Which term describes separating the individual phonemes of a word into discrete units?

• A. Blending
• B. Segmenting
• C. Syllable awareness
• D. Word awareness

Answer: (B)

Separating the individual phonemes of a spoken word into discrete units is segmenting. This skill means listening to a word and identifying each distinct sound one by one. For example, the word "cat" can be heard as three sounds: /k/ /æ/ /t/. Segmenting is all about breaking a word down into those separate sounds.

Blending, by contrast, is putting those sounds together to say the word. Syllable awareness deals with dividing a word into larger chunks called syllables (like “ba-na-na” for banana). Word awareness focuses on recognizing the word as a single unit rather than its parts.

A helpful way to practice is to say a word slowly and count the sounds, using fingers or chips to represent each phoneme.