Which term describes a type of phonological awareness that focuses on the sounds in a language?

• A. a vowel pair
• B. a consonant cluster that makes only one sound (sh, ch, th, wh, ph)
• C. a syllable
• D. a type of phonological awareness that focuses on the sounds in a language

Answer: (D)

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and work with the sounds of spoken language. This question asks for the term that names a type of that awareness that focuses on the sounds themselves. The option that describes this concept is the one that defines phonological awareness as focusing on the sounds in a language—that is, recognizing and manipulating sounds such as rhymes, syllables, and phonemes without regard to letters or meaning. The other options name specific sound units (like vowel pairs or digraphs) or a syllable, which are parts of language, not the general skill of attending to sounds.