LETRS Phonics & Word Recognition 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which term describes the ability to decode unfamiliar words by applying knowledge of letter-sound correspondences?
- Sight word recognition
- Phonics decoding (Correct answer)
- Morphological analysis
- Syntactic parsing
Correct answer: Phonics decoding
Phonics decoding uses letter-sound correspondences to sound out unfamiliar words.
Question 2: A student reads 'knight' as /k-n-ī-t/. This error best indicates a gap in knowledge of:
- Consonant blends
- Silent letter patterns (Correct answer)
- Short vowel sounds
- Digraph recognition
Correct answer: Silent letter patterns
The word 'knight' contains silent letters (kn- and -gh), and mispronouncing them shows a gap in silent letter pattern knowledge.
Question 3: The LETRS term for a spelling pattern where a vowel team represents a single vowel sound (e.g., 'ai' in 'rain') is:
- Vowel-consonant-e
- Vowel digraph (Correct answer)
- Diphthong
- R-controlled vowel
Correct answer: Vowel digraph
A vowel digraph is two vowel letters that together represent one vowel sound, such as 'ai' in 'rain.'
Question 4: Which syllable type is found in the word 'her'?
- Closed syllable
- Open syllable
- R-controlled syllable (Correct answer)
- Vowel-consonant-e syllable
Correct answer: R-controlled syllable
Words where a vowel is followed by 'r' (like 'her') are r-controlled syllables, affecting the vowel sound.
Question 5: In structured literacy instruction, which sequence best reflects the order in which phonics patterns are typically introduced?
- Digraphs → short vowels → blends → long vowels
- Short vowels → blends → digraphs → long vowels (Correct answer)
- Long vowels → short vowels → digraphs → blends
- Blends → long vowels → short vowels → digraphs
Correct answer: Short vowels → blends → digraphs → long vowels
LETRS-aligned scope and sequence typically begins with short vowels, then blends, digraphs, and progresses to long vowel patterns.
Question 6: A student who reads 'ship' as 'sip' is most likely struggling with:
- Short vowel discrimination
- Consonant digraph recognition (Correct answer)
- Vowel team patterns
- Syllable segmentation
Correct answer: Consonant digraph recognition
Omitting the 'h' from 'sh' shows the student does not recognize the digraph 'sh' as a single unit representing /ʃ/.
Question 7: What does the term 'grapheme' mean in the context of phonics instruction?
- A unit of meaning in a word
- A spoken sound segment
- A written symbol representing a phoneme (Correct answer)
- A syllable boundary marker
Correct answer: A written symbol representing a phoneme
A grapheme is the written letter or letter combination that represents a single phoneme.
LETRS Phonics & Word Recognition 2
Which term describes the ability to decode unfamiliar words by applying knowledge of letter-sound correspondences?