Glossary of Literacy Terms

  • Automaticity – the ability to recognize words effortlessly (sight words)

    Decoding – the ability to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce

    written words

    Encoding – using individual sounds to build and write words

    Fluency – the ability to read with a rate of speed, accuracy, and expressiveness appropriate to

    the text

    Foundational Reading Skills – include phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension

    Graphemes – letters or letter combinations that represent sounds

    Morphemes – meaningful units of language, such as prefixes, suffixes, and base or root words

    Morphology – the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words

    in the same language

    Phonemes – individual sounds in a word

    Phonemic Awareness – ability to recognize the individual indivisible sounds (phonemes) that

    make up a word

    Phonics – one-to-one letter to sound correspondences that lead to decoding printed words

    Phonological Awareness – understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes)

    Print Concepts – the organization and basic features of print

    Prosody – reading with expression and appropriate intonation

    Reading – drawing meaning from and making meaning of written text

    Reading Comprehension – the ability to understand and make meaning from text

    Standard of Coherence – how much a reader expects to understand and how that connects to

    how much effort they are willing to put forth

    Systematic Phonics – patterns are taught in order

    Vocabulary – the words known or used by a person