Although phonological awareness is a widely used term in reading, it is often misunderstood. For example, phonemic awareness and phonics are not the same skill. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words. It does not involve written letters. Phonics is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes and graphemes, the letters that represent those sounds in written language.
Children who cannot hear and work with the phonemes of spoken words often have a difficult time learning how to relate these phonemes to graphemes when they see them in written words. However, phonemic awareness can be taught and learned. Effective phonemic awareness instruction teaches children to notice, think about, and work with (manipulate) sounds in spoken language. Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read. It improves the ability to read words and comprehend what is read. Phonemic awareness instruction also helps children learn to spell. Direct instruction in phonemic awareness, especially in how to segment words into phonemes, helps children relate the sounds to letters as they spell words.
Phonemic awareness instruction is most effective when it focuses on only one or two types of phoneme manipulation, rather than several types. A focus on teaching children to blend and segment phonemes in words is likely to produce greater benefits to reading ability than teaching several types of manipulation. Phonemic awareness instruction can help all types of students learn to read, including preschoolers; kindergartners; first graders who are just starting to read; and older, less able readers.
In general, small group instruction is more effective when helping students acquire phonemic awareness and learn to read, compared to individual or whole class instruction.
Read the summary of the National Reading Panel Report from the publication, Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, which contains important information on phonemic awareness.
http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf
Additional Readings on Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
The Importance of Phonemic Awareness in Learning to Read, by Wesley Hoover:
http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedl-letter/v14n03/3.html
How Do I Teach Phonemic Awareness?
http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_teach.php
How Do I Assess Phonemic Awareness?
http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_assess.php
Teaching Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic Awareness Benchmarks:
