California Teacher Credentialing Examination (CSET) Practice Test 2025 - Free CSET Practice Questions and Study Guide

Identifying which words in a set begin with the same sound is a strong example of teaching phonemic awareness because this practice directly engages students in recognizing and manipulating the individual sounds, or phonemes, that make up words. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes in spoken language, which is a crucial skill for developing reading proficiency.

When students work with words that share the same initial sound, they are not only learning to differentiate sounds but also enhancing their ability to blend them into recognizable words. This phonemic skill lays the foundation for later skills in phonics, where students connect these sounds to their corresponding letters and written forms, ultimately aiding in their overall literacy development.

In contrast, reading aloud from a textbook focuses on comprehension and fluency rather than sound discrimination, teaching children to write their names leans more towards fine motor skills and orthographic knowledge, and encouraging children to guess the meaning of unknown words emphasizes vocabulary development rather than the foundational phonemic skills necessary for reading.