TExES Core Subjects 4-8 (211)

Phonological awareness is the ability to notice and manipulate the sound structure of spoken language. It develops from larger to smaller units: syllable awareness emerges first, then onset-rime awareness, and finally phonemic awareness, the ability to work with individual phonemes.

➜

➜

➜

➜

Counting words in a

Clapping or segmenting

st + op; rhyming and

Isolate, blend, segment

spoken sentence

com-pu-ter

alliteration

Delete and substitute: slip without /l/ = sip

Rhyming is not phonemic awareness. Recognizing or producing rhymes works at the onset-rime level of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness requires attending to individual phonemes (e.g., segmenting ship into /sh/ /i/ /p/). Likewise, any task that uses letters is phonics, not phonological awareness.

By grades 4–8, most students have mastered basic phonological skills, but struggling readers, including many students with dyslexia, may still lack advanced phonemic awareness (deleting, substituting, or reversing phonemes, especially inside consonant blends). Screen quickly with oral tasks; when gaps exist, give brief daily practice and connect it immediately to print so it transfers to decoding and spelling.

Alphabetic Principle and Advanced Phonics

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters and letter combinations (graphemes) systematically represent phonemes. Older struggling readers usually know single consonants and short vowels but are shaky on complex vowel patterns and the less common spellings that appear in academic words.

Pattern	WhattoKnow	Examples
Consonantdigraphsand	Twoorthreeletters onesound ,	sh ch th ph ck tch dge , , , , , ,
trigraphs
Blends	Adjacentconsonantsthateachkeeptheirsound	str spl scr nd mp , , , ,
Vowelteamsanddiphthongs	Twoormorelettersforonevowelsound;diphthongs	ea oa igh eigh;oi/oy ou/ow , , , ,
	glide
R -controlled vowels	Therchangesthevowelsound	ar or er ir ur;earinlearn , , , ,
Softcandg	candgbeforee i oryusuallysay/s/and/j/ , ,	cycle gesture energy , ,
Schwa	Unstressedvowelsreduceto/ə/;themostcommon	about pencil lemon , ,
	vowelsoundinEnglish
Commonfinalsyllables	Recurringspellingsinacademicwords	-tion -sion -ture -cian -ous -ible , , , , ,

SyllableType	Feature	Examples
Closed	Endsinaconsonant;thevowelisusuallyshort	cat rab -bit nap-kin , ,
Open Vowel -consonant-e (VCe) Vowelteam	Endsinavowel;thevowelisusuallylong Finalsilentemakestheprecedingvowellong Twoormorelettersmakeonevowelsound(includes diphthongs)	go ro-bot ti -ger , , com-pete in-vite , rain-coat sea-son poi -son , ,	1

Thesixsyllabletypes(Continued)

SyllableType	Feature	Examples
R -controlled	Avowelfollowedbyrmakesanewsound	mar-ket per-fect or-bit , ,
Consonant-le	Final syllable of consonant + le; the consonant goes with -le	ta-ble sta-ble puz-zle , ,

Multisyllabic Decoding

➜

➜

➜

➜

Box prefixes and suffixes

Each vowel sound = one

Apply syllable patterns to

Say each part, then the

Adjust vowel or stress;

syllable

the base

whole word

confirm it is a real word

that fits

Morphology and Structural Analysis

Understanding morphology helps students both decode multisyllabic words and comprehend academic vocabulary. Latin and Greek roots are especially important in middle school, because science, mathematics, and social studies texts contain large numbers of words derived from them. Inflectional suffixes (-s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est) mark grammatical features such as number, tense, or comparison without changing the part of speech; derivational affixes (-tion, -ment, - ness, -able, -ful, -ly, -ize, un-, re-) create new words and often change the part of speech (act → action → actionable).

High-Utilityrootsandaffixes

Type	Morpheme	Meaning	ExampleWords
Latinroot	dict	say tell ,	predict contradict dictionary , ,
Latinroot	port	carry	transportportable export , ,
Latinroot	rupt	break	erupt interrupt disrupt , ,
Latinroot	spect	look see ,	inspect spectator retrospect , ,
Latinroot	struct	build	construct structure instruct , ,
Latinroot	scrib/script	write	describe manuscript inscription , ,
Latinroot	tract	pull drag ,	tractor subtract attract , ,
Greekroot	graph	write draw ,	autographparagraphgeography , ,
Greekroot	bio/geo	life/earth	biologygeology biography , ,
Greekroot	therm/hydro	heat/water	thermometer hydrothermal dehydrate , ,
Greekroot	chron/phon	time/sound	chronological symphonyphonics , ,
Greekroot	-logy / meter	studyof/measure	ecologyperimeter barometer , ,
Prefix	un-, in-, im-, il -,	not opposite ,	unable invisible impossible illegal irregular , , , ,
	ir-, dis-, non-
Prefix	re-, pre-, mis-,	again before , ,	rebuildpreviewmisread submarine international transfer , , , , ,
	sub -, inter-, trans-	wrongly under , ,
		between across ,
Suffix	-able/ -ible -less , , -	adjectivemakers	readable fearless hopeful famous , , ,
	ful -ous ,
Suffix	-tion/ -sion -ment , ,	nounmakers	creation agreement kindness , ,
	-ness

Sight Words and Orthographic Mapping

A sight word is any word a reader recognizes instantly, not only an irregular word. Words become sight words through orthographic mapping (Linnea Ehri): the reader connects each phoneme in a word's pronunciation to the letters that spell it, bonding spelling, pronunciation, and meaning in long-term memory. Mapping requires phonemic awareness plus letter-sound knowledge; it is not visual memorization of word shapes. Ehri describes phases from pre-alphabetic to partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic, in which readers process chunks such as -tion and -ight as units. High-frequency irregular words (said, though, island) are taught by mapping the regular parts and flagging only the irregular part ("heart" letters).

Spelling Development Stages

Spelling and reading draw on the same word knowledge, so spelling samples are a window into decoding. A widely used developmental model (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston, Words Their Way) describes five stages; an older model (Gentry) names them precommunicative, semiphonetic, phonetic, transitional, and conventional.

Stage	TypicalFeatures	SampleErrors/Focus
Emergent	Scribbles letter strings no sound -letter match , ,	Pre-K–K
Letter Name–Alphabetic	Spellsbysoundusingletternames;shortvowels	BADforbed;JRIVfordrive
	confused
WithinWordPattern	Short vowels mastered; long-vowel and complex	TRANEfortrain;BOTEforboat
	patterns in one-syllable words
SyllablesandAffixes	Errorsatsyllablejuncturesandwithaffixes;common	HOPINGforhopping;CONFUSHUNfor
	ingrades3–8	confusion;CAREFULL
DerivationalRelations	Spelling-meaning connections among related words;	COMPASITIONforcomposition(linkto
	LatinandGreekelements	compose);MUSLE(linktomuscular)

The spelling-meaning connection is powerful in grades 6–8: related words usually keep the spelling of a shared morpheme even when pronunciation changes (sign/signature, compete/competition, muscle/muscular). Teaching word families this way improves spelling, vocabulary, and decoding at once.

Dyslexia: Basics and Intervention in Grades 4–8

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities, which typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language and are often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities. Secondary consequences can include reduced reading comprehension and reading experience, which impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. Dyslexia is not a visual problem and is not defined by letter reversals, which are common in all young writers. Texas guidance is set out in the TEA Dyslexia Handbook, and students may receive services and accommodations under Section 504 or IDEA.

Difficulty reading real words in isolation, decoding unfamiliar

Structured literacy: explicit, systematic, cumulative,

words, reading fluently (slow, inaccurate, or labored), and

multisensory, and diagnostic instruction in phonology, sound-

spelling, often despite strong listening comprehension.

symbol association, syllable types, morphology, syntax, and semantics.