Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Phonological awareness is the understanding that speech can be broken down into parts, or units of sound, and the ability to manipulate those parts. Phonological awareness is an auditory (heard) and oral (spoken) skill that does not involve reading letters or words. Phonological awareness builds students’ capacity to learn phonics and is a foundational skill for reading and spelling. 

Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes, or the smallest units of speech, in spoken language. It is the most advanced component of phonological awareness.