WPM WPM Phonics & Decoding Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the term for breaking a written word into its individual sounds for spelling purposes?
- Blending
- Segmenting (Correct answer)
- Substituting
- Chunking
Correct answer: Segmenting
Segmenting involves separating a word into each of its individual phonemes, which is foundational for spelling instruction.
Question 2: A student reads 'phone' as /p/-/h/-/o/-/n/-/e/. Which decoding error are they making?
- Omission error
- Not recognizing the 'ph' digraph (Correct answer)
- Reversing letters
- Skipping the silent 'e' rule
Correct answer: Not recognizing the 'ph' digraph
The student is treating 'ph' as two separate sounds instead of recognizing it as a digraph that represents the /f/ sound.
Question 3: Which syllable type contains a vowel followed by one or more consonants with a short vowel sound?
- Open syllable
- Closed syllable (Correct answer)
- Vowel-team syllable
- Silent-e syllable
Correct answer: Closed syllable
A closed syllable ends in one or more consonants that 'close in' the vowel, keeping it short (e.g., 'cat', 'hop').
Question 4: What does the term 'orthographic mapping' refer to in reading development?
- Drawing letters in correct spatial orientation
- The process by which readers store words in long-term memory through sound-spelling connections (Correct answer)
- Mapping punctuation onto sentence meaning
- Writing words in alphabetical order
Correct answer: The process by which readers store words in long-term memory through sound-spelling connections
Orthographic mapping is the mental process readers use to permanently store printed words for instant retrieval by connecting phonemes to graphemes.
Question 5: Which sequence reflects the recommended order for teaching vowel sounds in a structured phonics program?
- Long vowels → Short vowels → Vowel teams
- Short vowels → Long vowels → Vowel teams (Correct answer)
- Vowel teams → Short vowels → Long vowels
- All vowel types simultaneously
Correct answer: Short vowels → Long vowels → Vowel teams
Most structured literacy programs introduce short vowels first because they are the most common and predictable, then long vowels and vowel teams.
Question 6: A student consistently confuses the letters 'b' and 'd'. This is best described as a difficulty with:
- Phonemic awareness
- Letter-sound correspondence and visual discrimination (Correct answer)
- Fluency
- Comprehension monitoring
Correct answer: Letter-sound correspondence and visual discrimination
Confusing 'b' and 'd' reflects difficulty distinguishing visually similar letters and connecting them to their distinct sounds.
WPM WPM Phonics & Decoding Skills 2
What is the term for breaking a written word into its individual sounds for spelling purposes?