The teacher is providing explicit and systematic instruction in which of the following early literacy skills?

Print awareness is the understanding of the forms and functions of written language, such as recognizing that print carries meaning and understanding the organization of text. While important, it does not specifically involve the relationship between letters and sounds, which is the essence of the alphabetic principle.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. While this skill is closely related to the alphabetic principle, it does not encompass the specific teaching of letter-sound relationships, which is the focus of the question regarding explicit and systematic instruction.

Letter knowledge involves recognizing and naming letters as well as understanding their shapes and sounds. Although it supports the alphabetic principle, it does not specifically address the systematic instruction of how letters relate to sounds in spelling and reading, which is central to the alphabetic principle.