What skill is being practiced when students identify individual sounds in spoken words?

The correct answer focuses on phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds—known as phonemes—in spoken language. This skill is foundational for reading development because it enables students to understand the link between sounds and letters, which is crucial for decoding words when they begin reading.

Phonemic awareness is typically developed through activities that involve listening to and playing with sounds, such as rhyming, segmenting, and blending sounds. When students practice identifying individual sounds in spoken words, they are essentially enhancing their ability to analyze and work with the auditory aspects of language, which is vital for reading proficiency.

The other options represent different areas of language and literacy development. Fluency in reading involves the ability to read text smoothly and accurately and is a later-stage skill that builds on phonemic awareness. Vocabulary development focuses on understanding and using words, which requires a different set of skills. Written communication pertains to the ability to express thoughts in writing, which also relies on a range of language skills but is not directly related to identifying sounds in spoken words.