Oregon Educator Licensure Assessments (ORELA) Practice Exam

Effective phonics instruction primarily helps students in what area?

1. Understanding poetic devices

2. Recognizing word patterns

3. Developing word reading fluency

4. Memorizing sight words

The correct answer is: Developing word reading fluency

Effective phonics instruction primarily supports the development of word reading fluency. This is because phonics teaches students the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes), enabling them to decode words effectively. When students learn to match sounds to letters and blend these sounds together, they become more proficient in reading. This systematic approach enhances their ability to read smoothly and at a faster pace, contributing to overall reading fluency. Fluency is essential because it allows students to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression, which in turn facilitates better comprehension of the text they are engaging with. When students are fluent readers, they can focus more on understanding the content, rather than getting bogged down by decoding individual words. In contrast, understanding poetic devices, recognizing word patterns, and memorizing sight words are important aspects of literacy, but they do not directly stem from phonics instruction. Poetic devices relate more to comprehension and literary analysis, word patterns involve higher-order thinking and contextual usage, and sight words often require different strategies for learning, such as repetition and context clues, rather than decoding through phonics.