701-707
Phonetic & Structural Analysis Terms - Alphabetical
Terms
Affixes
Alphabetic Principle
Antonym
Automaticity
Base Word
Blending
Consonants
Chunking
Concepts About Print/
Conventions of Print
Context Clue
Cueing System
Decodable Text
Decoding
Elkonin boxes
Emergent Literacy
Grapheme
Graphophonics (Phonics)
Definition
A general term that refers to prefixes and suffixes.
Prefixes: A morpheme that precedes a root and that contributes to or
modifies te meaning of a word as re-in reprint.
Suffixes: An affix attached to the end of a base, root, or stem that
changes the meaning or grammatical function of the word, as-en in oxen.
The understanding that spelling represents words by relating written
letters to spoken phonemes.
A word opposite in meaning to another word. sad and happy
Reading without conscious effort or attention to decoding.
A unit of meaning that can stand alone as a whole word (e.g. friend pig).
Also called a free morpheme.
The task of combining sounds rapidly;, to accurately represent the word.
All letters except the vowels. Rank order of based on their utility in
words is: s, t, m, f, r, b, l, c, h, p, p, w, n, d, g, j, k, v, z, x, y, q
Consonant blends: Two or three consonant letters that appear together
but each letter retains its own sound. The three categories are L blends,
R blends and S blends.
Consonant digraphs: Two consonant letters that commonly appear
together, but do not retain their own individual sounds. They produce a
new sound and are counted as one phoneme. Examples: ch-, sh-, ph-, -ng
A decoding strategy for breaking words into manageable parts (e.g.,
yes/ter/day). Chunking also refers to the process of dividing a sentence
into smaller phrases where pauses might occur naturally,
An understanding of the layout of books, the relative roles of print and
pictures, reading left to right, spaces between words, punctuation..
Using words or sentences around an unfamiliar word to help clarify its
meaning.
Semantic: The study of the meaning in language; the analysis of the
meanings of words, phrases, sentences. Does it make sense?
Syntactic: The pattern or structure of word order in sentences, clauses
and phrases; the grammatical rules that govern sentences, Sentences have
to follow certain structural rules in order to make sense. Cueing question:
Does it sound right?
Visual: Does it look right?
Text in which a high proportion of words (80%-90%) comprise soundsymbol relationships that have been taught.
The ability to translate a word form print to speech, usually by
employing knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences; also the act of
deciphering a new word by sounding it out.
A framework used during phonemic awareness instruction. Elkonin
boxes are sometimes referred to as sound boxes. When working with
words, the teacher an draw one box per sound for a target word. Students
push a marker into one box to segment each sound in the word.
A period in children’s learning to read and write that begins when
children first notice print and wonder what people are doing with it. An
emergent reader is developing an association of print with meaning –the
early stages of learning to read.
A letter or letter combination that spells a phoneme; can be one, two,
three or four letters in English (e.g., e, ei, igh, eigh).
Knowledge of the relationships between letters and phonemes.
Homograph
Invented Spelling
Letter Recognition
Letter-Sound
Correspondence
Miscue
Morpheme
Orthography
Phoneme
Phonemic Awareness
Phonogram
Phonological Awareness
Phonics
Onset & Rime
Reading Cue System
Reversals
Rhyming
Scaffolding
Schwa
Self Monitoring
Sight Words
Words that are spelled the same but have different origins and meanings.
They may or may not be pronounced the same (e.g. can as in a metal
container/can as in able to)
An attempt by beginning writers to spell a word when the standard
spelling is unknown, using whatever knowledge of sounds or visual
patterns the write has.
The identification of individual letters by name and/or sound in a variety
of contexts.
Making a connection between individual letters by name and/or sound in
a variety of contexts.
Any substitution of a word in a text that a reader makes.
Miscue Analysis: An examination of reading errors or substitutions
(miscues) as the basis for determining the strengths and weaknesses of
students’ reading skills.
Smallest meaningful unit of language
Morphemic Analysis: An analysis of words formed by adding prefixes,
suffixes or other meaningful word units to a base word.
Morphology: The system of meaningful parts from which words may be
created.
A writing system for representing language.
The smallest part of spoken language that makes a difference in spoken
words. English has about 44 sounds or phonemes represented by
consonant and vowel sounds.
The ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds
(phonemes) in spoken words.
A succession of letters that represent the same phonological unit in
different words such as igh in high, sigh, tight, might.
A broad term that includes phonemic awareness. In addition to
phonemes, phonological awareness activities an involve work with
rhymes, words, syllables, and onsets and rimes.
The study of the relationships between letters and the sounds they
represent; also used to describe reading instruction that teaches soundsymbol correspondences.
In a syllable, the onset is the initial consonant or consonants, and the
rime is the vowel and any consonants that follow it (e.g., the word sat,
the onset is s and the rime is at.)
Graphophonic or Visual: Referring to the relationship between the
letters and the letter sounds of a language. Cueing Question: Does it look
right?
Syntactic or Structure: Grammatical Patterns and Language Structures
Cueing Question: Does it sound right?
Semantic or Meaning: Cueing Question: Does it make sense?
The result of reversing the order of letters in a word (tap/pat), or
confusing similar letters such as d-b, or writing letters backwards. Not
uncommon with Emergent readers and writers.
Words that have the same ending sound. dog and log.
An instructional technique in which the teacher models the desired
learning strategy or task then gradually shifts responsibility to the
student.
The vowel sound in the unaccented syllable that always makes the same
sound. For example: the uh sound in the 2nd syllable in tu lip
Paying attention to one’s own reading process while reading, and taking
steps to reread or make corrections as needed to make sense of the text.
A bank of words that are stored in our memory and are instantly
(High Frequency Words)
Structural Analysis
Syllable
Synonym
Systematic Instruction
Vowels
recognized.
A procedure for teaching students to read words formed with prefixes,
suffixes, or other meaningful word parts.
A segment of a word that contains one vowel sound. The vowel may or
may not be preceded and/or followed by a consonant.
Words that have similar meanings such as sadness and grief.
A carefully planned sequence for instruction. Instruction is clearly linked
within, as well as across the five components (Phonemic awareness,
phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension)
The vowels are a, e, i, o and u. The consonants w and y often act as
vowels as in the words show, fly, and happy.
Short Vowels: The vowel patterns that represent the short sound are:
VC at, Ed, it, ox, up & CVC cat, can, in
Long Vowels: The vowel patterns that represent the long sound are:
CV go. CVCe ice & use. CVVC mean,
Vowel Digraphs: Pairs of vowels representing a single sound.
Examples: /ea/ in heat. This is the CVVC rule. The rule says: Two
vowels together in a word or syllable, the first vowel says its name and
the second vowel is silent (load, blue)
Vowel Diphthongs: Vowel combination that begins with one sound and
moves to another sound in the same syllable or only make one sound.
oo= cook, book, /au/=haul, /aw/=saw, /ew/=new.
Controlled Vowels: r-controlled vowels: When a vowel is followed by
an r, often the sound is neither long nor short but called r-controlled
vowel. Examples: ar (star), er (covre), ir (circus), or (for), and ur (fur)
Schwa: The vowel sound in the unaccented syllable that always makes
the same sound. Examples: a (a go), e (a gent), i (tu lip)