HOW WORDS WORK Teacher Questionnaire:
Answers
TERMINOLOGY /10 Write brief definitions for each of these terms The parts of the definition that are italicised are essential for a full mark. syllable
A unit of spoken language - a chunk of sound(s) giving the beat or rhythm to words - that contains a vowel sound (comb, ho/tel, ba/by, fit, or/gan/i/sa/tion) [1 mark]
open syllable A syllable that ends with a single vowel letter. The vowel is pronounced as a long vowel sound. (e.g. ho/tel, ma/tron, ti/ger, fe/ver, bu/gle) [1 mark] closed syllable A syllable that contains a single vowel and ends in a consonant The vowel is pronounced as a short vowel sound. (e.g. hit jump) [1 mark] digraph
A spelling pattern where 2 letters represent 1 sound. (e.g. ship, goat, funny, grow) [1 mark]
blend
Two or three consecutive separate sounds that are difficult to hear as separate sounds. (Double or triple consonant blends – stick, gasp, string. Digraph/consonant blends three, shrink) [1 mark]
phonological awareness An awareness of sound patterns in words – an awareness of syllables, rhyme, individual sounds [1 mark] orthography
The spelling system of a language – the spelling patterns (letters and letter clusters) that are used to write down sounds in words. [1 mark]
morphology
The meaning structure of words – includes root words, prefixes and suffixes.
suffix
[1 mark]
A group of letters carrying meaning, added to the end of a root word. It usually changes the way the word is used in a sentence. e.g. investigate – investigation (verb to noun), jump – jumped (present to past tense) etc. [1 mark]
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A group of letters carrying meaning, added to the beginning of a root word. It changes the meaning of the word. [1 mark] e.g. happy-unhappy, legal-illegal, view-preview, review etc.
prefix
2. PHONOLOGY /24: How many sounds are there in each of these words?
trip strain
4 5
shadow church
4 3
large game
3 3
[1 mark per answer]
finger wring
5 3
/8 Write down the new words that are made by reversing the sounds in these words. [1 mark per answer] card meet
dark team
make teach
came cheat
curl knock
lurk con
lean leaf
kneel feel
/8 How many syllables are there in each of these words? [1 mark per answer] fountain equally
2 3
easy knight
2 1
interesting inequitable
4 5
magnificent 4 videoed 3 /8
3. ORTHOGRAPHY /38 Underline the digraphs in these words. tor ch ship pea ch warn sh ow er noisy Underline the blends in these words. blink numb (none) frost scolded trust know (none)
[1 mark per whole word right] cord think Phi ll ip toast / 10 [1 mark per whole word right] squash three slack struggle / 10
Write at least three different ways of spelling each of these sounds. [1 mark per sound if there are 3 correct patterns ’f’ fish dolphin coffee laugh
/4]
Teacher Questionnaire Answers (revised) © Joy Allcock 2012
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‘sh’ long ‘i’ ‘or’
ship chef tissue special station sure ocean mission anxious tension ivy night pie height fine cry sign organ, door, four, boar, bore, August, awful, awesome, walk, water, war, taught, sought, sure
What are three different sounds that can be written with the letter y? Give an example of each: [1 mark] long i - cry long ‘e’ - funny short i-gym ‘y’-yes
Circle the exact letter patterns that represent the ‘k’ sound in words in this paragraph. [13 marks] The Christmas parade couldn’t have been better. It started by the park in Central Quay and according to the organisers, was the most successful parade ever. There were kids everywhere and the queues at the ice cream kiosks stretched back around the corner.
4. MORPHOLOGY
/8
The ist suffix on the end of artist, dentist, florist describes an occupation. Write down three other suffixes that mean a person who is, or a person who does something. [1 mark for 3 correct suffixes] cian/ian/an (artisan/pedestrian/magician/optician), or (actor/doctor), er (teacher/painter), ar (burglar/vicar) Write down three different prefixes that mean not. [1 mark for 3 correct prefixes] un, il, ir, in, im, de, dis/dys, non, re Circle all the morphemes in these words.[1 mark per whole word correct /6] sens ible
re vers ible
un ethic al
micro scop ic
in jec tion
pre scrip tion
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5. SPELLING RULES AND CONVENTIONS /20 What is the general rule for spelling the ‘oy’ sound in words? Use the oy spelling pattern at the end of a syllable (roy/al, voy/age, boy/, toy/, en/joy/ment) and the oi pattern when it is at the start or in the middle of a syllable (oint/ment, choice, noise) [1 mark] Write down four different conventions for spelling plural words – give an example of each. [1 mark for each correct plural convention /4] Add an s : bat - bats cake - cakes Add an es: (words ending in s, ss, x, z, zz, ch, sh, o (but not if the word is an abbreviation such as kilo, hippo, radio) – buses, grasses, boxes, buzzes, churches, bushes, volcanoes. y at end of word: Drop the y and add ies. baby – babies, study – studies Some words stay the same: sheep, deer Some words change considerably: child – children Some words change the vowels: tooth-teeth, goose-geese, woman-women Most words that end in f change the f to v and add es leaf-leaves us at the end of a word changes to i: locus - loci cactus - cacti And there are others! What is the rule for adding these suffixes (ing, ed, est, en, er) to words with the following endings? Words ending with a vowel_ e pattern: Drop the e and add the ending e.g. hope-hoping [1mark] Words ending in a short vowel /consonant pattern: Double the end consonant and add the ending e.g. run-running [1mark] Words ending in a long vowel/consonant pattern: Add the ending e.g. kneel-kneeled [1mark] Words ending in two consonants: Add the ending e.g. jump-jumping, reach-reached [1mark] When do we use the ck pattern in words? At the end of many one syllable words when it directly follows a short vowel sound (stick, stack, but not sink or sank) [1mark] How do we decide when to use a c or a k to spell a word that begins with a ‘k’ sound? [1mark] In most cases, if the ‘k’ sound is followed by a sound that can be written by Teacher Questionnaire Answers (revised) © Joy Allcock 2012
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an e or i (a long or short e or i sound), it is written with the letter k (kite, kind, kettle, keep). The letter c is used before any other letters or sounds. (cater, clock, cry, comb, cup) What letters follow a c and a g to tell us to pronounce these letters as a ‘soft c’ (‘s’) or a ‘soft g’ (‘j’) ? e i y [1mark] What letter or letter patterns usually follow the ea spelling pattern when it represents a short ‘e’ sound in words? Give three different examples. d (bread, head) th (feather, weather) sure (treasure) lth (health, wealth) f (deaf) [1 mark for 3 correct spelling patterns] The igh spelling pattern for the long ‘i’ sound is usually followed by which letter? T [1mark] What is the rule for the placement of the apostrophe in contraction words? It is placed where the letters/sounds are missed out when two words are contracted into one. I would-I’d [1mark] Put apostrophes where they are needed in these sentences. [1 mark each sentence
/ 5]
The students’ shoes were all mixed up when they took them off at the door. The horses’ riders struggled to keep their animals calm when the storm struck. The children’s toys were broken when the earthquake struck. The farmer sells his eggs at the farmers’ co-operative market. The boy’s shoe lost its laces when he was running through the bush.
If the apostrophe is in the wrong word – take off one mark. (e.g. it’s, sells. toys, etc). If it is in the right word, but in the wrong place, no marks. Total
/100
This questionnaire is designed to measure teachers' knowledge of the terminology and key principles that underlie the approach to teaching spelling used in ‘Spelling Under Scrutiny’ resources. It was developed with reference to the surveys of language knowledge outlined in "Speech to Print" by Louisa Cook Moats (2000, Paul H Brooks Publishing Co Ltd.).
Teacher Questionnaire Answers (revised) © Joy Allcock 2012
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