enhancing phonological awareness print awareness flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to phonological awareness, print awareness, and oral language as discussed in the preschool literacy article.

Phonological awareness

Sensitivity to the sound structure of spoken language, from large units (words, syllables) to small units (phonemes); foundational for decoding.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish meaning in a language.

Onset

The initial consonant or consonant cluster of a syllable (e.g., the 'c' in cat).

Rime

The part of a syllable that includes the vowel and any following consonants (e.g., 'at' in cat, flat, splat).

Blending

Combining individual sounds or phonemes to form a word.

Segmenting

Breaking a word into its constituent sounds or syllables.

Alphabetic principle

The understanding that letters and letter patterns represent sounds in spoken language and can be analyzed and synthesized for reading.

Letter knowledge (alphabet knowledge)

Familiarity with letters and their sounds; a robust predictor of later reading achievement.

Print concepts

Knowledge that print conveys meaning and the basic features of written language (directionality, progression, word boundaries, etc.).

Environmental print

Recognition that signs and logos in the environment stand for objects and sounds, contributing to print-to-speech mapping.

Print awareness

Knowledge about the forms, functions, and uses of print; foundational for reading and writing.

Book knowledge

Understanding that print language is different from spoken language and that books have specific features (e.g., pages, text, pictures).

Emergent literacy

Early literacy skills that precede conventional reading, including phonological awareness, print awareness, and oral language.

Oral language

Language proficiency involving semantics (vocabulary) and syntax (grammar); strongly related to later reading comprehension.

Semantics

Knowledge of word meanings and vocabulary.

Syntax

Rules and structures that govern sentence formation; grammatical aspect of language.

Word recognition

Ability to recognize written words quickly and accurately, often through decoding.

Decoding

Translating written symbols into sounds to read and pronounce words.

Matthew Effect

Idea that early advantages in reading lead to further gains, while early difficulties can widen the gap over time.

Focused stimulation

An adult-input strategy that uses sustained, meaningful language exposure to promote progress in vocabulary and syntax.

Interactive storybook reading (dialogic reading)

Shared reading where adults scaffold language development through strategies like open-ended questions, repetitions, expansions, and active participation.

Self-talk

Adult describes the teacher’s own actions to provide language models (e.g., 'I am washing the baby').

Parallel talk

Adult describes the child’s actions to provide language models (e.g., 'You are putting on the diaper').

Expansions

Adult’s restatement of the child’s utterance with additional semantic or syntactic information (e.g., 'The boy is eating.').

Repetitions

Adult repeats the child’s utterances to model correct language and increase exposure.

Open-ended questions

Questions that require more than a yes/no answer and encourage elaboration (e.g., 'What happened next?').

Active participation

Encouraging children to name, point to, or identify items with new vocabulary during reading or activities.

Repeated readings

Reading the same book multiple times to increase exposure to new words and language structures.

Story props

Objects used with stories to enhance word learning and vocabulary associated with the narrative.

Print-enriched play

Play activities and environments that include literacy artifacts (signs, books, labels) to promote print awareness.

Adult mediation

An adult guides children’s use of literacy artifacts and play to support literacy development.