Which phonological task asks participants to manipulate sounds in a word?

The task that specifically requires participants to manipulate sounds within a word is phoneme manipulation. This involves activities where individuals might be asked to add, delete, or substitute sounds in a word. For example, changing the /m/ sound in "mat" to /s/ to make "sat" involves manipulating the phonemes of the word.

Phoneme manipulation emphasizes active engagement with the sounds, which is crucial for developing skills in reading and spelling. It helps students become aware of how different sounds can be combined or altered to create different words, thereby enhancing their phonemic awareness. This task is particularly important because it aids in the development of decoding skills necessary for reading.

In contrast, word segmentation involves breaking a word down into its component parts, phoneme identification focuses on recognizing specific sounds in words, and sound blending requires combining individual sounds to form a word, rather than manipulating them. Thus, the focus of phoneme manipulation on the active alteration of sounds is what makes it the correct choice.