Which group of students might demonstrate weak phonological awareness skills?

Struggling readers often demonstrate weak phonological awareness skills due to challenges in recognizing and manipulating sounds in spoken language. Phonological awareness is a critical foundational skill for reading, as it involves understanding the sound structure of language, which includes the ability to recognize syllables, onsets, rimes, and individual phonemes.

Students who struggle with reading may not have developed these skills adequately, which can hinder their ability to decode words and comprehend text. Their difficulty with phonological processing can manifest in challenges such as blending sounds, segmenting words into individual sounds, and identifying rhymes. In contrast, advanced readers, average achievers, and gifted students typically possess a stronger grasp of phonological awareness, facilitating their reading development. As a result, it's common to see struggling readers in need of targeted instruction focused on enhancing these specific skills.