Phonological awareness is a critical foundation for early literacy. It involves the ability to consciously think about and identify the sound structures within spoken words, ranging from larger, more noticeable units (such as syllables and rhymes) to individual sounds (phonemes). It can be divided into two key areas: 

• Phonological Sensitivity – awareness of larger sound structures like syllables and rhyme.
  

• Phonemic Awareness – awareness of individual speech sounds (phonemes) within words.
  

It's important to note that phonemic awareness differs from phonics. Traditionally, phonemic awareness activities were purely auditory—you didn’t need to look at letters and could do them “in the dark.” However, current research, such as that by Susan Brady (2020), suggests that phoneme awareness instruction is more effective when integrated with letter instruction. Teaching pupils the connection between phonemes and their corresponding letters helps clarify that phonemes are the sounds in spoken words and that letters represent these sounds in writing.

Research, such as the National Reading Panel report and later studies, has confirmed that combining phoneme awareness with letter-sound knowledge improves reading and spelling outcomes.

The Phonological Awareness "Umbrella"

Many educators are familiar with the visual representation of phonological awareness as an "umbrella," (Lindsey, 2022) showing a progression from less complex to more complex skills.

• On the left side (less complex), skills include dividing words into syllables and identifying or generating rhymes. These are considered shallow levels of phonological awareness.
  

• On the right side (more complex), skills involve matching words with the same beginning sounds and manipulating individual sounds (phonemes).
  

Mastering these deeper skills—such as blending and segmenting at the phoneme level—is crucial, as they are central to decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling). Therefore, when teaching phonemic awareness, it’s essential to link each sound to its corresponding grapheme (letter or letter combination) to support transfer of skills to both reading and writing.

Rethinking the Traditional Sequence

Historically, instruction moved from larger sound units (like syllables) toward smaller ones (phonemes). However, more recent research (Brady, 2020) suggests that phoneme-level skills can be introduced earlier. Educators are encouraged to move away from rigid "umbrella" or "step" models and instead integrate phoneme awareness with early alphabetic instruction.

Assessing and Monitoring Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness should be assessed early in the first year of schooling and monitored throughout the period when children are mastering the alphabetic code.
For older pupils who continue to struggle with reading, assessments may include more advanced phonemic tasks, such as:

• Phoneme deletion and substitution (e.g., "went" without /t/ is "when")

• Spoonerisms (e.g., "jelly beans" becomes "belly jeans")
  

• Saying words backward (e.g., "top" becomes "pot")
  

Alphabetic knowledge is just as strong a predictor of early reading success as phonemic awareness (Brady, 2020). Therefore, it's essential to assess both simultaneously. We want phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge to develop together (Neilson, 2023).

Examples of Phoneme Awareness Tasks

Here are some common tasks that build phonemic awareness:

• Phoneme isolation: Recognising individual sounds in words
  "What is the first sound in 'pet'?" (/p/)
  

• Phoneme identity: Recognising the common sound in different words
  "What sound is the same in 'bat,' 'bike,' and 'ball'?" (/b/)
  

• Phoneme categorisation: Identifying the word with the odd sound
  "Which word doesn’t belong: bus, bat, cup?" (cup)
  

• Phoneme blending: Combining separate spoken sounds into a word
  "What word do these sounds make: /f/ /l/ /a/ /g/?" (flag)
  

• Phoneme segmentation: Breaking a word into individual sounds
  "How many sounds are in 'shop'?" (three: /sh/ /o/ /p/)
  

• Phoneme deletion: Recognising what word remains when a sound is removed
  "What is 'brain' without the /b/?" (rain)
  

(Adapted from the National Reading Panel Report, 2000)

Final Thoughts

Teaching phonological awareness is much more than playing games and singing rhymes. It is about deliberately building children's ability to hear and manipulate the sounds within words—a critical bridge to reading and spelling success.

By using research-based strategies and understanding the developmental progression of phonological skills, educators can better support all pupils, especially those at risk for reading difficulties, and help lay the groundwork for lifelong literacy success.

References

Brady, S. (2020). A 2020 perspective on research findings on alphabetics (phoneme awareness and phonics): Implications for instruction. The Reading League Journal, 1 (3), 20-28. https://www.thereadingleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Brady-Expanded-Version-of-Alphabetics-TRLJ.pdf

Kung, K. (2020). Phonological awareness: A guidebook for parents. Western University. Retrieved from https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/lwm/teaching/dld2_2020_21/Kung_dld2.pdf

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching Children to Read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. US. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

Neilson, R. (2023) Phonemic Awareness. In Wheldall, K., Wheldall, R., Buckingham, J (Eds.). Effective Instruction in Reading and Spelling (pp. 98-125). MRU Press.