Phonemic awareness falls under the umbrella of phonological awareness, a broader term that refers to an understanding of the different ways that spoken language can be broken down into smaller units—sentences into words, words into syllables, syllables into individual sounds. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that words can be broken apart into individual sounds (phonemes). Phonemic awareness skills involve manipulating phonemes in spoken language. It is important to note that phonemic awareness is an auditory skill; that is, children do not need to know letter shapes and letter names in order to develop basic phonemic awareness.
Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of future reading and spelling success. Research shows that children who enter kindergarten with strong phonemic awareness learn to read quicker than their peers without these skills. Experts maintain that as children develop an understanding of the sounds represented by letter symbols, phonemic awareness and phonics skills should be practiced simultaneously.
Resources
The Development of Phonological Skills
Why Phoneme Proficiency Is Necessary For All Readers- Webinar by Dr. David Kilpatrick
