NYLA Skills Glossary
Advanced Code
All of the 100+ spellings for sounds that are not part of the basic
code; for example, any spelling for the /ee/ sound besides ‘ee’ is
part of the advanced code.
Alphabet Principle The use of letters and letter combinations to stand for sounds.
English writing is based on the alphabet principle.
Basic Code
The basic code is made up of the most common, or least
ambiguous, spelling for each of the 44 English phonemes, e.g.
‘a’ for /a/, ‘j’ for /j/ ‘ee’ for /ee/, “i_e” for /ie/.
Blending
The process by which separate sounds are combined to make a
word: /m/ . . . /a/ . . . /t/ blended is mat. Blending is an essential
skill for reading an alphabetic language like English.
Code
The English spelling system, in which more than 150 spellings
are used to stand for 44 sounds.
Code Knowledge
A shorthand expression for the portion of the English spelling
code students know at any point in the sequence of instruction,
i.e. the set of letter-sound correspondences they have learned
previously.
Code Overlap
A synonym for the term tricky spelling. This term is used in
Diane McGuinness’ Why Our Children Can’t Read.
Consonant
A sound made partially or momentarily blocking the airflow
through the mouth. The word should, ideally, be used to
describe sounds, not the letters that stand for those sounds: /b/
and /d/ are consonants, the spellings ‘b’ and ‘dd’ are ways of
spelling those consonants.
Consonant
Clusters
A cluster of two or more consonant sounds, spelling with two or
more letters, e.g. ‘cr’ in crash, ‘lch’ in mulch; we prefer this term
to consonant blend. Teachers should understand the difference
between consonant cluster and a digraph.
Continuous
Adjective describing a sound that can be stretched out, like /m/
or /ee/.
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NYLA Skills Glossary
CVC
A word that begins with a consonant, then has a vowel, and then
a consonant, like bat, cat, hat. This code is used somewhat
irregularly in reading instruction; the letters C and V were
originally intended to stand for sounds, regardless of how many
letters are used represent each sound, but they are sometimes
used refer to the individual letters that stand for the sounds. The
word shoot would be considered a CVC word in the first sense,
but a CCVVC word in the second sense. In CKF we use C and V
to stand for sounds (first sense).
(100%) Decodable
Adjective that describes a text in which all of the words in the
text are made up of letter-sound correspondences (spelling
patterns) students have been explicitly taught; occasional tricky
words that may be included in the text, i.e., those which students
would not be able to decode given their present code knowledge
are pre-taught prior to assigning the text. All of the stories in the
readers for NYLA are 100% decodable. That is, before being
asked to read any NYLA text selection, students are taught the
skills they need to decode even brand new, unfamiliar words
they may encounter in the text. The opposite is natural text.
Decoding
The process by which printed letters are translated into sounds
and words. Decoding is the mechanical part of reading.
Demonstration
Story
A story that the teacher reads in front of the class, often used to
model reading of new spellings. Demonstration stories can be
presented using a flip book or slides.
Digraph
Two letters that stand for one sound, e.g. 'ch' standing for /ch/ (a
consonant digraph) or 'oi' standing for /oy/ (a vowel digraph).
Diphthong
A vowel sound in which the mouth position changes from the
beginning of the sound to the end. Diphthongs can be seen as
combinations of two pure vowels, e.g. the /ae/ sound can be
seen as /e/ + /ee/. However, students do not need to be taught
this.
Encoding
The process by which spoken words are translated from sounds
into symbols; writing and spelling are both examples of
encoding; the reverse of decoding.
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NYLA Skills Glossary
Grapheme
A letter or set of letters that stand for a single sound. All of the
following are graphemes: 'i' in it, ''ow' in snow, 'o_e' in note, and
'igh' in sight. For teaching purposes, you may prefer to use the
term, "spelling" as in the spelling 'ou' stands for the sound /ou/.
The ability to recognize graphemes and not just single letters is
a crucial element of reading in English.
Homophones
Two words that are pronounced alike, e.g. pain and pane.
Because English sounds can be spelled several different ways,
the language includes a large number of homophones. (If
sounds could only be spelled one way, then homophones would
be impossible.)
Linguistic
Phonics
Another name for synthetic phonics; phonics which begins with
sounds instead of letter names, focuses on phonemes rather
than larger units like onsets and rimes, and emphasizes
blending and segmenting throughout the word. NYLA is a
linguistics phonics program.
Medial
Adjective used to describe sounds in the middle of a word or
syllable; e.g. in pot, the /o/ sound is medial.
Natural Text
Text that has not been written to avoid spelling patterns students
have not learned. Most children's books are written in natural
text; vocabulary and word length may be controlled but
decodability is not.
Onset
A phonics term that describes the part of a syllable before a
vowel, as opposed to the rime. In shot, 'sh' is the onset and 'ot' is
the rime. In fight, 'f' is the onset and 'ight' is the rime. In ate,
there is no onset, only a rime. Although many words with onsets
and rimes are featured and taught in NYLA, the program uses
phonemes as the basic unit of instruction, not onsets and rimes.
Onsets and rimes are learned as aggregates of phonemes
rather than as minimal decoding and encoding units.
Orthography
A writing system or spelling system; correct writing of words, and
the system by which such writing is accomplished.
Phoneme
The smallest element of sound in spoken language; In NYLA
instruction, is organized around the 44 phonemes of English.
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NYLA Skills Glossary
Phonemic
Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate
individual phonemes or sounds, The following are common
phonemic awareness skills practiced with students:



Phoneme isolation: which requires recognizing the
individual sounds in words, for example, "Tell me the first
sound you hear in the word paste" (/p/).
Phoneme identity: which requires recognizing the
common sound in different words, for example, "Tell me
the sound that is the same in bike, boy and bell" (/b/).
Phoneme substitution: in which one can turn a word (such
as "cat") into another (such as "hat") by substituting one
phoneme (such as /h/) for another (/k/). Phoneme
substitution can take place for initial sounds (cat-hat),
middle sounds (cat-cut) or ending sounds (cat-can).
Phonemic awareness is important for learning to read and write
in English.
Phonemically
Plausible Spelling
A spelling that, while not dictionary or conventionally correct, is a
plausible way of representing a sound or the sounds in a word.
For example, stane is a phonemically plausible spelling of stain,
and should not be considered wrong or penalized until students
have been taught the 'ai' spelling alternative and had time to
master it. Note that accepting phonemically plausible spelling
does not mean accepting any invented spelling the child
supplies. The spellings student supply should be phonemically
plausible to the extent that their code knowledge allows them to
achieve that goal.
Phonics
Any system of teaching the relationships between letters and
sounds (grapheme-phoneme correspondences). In the U.S.
phonics is usually taught from letters to sounds; by contrast,
NYLA teaches from sounds to letters.
R-Controlled
Vowels
The vowel sounds /ar/ as in car, /or/ as in for, and /er/ as in her
are taught as diphthongs in NYLA because the vowel sound is
colored by the /r/ sound in such a way that they are experienced
more as a unit than as two separate sounds. The sound /ar/ is
not the same as /a/ + /r/. Some linguists would extend this
principle to include /eer/ as in ear and /air/ as in air. However,
each of these is treated as two distinct phonemes in NYLA (ear
= /ee/ + r/; air = /ae/ + /r/).
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NYLA Skills Glossary
Rime
The back half of a syllable, including the letters that stand for a
vowel and any letters that stand for subsequent consonants. In
shot, 'sh' is the onset and 'ot' is the rime. In fight, 'f' is the onset
and 'ight' is the rime. In ate, there is no onset, only a rime.
Although many words with onsets and rimes are featured and
taught in NYLA, the program uses phonemes as the basic unit of
instruction, not onsets and rimes. Onsets and rimes are learned
as aggregates of phonemes rather than as minimal decoding
and encoding units.
Segmenting
The process by which a spoken word is broken into its
component sounds. Segmenting is an essential skill in English
spelling and writing.
Sight Word
An ambiguous but widely used term; it may refer either to a word
that students have read many times and recognize automatically
or to a word that is irregular and cannot be accurately sounded
out by blending. The term is not used in NYLA; see tricky word
below.
Silent ‘e’
A way of explaining the role of the letter 'e' in words like name
and note.
Silent Letters
Letters that do not stand for or do not "say" any sound; NYLA
discourages the use of this term. Instead of saying that the 'e' in
note is silent, we encourage teachers to say that the 'o' and the
'e' are working together to stand for the /oe/ sound.
Sound-to-Symbol
Orientation
Adjective describing phonics programs that begin with sounds
and then attach those sounds to letters; NYLA has a sound-tosymbol orientation.
Spelling
This word is used in two senses in NYLA. It is used in the
conventional sense to mean the general process by which
sounds and words are written down. It is also used as a
synonym for grapheme, e.g. 'ee', 'ea', 'y' and 'ey' are all spellings
for the /ee/ sound.
Spelling
Alternative
Any way to write a sound besides the basic code spelling. The
basic code spelling for /ee/ is 'ee' as in bee”, the 'y' as in funny,
'e' as in be, and 'ey' as in key are all spelling alternatives.
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NYLA Skills Glossary
Stop
A consonant sound that is made by stopping the flow of air
through the mouth, e.g. /p/ or /b/.
Syllable
A part of a word containing one and only one vowel sound; to
count the syllables in a word, place your hand beneath your chin
and feel how many time your chin drops. Each chin drop means
the mouth is opening to make a vowel sound.
Symbol-to-Sound
Orientation
Adjective describing phonics programs that begin with letters
and then move to the sounds that those letters "say." Most
phonics programs in the U.S. have a symbol-to-sound
orientation.
Synthetic Phonics
A synonym for linguistic phonics; this term is popular in the U.K.
Tricky Sound
A sound that can be spelled several different ways. For example
the /ee/ sound can be spelled 'ee' as in bee, 'e' as in me, 'ey' as
in key, 'y' as in tricky, etc.
Tricky Spelling
A spelling (or grapheme) that can be sounded and read more
than one way. For example, the 'ow' spelling can be sounded
/ou/ as in now or /oe/ as in snow.
Tricky Word
A word that can not be pronounced accurately using the code
knowledge taught up to that point in the program and normal
blending procedures.
Unvoiced
See voiceless.
Voiced
Adjective describing sounds which are made with the voicebox
buzzing, e.g. /z/ and /v/.
Voiceless
Adjective describing sounds which are made with the voicebox
not buzzing, e.g. /s/ and /f/.
Vowel
A sound made with an open mouth. The word should, ideally, be
used to describe sounds, not the letters that stand for those
sounds; /a/ and /oe/ are vowels the spellings 'a' and 'o' are ways
of spelling those vowels.
Vowel team
A synonym for a vowel digraph like 'ee' in seem.
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NYLA Skills Glossary
Whole Language
A theory of reading acquisition that holds that students will learn
the code naturally, through exposure, with little or no explicit and
systematic teaching of grapheme-phoneme correspondences;
field results suggest many students fail to learn to read when
whole language methods are used.
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