Phonics Vocabulary

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary terms and concepts related to phonics, essential for understanding the subject and preparing for assessments.

absorb

To take in or soak up information or knowledge.

prefix

A group of letters placed before the root of a word to modify its meaning.

adjective

A word that describes a noun.

adverb

A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

African American English

A dialect of English that is spoken by many African American communities.

affricate

A consonant sound that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative.

affix

A suffix or prefix added to a root word.

alphabet knowledge

Understanding the names and shapes of letters.

alphabetic principle

The understanding that letters represent sounds in spoken language.

ambiguous vowel

A vowel that can represent more than one sound or pronunciation.

assessment-instruction cycle

The ongoing process of assessing student understanding to inform instruction.

assimilated prefix

A prefix that has changed its form to match the phonological structure of the root word.

automaticity

The ability to read words quickly and accurately without conscious effort.

base word

The simplest form of a word, to which affixes may be added.

blending

The skill of merging individual sounds to form a word.

bound morpheme

A morpheme that cannot stand alone and must attach to a base word.

closed sort

A sorting activity with a predetermined set of categories.

closed syllable

A syllable that ends in a consonant.

coarticulation

The influence of adjacent sounds on each other during speech production.

complex consonant patterns

Consonant combinations that occur in words, such as 'spr', 'str', etc.

compound word

A word made up of two or more smaller words.

concept sort

An activity where students categorize words based on shared attributes.

concepts of print

Understanding the organization of written language, including letters, words, and punctuation.

conjunction

A word used to connect clauses or sentences.

consonant

A letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel.

consonant alteration

Changes in consonant sounds in different contexts.

conventions

Established rules or practices in writing and speaking.

consonant blend

Two or more consonants that are pronounced together where each retains its individual sound.

consonant doubling conventions

Rules regarding when to double the final consonant of a word.

consonant-vowel-consonant pattern

A common spelling pattern that involves a consonant, followed by a vowel, and ending in another consonant.

copula

A verb used to link the subject with a predicate (e.g., 'is', 'are').

dependent clause

A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

derivational relations stage

A stage in language development where students learn the relationships between words derived from the same root.

derivational suffix

A suffix that is added to a word to change its meaning or grammatical category.

deep/opaque orthography

A writing system where spelling does not closely correlate with pronunciation.

dialect

A particular form of a language that is specific to a region or social group.

differentiated instruction

Tailoring instruction to meet individual needs of students.

digraph

A pair of letters that make one sound.

diphthong

A complex vowel sound that begins with one vowel sound and glides into another.

dyslexia

A specific learning disability that affects reading ability.

-ed conventions

Rules governing the use of the suffix '-ed' in past tense or participles.

e-drop conventions

Rules about dropping 'e' in spelling when adding suffixes.

elision

The omission of a sound in a word.

emergent stage

The initial phase of reading development.

encode

To convert information into a form that can be stored.

explicit instruction

Direct teaching that is clear and detailed.

free morpheme

A morpheme that can stand alone as a word.

gradual release of responsibility

An instructional strategy that shifts the responsibility of learning from teacher to student.

grapheme

The smallest unit of writing that represents a sound.

grapheme-phoneme correspondence

The relationship between written letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes).

hard c

The pronunciation of 'c' as in 'cat'.

hard g

The pronunciation of 'g' as in 'go'.

homograph

Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings.

homophone

Words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings.

independent clause

A group of words that contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

inflectional ending/suffix

A suffix added to a word to indicate tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, and case.

invented spelling

A method of spelling that a child uses based on their understanding of sound-letter relationships.

irregular word

A word that does not follow standard spelling rules.

letter

A written character representing a sound.

letter name knowledge

Understanding the names of letters and their corresponding sounds.

letter name-alphabetic stage

A stage in literacy development where students know letter names and sounds.

letter recognition

The ability to identify and name letters.

letter-sound correspondence

The relationship between letters and the sounds they represent.

long/tense vowel

A vowel sound that is pronounced longer and clearer.

long vowel patterns/conventions

Rules concerning how long vowel sounds are spelled.

medial sound

A sound that appears in the middle of a word.

metalinguistic

Awareness of the structure and function of language.

morpheme

The smallest grammatical unit in a language.

morphemic analysis

The process of breaking down words into their morphemes.

morphology

The study of the form and structure of words.

morphophonemic

Relating to the interaction of morphological and phonological changes.

multisyllabic

A word that consists of more than one syllable.

noun/noun phrase

A group of words centered around a noun.

onset

The initial consonant sound of a syllable.

open sort

A sorting activity where students create their own categories.

open syllable

A syllable that ends in a vowel.

orthography

The conventional spelling system of a language.

pattern sort

An activity where students categorize words based on similarities.

phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in a language.

phonemic awareness

The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in words.

phonics

A method of teaching reading based on sound-letter relationships.

phonogram

A letter or group of letters representing a sound.

phonological awareness

The ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of spoken language.

phonological processing

The ability to use and analyze the sounds of language.

phonology

The study of the sound system of a language.

picture/sound sort

An activity that pairs pictures with corresponding sounds.

plural

A form of a word used to talk about more than one.

plural conventions

Rules governing how plurals are formed.

pragmatics

The study of how context influences the interpretation of communication.

prefix

A word part added to the beginning of a root word to change its meaning.

pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun.

predicate

The part of a sentence that tells what the subject does or is.

preposition/prepositional phrase

A word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to other words in a sentence.

preconsonantal nasals

Nasals that occur before consonants.

r-controlled vowel

A vowel that is followed by an 'r' and whose sound is altered.

rhyme

A repetition of similar sounds in two or more words.

rime

The vowel and any following consonants in a syllable.

root word

The base word from which other words are created.

schwa

An unstressed vowel sound represented by an upside-down e.

schwa patterns

Patterns in which the schwa sound appears.