ACT and SAT word analysis Part 3

 “Vocabulary background represents a special “leg up” for many children” (Wolf, 2007; pg. 123). 

As a teacher of reading, I need to expose my students to a diversity of words across different texts and origins, which give them a rich background. As a former Special Education student, I avoided taking the ACT or SAT because it was implausible for someone like me to succeed academically given my inability to read and comprehend text, as well as my limited academic vocabulary knowledge. Thus, I will analyze the word plausible and connect it to the Four-Part Processing Model (Seidenberg & McClelland, 1989) which illustrates how students read or identify words. 

Part 1 

For the lower-level processors (i.e., orthographic & phonological), Moats (2020) asserts that “one can use phonic or dictionary symbols to transcribe the phonetic properties of words, but the disadvantage of such a phonic representation system is that many speech sounds must then be presented with letter combinations…” (pg. 32). 

We will be analyzing the word plausible on page 950 in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th edition. The phonetic transcription is \ˈplȯ-zə-bəl\ 

istock 2022

 

1st sound 

2nd sound 

3rd sound 

4th sound 

5th sound 

6th sound 

7th sound 

 

Phonemes

 

 

/ŏ/

 

 

/z/

/ə/

 

 

Silent 

Graphemes

p

l

au

s

i

b

l

e

 

These points address what we hear and see when using the dictionaries phonetic symbols (i.e., less than dark print or pronunciation):

·      The 2nd most common way to spell the sound /ŏ/ are with the letter’s au as in auto. 

·      The 2nd most common way to spell the sound /z/ is with the letter s. 

·      The 4th most common way to spell the schwa sound /ə/ is with the letter i as in edible. 

o   Note: “…schwa can be spelled with any of the vowel letters in standard orthography, so students must learn the spelling of vowels on the basis of other, related words or by memorization” (Moats, 2022; pg. 45). 

·      The final letter e is silent. 

o   “Silent e…a convention of spelling used as a pronunciation guide not for only for long vowels… [but]...to prevent words from looking like plurals” (Moats, 2020; pg. 104).  

o   “Silent final E’s are one of the most frustrating aspects of English” (Eide, 2012; pg. 63). 

There are seven phonemes, which are represented by eight single letters or combination of letters. 

Part 2 

At this stage, students are then exposed to multiple meanings of the vocabulary word, which strengthens the meaning processor through accessing the dictionary definitions. A few points to consider when analyzing this Latin word in the dictionary.

·      It is from “Latin plausibilis worthy of applause; plausu, pp of plaudere” (pg. 950*) (see, plaudit).

·      The prefix un- (pg. 1358*) for this word would mean “not persuasive or believable; not plausible: implausible.”

·      Prefix Im- is used. See page 627* for prefix -in because this is important to discuss as the headword in bold print reads as in- or il- or im- or ir. Note that im- before letters b, m, and p. 

·      We can add suffixes -ness (pg. 832*) and ly- (pg. 742*) that change the use of the word.  By equipping students with this type of instruction, they gain fundamental linguistic knowledge through critically analyzing words. 

Point 3

Therefore, when we critically reflect on the word’s definition and consider all the elements learned, we can put the word into perspective (i.e., context) with the following activity. 

Direction: read the sentence and write a definition or synonym for the word ‘plausible’. Use contexts clue to help you determine the words meaning. 

Sentence: Some of Dr. Robinson’s teachers didn’t find it plausible that he was going to college after graduating high school with an elementary education. 

Can you think of a sentence using the word? 

Sincerely, 

Shawn Anthony Robinson PhD 

References

Eide, D. (2011). Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Solution to America's Literacy Crisis. Logic of English, Inc. 

*Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th edition

Moats, L. C. (2020). Speech to Print. Language Essentials for Teachers. Paul H.

Seidenberg, M. S., & McClelland, J. L. (1989). A distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming. Psychological Review, 96(4), 523–568.

Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the Squid. The Story and Science of the Reading Brain.



 

 

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