Which term describes the ability to recognize the sounds of spoken language and how they can be blended, segmented and manipulated to form new words?

• A. Phoneme
• B. Phonemic awareness
• C. Phonological awareness
• D. Phonics

Answer: (C)

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken language. It covers blending sounds to form words, segmenting a word into its separate sounds, and changing sounds to create new words. This specific skill focuses on phonemes—the smallest units of sound—rather than the broader sound patterns of language. Phonological awareness is the wider set of skills that includes awareness of rhymes and syllables, while phonics deals with linking those sounds to written letters. A phoneme is the unit itself, not the skill. So the description points to phonemic awareness.