What indicates that a student may need help with decoding skills?

The observation that a student reads real words accurately but struggles with nonsense words is a strong indicator that the student may need help with decoding skills. Decoding involves the ability to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words. When a student is proficient at reading real words, they might rely on their memory and context rather than the phonetic decoding of words. However, if they struggle with nonsense words, which do not have any context or memorized representations, it highlights a potential gap in their ability to decode unfamiliar or non-standard letter combinations. This difficulty suggests that the student has not fully grasped the skill of phonemic awareness or the application of phonics rules, which are critical for effective decoding. Therefore, targeted support in these areas would be beneficial for their reading development.