes appropriate phonological, orthographic and morphological generalisations and strategies when spelling in a range of contexts
EN3-SPELL-01: automatically applies taught phonological, orthographic and morphological generalisations and strategies when spelling in a range of contexts, and justifies spelling strategies used to spell unfamiliar words
The grammar and punctuation and advanced grammar strands cover the relevant elements of:
EN1-CWT-01 plans, creates and revises texts written for different purposes, including paragraphs, using knowledge of vocabulary, text features and sentence structure
EN2-CWT-01 plans, creates and revises written texts for imaginative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience
EN2-CWT-02 plans, creates and revises written texts for informative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience
EN2-CWT-03 plans, creates and revises written texts for persuasive purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience
EN2-CWT-01 plans, creates and revises written texts for imaginative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience
EN2-CWT-02 plans, creates and revises written texts for informative purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience
EN2-CWT-03 plans, creates and revises written texts for persuasive purposes, using text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language for a target audience
EN3-CWT-01 plans, creates and revises written texts for multiple purposes and audiences through selection of text features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language
National Literacy Progression adapted for NSW Syllabus 2018
National Literacy Learning Progression Version 3.0 March 2020 – sourced from Education NSW
The vocabulary strand comprehensively covers: Tier 1, 2 and 3 words
ENE-VOCAB-01 understands and effectively uses Tier 1 words and Tier 2 words in familiar contexts
EN1-VOCAB-01 understands and effectively uses Tier 1, taught Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary to extend and elaborate ideas
EN2-VOCAB-01 builds knowledge and use of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary through interacting, wide reading and writing, and by defining and analysing words
EN3-VOCAB-01 extends Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary through interacting, wide reading and writing, morphological analysis and generating precise definitions for specific contexts
The website contains over 3,000 Questions that comprehensively cover word skills from K – 10 and the automated adaptive learning system seamlessly ensures that all students are working on content that is pitched at their learning level. Teachers can override the adaptive learning system to manually assign work selected by level and NSW syllabus outcome individually to each student or to a class as a whole. Students can also override the adaptive learning system to choose work at their level for themselves. At the lower levels sound support is inbuilt to enable students who may have difficulty reading the questions to progress independently of teacher assistance.
Preparatory Questions to draw young students into using words in meaningful ways through play.
Promotes confidence in understanding and using correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Explores vital strategies so that students can deal confidently with the various building blocks of words.
Provides explanation of more difficult concepts in spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Carefully builds recognition of words that use both simple and complex spelling patterns.
Stimulates students to understand and remember how word parts fit together.
Fosters understanding and enjoyment of language.
Promotes higher-order language thinking and problem-solving skills.
Expands and enriches vocabulary and stimulates a student’s ability to use words in context.
Soaks students in language – enriching their knowledge and providing a broad word base on which to build.
Identifies and systematically resolves the more baffling aspects of English spelling and other common difficulties.
Includes: idioms, clichés, word roots, borrowings from other languages, archaic expressions, alliteration, connectives, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, onomatopoeia, collective nouns, metaphors, similes, puns, tautology, irony and hyperbole.
Why spelling progress depends on word exposure One of the most important factors in spelling development is exposure to words. Students cannot learn to spell
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