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]
Teacher Questionnaire Answers (revised) © Joy Allcock 2012
www.spelling.co.nz
1
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
2
www.spelling.co.nz
‘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
Teacher Questionnaire Answers (revised) © Joy Allcock 2012
www.spelling.co.nz
3
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
www.spelling.co.nz
4
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
www.spelling.co.nz
5