Phonemic awareness is

              *  the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds

                 (phonemes) in spoken words.

 

Phonemic awareness is important because

              *  it improves children's word reading (decoding words)and reading

                 comprehension.

              *  it helps children learn to spell (encode words).

 

Phonemic awareness can be developed through a number of activities, including asking children to

              *  identify individual sounds (phonemes),

              *  categorize phonemes,

              *  blend phonemes to form words,

              *  segment words into individual sounds (phonemes),

              *  delete or add phonemes to form new words, and

              *  substitute individal sounds to make new words.

 

Phonemeic awareness instruction is most effective

             * when children are taught to manipulate individual sounds

                (phonemes) by using letters of the alphabet.

             * when instruction focuses on only one or two rather than several

                types of phoneme manipulation.