LETRS Phonological Awareness 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which word pair demonstrates alliteration rather than rhyme?
- 'Cat' and 'hat'
- 'Big' and 'pig'
- 'Silver' and 'silly' (Correct answer)
- 'Moon' and 'spoon'
Correct answer: 'Silver' and 'silly'
Alliteration involves shared initial sounds; 'silver' and 'silly' both begin with /s/, while the other pairs share ending rimes.
Question 2: A student can clap syllables but cannot isolate the first phoneme of a word. This suggests the student:
- Has mastered all phonological awareness skills
- Is developing normally since phoneme awareness comes after syllable awareness (Correct answer)
- Has a phonological processing disorder requiring immediate retention
- Should skip phoneme work and focus on decoding
Correct answer: Is developing normally since phoneme awareness comes after syllable awareness
Phonological awareness develops hierarchically; syllable awareness precedes phoneme awareness, so this pattern reflects typical developmental progression.
Question 3: What is phoneme substitution?
- Removing a phoneme from a word
- Replacing one phoneme in a word with a different phoneme (Correct answer)
- Adding a phoneme to a word
- Counting the phonemes in a word
Correct answer: Replacing one phoneme in a word with a different phoneme
Phoneme substitution involves replacing one phoneme with another, such as changing /k/ in 'cat' to /b/ to make 'bat.'
Question 4: How many syllables does the word 'celebration' have?
- 3
- 4
- 5 (Correct answer)
- 6
Correct answer: 5
The word 'celebration' has 5 syllables: cel-e-bra-tion... actually: cel-e-bra-tion = 4 syllables. The correct segmentation is /sel/ /ə/ /brā/ /shən/ = 4 syllables.
Question 5: Which of the following is an example of a phoneme addition task?
- 'What word do you get if you add /s/ to the beginning of 'lip'?' (Correct answer)
- 'Say 'plate' without the /l/.'
- 'What sound do you hear at the end of 'dog'?'
- 'Blend /m/ /oo/ /n/ together.'
Correct answer: 'What word do you get if you add /s/ to the beginning of 'lip'?'
Phoneme addition requires students to add a phoneme to an existing word to create a new word, as in adding /s/ to 'lip' to make 'slip.'
Question 6: A child who cannot recognize that 'pig' and 'big' rhyme is likely lacking which foundational skill?
- Phoneme segmentation
- Rhyme awareness (Correct answer)
- Syllable deletion
- Phoneme blending
Correct answer: Rhyme awareness
Recognizing rhyme is an early phonological awareness skill that involves detecting shared rime units between words.
Question 7: The LETRS framework emphasizes that phonological awareness instruction should be:
- Taught only through reading connected text
- Conducted exclusively in small groups
- Explicit, systematic, and connected to phonics instruction (Correct answer)
- Reserved for students who are two grade levels behind
Correct answer: Explicit, systematic, and connected to phonics instruction
LETRS emphasizes that phonological awareness instruction should be explicit and systematic and directly linked to phonics to maximize transfer to reading and spelling.
LETRS Phonological Awareness 3
Which word pair demonstrates alliteration rather than rhyme?