PHONETIC ANALYSIS

Phonetic Analysis
• Phonetic analysis also known as word analysis, phonics or decoding is
the process of using the relationships between spelling and
pronunciation at the letter, syllable, and word levels to figure out
unfamiliar words. For more proficient readers, word analysis also
refers to knowledge of the meanings and spellings of prefixes, root
words, and suffixes. Word analysis instruction can be very effective in
helping beginning readers learn to read with understanding.
 Assessments
• Phonetic Analysis (Word Analysis) Assessments should be done with any
learner who is having consistent trouble decoding words.
• Phonemic assessments are outlined to determine if the student can point in
random order to various letters and say the sound (not the name) of the letter
with automaticity as well as rhyming, blending, deleting, segmenting and
manipulating phonemes.
• In phonetic assessments, the student is assessed in the basic principles of
phonics in the English language.
• A free public domain instrument created by Sylvia Greene, Greene's Informal
Word Analysis Inventory can be use as an initial screener.
• After giving this test to a student, teachers can tell which Word Analysis
principles are known and which need to be taught or reviewed.
• Greene's test uses lists of real words that contain the different phonic
elements.
Six skills that are tested:
• closed (by a consonant), CVC or CCVC as in cot, plan - vowel is short
• open (ends in a vowel), CV as in go - vowel is long
• final silent -e as in in/flate - vowel in last syllable is long
• vowel combinations (digraphs) as in sail, teach - two vowels make one
sound
• R-controlled when any vowel is followed by an r - vowel sound is
changed. The vowel is neither long nor short as in doc/tor, per/son,
curd, part/ner, bird.
• digraph combinations such as sh, ch, th, wh, tch, ng and nk
Sylvia Greene's Informal Word Analysis
Inventory
Directions:
i) Reading (Decoding):
• Give the learner the "Learner Copy" of the inventory and explain that he/she
should read the words aloud, going down each column.
• As the learner reads the words, mark correct and incorrect responses next to
each word on the "Teacher's Copy" of the inventory in the "Reading Column."
• The responses recorded on the "Teacher's Copy" show the letter combinations
that the learner knows (the correct responses) as well as those he/she does not
know (the incorrect responses).
• As a teacher, you can then plan instruction that targets the letter combinations
that each learner does not know.
ii) Spelling (Encoding):
• To determine a learner's spelling ability, reading aloud each word on
the inventory and ask the learner to write down the correct spelling.
• Use the "Teacher's Copy" of the inventory to record the responses in
the "Spelling" column.
• As a teacher, you can then plan instruction that targets the letter
combinations and spelling patterns that each learner does not know.
• Another well regarded assessment of phonetic skills is Superlinks to Reading
Success Phonics Diagnostic Test
(http://www.readinginstruction.com/store/diy_test/). This assessment will
identify phonetic deficiencies in the areas of letter recognition, vowel sounds and
diphthongs, consonant sounds, blends, digraphs, r and l controlled words,
irregular consonant patterns, y as a vowel, hard and soft c and g and ending
markers.

• The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) is a quick measure of fundamental

academic skills, helpful in screening for learning disabilities and determining
instructional needs. The Word Reading subtest measures letter and word
decoding through letter identification and word recognition. It is meant as a
screening device to determine if further testing for a reading disability is
necessary. http://www.wpspublish.com/store/p/3098/wide-range-achievement-
test-4-wrat4