The terms listed on this page are found throughout this website and/or are terms you will likely encounter in further studies of literacy instruction. The definitions below come primarily from Reading and Learning to Read 8th ed., Vacca etc. al.

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Affix: a morpheme placed at the beginning or end of a word which modifies its meaning; prefixes and suffixes.

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Automaticity: the automatic recognition and understanding of written text. Does not imply reading with expression.

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Consonant: all letters of the alphabet wih the exception of A, E, I, O, U; Y is a consonant when at the beginning of a word; W is sometimes a vowel.

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Consonant Blend: 2 or more consonants grouped together in a word where each retains its original sound.

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Consonant Digraph: 2 or more consonants together in a word which produce a new sound.

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Decoding: the conscious or automatic processing and translating of printed word into speech; reading.

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Encoding: the use of phonemic awareness and phonics skills to translate spoken word into print; spelling.

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ELL: English Language Learner; a student whose first language is not English and may require special or additional instruction.

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Explicit Instruction: an approach to teaching that is teacher-centered and direct.

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Grapheme: the smallest unit of written language; letters.

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Morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit of a word.

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Onset: the initial part of a word (a consonant, consonant blend, or digraph) that precedes the vowel.

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Phoneme: the smallest unit or oral language.

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Prosody: reading with proper expression.

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Rime: the part of the letter pattern in a word that includes the vowel and any consonants that follow; also called phonograms.

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Vowel: A, E, I, O, U; Y and W can be vowels depending on their placement in a word. Each vowel has at least two sounds (long and short).

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Vowel Digraph: 2 or more vowels together in a word which produce a new sound.

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Vowel Dipthong: 2 or more vowels together in a word where each vowel retains its own sound.