Word Difficulty Survey

This simple survey demonstrates the simple principle that words containing phonic patterns never systematically taught are more difficult to read or spell than those words that contain phonic patterns normally taught or encountered in whole language classrooms during the first three years of school.

Which word in each pair of words is more likely to be misspelled or too difficult for a student to read?

The Survey Test was given to over 1,000 adults (mostly teachers).  53.85% had perfect scores.  32.69% missed only one.  9.61% missed two.  Only 3.84% missed more than two!  Both the mode and the median were 100% correct.  Only the mean was less.

Directions: Mark the easier word to read, spell, teach, or learn with a check mark.

Prediction:  Even though each word pair has the same number of letters and syllables and begin with exactly the same two letters, the mode and the median score will be 100% correct.  The mean will be close to 90% correct! Reason?  We all intuitively know that we haven't been taught or haven't been systematically exposed to the phonic patterns in one of each pair of words.  Believe it or not, all the words below are phonically regular!

Answers: 1. partial, 2. precious, 3. chronic, 4. unique, 5. mechanized, 6. missions,
7. unions, 8. petite, 9. cordial, 10. special.

Explanation: 

1. The word partial contains two phonic patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the ti digraph for the /sh/ phoneme.  The second is the ending -al, which does not rhyme with pal, gal and Sal; rather it is the same as the -el in nickel, the -le in pickle, the -ol in pistol, the -il in pencil, and the -ul in mogul.  Note that there is not one single word in the English language in which the ending "shul" sound is spelled "shul."  The sound "shul" is either spelled tial as in initial or cial as in crucial.
2. The word precious has two phonic patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the ci digraph for the /sh/ phoneme.  The second is the ending -ous that does not rhyme with mouse, but rhymes with us.
3. The word chronic contains two phonic patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the ch digraph for the /k/ phoneme.  The second is the ic used for the ending /ik/ sound. 
4. The word unique contains three phonic patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the u having the "yoo" sound as in union rather the the "uh" sound as in the prefix un.  The second is the letter i having the sound of a long e.  The third is the ending -que that has the sound of the phoneme /k/.  Thus unique rhymes with peek, peak, and pique.
5. The word mechanized contains two spelling patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the ch digraph having the sound of the phoneme /k/.  The second is the letter a as a schwa (/uh/).
6. The word missions has two patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the ssi trigraph for the /sh/ phoneme.  The second is the ending -on pronounced to rhyme with fun.  Note that there are four common spellings of the sound "shun": tion as in nation, cion as in suspicion, sion as in tension, and ssion as in passion. 
7. The word unions has three spelling patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the "invisible" y.  The very first phoneme has no letter for it.  Normally, the letters un are sounded as "un" as in unable, under, unless, until, etc.  But in the word unions, the letters un are used to represent the "yoon" sound.  The second is the letter i being used as the consonant y for the phoneme /y/.  The third pattern is the ending -on that rhymes with fun.  Note that in our language the "yun" sound is never spelled yun.  It might be nice if we could spell onion as "unyun" and union as "yoonyun" but we just don't.  We like to consider the letters i and y as identical twins that just love to switch identities.  The y can sound as a long i as in try or a short i as in gym.  The letter i can sound as the consonant y in senior and onion.
8. The word petite has only one pattern not systematically taught.  This pattern is the letter i having the sound of the long e.  Petites rhymes with beets and beats.
9. The word cordial has two patterns not systematically taught.  The first  is the di digraph for the /j/ phoneme.  The second pattern is the ending -al pronounced to rhyme with dull. 
10. The word special has two spelling patterns not systematically taught.  The first is the ci digraph for the /sh/ phoneme.  The second is the ending -al, which does not rhyme with pal, gal and Sal; rather it is the same as the -el in nickel, the -le in pickle, the -ol in pistol, the -il in pencil, and the -ul in mogul.  Note that there is not one single word in the English language in which the ending "shul" sound is spelled "shul."  The sound "shul" is either spelled tial as in initial or cial as in crucial.

If you would like a listing of patterns not systematically taught, see The Mechanics of English Spelling.  Also see Essential Patterns Seldom Systematically Taught.

If you still are a Doubting Thomas, we challenge you to make a spot check on one of your students who is reading somewhere in the vicinity of 3.5 and have him/her read an article from a newspaper or magazine.  Mark the words missed.  If you don't quite understand which patterns are taught and which aren't, send the results to me and I'll mark each word missed with a notation as to the phonic pattern that is or isn't taught.

If you send me the article that you choose to use, I can mark the words beforehand that contain the patterns not systematically taught and you can then easily judge whether or not your student missed 3 out of 4 of those words and whether 3 out of every 4 words he missed contained one or more of those patterns.  You can do this by e-mailing info@avko.org

Skeptics are encouraged to substitute words for those chosen by Professor AVKO.  All he asks is that in any computer-generated list of words chosen at random:

1. the same initial consonant blends or digraphs are used;

2. the total number of letters in the easier words is exactly the same as the total number of letters in the harder words;

3. in each pair of words, one contains only patterns commonly encountered in grades 1-3 (the easier);

4. and the other contains at least one pattern rarely encountered in those crucial first three grades.  For example, in the pair meaningful and mechanized, meaningful has 100% simple commonly encountered parts, i.e., /m/ ea /n/ ing /ful/.  However, the word mechanized has two patterns rarely encountered.  First the ch in mechanized is not pronounced /ch/ as in chop, chicken, and church.  Rather, it is pronounced /k/ as in chaos, echo, anarchy, and Christian.  The letters an in mechanized are not pronounced to rhyme with Dan and fan even though they are in the words mechanic and mechanical! The words containing patterns such as these usually occur in the curriculum after the third grade.