Source: Pearson Scott Foresman Reading Street Assessment Handbook

 

 

Reading Terminology

 

 

Phonemic awareness-the ability to identify the separate sounds, or phonemes, that make up spoken words, and to alter and arrange sounds to create new words

 

Phonics-The study of how letters represent sounds in written language

 

Print awareness-Understanding the relationship between oral and written language, that written language carries meaning, and that print is read from left to right

 

Alphabetic knowledge-Knowledge of the shapes, names, and sounds of letters

 

Alphabetic principle-Understanding that there is a systematic relationship between sounds and letters

 

Decoding-The process of analyzing letter-sound patterns in words to ascertain meaning

 

Knowledge of high frequency words-Sometimes called sight words, these are the words that appear most often in our written language

 

Fluency-The ability to effortlessly, quickly, and accurately decode letters, words, sentences, and passages

 

Vocabulary-Acquisition and development of word meanings significantly contribute to overall text comprehension

 

Context clues-Words or phrases surrounding an unknown word helping readers identify its meaning

 

Text comprehension-The overarching goal of reading---the active process of constructing meaning from text. A complex process in which readers apply their prior knowledge and experiences, use their understanding about text (types, structures, features, etc...) and intentionally employ an array of before-,during-, and after- reading strategies and skills in order to attain meaning.

 

Literal questions-Ideas explicitly stated in the text, although not necessarily verbatim

 

Inferential questions-Based on the theme, key concepts, and major ideas of the passage, and often require children to interpret infomation from across parts of the text and to connect knowledge from the text with their own general background knowledge