What does phonological awareness enable a person to do?

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures in spoken language. This skill involves understanding the different components of sounds, such as syllables, onsets, and rimes, as well as the ability to segment or blend these sounds. Being phonologically aware allows an individual to play with sounds, which is crucial for developing reading and spelling skills. For instance, someone with strong phonological awareness can easily identify and manipulate individual phonemes in a word, such as changing the initial sound in "cat" to make "bat." This foundational skill is essential for early literacy development, as it influences a person's capacity to decode words when reading and to encode them when writing.

The other options relate to distinct skills that are not directly tied to phonological awareness. Analyzing written text pertains more to comprehension and critical thinking related to reading, creating written language involves grammar and vocabulary skills, and interpreting visual data is a capability associated with visual literacy, none of which specifically focus on the manipulation of sounds in spoken language.