Certification Examinations for Oklahoma Educators (CEOE) Practice Exam

What would be the most effective teacher activity for assessing a second-grade student's decoding and encoding struggles?

1. Reading a list of Dolch words

2. Conducting a phonological awareness inventory

3. Completing a running record

4. Using flash cards for phoneme practice

The correct answer is: Conducting a phonological awareness inventory

Conducting a phonological awareness inventory is the most effective teacher activity for assessing a second-grade student’s decoding and encoding struggles because it specifically targets the foundational skills required for reading and writing. Phonological awareness encompasses the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language, which is crucial for developing decoding (sounding out words) and encoding (spelling words) skills. By using a phonological awareness inventory, the teacher can identify specific areas where the student may have difficulties, such as blending sounds, segmenting words, or identifying rhymes. This targeted assessment goes beyond simply assessing sight word recognition or immediate recall, which other options may focus on. For example, a list of Dolch words primarily measures a student's ability to recognize high-frequency sight words, while running records emphasize fluency and comprehension rather than direct decoding skills. Flashcards for phoneme practice, although useful for reinforcing recognition, do not provide a comprehensive view of a student's phonological skills in context. Thus, the phonological awareness inventory offers a broader and more insightful evaluation of a student's decoding and encoding capabilities.