phonemic awareness
nounUK /fəˈniːmɪk əˈweənəs/
US /fəˈniːmɪk əˈwernəs/
Knowing that spoken words are made of small sounds you can hear and play with.
Phonemic awareness helps children hear the three sounds in the word cat.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. The ability to notice and work with individual sounds in spoken words, such as blending or separating them.
Teachers use games to build phonemic awareness before teaching letters.
3. An early reading skill that involves hearing, identifying, and changing sounds in words.
Clapping the sounds in a name is a simple phonemic awareness activity.
4. Awareness of the smallest units of sound that make a difference in meaning.
Phonemic awareness lets a child know that changing the first sound of bat makes cat.