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