Which of the following skills does phonological awareness include?

Phonological awareness is a critical skill in early literacy development that involves the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language. This includes skills such as identifying and working with the individual sounds (phonemes) in words, as well as recognizing larger sound units such as syllables and onsets and rimes.

Being able to recognize and manipulate sounds in words is fundamental for learning to read and write because it helps children understand how sounds correlate with letters and words. This skill is often seen as a precursor to phonics instruction, where students learn the relationship between sounds and the letters that represent those sounds in writing.

The other options focus on different areas of literacy and comprehension. Reading comprehension strategies involve understanding and making meaning from text, which relies on skills beyond phonological awareness. Understanding word structures relates more to morphology and the way words are formed, which, while connected, falls outside the specific realm of phonological awareness. Applying context clues effectively pertains to reading comprehension and the ability to derive meaning from the surrounding text, again focusing on skills that extend beyond mere sound manipulation.