Which of the following is a skill that helps students learn to segment sounds in words?

Phonemic awareness is the skill that directly supports students in learning to segment sounds in words. This involves the ability to recognize, isolate, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) within spoken words. For example, a student who is skilled in phonemic awareness can break down the word "cat" into its constituent sounds /k/, /æ/, and /t/. This skill is foundational for reading development, as it helps students connect sounds with their corresponding letters when they begin to decode words in print.

While narrative skills focus on understanding and telling stories, they do not specifically address sound segmentation. Reading fluency pertains to the ability to read text accurately and quickly with expression, which is a separate skill set that builds upon phonemic awareness and decoding. Orthographic mapping involves connecting sounds to their corresponding letters and spelling patterns, which is an essential aspect of reading but occurs after a foundation in phonemic awareness has been established.