What is the primary focus of phonemic awareness in reading instruction?

Phonemic awareness is a fundamental skill in reading instruction that emphasizes the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds, or phonemes, within spoken words. This skill is crucial for developing literacy because it lays the groundwork for understanding how sounds correspond to letters and how they combine to form words.

When students are proficient in phonemic awareness, they can segment words into their individual sounds, blend phonemes to form words, and manipulate sounds within words (such as substituting or deleting sounds). Mastery of these skills is essential for successful reading development, as it directly influences their ability to decode new words, which is a foundational skill for emerging readers.

The other choices focus on different aspects of reading and literacy that, while important, are not the core focus of phonemic awareness. For example, reading speed and accuracy relate more to fluency; recognizing sight words pertains to vocabulary and comprehension; and summarizing a text is related to higher-level comprehension and critical thinking skills. Thus, identifying the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words as the central focus of phonemic awareness captures the essence of this vital reading instruction component.