Decoding Phonics

Read the sentence below; then answer the question that follows.

My family went to the circus last weekend. I liked the clowns the best. They were very funny.

A student makes several miscues when reading these sentences aloud. Which of the following miscues represents an error in decoding consonant blends?

• omitting circus

• pronouncing clowns as clones

• saying bet for best

• shortening funny to fun

Which of the following sentences contains a pair of italicized words that differ from one another by one phoneme?

• He took off his cap so that he could take a nap.

• She works at a bank that is located near the bank of a river.

• She told him not to buy a ticket because she had already bought one.

• His face looked pale after he carried the pail of water for a mile.

Which of the following students demonstrates variation in reading development that would require intervention focused on explicit phonics instruction?

• a kindergarten student who can recite the alphabet from memory but has difficulty distinguishing individual phonemes in words

• a first-grade student who can easily decode nonsense words but has limited comprehension of the meaning of text

• a second-grade student who is adept at using context clues to identify words but has difficulty sounding out the letters in unfamiliar words

• a third-grade student who can read most grade-level text fluently but has difficulty with unfamiliar irregular low-frequency words

A student who has mastered which of the following skills along the phonological awareness continuum is best prepared to begin explicit phonics instruction?

• being aware that a word is made up of one or more phonemes

• being able to separate a word's onset and rime

• being aware that words can be divided into syllables

• being able to segment and blend a word's phonemes

Which of the following sets of words would be most effective use when introducing students to the concept of structural analysis?

• late, great, wait, eight

• afraid, obtain, explain, remain

• swim, swims, swam. swum

• pretest, retest, tested, testing

A second-grade teacher has students pull two single-syllable nouns from a hat (i.e.: bulb, light) and asks them to form words by putting the words together (i.e.: lightbulb). Students then draw pictures to illustrate their new words and write short stories using the new words. This activity is likely to be most effective for helping students:

• Use visualization as a reading comprehension strategy

• Apply knowledge of phonics generalizations

• Use context clues to identify unfamiliar words

• Understand the concept of compound words

The following sentence is missing several words.

___(1)___ unusual ___(2) ___ of spices ___(3) ___ the soup an ___(4) ___ flavor.

A word with the suffix -tion would best fit in which of the blanks in the sentence?

• (1)

• (2)

• (3)

• (4)

Which of the following principles is best illustrated by the words watched, wanted, and warned?

• Spelling is often the best predictor of the pronunciation of a suffix

• Open syllables are usually pronounced with a long vowel sound

• The spelling of a suffix is often more reliable that its pronunciation

• The second letter of a consonant blend is usually pronounced as the onset of the following syllable.

The words 'enjoyable,' 'maneuverable,' 'corruptible,' and 'convertible' best illustrate which of the following principles?

• The spelling of a suffix can vary depending on its root word.

• The accented syllable of a root word can shift when certain suffixes are added to it.

• The addition of a suffix can alter the spelling of its root word.

• The pronunciation of a suffix can change when added to certain root words.