What does phonological awareness refer to?

Phonological awareness refers to an individual's ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures in spoken language. This includes awareness of larger units of sound such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes, as well as smaller units like phonemes, which are the individual sounds that make up words. Sensitivity to these sound structures is crucial for developing reading and writing skills, as it allows children to understand that words are made up of sounds that can be separated and blended together.

This understanding fosters early literacy development, enabling children to decode new words while reading and to spell them correctly. The other choices do not accurately capture the essence of phonological awareness; they either pertain to other linguistic skills or focus on comprehension rather than sound structure.