090 Set 1 Review 6 of 8

"Verbal dyspraxia" refers to:

• Trouble with the physical act of writing

• Confusing word or sentence order while speaking

• Misplacement of letters within words

• An inability to process verbal information

Answer explanation

Confusing word or sentence order while speaking. Dyspraxic individuals do not process spoken language sequentially due to a neurological distortion. The dislocation of sounds within a word, such as vocalizing lamp instead of palm, is one indication of verbal dyspraxia.

"Coarticulation" affects:

• Blending awareness

• Phonemic awareness

• Sequencing

• Aural awareness

Answer explanation

Phonemic awareness. Vocalizing words involves arranging a series of continuous, voice, unvoiced, and stop sounds, As one sound is being uttered, the tongue and lips are already assuming the shape required by the next sound in the word. This process, which is not conscious, can distort individual sounds. One sound can slur into another, clip the end of the previous sound, or flatten or heighten a sound. For children who have difficulty hearing phonemic sounds, individual instruction may be required.

Which of the following students is demonstrating the specific type of phonological awareness known as phonemic awareness?

• a student who, after being shown a letter of the alphabet, can orally identify its corresponding sound(s)

• a student who listens to the words sing, ring, fling, and hang and can identify that hang is different

• a student who, after hearing the word hat, can orally identify that it ends with the sound /t/

• a student who listens to the word magazine and can determine that it contains three syllables

Answer explanation

Phonemic awareness is the recognition that spoken words are made up of phonemes—the discrete speech sounds of a language. Identifying the final sound (or phoneme) in a word (C) demonstrates phonemic awareness. A, B, and D are incorrect because the skills described (identifying the sound corresponding to a letter, recognizing rhyming words, and counting syllables in a word, respectively) can be performed without the ability to distinguish separate phonemes in a spoken word.

A kindergarten teacher could best determine if a child has begun to develop phonemic awareness by asking the child to:

• count the number of words the child hears in a sentence as the teacher says the sentence.

• say the word cat, then say the first sound the child hears in the word.

• point to the correct letter on an

  alphabet chart as the teacher names specific letters.

• listen to the teacher say boat and coat,

  then identify whether the two words rhyme

Answer explanation

Phonemic awareness, a type of phonological awareness, is the recognition that spoken words are made up of phonemes, the discrete speech sounds of a language. Segmenting the first sound in a spoken word is one of the first phonemic awareness skills to develop and therefore B is an effective informal procedure for assessing phonemic awareness in the beginning stages. A, C, and D are incorrect because performing the tasks described (counting words, recognizing letters and letter names, recognizing rhyming words) does not require phonemic awareness.

As students begin to read, the ability to blend phonemes orally contributes to their reading development primarily because it helps students:

• recognize and understand sight words in a text.

• use knowledge of letter-sound correspondence to decode words.

• guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from their context.

• guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from their context.

Answer explanation

Phonemic blending is the ability to combine a sequence of speech sounds (phonemes) together to form a word. Beginning readers use their skill in phonemic blending and their knowledge of letter-sound correspondence to sound out and blend the sounds of simple printed words. A, C, and D are incorrect because they describe literacy skills that are unrelated to phonemic blending.

A teacher holds up a series of familiar objects, asking students to name each object and isolate the final sound they hear. This type of activity would be most appropriate for a student who:

• needs help developing phonemic

  segmentation skills.

• is performing below grade-level

  benchmarks in reading fluency

• lacks automaticity in word

  recognition

• has difficulty sounding out

  phonetically regular one-syllable words.

Answer explanation

In the activity described, students are asked to isolate and pronounce separately the final sound, or phoneme, of a familiar word. Learning to isolate the final sound in a word is a step toward mastering phonemic segmentation, an important phonemic awareness skill that supports literacy development in English. B, C, and D are incorrect because they are related to decoding print, which is not addressed in this activity.

Phonemic awareness contributes most to the development of phonics skills in beginning readers by helping them:

• recognize different ways in which one sound can be represented in print.

• count the number of syllables in a written word.

• identify in spoken language separate sounds that can be mapped to letters.

• understand the concept of a silent letter.

Answer explanation

In the activity described, students are asked to isolate and pronounce separately the final sound, or phoneme, of a familiar word. Learning to isolate the final sound in a word is a step toward mastering phonemic segmentation, an important phonemic awareness skill that supports literacy development in English. B, C, and D are incorrect because they are related to decoding print, which is not addressed in this activity.

Phonemic awareness contributes most to the development of phonics skills in beginning readers by helping them:

• recognize different ways in which one sound can be represented in print

• count the number of syllables in a written word.

• identify in spoken language separate sounds that can be mapped to letters.

• understand the concept of a silent letter.

Answer explanation

English is an alphabetic language—that is, a language in which the letters and letter patterns in written words can be mapped to the phonemes of the spoken words. Phonemic awareness, the recognition of the phonemes in spoken words, and the ability to segment and blend phonemes are critical to learning to apply knowledge of these letter patterns and letter-sound correspondences (i.e., phonics knowledge) to decode and encode printed words. A and D are incorrect because they describe characteristics of phonics that are not related to phonemic awareness. B is incorrect because counting syllables in a written word does not require phonemic awareness.

Which of the following first-grade students has attained the highest level of phonemic awareness?

• a student who, after hearing the word hot and the sound /ĭ/, can substitute /ĭ/ for /ŏ/ to make the word hit

• a student who can orally segment the word wonderful into won-der-ful

• a student who, after hearing the words fish and fun, can identify that they both begin with the same phoneme, /f/

• a student who can orally segment the word train into its onset and rime

Answer explanation

Phonemic awareness, the ability to distinguish and manipulate the phonemes in spoken words, is a type of phonological awareness. Reading research indicates that phonological and phonemic awareness skills develop along a continuum from basic to higher-level skills, and that phoneme substitution is a more difficult, or higher-level, skill. Substituting the sound /ĭ/ for /ŏ/ in the word hot to make the word hit is an example of phoneme substitution. B and D are incorrect because phonemic awareness is not required to perform the phonological awareness skills described. C is incorrect because recognizing alliterative words—words that begin with the same phoneme—is a phonological awareness skill that precedes development of advanced phonemic awareness skills, including phoneme substitution.

Asking students to listen to a word (e.g., same) and then tell the teacher all the sounds in the word is an exercise that would be most appropriate for students who:

• have a relatively low level of phonological awareness.

• are beginning to develop systematic phonics skills.

• have a relatively high level of phonemic awareness.

• are beginning to master the alphabetic principle.

Answer explanation

The procedure described—presenting students with a spoken word and having them say all the sounds in the word—is an example of a phoneme-segmentation task. Reading research indicates that phonological and phonemic awareness skills develop along a continuum from basic to higher-level skills, and effective instruction targets skills at a student's current level of development. Segmenting phonemes is a relatively high-level phonemic awareness skill; thus, this exercise would be most appropriate for students who have already achieved a relatively high level of phonemic awareness (C). For this reason, A is incorrect. B and D are incorrect because these responses describe skills at later stages of literacy development.