Why is nonsense word assessment used in decoding?

Nonsense word assessment is primarily utilized in decoding to focus the assessment on clearer phonics skills. This type of assessment presents students with made-up words that do not carry meaning. The rationale behind this approach is that it allows educators to isolate students' phonetic decoding abilities without the interference of vocabulary knowledge or contextual understanding.

By using nonsense words, teachers can assess how well students apply their knowledge of phonics, including their ability to manipulate sounds and recognize letter-sound relationships. This means that the assessment strictly evaluates the students' decoding skills, enabling a more precise understanding of their phonics proficiency. In contrast, other assessments that include real words might confuse such skills with a student's familiarity with those actual words or their comprehension capabilities, making nonsense word assessments a vital tool for evaluating foundational reading skills.