What is the distinction between phonemic awareness and phonetics?

The main distinction between phonemic awareness and phonetics lies in their focus and scope:

Phonemic awareness is a cognitive skill that involves recognizing and manipulating the individual phonemes (sounds) in spoken words. It is primarily concerned with the understanding and manipulation of sounds within the phonological system of a language. Phonemic awareness is crucial for developing reading and spelling abilities, as it helps learners understand the relationships between sounds and letters in written language.

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds, including their production, transmission, and perception. It examines the articulatory mechanisms involved in producing speech sounds, the acoustic properties of speech waves, and the auditory perception of speech sounds by listeners. Unlike phonemic awareness, phonetics is concerned with the detailed analysis of speech sounds themselves, regardless of their linguistic function or meaning. It provides a scientific understanding of how speech sounds are produced and perceived by humans.