Phonemic Awareness

What is it?​

Phonemic awareness (PA) is an oral skill used to identify, distinguish, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words, without relying on written letters. For example, a child demonstrates PA by identifying /m/ as the first sound in the spoken word “moon.” 

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Why is it important?​

PA serves as a foundational skill for reading and writing by helping students recognize that words are made of smaller sounds.   

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• Blending sounds orally prepares students to decode or “sound out” unfamiliar words when they are reading.  

• Segmenting sounds orally prepares students to encode or “break up” words into individual sounds when they are writing.  

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What does the research say? 

Research has shown that most children do not develop PA skills naturally. Explicit teaching in phonemic awareness is required to support students’ reading and writing. PA acts both as a strong predictor of later decoding/reading success and as preventative of later reading difficulties for at-risk students, because it helps children understand the alphabetic principle. 

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• Brady (2020) A 2020 Perspective on Research Findings on Alphabetics - Research overview on PA and implications for instruction. 

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For more information check out these resources: 

• Reading Rockets – Phonological and Phonemic Awareness  

• ONlit – Phonemic Awareness (2026 Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum) 

• ONlit – Phonemic Awareness in Kindergarten 

What is the developmental progression of phonemic awareness skills?​​​

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Note: Syllables and Rhyming can occur simultaneously with phoneme identification. 

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​​​What types of PBL are best suited to supporting PA development? 

Teacher facilitation is essential for supporting the development of phonological and phonemic awareness through play.  

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• Teacher-directed Play – Educators can introduce and model specific PA skills through structured, playful activities like games that integrate sound-identification, blending, and segmentation.  

• Guided Play – Educators can reinforce and extend previously taught PA skills by integrating learning opportunities into children’s ongoing play. 

• Free Play – While children may spontaneously use previously learned sound-awareness skills, free play should not be relied upon to develop specific PA skills systematically.