NYSTCE CST 245 PRACTICE SOLUTION 2026
TESTED QUESTIONS WITH EXPERT SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
◉ Phonological Processing. Answer: The use of phonemes to process
spoken and written language. The broad category of phonological
processing includes phonological awareness, phonological working
memory, and phonological retrieval.
◉ Phonological Awareness. Answer: Awareness of the sound structure of
a language and the ability to consciously analyze and manipulate this
structure via a range of tasks, such as speech sound segmentation and
blending at the word, onset-rime, syllable, and phonemic levels.
◉ Development of Phonological Awareness. Answer: 1. Word awareness
2. Responsiveness to rhyme and alliteration during word play
3. Syllable awareness
4. Onset and rime manipulation
5. Phoneme awareness
◉ 1. Word awareness. Answer: Tracking the words in sentences.
Knowledge that words have meaning. (less important to teach directly)
,Strategy: read-aloud, alphabet chants, high-frequency word books
◉ 2. Responsiveness to rhyme and alliteration during word play.
Answer: Enjoying and reciting learned rhyming words or alliterative
phrases in familiar storybooks or nursery rhymes.
Strategy: poetry books, alphabet chants, picture flashcards w/ objects
whose names rhyme.
(Flashcards can be used in sorting and classifying activities.)
◉ Syllable awareness. Answer: Counting, tapping, blending, or
segmenting a word into syllables.
Strategy: Flashcards w/ objects whose names contain different numbers
of syllables.
(Flashcards can be used in sorting activity.)
◉ Onset and rime manipulation. Answer: Onset is the initial consonant
in a one-syllable word. Rime includes the remaining sounds, including
the vowel and any sounds that follow. The ability to produce a rhyming
,word depends on understanding that rhyming words have the same rime.
Recognizing a rhyme is much easier than producing a rhyme.
Strategy: Blending and substitution activities.
◉ Phonemic awareness. Answer: This is the student's awareness of the
smallest units of sound in a word. It also refers to a student's ability to
segment, blend, and manipulate these units.
- Identify and match the initial sounds in words, then the final and
middle sounds (e.g., "Which picture begins with /m/?"; "Find another
picture that ends in /r/").
- Segment and produce the initial sound, then the final and middle
sounds (e.g., "What sound does zoo start with?"; "Say the last sound in
milk"; "Say the vowel sound in rope").
- Blend sounds into words (e.g., "Listen: /f/ /ē/ /t/. Say it fast").
- Segment the phonemes in two- or three-sound words, moving to four-
and five- sound words as the student becomes proficient (e.g., "The
word is eyes. Stretch and say the sounds: /ī/ /z/").
- Manipulate phonemes by removing, adding, or substituting sounds
(e.g., "Say smoke without the /m/").
, Strategy: listening to alliterative passages, blending and segmenting
words, and manipulating sounds in words through substitution, deletion,
and addition of phonemics. Elkonin boxes are provided for tactile
blending and segmenting activities.
◉ Phonological Working Memory. Answer: Involves storing phoneme
information in a temporary, short-term memory store. This phonemic
information is then readily available for manipulation during
phonological awareness tasks.
◉ Phonological Retrieval. Answer: Phonological retrieval is the ability
to recall the phonemes associated with specific graphemes, which can be
assessed by rapid naming tasks.
◉ Phoneme Manipulation Task (Strategy). Answer: Tasks that tap into
phonological processing, such as phoneme manipulation tasks (say "cat"
without the kuh), have proven to be some of the strongest correlates and
predictors of learning to read.
◉ Orthographic Processing. Answer: Defined as "the ability to form,
store, and access orthographic representations." Orthography is the
methodology of writing a language, which primarily consists of
spelling, but includes, contractions, punctuation and capitalization.
TESTED QUESTIONS WITH EXPERT SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
◉ Phonological Processing. Answer: The use of phonemes to process
spoken and written language. The broad category of phonological
processing includes phonological awareness, phonological working
memory, and phonological retrieval.
◉ Phonological Awareness. Answer: Awareness of the sound structure of
a language and the ability to consciously analyze and manipulate this
structure via a range of tasks, such as speech sound segmentation and
blending at the word, onset-rime, syllable, and phonemic levels.
◉ Development of Phonological Awareness. Answer: 1. Word awareness
2. Responsiveness to rhyme and alliteration during word play
3. Syllable awareness
4. Onset and rime manipulation
5. Phoneme awareness
◉ 1. Word awareness. Answer: Tracking the words in sentences.
Knowledge that words have meaning. (less important to teach directly)
,Strategy: read-aloud, alphabet chants, high-frequency word books
◉ 2. Responsiveness to rhyme and alliteration during word play.
Answer: Enjoying and reciting learned rhyming words or alliterative
phrases in familiar storybooks or nursery rhymes.
Strategy: poetry books, alphabet chants, picture flashcards w/ objects
whose names rhyme.
(Flashcards can be used in sorting and classifying activities.)
◉ Syllable awareness. Answer: Counting, tapping, blending, or
segmenting a word into syllables.
Strategy: Flashcards w/ objects whose names contain different numbers
of syllables.
(Flashcards can be used in sorting activity.)
◉ Onset and rime manipulation. Answer: Onset is the initial consonant
in a one-syllable word. Rime includes the remaining sounds, including
the vowel and any sounds that follow. The ability to produce a rhyming
,word depends on understanding that rhyming words have the same rime.
Recognizing a rhyme is much easier than producing a rhyme.
Strategy: Blending and substitution activities.
◉ Phonemic awareness. Answer: This is the student's awareness of the
smallest units of sound in a word. It also refers to a student's ability to
segment, blend, and manipulate these units.
- Identify and match the initial sounds in words, then the final and
middle sounds (e.g., "Which picture begins with /m/?"; "Find another
picture that ends in /r/").
- Segment and produce the initial sound, then the final and middle
sounds (e.g., "What sound does zoo start with?"; "Say the last sound in
milk"; "Say the vowel sound in rope").
- Blend sounds into words (e.g., "Listen: /f/ /ē/ /t/. Say it fast").
- Segment the phonemes in two- or three-sound words, moving to four-
and five- sound words as the student becomes proficient (e.g., "The
word is eyes. Stretch and say the sounds: /ī/ /z/").
- Manipulate phonemes by removing, adding, or substituting sounds
(e.g., "Say smoke without the /m/").
, Strategy: listening to alliterative passages, blending and segmenting
words, and manipulating sounds in words through substitution, deletion,
and addition of phonemics. Elkonin boxes are provided for tactile
blending and segmenting activities.
◉ Phonological Working Memory. Answer: Involves storing phoneme
information in a temporary, short-term memory store. This phonemic
information is then readily available for manipulation during
phonological awareness tasks.
◉ Phonological Retrieval. Answer: Phonological retrieval is the ability
to recall the phonemes associated with specific graphemes, which can be
assessed by rapid naming tasks.
◉ Phoneme Manipulation Task (Strategy). Answer: Tasks that tap into
phonological processing, such as phoneme manipulation tasks (say "cat"
without the kuh), have proven to be some of the strongest correlates and
predictors of learning to read.
◉ Orthographic Processing. Answer: Defined as "the ability to form,
store, and access orthographic representations." Orthography is the
methodology of writing a language, which primarily consists of
spelling, but includes, contractions, punctuation and capitalization.
