Demonstrate your understanding of the concept phonological awareness. (5) ?

Phonological awareness refers to the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of language. This includes being able to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words, as well as understand the relationships between sounds and letters. Phonological awareness is a crucial skill for developing reading and writing abilities, as it helps individuals understand the sound structure of language and how it relates to written words. Activities that promote phonological awareness include rhyming games, segmenting and blending sounds in words, and identifying beginning and ending sounds in words. By developing phonological awareness, individuals can improve their literacy skills and become more proficient readers and writers.

1. Segmentation: Ability to identify and isolate individual speech sounds (phonemes) in words.

- Example: Breaking up the word "cat" into the sounds /k/, /a/, and /t/.

2. Blending: Combining individual speech sounds to form words.

- Example: Combining the sounds /m/, /a/, /n/ to produce the word "man."

3. Rhyming: Recognizing words that share the same ending sounds.

- Example: Identifying that "cat" and "hat" rhyme.

4. Deleting: Understanding that removing a sound from a word changes the word's meaning.

- Example: Removing the /s/ sound from "stop" to form "top."

5. Substituting: Knowing that replacing one sound with another sound changes the word's meaning.

- Example: Substituting the /p/ sound with the /b/ sound in "pit" to form "bit."