Range: From preschool (just before school entry), through to Early Primary

Administration: Up to 30 minutes

Purpose: Assess two of the foundational skills that enable young students to benefit from early literacy teaching

The Foundations of Early Literacy Assessment (FELA) is an individual test that assesses two of the foundational skills that enable young students to benefit from early literacy teaching: phonological awareness and grasp of the alphabetic principle.

The FELA is designed to be used with students who speak English as an additional language or dialect, as well as those whose first language is English. The FELA may be administered to students just before they start formal schooling, and it remains relevant throughout early primary school.

FELA scores are interpreted in terms of mastery of the necessary underlying skills at appropriate grades, and suggestions are provided for support.

The FELA includes a USB containing the manual, the stimulus presentation, administration instructions, scoresheets for re-printing, and a movie demonstrating administration and scoring. A hard copy of the manual is also provided.

Key Features

• 'Phoneme approximations' are noted but not scored as errors in phonemic awareness - they are treated as phoneme categorisations that do not yet correspond to the conventions of Standard Australian English
• Criterion-referenced focus on phonemic and alphabetic skills that are directly relevant as foundations for early literacy progress
• The FELA can be used as a school entry screener, and student progress over the next few years can be charted on the same instrument
• New in 2019: FELA LITE stimulus presentation for faster administration included.

If you purchased the FELA prior to 2019 and have not received access to FELA LITE, please contact sales@acer.org