New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCE) Early Childhood Practice Test

What skill involves recognizing sets of words with similar sounds and manipulating those sounds?

1. Phonemic Awareness

2. Vocabulary Development

3. Comprehension Skills

4. Alphabetic Principle

The correct answer is: Phonemic Awareness

The skill that involves recognizing sets of words with similar sounds and manipulating those sounds is phonemic awareness. This foundational skill is critical for early literacy development as it allows children to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. For example, being able to recognize that the words "cat," "bat," and "hat" share the same ending sound involves an understanding of phonemic awareness. This skill not only helps with sound discrimination but also lays the groundwork for learning how to read and write, as it connects to understanding letters and their corresponding sounds. In contrast, vocabulary development focuses on the range of words a child knows and uses, comprehension skills pertain to the ability to understand and interpret text, and the alphabetic principle involves understanding that letters represent sounds in written language. While these other skills are important for overall literacy, they do not specifically address the recognition and manipulation of sounds in spoken language as phonemic awareness does.