STR Word Analysis 2 — Questions and Answers

Question 1: A student reads 'phone' correctly as the /f/ sound word. Which type of phonics knowledge is the student applying?

A consonant blend rule
A grapheme-phoneme correspondence for 'ph' representing /f/ (Correct answer)
A silent letter rule for 'h'
A vowel team rule for 'oe'

Correct answer: A grapheme-phoneme correspondence for 'ph' representing /f/

The digraph 'ph' is a grapheme that represents the phoneme /f/. Correctly reading 'phone' demonstrates knowledge of this ph to /f/ correspondence.

A grapheme is a letter or letter combination that represents a single phoneme. The digraph 'ph' is a two-letter grapheme that consistently represents the /f/ phoneme, largely in words of Greek origin such as phone, graph, and sphere. It is not a blend (blends have two adjacent consonants each retaining its own phoneme), not a silent letter rule, and not a vowel team. This type of phonics knowledge is explicitly taught in structured literacy programs aligned with the STR framework.

Question 2: What is the primary purpose of teaching syllabication strategies to readers?

To improve spelling of one-syllable words
To help students decode multisyllabic words by breaking them into manageable parts (Correct answer)
To develop phonemic awareness skills for kindergartners
To teach students where to place written hyphens in formal documents

Correct answer: To help students decode multisyllabic words by breaking them into manageable parts

Syllabication strategies give readers a tool for segmenting long, unfamiliar multisyllabic words into smaller decodable units, making decoding more manageable.

As students encounter increasingly complex texts, they encounter multisyllabic words that cannot be decoded by applying single-syllable phonics rules alone. Syllabication strategies such as VC/CV, V/CV, and prefix-root-suffix splits allow students to identify syllable boundaries and apply their knowledge of the six syllable types within each segment. This is a critical bridge between early phonics instruction and the demands of upper-elementary reading.

Question 3: The word 'unbreakable' can be analyzed morphologically as:

One free morpheme and one bound morpheme
Two free morphemes and one bound morpheme
One free morpheme and two bound morphemes (Correct answer)
Three free morphemes

Correct answer: One free morpheme and two bound morphemes

Unbreakable consists of un- (bound prefix) plus break (free root) plus -able (bound suffix): one free morpheme and two bound morphemes.

Morphological analysis divides words into their component morphemes. A free morpheme can stand alone as a word, such as 'break'. A bound morpheme must attach to another morpheme and cannot stand alone, such as 'un-' and '-able'. 'Unbreakable' consists of the prefix un- meaning not (bound), the root break (free), and the suffix -able meaning capable of being (bound). This knowledge is directly tested on the STR TExES 293 because it underlies both vocabulary instruction and spelling instruction.

Question 4: Which statement best describes the Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) syllable type?

The vowel is short because it is followed by two consonants
The first vowel is long because the final e signals it across the intervening consonant (Correct answer)
The 'e' at the end is pronounced as a schwa sound
Both vowels in the pattern are pronounced

Correct answer: The first vowel is long because the final e signals it across the intervening consonant

In a VCe syllable, the final silent 'e' signals that the preceding vowel is long, as in make, pine, hope, and cube.

The VCe syllable pattern features a vowel, a single consonant, and a final silent 'e.' The silent 'e' serves a phonological purpose: it signals that the preceding vowel represents its long sound. The 'e' itself is not pronounced, so it is not a schwa. The vowel is long, not short. Both vowels are not pronounced because only the first vowel is pronounced, and it is long. This is one of the six syllable types teachers must know for the STR TExES 293.

Question 5: Which of the following is a correct example of the VC/CV syllable division pattern?

e/vent showing an open first syllable
nap/kin dividing between the 'p' and 'k' (Correct answer)
ti/ger showing an open first syllable with a long vowel
bot/tle dividing before the double consonant

Correct answer: nap/kin dividing between the 'p' and 'k'

VC/CV splits a word between the two consonants when two consonants appear between vowels: nap-kin divides between 'p' and 'k', yielding two closed syllables.

The VC/CV syllable division rule applies when two consonants appear between two vowels in a word. The syllable break occurs between the two consonants, yielding two syllables each closed by a consonant with a short vowel, as in nap-kin, bas-ket, and pic-nic. This differs from V/CV which gives an open first syllable with a long vowel as in ti-ger, and from VC/V which gives a closed first syllable with a short vowel as in rob-in.

Question 6: Which word contains a derivational morpheme?

cats (cat plus plural -s)
walked (walk plus past tense -ed)
teacher (teach plus agent -er) (Correct answer)
they're (they plus are)

Correct answer: teacher (teach plus agent -er)

The suffix -er in 'teacher' is a derivational morpheme: it changes the verb 'teach' into the noun 'teacher,' altering the word's part of speech.

Morphemes are classified as inflectional or derivational. Inflectional morphemes modify a word's grammatical role without changing its core meaning or part of speech: -s (plural), -ed (past tense), -ing (progressive). Derivational morphemes change either the meaning or the grammatical category: teach (verb) plus -er produces teacher (noun agent). In 'cats', -s is inflectional. In 'walked', -ed is inflectional. 'They're' is a contraction. Understanding this distinction helps teachers explain how words are formed and is a key component of the STR TExES 293 word analysis domain.

STR Word Analysis 2

A student reads 'phone' correctly as the /f/ sound word.
Which type of phonics knowledge is the student applying?