QTS Phonics and Early Reading 2

Question 1

What are 'tricky words' (also called common exception words) in phonics programmes?

Accepted Answer

Words that cannot be fully decoded using taught phonics at that stage

Answer

Tricky words are words where the grapheme-phoneme correspondences do not follow patterns pupils have been taught yet, such as 'said' or 'the', requiring partial or whole-word memorisation.

Question 2

Which phoneme is represented by the grapheme 'igh'?

Accepted Answer

/aɪ/ as in 'light'

Answer

The grapheme 'igh' represents the phoneme /aɪ/, as in words like 'light', 'night', and 'right'. It is a trigraph (three letters, one sound).

Question 3

In SSP, what is meant by 'segmenting'?

Accepted Answer

Breaking a word into its individual phonemes to spell it

Answer

Segmenting is the process of separating a spoken word into its constituent phonemes in order to spell it — the reverse process of blending.

Question 4

Which phase of Letters and Sounds introduces consonant clusters such as 'bl', 'cr', and 'str'?

Accepted Answer

Phase 4

Answer

Phase 4 of Letters and Sounds focuses on adjacent consonants (clusters) such as blends, consolidating Phase 2 and 3 graphemes in words with more complex structures.

Question 5

What is 'phonemic awareness'?

Accepted Answer

The ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words

Answer

Phonemic awareness is an oral and auditory skill — it refers to awareness of and ability to manipulate the individual phonemes in spoken language, before print is introduced.

QTS Practice Test

QTS Practice Test

QTS Phonics and Early Reading 2