Phonological awareness is defined as the ability to:

Phonological awareness is fundamentally about the ability to discern and manipulate the sound structures of language. This includes a range of skills, such as recognizing and working with sounds at the level of words, syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes. For instance, phonological awareness enables individuals to segment sounds in a word, blend sounds to make a word, and manipulate sounds to create new words or rhymes.

This skill is critical for developing reading and writing abilities because it forms the basis for understanding the relationship between sounds and their corresponding letters or letter combinations in written language. Mastery of phonological awareness is a strong predictor of later literacy success, making it an essential focus in early language education and assessment.

The other options, while related to language and literacy in general, do not specifically define phonological awareness. Identifying written words pertains more to visual recognition skills, comprehending vocabulary is about understanding meaning in context, and using grammar correctly deals with the structural aspects of language rather than its sound components.