Which strategy is beneficial for students who struggle with recognizing phonemes?

Stretching sounds within words is an effective strategy for students who struggle with recognizing phonemes because it helps to break down and articulate the individual sounds that make up words. This technique allows students to hear and practice the discrete phonemes in a word by extending the pronunciation of each sound. For example, when stretching the sounds in the word "cat," a student would say it as /c/ - /a/ - /t/, which emphasizes the sounds "c," "a," and "t." This practice enhances phonemic awareness, which is crucial for developing reading and spelling skills.

In contrast, using flashcards with sight words primarily focuses on word recognition rather than phoneme awareness, while visualizing sounds does not actively engage a student's ability to hear and manipulate phonemes. Listening to audiobooks can expose students to fluent reading but may not directly support their ability to decode words and recognize sounds individually. Thus, stretching sounds is directly related to developing phoneme recognition skills, making it the most beneficial strategy for those facing challenges in this area.