What assessment strategy would best determine if reading difficulties stem from a lack of phonemic awareness?

Determining if reading difficulties are related to a lack of phonemic awareness involves assessing a student's ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds within words. Phonemic awareness is a critical foundational skill for reading, as it enables students to decode words successfully.

Segmenting sounds in presented words effectively measures a student's phonemic awareness. This task requires students to break down a word into its individual phonemes, demonstrating their understanding of how sounds combine to form words. If a student struggles with this activity, it indicates that their reading difficulties may indeed stem from a lack of phonemic awareness, guiding further instructional decisions and interventions.

In contrast, memorizing high-frequency words does not assess phonemic awareness; it focuses on word recognition. Administering a comprehension quiz primarily evaluates understanding of text rather than the underlying phonemic skills. Observing students during reading group activities may provide insights into their overall reading abilities and behaviors but does not specifically assess their phonemic awareness skills. Thus, segmenting sounds is the most direct and effective way to determine if a lack of phonemic awareness is contributing to the student's reading difficulties.