ABSTRACT
Phonological awareness (PA) is a sensitivity to the sounds and sound patterns of language. PA can be measured and can help form accurate predictions about reading ability. PA is the ability to perceive and manipulate the word parts: syllables, onsets, rimes and phonemes. A syllable is a word or part of a word that can be made with one impulse of the voice. Syllables are beats, clusters of sounds with vowels as their nucleus and consonants gathered around them. The rime is the part of the syllable containing the vowel sound and any consonants afterwards. PA is knowledge of many different aspects of speech sounds, whereas phonemic awareness solely addresses the smallest units of sound. When reading and writing, the requirements of memory and processing speed are high, and in the case of low PA, perceiving, ordering, numbering and differentiating sounds in words can be tough and thankless.
