Many parents see the word “phonemic” and assume it refers to the activities that beginning students do to associate alphabetic letters to specific sounds. However, phonemic awareness actually means the ability to hear sounds in words and then to manipulate those sounds. It has nothing to do with seeing the letters that make those sounds.
Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? Let me give you an example. The word “pig” has three separate sounds: /p/, /i/, and /g/. Students who hear (not see) the word “pig” and can learn to divide it into its three individual sounds will be at an advantage when they go to actually read or spell that word later on. Likewise, the student who hears three letter sounds /c/, /a/, and /t/ (with a couple of seconds between each sound) and can then blend them together into the word “cat” will be more ready to apply those skills when presented with looking at a string of letters and sounding out a word.
The recent emphasis on the science of reading research states that just developing these auditory skills can have a major impact on a student’s ability to learn to read and spell. In the past, these skills were mainly practiced in kindergarten and the beginning of first grade. Now teachers and tutors are encouraged to continue teaching these skills through the third grade reading level.
Advanced phonemic awareness activities include adding, deleting, and substituting sounds in words to make new words.
I use these activities in my sessions with my reading students. I call it “the listening game.” I combine these skills with phonetic awareness activities that include rhyming words, breaking them into syllables, and playing with alliteration, so that my students have the best chance of becoming strong readers over time.