FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam

What phonetic activity is demonstrated when first-grade students change the beginning letters of words?

1. Syllable manipulation

2. Onset-rimes

3. Phoneme segmentation

4. Morpheme analysis

The correct answer is: Onset-rimes

The activity where first-grade students change the beginning letters of words is best described as "onset-rimes." This phonetic activity involves manipulating the initial sounds (onsets) of words while keeping the rest of the word (rime) intact. For instance, if students take the word "cat" and change the "c" to "h," they create the new word "hat." This activity helps children learn about phonemic awareness, the sounds that make up words, and supports their decoding skills as they become more proficient readers. In contrast, syllable manipulation refers to adjusting or switching around entire syllables within words, which is not what is happening here. Phoneme segmentation involves identifying and isolating individual sounds within a word, rather than changing just the initial letters. Morpheme analysis focuses on breaking down words into their meaningful components (morphemes), which is not relevant to simply changing initial sounds or letters. Thus, "onset-rimes" accurately captures the nature of the activity being described.