The study of sound-letter correspondence is called what?

• A. Listening
• B. Alphabetic knowledge
• C. Phonemic awareness
• D. Juncture

Answer: (C)

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the distinct sounds in spoken language. This skill underpins sound-letter correspondence because, to map sounds to written symbols, you first need to notice and work with those sounds. When learners can segment and blend phonemes and then connect them to the letters that represent them, decoding and spelling become possible. Alphabetic knowledge relates more to recognizing the alphabet and knowing typical letter sounds, which is related but not the same as actively analyzing and manipulating phonemes. Juncture refers to a pause or connection between sounds and isn’t about linking sounds to letters. Listening is simply hearing without analyzing the sound structure or its written representation.