Foundations of Reading 190 Sub-Area1: 1-13 Obj 1; 14-24 Obj 2

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

• ecognize high-frequency words in a text automatically.

• combine letter-sounds to decode words.

• guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from their context.

• divide written words in to on sets and rimes.

Answer explanation

Correct Response: B. 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 correspondences 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.

2. A teacher is selecting words to use to assess students' ability to segment the individual phonemes in spoken words. Which of the following words would require the highest level of skill with regard to orally segmenting phonemes?

• stamp

• catch

• fudge

• chase

Answer explanation

Correct Response: A. Option A is correct because the word stamp is more challenging to segment than the words catch, fudge, and chase. The word stamp contains five phonemes, including blends in both syllable-initial and syllable-final positions. In particular, the two phonemes /m/ and /p/ in the final nasal blend -mp can be challenging for students to perceive and segment. Options B, C, and D are incorrect because, while the words may have complex spelling patterns, they each contain only three individual phonemes and no consonant blends: The word catch (B) contains the phonemes /k/, /ă/, and /ch/; fudge (C) contains the phonemes /f/, /ŭ/, and /j/; and chase (D) contains the phonemes /ch/, /ā/, and /s/.

3. Which of the following tasks requires the most advanced level of skill along the phonological awareness continuum?

• orally segmenting the phonemes in the word chimp and then substituting /ŏ/for/ĭ/ to make a new word, chomp

• orally segmenting the word wonderful into won/der/ful and then tapping the number of syllables in the word

• listening to the words place and pluck and then orally segmenting each word into its onset and rime

• listening to the words fiddle and fresh and then determining that both words begin with the same phoneme, /f/

Answer explanation

Correct Response: A. Phonological and phonemic awareness skills develop along a continuum from basic to more complex skills. Phonemic awareness is a more advanced type of phonological awareness that involves the ability to distinguish and manipulate the individual phonemes in spoken words. Segmenting all the phonemes in a four-phoneme word (chimp) and then substituting the phoneme /ŏ/ for /ĭ/ to make a new word (chomp) are both tasks that involve complex skills at the higher end of the phonological awareness continuum. B, C, and D are incorrect because segmenting words into syllables and then counting the syllables (B), segmenting words into their onset and rime (C), and recognizing alliterative words—words that begin with the same phoneme (D)—are less complex skills that children develop earlier along the phonological awareness continuum.

4. A kindergarten teacher engages a small group of children in the following Say It and Move It activity.

The teacher says a two-phoneme word slowly (e.g., ape, bee, day, eat, go, she, toe).

The children slowly repeat the word.

The children move a plain wooden block as they say each phoneme, lining up

the two blocks from left to right.

Once the children demonstrate mastery of this activity, which of the following strategies would be most appropriate for the teacher to use next to build the children's phonemic awareness?

• writing pairs of words on the board that differ by one phoneme (e.g.,ape,cape) and pointing out to the children that the second word contains more phonemes than the first

• exchanging the plain blocks for alphabet letter blocks and then helping the children do the Say It and Move It activity with relevant letter blocks, using pairs of words that have two and three phonemes (e.g., go, goat)

• saying a pair of words that differ by one phoneme (e.g.,bee,beach) and encouraging the children to generate pairs of words that rhyme with the target words (e.g., tea, teach)

• displaying pictures for a pair of two-and three-phoneme words that differ by a single phoneme (e.g., toe, toad) and having the children complete the Say It and Move It activity for each word in the pair

Answer explanation

Correct Response: D. Option D is correct because the strategy aligns with the evidence-based practice of increasing the complexity of an instructional task incrementally. In D, the teacher increases the length of the spoken words in the phonemic awareness task by one phoneme. In the initial Say It and Move It activity described, the stimuli are all words with two phonemes. The task described in option D adds one sound to the beginning or end of the same spoken words, thereby increasing the number of phonemes from two to three. By using pictures in the task, the teacher reinforces the concept that a one phoneme difference also changes the meaning of a word. A and B are incorrect because these options not only add spoken words with three phonemes to the original task, but they dramatically increase the task complexity by changing the task from oral to written and requiring the children to recognize phonics/spelling patterns such as VCe and vowel teams. Whereas the task described in C, generating rhyming words, represents a less complex task along the phonological awareness continuum.

5. Use the table to answer the question that follows.

In which line in the table is a word accurately matched to the number of phonemes the word contains?

• Line 1

• Line 2

• Line 3

• Line 4

Answer explanation

Correct Response: A. Option A is correct because the word though is made up of two speech sounds: /th/ (spelled th) and /ō/ (spelled ough), so Line 1 of the chart is correct. B is incorrect because the word best has four distinct speech sounds, /b/, /ĕ/, /s/, and /t/, but the number of speech sounds appearing in Line 2 of the chart is 3. C is incorrect because the word fresh has 4 distinct speech sounds, /f/, /r/, /ĕ/, and /sh/, but the number of speech sounds appearing in Line 3 of the chart is 5. D is incorrect because the word scratch has 5 distinct speech sounds, /s/, /k/, /r/,/ă/, and /ch/, but the number of speech sounds appearing in Line 4 of the chart is 6.

A prekindergarten teacher asks a small group of children to listen to and repeat what the teacher says. First, the teacher says the word mop and then pronounces it as /m/ and [ŏp]. Next, the teacher says the word take and then pronounces it as /t/ and [āk]. This activity is likely to promote the children's phonological awareness primarily by:

• modeling how to separate the syllables in spoken words.

• showing them how to segment words into onsets and rimes.

• promoting their awareness of each phoneme in a spoken word.

• teaching them how to distinguish between consonants and vowels.

Answer explanation

Correct Response: B. In the activity described, the teacher provides direct instruction in segmenting single-syllable words into onset and rime—that is, into the initial consonant sounds of the word (the onset) and the rest of the word (the rime). Promoting student mastery of onset-rime segmentation prepares students for learning phonemic awareness skills. Option A is incorrect because the segmenting activity described in the scenario focuses on single-syllable words, so it would not help students segment the syllables in multisyllable spoken words. Options C and D are incorrect because the segmenting activity described in the scenario does not focus on recognizing individual phonemes, so it would not promote the children's awareness of each distinct phoneme in a word (C) or their ability to distinguish between consonant and vowel phonemes (D).

7.A prekindergarten teacher is reading a storybook to the class so that the children can see the words and pictures while the teacher points to the line of print. This activity best contributes to the children's emergent reading development primarily by:

• promoting their development of letter-recognition skills.

• helping them recognize the function of spaces between words.

• developing their awareness of left-to-right directionality.

• promoting their understanding of letter-sound correspondence.

Answer explanation

Correct Response: C. Option C is correct because, by following the line of print with a finger or pointer while reading, the teacher provides students with a visual demonstration that print is read from left to right. Options A, B, and D are incorrect because in the scenario described the teacher does not explicitly identify letters (A), spaces between words (B), or letter-sound correspondences related to the text (D).

8. Having kindergarten children practice tracing the letters of the alphabet in sand is most appropriate for children who need additional support in:

• internalizing the alphabetic principle and letter-sound correspondences.

• recognizing that print carries meaning.

• understanding the relationship between spoken and written language.

• developing letter-formation skills.

Answer explanation

Correct Response: D. In the activity described, children use arm movements and highly textured material, which heighten the children's awareness of letter shapes and the sequence of strokes for forming letters. The activity is effective for students who are having difficulty with letter formation because it simultaneously activates visual, kinesthetic, and tactile sensory pathways in learning letter shapes and associating these shapes with their names. Evidence suggests that such multisensory techniques are effective for this purpose. Options A, B, and C are incorrect because the activity described does not address the relationship between the alphabetic writing system of English and the sounds of spoken language (A), the function of print (B), or oral language (C).

9. A kindergarten teacher encourages beginning readers to "write" their own captions beneath their drawings. This practice is most likely to lead to which of the following outcomes?

• The children's grasp of the alphabetic principle will be reinforced as they apply phonetic spelling.

• The children may become frustrated by the difficulty of the English spelling system and lose interest in writing.

• Because of the reciprocity between decoding and encoding, the children's reading progress may be adversely affected by any uncorrected spelling errors.

• The children will tend to develop automatic word-recognition skills by engaging in spelling practice.

Answer explanation

Correct Response: A. The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters represent the sounds (phonemes) of spoken language and that phonemes have a predictable, systematic relationship to letters and letter combinations. Evidence indicates that students' understanding of the alphabetic principle is reinforced and enhanced by having opportunities to apply their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences in both reading and writing—the latter by using phonetic spellings. Option B is incorrect because providing children with meaningful opportunities to write tends to be motivating rather than discouraging for beginning readers. Option C is incorrect because, at this stage of development, children would not be expected to spell words correctly but rather to apply their letter-sound knowledge to spell words phonetically, which promotes their reading progress. Option D is incorrect because children's phonetic spellings would not consistently match the conventional spellings used in texts, so engaging in this writing activity would not promote automatic word recognition.

10. A kindergarten teacher is reading a big book to a group of children. The teacher periodically points to the beginning consonant of selected words and accentuates its initial phoneme as the teacher reads the word aloud. The teacher's practice is most likely to reinforce the children's:

• awareness of word boundaries in text.

• awareness of letter-sound correspondences.

• ability to segment the sounds of spoken words.

• ability to apply phonemic blending skills.

Answer explanation

Correct Response: B. The activity described in the scenario contributes to students' beginning reading development by reinforcing their ability to distinguish the initial phoneme in a spoken word and to map that sound to print. By reinforcing letter-sound correspondences for the initial consonant in the target words, the teacher is promoting the children's understanding of the alphabetic principle. Option A is incorrect because the representation of word boundaries in text is not explicitly addressed in the activity. Option C is incorrect because, while the activity highlights the beginning consonant of words, the teacher does not segment the words into individual phonemes. Option D is incorrect because the teacher does not demonstrate phonemic blending skills in this activity.