Which task of phonemic awareness focuses on identifying and isolating a given sound in a word?

The task of phonemic awareness that centers on identifying and isolating a given sound in a word is sound segmentation. In this process, an individual breaks a word into its component sounds, allowing them to recognize and manipulate the sounds within the word. For example, if presented with the word "cat," sound segmentation would involve identifying the individual phonemes /k/, /æ/, and /t/. This skill is crucial in early literacy development, as it sets a foundation for spelling and decoding words.

In contrast, sound blending involves merging individual sounds to form a word, which is different from isolating a sound. Sound deletion requires removing a specific sound from a word to create a new word, while sound substitution focuses on replacing one sound in a word with another. These tasks have distinct functions in phonemic awareness, but when it comes to isolating and identifying sounds, sound segmentation is the correct focus.