Which literacy skill is developed by activities that require identifying sounds shared by different words?

• A. Phonemic Awareness
• B. Phonics Instruction
• C. Vocabulary Development
• D. Fluency

Answer: (A)

Identifying sounds shared by different words builds phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and work with the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken language. When students notice that different words share the same sound, such as the initial /s/ in sun and sand, they’re practicing recognizing and isolating phonemes without looking at letters. This auditory skill lays the groundwork for decoding and spelling later on, because it helps students understand that words are made up of distinct sounds. Phonics, by contrast, connects those sounds to written letters; vocabulary development focuses on word meanings; fluency is about reading smoothly with pace and expression.