Which of these activities is designed to teach phonological awareness?

Phonological awareness involves the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of spoken language. This skill is critical for reading development as it lays the foundation for understanding the relationship between sounds and letters. Clapping to the sounds of individual words is a practical and engaging activity that helps learners break down words into their phonetic components. By clapping, they can better grasp how words can be segmented into syllables and sounds, thus enhancing their phonological awareness.

In contrast, writing essays primarily focuses on written expression and the organization of thoughts, rather than on the auditory aspects of language sounds. Analyzing literature involves comprehension and interpretation of written texts, which does not concentrate on sound manipulation. Reading silently centers on decoding and understanding text but does not explicitly involve exercises to develop sound awareness. Each of these activities plays an important role in literacy development, but only the activity of clapping to sounds directly targets phonological awareness skills.