Before students can learn to read, there are many skills that students should master first that don’t necessarily involve letters. Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness skills all relate to spoken sounds and are very important for future success in reading. So what are these important skills and how do they differ from each other?
What is Phonological Awareness?
Phonological awareness is the broader term including various skills related to understanding and manipulating the sounds of spoken language. To make it easier to understand, remember that phono means sound. It involves recognizing and working with the sound structure of words, syllables, and onset-rime units, regardless of whether the sounds are segmented into individual phonemes or not. When teaching phonological awareness to young children it can be taught as an auditory skill without printed words.
Examples of phonological awareness skills include:
– Identifying and producing rhymes (e.g., cat, hat, mat).
– Syllables can be be taught at an early age and can be referred to as “beats”. Counting syllables in a word (e.g., “ba-na-na” has three syllables).
– Recognizing and manipulating onset and rime (e.g., changing the onset in “cat” to make “bat”).
In short, phonological awareness lays the foundation for phonemic awareness by helping children become attuned to the sounds of language before they start focusing on individual phonemes.
What is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness, on the other hand, is a subset of phonological awareness that specifically involves the ability to recognize, identify, and manipulate individual phonemes—the smallest units of sound that can change the meaning of a word.
Examples of phonemic awareness skills include:
– Segmenting words into individual phonemes (e.g., “cat” has three phonemes: /k/ /æ/ /t/).
– Blending individual phonemes to form words (/k/ /æ/ /t/ → “cat”).
– Manipulating phonemes by adding, deleting, or substituting sounds to create new words (changing “cat” to “bat” by substituting /k/ with /b/).
Phonemic awareness is crucial for learning to decode and encode words in reading and spelling. It helps children understand the alphabetic principle—the relationship between letters and sounds—which is fundamental to strong reading and writing skills.
Key Differences
The main difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness lies in their focus:
– Phonological awareness includes a broader range of skills related to understanding the sound structure of language, including rhyming, syllable counting, and onset-rime awareness.
– Phonemic awareness specifically targets the ability to manipulate individual phonemes, such as segmenting, blending, and manipulating sounds within words.
In summary, while phonological awareness provides the foundation for understanding the structure of spoken language, phonemic awareness focuses on the critical skill of manipulating individual phonemes, paving the way for strong reading and spelling abilities. Understanding these distinctions can help educators and parents better support children’s literacy development by targeting specific areas of phonological and phonemic awareness through engaging activities and instruction.
Be sure to read my other blog posts to better understand the different skills included in phonological and phonemic awareness!
