Glossary of Literacy Terms

Accuracy

The ability to correctly recognize words.

Active Learning

Active learning provides the opportunity for students to read, write, speak, listen and reflect while completing a task.  This is accomplished through activities such as: role playing, case studies, simulations, discussions and other activities.  When students become actively engaged in the learning process, learning is enhanced.

Alliteration

The same consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a sentence or line of poetry.  For example: “Sally sells shells by the seashore.”

Alphabetic (letter) knowledge

Knowing the names and shapes of the letters.

Alphabetic principle

The knowledge that written letters represent sounds.

Authentic materials

Print that is used in daily life (e.g., books, magazines, catalogues,  signs, newspapers) for the purpose of gaining information or for enjoyment; are not written to teach reading. 

Author’s chair

A learner sits in a special chair  (the author’s chair) and reads a piece of personal writing to the group. The author tells what the purpose for writing is and tells anything else that the listener should know about the piece.  The listeners tell the author what they liked about the piece and offer suggestions for revision to make the piece more clear.

Automaticity

Bringing information to mind with little or no effort because the skill or understanding is so well known.

Basal

A basal reading program is a sequentially arranged series of student texts, workbooks, supplemental materials and a teacher’s manual which includes a scope and sequence of skills, lesson plans, and assessments.

Big idea

The overarching theme, message, or author’s thesis in a piece of text.

Background knowledge and vocabulary

Experiences that allow a person to have the knowledge and words to comprehend the meaning.

Basal

A teaching manual that usually consists of a collection of literature that is used by educators for the instruction of reading.

Big book

Oversized books that allow for the sharing of print and illustrations with a group of children.

Blend

A consonant sequence before or after a vowel within a syllable: “bl, cl, tr.”

Blending (phonemic blending)

Putting sounds together to make spoken words.

Choral reading

Students read aloud together with the teacher using the same text.  Texts should be short.  Predictable or pattern books are useful for choral reading because of their repetitious style.  

Coach

Provide support, gives suggestions, provide examples, and constructive criticism. 

Cognitive development

The development of knowledge and skills that allow children to understand and think about the world around them.

Comprehension

The ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read.

Context clues

Hints about the meaning of an unknown word that are provided in words, phrases, and sentences that surround the word. Context clues may include definitions, synonyms, examples, restatements, or descriptions.

Conventions of print

The understanding of how print works i.e.,  print is read from left to right, and top to bottom; white space separates words, use of punctuation, etc.

Cooperative learning

Students work together in small groups on a clearly defined task.  Students help each other as the teacher guides and clarify the task as needed.

Curriculum

A set of intended learning outcomes based on child and adult learning theory as well as program standards.

Decodable books (text)

Books that are make up of words that contain only the letter-sound relationships that the children are learning, along with a few words that are taught as sight words.  (The cat sat on the mat.)

Decoding

The ability to translate a word from print to speech, usually by applying the knowledge of sound-symbol relationships.

Developmental (invented) spelling

Spellings which result from a beginning writer’s initial attempts to associate sounds with letters.  As children advance in literacy, their spelling becomes increasingly characterized by more complete understandings about the organizational patterns of words.  Spelling develops from pre-phonemic to conventional spelling over time and with good instruction.

Dialect

A language variation: a culturally based speech pattern that varies from the standard form used in written works.

Dialogic reading

An interactive method of teaching in which an adult engages a learner with a story through the use of prompts and questioning.

Direct instruction

A structured, systematic lesson focused on a specific skill.

Directionality

The concept that English print is read form left to right, top to bottom, and from the left page to the right page.

Echo reading

One reader (usually teacher) reads a passage and the students recite the same passage.  Strategy helps to build fluency;  usually used with poetry, nursery rhymes, and short patterned texts.

Emergent Literacy

The view that literacy learning begins at birth and is encouraged through participation with adults in meaningful reading and writing activities. A child’s pretense of reading before being able to read fluently and conventionally which  shows the child’s interest and motivation in learning to read.

Engage

To actively involve the learner in literacy experiences.

Environmental print

Print that is a part of everyday life, such as signs, labels, and logos.

Experimental writing

Efforts by young children to develop writing skills through experiences, such as scribbling.

Extended conversation

Discussion or dialogue in which two or more people have a give and take exchange

Explicit instruction

Instruction which is provided in a direct, structured, sequential and systematic method.

Expository text

An informational book, based upon facts.

Expressive language

The use and knowledge of words in spoken language.

Family literacy

The different ways in which family members initiate and use literacy in their daily lives.  Family literacy programs generally emphasize adult literacy skills, early reading activities, parent-child activity time and parenting skills.

Fiction

A story created using the imagination of the author which may include real characters or events.

Figurative language

The use of words in an uncommon way to create an image, for example, “Fog comes in on little cat’s feet.”

Fluency

The ability to automatically read text accurately, quickly, and with expression and comprehension.

Functional print

Print for a specific purpose, e.g., signs, directions, lists, and messages.

Genre

Different forms of literature including picture books, folk tales, myth, poetry,

biography, fantasy, fiction, and non fiction books.

Grapheme

A letter or letter combination that represents a single (sound) phoneme, for example: “e”, “ei”, “igh” or “eigh”.

Graphic organizer

A visual representation that organizes the relationship of ideas in a text.

Guided reading

An instructional technique that enable teachers work with small groups of students as they read the same book assigned by the teacher with the goal of teaching reading strategies and allowing children time to practice strategies.

Idiomatic language

An expression unique to a language which can’t be understood from the meanings of the individual words, for example, “out of the blue.”

Informal assessment

A non-standardized measurement by which a teacher gauges what a child is able to do in various areas of literacy - such as observation. 

Informational text

see non fiction

Instructional reading level

The level at which the reader is challenged but still able to learn new material with the assistance of a teacher.

Interactive writing

   The process in which the child dictates to the teacher what they want to say and the teacher writes it down slowly, verbally stretching each word so that the child can distinguish sounds and letters.  Also known as shared writing.

Irregular words

Words that don’t follow the letter-sound relationship rules. 

Jigsaw reading

A group of students are assigned to read a short section from a longer passage, article, or book.  After the read their section, they summarize the information and with share it with the group.  This is useful when there is a limited amount of time and a lot of information/reading that needs to be completed.

K-W-L

A strategy that enhances children’s comprehension:  What they know, what they want to know and what they learned. 

Learning logs

Use of journals to record information that they are learning or to reflect upon text, or to generate questions.  Students who write down their thoughts are able to clarify and gain insights and perspectives from the text.

Level

An assessment of difficulty based on a formula which may take into account factors such as length of sentence, number of syllables,  and difficulty of vocabulary.

Leveled reader

A published books developed at a specified readability level. 

Literary genre

see genre

Literary text

Text which meets an accepted standard of excellence;  literature which has multiple layers of meaning.

Literacy

Includes all the activities involved in speaking, listening, reading, writing, viewing, representing and appreciating both spoken and written language.

Literature-based program

A reading program which emphasizes reading and writing. Letter-sound relationships are taught as they appear in student reading materials which are often drawn from authentic children’s literature.

Literature circle

A small discussion group of readers meet together to discuss a piece that they have all read.  A teacher poses open-ended questions and learners share their ideas and personal interpretations, and pose additional questions about what they have read.

Locomotive reading

Locomotive reading allows for students to practice reading fluently using a selected text, ask the students in a small group to read one sentence after the other, each student taking a turn reading a sentence aloud.  As one student finishes a sentence, the next student begins the following sentence.

Mental image

A picture in the mind which reflects what the individual thinks something may look like; imagination at work. 

Metacognition

Thinking about one’s thinking.

Metaphor

A word or phrase denoting one idea which is used to convey another idea, e.g.,  “drowning in money.”

Mnemonic device

Mnemonic devices provide students with a method to remember and retain information, e.g., using the first letter of each item in a list to be remembered.

Monitoring

Keeping track of how well a learner is able to understand and complete a task, often accomplished by observing, questioning and keeping written records.

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of language.

Morphology

The aspects of language structure related to the ways words are formed from prefixes, roots, and suffixes (un-divid-ed) and are related to each other.

Motivation

The intrinsic desire to read; having a positive attitude toward reading and a  personal goal of becoming a more proficient reader.

Multiple layers of meaning

Ideas within a text which can be interpreted on different levels depending on the experience of the reader.

Non fiction

Text which conveys factual information about a topic.

Onset

All sounds of a word which come before the first vowel, for example: “cat”, “c” is the onset..

Open-ended questions

Questions that are designed to elicit multiple word response as opposed to one word response: for example, “How would you ....? ” instead of  “What color are Billy’s pants?”

Paired reading

Two learners sit and read aloud together.  One reader should be a more effective reader as to model good reading.

Phonemes

The smallest parts of spoken language that combine to form words.  For example, the word “big” has three phonemes (/b/, /i/, /g/)

Phonemic awareness

The ability to hear, identify and manipulate sounds in spoken words.

Phonemic segmentation

The process of separating sounds within a word, for example “cat”, /c/, /a/, /t/.

Phonics

 The relation between letters and sounds in written words or instructional method that teaches children these connections. 

Phonics instruction

Can vary with respect to method.  Synthetic and systematic phonics instruction includes the planned isolation, pronunciation, and blending of individual speech sounds (phonemes) represented by letters and letter groups and usually provides opportunities for children to practice using known sound-symbol associations while reading decodable text.  Embedded phonics and incidental phonics instruction  is characterized by an implicit approach in which teachers do use phonics elements in a planned sequence to guide instruction but instead find opportunities to highlight specific phonics elements when they appear in text.

Phonological awareness

A more inclusive term than phonemic awareness; it refers to the general ability to attend to the sounds of language;  includes rhymes, words, sentences, syllables, and phonemes.

Pragmatics

Refers to the rules and conventions governing expressions to communicate.

Predictable books

Books that  repeat words, sentences, rhymes or other patterns.

Predicting

Using the reader’s background knowledge, text and pictures to think about what has happened in a story to think about what might happen next in the story.

Prefix

A word part such as “un”, “dis” or “pre” that is added to the beginning of a root word that changes the meaning to the root word.  For example: “un” –“happy”  new word unhappy.

Pretend reading

Children engage in “pretend reading” while developing reading skills.  They “read” familiar books or attempt to “read” a book before they have learned to read.

Primary language

The first language a child learns to speak, also known as home or native language.

Print awareness

The knowledge that printed words carry meaning and that reading and writing are ways to get ideas and information.  This is an important first step for children to learn how to read.

Print-rich environment

A setting in which the learner is surrounded by and has access to many different types of print: literary materials, informational texts, authentic materials and environmental print.

Productive conversation

Conversations that gives results, help individuals reach consensus.

Question-answer-relationship (Q-A-R)

A comprehension approach which teaches learners the relationship between the type of question asked and where the answer to the question is found: in one sentence, in a two or more sentences which may not be together, or in the reader’s past knowledge. 

Radio reading

A strategy that encourages students to listen attentively.  The reader reads a selected text/book while others listen.  When the reader is finished reading the text, the reader then summarizes the text and then provides questions to generate discussion.  Questions should include all levels.

Reading

Making sense of print; the process of decoding print with fluency and comprehension

Reader’s theatre

An oral reading/drama technique in which plays are read in parts without memorization, costumes or props. 

Reading level

a) An assessment of text difficulty based on a formula which may take into account factors such as length of sentence, number of syllables, and complexity of vocabulary;  b) The level at which a reader reads. 

Read-Pair-Share

Students independently read a passage/text, think about it and then with a partner discuss the meaning or assigned task for the passage.  Then they share their thoughts with the larger group, thus generating more comments and discussion.

Reads widely

Reads materials from different genres, formats, topics, cultures, authors; and reads for different purposes.

Receptive language

The listening vocabulary and knowledge of spoken words.

Repeated reading

Rereading a book to enable children to become familiar with recurring phrases and other predictable language, gain better understanding of the story, and acquire vocabulary and concept they might not obtain with one reading.

Retelling

The reader shares the sequences of events, characters and other story elements required to demonstrate complete understanding of text with others.

Rime

The first vowel and all the sounds that follow in a word.  For example, “Slug”, /sl/ is the onset, /ug/ is the rime.

Root word

A word or word part to which a prefix or suffix is added. 

Running record

A procedure for assessing reading in which the teacher marks a reader’s miscues on  a copy of the text the reader is reading aloud to determine  strategies the reading is using efficiently or inefficiently.

Rhyme

a)  Two or more corresponding sounds usually at the end of a word, such as play, weigh, say;  b) A verse which is composed of lines that end in a rhyme.  “Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are.”

Scaffolded instruction

Instruction in which the adult builds upon the child’s knowledge and provides support that allows the child to perform more complex tasks.

Segmentation

Taking spoken words apart sound by sound

Semantics

Refers to the way language conveys meaning.

Shared reading

A technique in which the teacher reads aloud from a Big Book, while children follow along (usually with copies of same text).  Students and teachers interact as the text is being read. 

Sight words (vocabulary)

Words that a reader instantly recognizes without having to sound them out. 

Sight-word program

An approach to reading that begins by teaching children a sight word vocabulary of 50-100 words. After they learn these words, the alphabetic principle is introduced.

Suffix

A word part such as “er”, or “able” that is added to the end of a root word to form a new word with a new meaning.

Student-adult reading

Reading on-on-one with an adult who provides a model of fluent reading; learner reads the same  passage with adult encouragement. The  learner rereads aloud until reading is fluent.

Syllable

A word part that contains a vowel or in spoken language, a vowel sound (cow-boy).

Synthesize

To use information from two or more sources to develop a greater understanding of a topic.

Tape-assisted reading

Learner listens to a story read on tape, following along by pointing to each word.  Learner then reads along with the tape until the student is able to read the book independently without the tape.

Think aloud

To model the thought process used to analyze a task, for example, “When I see a word I don’t know, I read ahead to see if I can figure out what it means.”

Think-Pair-Share

The teacher poses an open-ended question to the group.  Time is given to think independently regarding the question, then students pair with a peer and discuss their thoughts.  After a set period of time, everyone comes back together and discuss and share their thoughts.

Vocabulary

The  words that must be known in order to communicate effectively. 

Oral vocabulary

Refers to words that are used in speaking or recognized in listening. 

Reading vocabulary

Refers to words that are recognized or used in print.

Vocabulary-rich environment

A setting in which a learner hears and sees a variety of words, concepts and figurative language and has frequent opportunities to use these words in speaking, reading and writing.

Word walls

Words are posted on the wall, usually arranged in alphabetically. 

Word recognition

The ability to identify printed words using strategies such as recognition by sight or decoding to figure out their meanings.