MTTC 103 Elementary Practice Exam 2025 – Complete Study Guide

The strategy being used in this scenario is phoneme substitution. Phoneme substitution involves changing one phoneme in a word to create a new word. In this case, students are asked to replace the /r/ sound in "rug" with the /b/ sound to identify the new word "bug." This activity helps students understand how changing individual sounds in words can alter their meanings and enhances their phonemic awareness, an essential skill in developing reading and spelling abilities.

Phoneme blending, on the other hand, refers to the process of combining individual phonemes to form a word, such as putting together sounds to say "cat." Phoneme deletion involves removing a phoneme from a word, leading to another word, like taking away the /r/ in "rug," resulting in "ug." Phoneme segmentation is the ability to break a word down into its individual phonemes, which would involve identifying the sounds in "rug" as /r/, /u/, and /g/. Each of these concepts is important, but in this case, the primary focus is on substituting one sound for another to create a different word, which is why phoneme substitution is the correct choice.