Language Conventions

NAPLAN past papers for 2012-2016 are available from the ACARA site - Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. ​The answers may be found in the NAPLAN reports guides and handbooks published by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Spelling
In the Language Conventions test, the first half of the questions are about spelling. The questions will assess what you know about phonograms (a letter or letters that represent a sound or sounds) and spelling rules. There may be a question asking you to label a picture or diagram, but you will generally be given a sentence or a few short sentences, each with a word that has been spelt incorrectly. In some questions you will be told which word is spelt incorrectly and in others you will need to work that out for yourself. All of the questions will ask you to provide the correct spelling.

If you are confused, close your eyes
It can be confusing to look at the wrong spelling. If you get confused, read the sentence containing the word and then say it back to yourself in your head, with your eyes closed or without looking at it, to help you remember.

To learn about the key spelling rules assessed in NAPLAN in years 3 and 5 and to try some of our NAPLAN spelling quizzes, click on the links below or download our 50 page spelling booklet for years 3-5 below:

Rules 1 & 2: Long vowels, vowels saying their names
Rules 3 - 7: Word endings (suffixes)
Rule 8: k after a short vowel
Rule 9: ie except after c
Rule 10: Affixes drop an l
Rule 11: Three letter ch (tch)
Rule 12: The letters q and u
Rule 13: English ends
Additional NAPLAN spelling tips

Grammar and Punctuation
In the Language Conventions test, the second half of the questions are about grammar and punctuation. The grammar questions will look at sentence structure and parts of speech that are commonly confused by students. The questions will look at nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, homonyms. 

More on grammar and punctuation will be coming soon.

Spelling NAPLAN Years 3-5​ The booklet Spelling NAPLAN Focus Primary Students Years 3-5 ​is a printable available for purchase.