Phonemic awareness

What It Means

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice and work with the individual sounds, called phonemes, that make up spoken words. A child with this skill can hear that "cat" has three sounds, say which sound a word starts with, and blend separate sounds into a word. Because it happens entirely by ear, a child can practice it before knowing any letters. Phonemic awareness is the finest level of phonological awareness, which the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) describes as recognizing and working with the segments of sound in words.

How Parents Say It

• "What sound does 'sun' start with?"
• "Let's clap the sounds in your name."
• "Sh and i and p makes ship!"

The Breakdown

Where it fits as children grow

Games to try today (our own examples)

• First sound: "I spy something that starts with /m/."
• Blending: say "d... o... g" slowly and let your child say "dog."
• Taking apart: ask how many sounds are in "fish" and tap one finger for each.
• Swapping: "Say 'cat.' Now change the /c/ to /h/." (hat)

Phonemic awareness vs phonicsPhonicsTeaching children how letters and letter groups stand for the sounds in spoken words, so they can sound out words to read them and spell them. See more. Phonemic awareness is about sounds you hear. Phonics, as the National Reading Panel described it, is knowing that letters stand for those sounds and blending them to read a word. Children use the first to learn the second.

When to talk to the doctor or school. If you have concerns about your child's hearing or speech, talk with their doctor. If reading and spelling are much harder for your child than for classmates, talk with the teacher.

Where It Comes From

The National Reading Panel's 2000 report, published by NICHD, named phonemic awareness as one of the five components of reading instruction, alongside phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Good to Know

The National Reading Panel found that systematic, explicit teaching of phonemic awareness improved children's reading and spelling. In 2016, the IES practice guide on foundational skills put sound awareness linked to letters among its four recommendations for kindergarten through 3rd grade. Counting sounds and counting letters give different answers: "ship" has four letters and three sounds.

Related Terms and Categories

• Phonics

  Teaching children how letters and letter groups stand for the sounds in spoken words, so they can sound out words to read them and spell them.

• Early literacy

  The language, sound and book skills a child builds from birth, well before reading, that later support learning to read and write.

• Reading aloud

  Reading a book out loud with a child, from birth on. The AAP advises it because shared reading builds language, early literacy skills and the parent-child bond.

• Science of reading

  The large body of research on how people learn to read and how reading is best taught; it names a field of evidence, not one curriculum or program.

• Dyslexia

  A learning disability that makes reading words accurately and smoothly hard, mostly because linking letters to sounds is hard; schools call it a specific learning disability.

• Kindergarten readiness

  How prepared a child is for kindergarten, in social, emotional, language, thinking and physical skills, alongside meeting their state's entry age.

Parenting and child development