key terminology

phoneme

• a sound written using the IPA.

• the smallest unit of sound in a language.

grapheme

a letter or group of letters representing one phoneme.

phoneme-grapheme link (GPC- Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondence)

understanding that a phoneme can be represented by a grapheme.

phonetic spelling

spelling that shows understanding of the phoneme-grapheme link, though not necessarily standard spelling.

segmenting

• splitting up a word that is heard into its individual phonemes in order to spell it.

• speaking into writing.

blending

• drawing individual sounds together to pronounce a word.

• writing into speaking.

linearity

letters/graphemes written in a line.

spacing

grouping letters into words and leaving spaces between words.

directionality

letters/graphemes that go left to right.

digraph

two letters/graphemes that make up one phoneme.

consonant cluster

two or three consonant graphemes together that make two or three consonant phonemes, e.g. ‘str’ in ‘straight’.

diphthong

a sound made by combining two vowels, specifically when it starts as one vowel sound and goes to another, e.g. ‘oy’ in ‘boy’.

homophones

words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings and may have different spellings.

homonyms

words with the same spelling but are pronounced differently and have different meanings.

undergeneralisation

when a spelling rule or pattern has not been applied.

overgeneralisation

applying a rule to a spelling where the rule does not apply or there is an irregular spelling.

omission

when graphemes are omitted but may reflect segmenting and phonetic spelling, so grapheme-phoneme link may have been understood.

insertion

where extra graphemes have been inserted.

substitution

when a letter is replaced with a different letter.

transposition

when a pair of letters is switched round.