LC005 – Explicit Teaching (Orthography)

Explicitly Teaching Orthography to Support Word Reading and Spelling

 This 2-part course focusses on teaching orthographic subskills to support word reading spelling.

Price: $132 • Access: 90 days

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Course Detail

This 2-part course focusses on teaching orthographic subskills to support word reading spelling. Find out what it means to build heightened orthographic sensitivity and learn how some sub‑lexical conventions can be context dependent, generalisable or explained by their etymology. Find out how orthographic instruction fits within Daffern’s multi-faceted instructional routine known as ART PhOrM™. View a range of demonstration lessons illustrating how to provide engaging and differentiated orthographic instruction to enhance the reading and writing skills of your students. Learn how to connect orthographic instruction with grammar and vocabulary from a range of texts and subject areas across the curriculum.

This course includes two parts:
Part 1:  Introduction to teaching orthographic subskills
Part 2: Explicitly teaching the orthographic component of word reading and spelling

Course Features

  • Develop a deeper understanding of orthography and its essential role in accurate word reading and spelling.

  • Build students’ orthographic sensitivity by exploring graphemes, spelling conventions, and the influence of etymology on English words.

  • Learn how orthographic instruction is embedded within Daffern’s evidence-based ART PhOrM™ instructional routine.

  • View authentic classroom demonstration lessons that illustrate engaging and differentiated orthographic teaching practices.

  • Discover practical ways to integrate orthographic instruction with grammar, vocabulary and curriculum learning across a range of subject areas.
  • On-demand videos (2)
  • Follow-up Tasks

Course Instructor

Dr Tessa Daffern is an experienced educator, researcher and literacy consultant with more than 25 years’ experience across schools, universities and professional learning contexts. Tessa specialises in evidence-based spelling instruction, with particular expertise in phonology, orthography and morphology, and is committed to supporting educators to strengthen language and literacy learning in their classrooms.

This course addresses AITSL standards 1.2.2, 2.3.2, 1.5.2, 2.1.2, 2.2.2, 2.3.2, 2.5.2, 3.2.2, 3.3.2, 3.4.2 and 3.5.2

NESA Registered PD Provider

Course Content

5 sections • 3hr+ total length

Learn the intricacies of syllables and phonemes in Standard Australian English. In Part 1, Dr Daffern unpacks these foundational phonological concepts and highlights why they are essential for effective instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding (when reading words), and encoding (when spelling words). She also draws attention to how dialectal differences and semantic contexts can influence pronunciation. Through clear explanations, demonstrations of syllabification, and precise modelling of phonemes, Dr Daffern illustrates common challenges students may encounter as they learn to blend and segment words into syllables and phonemes. Practical implications for teaching phonology are addressed.

Complete a multiple-choice quiz

True/false quiz

Complete 3 to 4 sets of guided reflection prompts.

Recommended professional readings – three journal articles with a synopsis for each.

Course access: 90 days from date of registration

This course is suitable for school educators in the early, primary and middle years.

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Evidence-based professional learning designed to support explicit spelling and literacy instruction in today’s classrooms.

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