Final answer:
Phoneme awareness is about recognizing spoken sounds, whereas phonics teaches how these sounds are transcribed into written symbols. Phonics does not involve memorizing the alphabet but understanding the sound-letter relationship critical for reading and writing. Correct option (d) states phonics as the teaching of how sounds are represented in written form.
Step-by-step explanation:
Phoneme awareness and phonics are indeed related concepts in literacy. Phoneme awareness is the understanding and recognition of different sounds, or phonemes, when they are spoken aloud. This could involve recognizing that the word else contains three distinct sounds. On the other hand, phonics is not about memorizing the alphabet, as that mainly pertains to letter recognition. Rather, phonics is the method of teaching how spoken sounds are represented in written language. This involves understanding the relationship between written letters and the sounds they represent, a critical step in learning to read and write. Phonics instruction helps students learn to decode words by sounding them out and to encode words by writing the sounds they hear.
It's important to differentiate between letters and sounds. Letters are visual symbols that we see, while sounds are auditory experiences we hear. For instance, the English alphabet may use a combination of twenty-six letters to form over 600,000 words. Societal language rules and the English alphabet illustrate that literacy involves not only speech but also written symbols that correlate to these sounds.
Learning disorders such as dyslexia can disrupt the process of connecting letters and sounds, making reading and writing more challenging. Understanding phonemes and the system of phonics is crucial as it provides the foundation for reading and literacy skills.