In all my years of teaching early learners to read, I find it is easier for children to catch onto reading when their response to identifying a letter is the letter sound rather than the letter name. When they initially identify a sound with the name it takes them longer to remember the sound and thus, longer to decode a word.

1. Reading is about connecting sounds to letters

When children learn to read, they must understand that letters represent sounds.

• For example, the word cat has three sounds: /k/ /a/ /t/.

• Recognizing those sounds helps children match them to the letters c, a, and t.
  Without that sound awareness, letters truly are just random shapes on a page.

• Writing represents sounds — so children must hear them first

  Writing (or spelling) is a visual record of sounds.
  If a child can’t hear that dog has three sounds — /d/ /o/ /g/ — they won’t know what letters to use.
  Phonemic awareness gives children the mental map of spoken sounds that writing later represents on paper.

2. Phonemic awareness builds decoding skills

Children who can hear, separate, and blend sounds can then “sound out” unfamiliar words.

• If they can hear that /s/ + /a/ + /t/ makes sat, they can apply that same pattern to mat, bat, and hat.
  This is what allows them to become independent readers rather than guessing based on pictures or context.

  Before they can write, children need to practice stretching and isolating sounds in spoken words:

  “What sounds do you hear in ‘sun’? /s/… /u/… /n/.”
  Once they can identify each sound, then they can begin matching them to letters and writing them down.

  Without this step, writing becomes memorization or guesswork.

• Letters have no meaning without sound connections.
• If you teach a child to write letters before they understand sounds, they may form the letters correctly but not know why those letters matter.
  Phonemic awareness gives each letter a purpose — it becomes a tool to represent the sounds they already know

3. It strengthens spelling and writing

When children can hear individual sounds, they can also spell words more accurately.

• They can stretch out a word like dog and write the letters that match each sound: /d/ /o/ /g/.
  This connection between hearing, saying, and writing words builds strong literacy skills in both directions.

• Phonemic awareness makes writing logical, not frustrating. 

  When children can break words into parts they recognize by ear, they experience success early on:

  “Oh, /m/ is for mmm, like in mom!”
  That logical connection prevents the frustration that often comes when kids are asked to write before they truly understand the sound system.

4. It supports memory and fluency

Strong phonemic awareness leads to better encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading).
Both skills rely on hearing and manipulating sounds — the only difference is direction:

• Reading = letters → sounds

• Writing = sounds → letters

So, hearing the sounds must come first for writing to make sense.

Children who can easily recognize and manipulate sounds can store and retrieve words more quickly when reading, also.  In my experience, most children who know their letter name first, can learn the sound and sort out sounds when blending. For some, however, it is a stumbling block to them. It takes them longer to retrieve the sound when the letter name is their default. But either way, being able to identify the sounds leads to smoother, faster reading — and better comprehension later on.

5. It makes reading feel logical and possible

When kids realize they can “crack the code” by hearing sounds and connecting them to letters, reading suddenly makes sense!
They feel confident and motivated because it’s no longer memorization — it’s a system they can master.

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Key references— phonemic awareness → writing/reading

1. Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Willows, D. M., Schuster, B. V., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel’s meta-analysis. Reading Research Quarterly, 36(3), 250–287.
   — Meta-analytic evidence that phonemic awareness instruction improves reading and supports spelling. ILA

2. National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
   — Landmark government synthesis that identifies phonemic awareness and phonics as evidence-based components of early reading instruction. www1.nichd.nih.gov+1

3. Hulme, C., Bowyer-Crane, C., Carroll, J. M., Duff, F. J., & Snowling, M. J. (2012). The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning to read: Combining intervention studies with mediation analyses. Psychological Science, 23(6), 572–577.
   — Strong experimental/intervention evidence that phoneme awareness (together with letter-sound knowledge) causally contributes to reading acquisition. SAGE Journals+1

4. Hatcher, P. J., Hulme, C., & Ellis, A. W. (1994). Ameliorating early reading failure by integrating the teaching of reading and phonological skills: The phonological linkage hypothesis. Child Development, 65(1), 41–57.
   — Intervention study showing integrated phonological/reading teaching improves decoding and spelling for struggling beginners. Pure York+1

5. Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., & Rashotte, C. A. (1994). Longitudinal studies of phonological processing and reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27(5), 276–286.
   — Longitudinal evidence that early phonological processing predicts later reading and spelling outcomes. PubMed

6. Hogan, T. P., Catts, H. W., & Little, T. D. (2005). The relationship between phonological awareness and reading: A longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology. (See: longitudinal predictive analyses linking early PA to later word reading and spelling.) PMC

7. Furnes, B., & Samuelsson, S. (2011). Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming: Predictors of early reading and spelling across orthographies. Journal of Educational Psychology.
   — Cross-linguistic evidence showing PA predicts both reading and spelling development across alphabetic orthographies. PMC

8. Snowling, M. J., & Hulme, C. (2012). Interventions for children’s language and literacy difficulties. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders / Review.
   — Review summarizing intervention evidence that phonological training reduces reading/spelling difficulties when delivered early. PMC

9. Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling, and vocabulary learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21.
   — Theory paper showing phoneme–grapheme connections (rooted in phonemic awareness) underlie orthographic mapping (sight word and spelling development). Joyner Library

10. Tijms, J. (2020). Improvements in reading and spelling skills after phonological training: Evidence and mechanisms. Annals of Dyslexia / Literacy Journal.
    — Recent evidence reviews that phonological/PA training yields gains in both reading and spelling in alphabetic systems. Taylor & Francis Online

11. Reading Rockets / Moats & Tolman. (practitioner summary) Why phonological awareness is important for reading and spelling. Reading Rockets.
    — Concise practitioner summary of research linking PA deficits to later spelling/reading problems (useful for parent/teacher explanations). Reading Rockets

12. International Literacy Association. (2019). Phonological awareness in early childhood literacy development: A position statement and research brief. International Literacy Association.
    — Professional association statement synthesizing research and instruction guidelines for phonological awareness as foundational for reading and spelling. Literacy Worldwide

🎵 Easy Classroom or Home Activities

1. Sound Isolation – Say a word and ask,

   “What sound do you hear at the beginning of sun?”
   Start with beginning sounds, then move to ending and middle sounds.

2. Rhyming Games – Read rhyming books or play “Do these rhyme?”
   This strengthens awareness of sound patterns.

3. Sound Blending – Say sounds slowly:

   “/c/… /a/… /t/ — what’s the word?”
   Children blend to say cat.

4. Sound Segmenting – Have kids stretch out words:

   “Tell me the sounds in dog.” (/d/ /o/ /g/)
   Use counters or blocks to push one for each sound.

5. Elkonin (Sound) Boxes – Draw three boxes on paper.
   Say a word like map and have the child place a small marker in each box for /m/, /a/, /p/.
   Later, replace the markers with letters.

Takeaway for Teachers & Parents

Phonemic awareness is the bridge between hearing and writing.
Children who can listen for, separate, and blend sounds are ready to connect those sounds to letters.
Once they have that foundation, reading and writing no longer feel like memorization — they become meaningful, logical, and fun.