CTEL 2 Assessment and Instruction Practice Test 2025 – Complete Exam Prep

Creating original vocabulary words is not typically part of a phonics assessment because the primary focus of phonics is on the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and their corresponding letters or groups of letters (graphemes). Phonics assessments are designed to evaluate a student’s ability to recognize, decode, and manipulate sounds in words rather than their ability to create new words.

In phonics assessments, the activities often involve tasks such as pronouncing known words to demonstrate sound-letter connections or reading sentences fluently to show comprehension and decoding skills. The use of nonsense words is also common in phonics assessments, as these words can help assess a student's ability to apply phonics rules without relying on their memory of real words. This approach ensures that the assessment focuses solely on phonetic skills, eliminating the possibility that a student's prior knowledge of vocabulary might influence their performance. Thus, creating original vocabulary words does not align with the fundamental goals of phonics assessment, which center on decoding and understanding existing words rather than generating new terms.