What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds, known as phonemes, in spoken words. This skill is crucial in the development of reading and literacy since it lays the foundation for understanding the sound structure of language. For example, children with strong phonemic awareness can recognize that the word "cat" is made up of the sounds /k/, /æ/, and /t/ and can manipulate these sounds to create new words, such as changing the /k/ in "cat" to /h/ to form "hat."

Phonemic awareness is essential for developing decoding skills, which allows children to translate written words into spoken language effectively. This skill often precedes reading and is necessary for phonics instruction, where learners connect sounds to letters and combinations of letters in written text. Therefore, B accurately captures the essence of phonemic awareness and its significance in early literacy development.