Language and Literacy Development Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering literacy development, phonics, linguistics, assessment types, and the writing process based on lecture notes.

Systematic Instruction

Direct explanation and modeling of a specific skill by the teacher.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same beginning sound in a series of words.

Phoneme

The smallest individual sound a person makes in speech.

Phonemes in English

There are $44$ individual sounds in the English language.

Digraph

Two letters that combine to spell exactly one sound.

Trigraph

A group of three letters, such as 'tch', representing one sound.

Orthography

The written representation of a sound system or spelling conventions.

Encoding

The process of spelling words.

End of Kindergarten

The stage by which students are expected to master basic sentences.

Grapheme

The written representation of a sound unit.

Morpheme

The smallest part of a word that carries meaning.

Automaticity

The ability to recognize words immediately without needing to sound them out.

Irregular Words

Words that do not follow standard phonics rules and are read by sight rather than blended.

High-Frequency Words

Common words used frequently in basic sentences.

CVC Pattern

A word structure consisting of a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant.

CVCe Pattern

A word structure consisting of a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant followed by a Silent e.

Pre-emergent Stage

The stage of literacy development where children cannot yet read words.

Decodable Books

Simple books made for beginners featuring very easy phonics patterns.

Decoding

The process of putting letters and sounds together to read a word.

Word Boundaries

The spaces between words in a sentence.

Print Awareness

Knowledge of how letters and words work in written text.

Language Development Onset

Language development typically begins between Birth and $6,months$.

Pseudowords

Made-up words that follow phonics rules but have no meaning.

Alphabetic Principle

The association of spoken sounds to seen letters for reading and spelling.

Emergent Reader

A reader who is beginning to learn to read or spell words.

Phonological Awareness

The broad ability to hear and work with sounds in spoken language.

Onset and Rime

The two parts a single-vowel word is divided into; the initial sound and the remaining part.

Syllables

The 'beats' in a word where every unit must contain a vowel sound.

Closed Syllable

A syllable with one beat and one vowel sound closed in by one or more consonants.

Open Syllable

A syllable that ends in a long vowel sound and is not closed by a consonant.

R-controlled Vowel

A vowel followed by the letter 'r' which changes the vowel's sound.

Diphthong

Two vowels together that create a single, sliding sound.

Concept of Print

Understanding the rules of text, such as reading from left to right.

Deletion

A phonemic task where a sound is removed (e.g., 'sat' without /s/ is 'at').

Substitution

Changing one sound in a word for another (e.g., changing /h/ in 'hat' to /s/ to make 'sat').

Isolating

The ability to identify a specific sound within a word.

Segmenting

Tearing a word apart into its individual component sounds.

Phonemic Awareness

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

Oral Vocabulary/Language

The level of language where a child can hear a word and be able to say it.

Phonics

The relationship between written letters and the sounds they make.

Orthographic Mapping

The mental process of matching a word's sounds to its letters.

Validity

Using the right test for the right skill.

Reliability

Obtaining repeatable and consistent results from an assessment.

Denotation

The literal dictionary definition of a word.

Connotation

The feeling or emotion connected to a word.

Semantics

The study of the meaning of words, sentences, or language.

Syntax

The study of sentence order, grammar, and how words are put together.

Revising

The stage of writing focused on making ideas and flow better.

Editing

The stage of writing focused on correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Fluency

The ability to read text accurately with speed and expression.

Rate (Pace)

The speed at which a person reads.

Expression

Reading with feeling, also known as prosody.

Phrasing

Reading in clusters or meaningful groups rather than word-by-word.

Blending

Putting individual sounds together to form a whole word.

Tier 2 Words

High-utility school words used across many subjects (e.g., 'describe' or 'explain').

Tier 3 Words

Subject-specific words used in one specific area of study.

Idiomatic Expressions

Phrases where the meaning is different from the literal words used.

Metacognition

The process of thinking about your own thinking and learning.

Expressive Language

The ability to communicate ideas 'outward'.

Receptive Language

Listening or reading 'inward' to understand information.

Structural Analysis

Using word parts to understand the meaning of a complex word.

Inflectional Endings

Word endings like -s, -ed, or -ing that show tense or number.

Affix

A word part (prefix or suffix) added to a base word.

Derivational Suffix

A suffix that changes the word's part of speech (e.g., happy to happiness).

Etymology

The study of the history or origin of a word.

Tier 1 Words

Basic everyday words such as 'dog' or 'run'.

Criterion-Referenced Assessment

A test that measures mastery of a specific skill or standard.

Norm-Referenced Assessment

A test that compares a student's performance to a 'normal' group of peers.

Screening

A short assessment given to all students to identify those who may need extra help.

Readability

An estimate of how hard or easy a text is to read based on sentence length and complexity.

Grade Level Equivalent (GLE)

An assessment score representing grade and month, such as $6.3$.

Informational Text

Non-fiction writing used to provide facts or information.

Theme (or Moral)

The big idea or lesson of a text.

Inference

Using text clues combined with prior knowledge to understand something not explicitly stated.

Text Features

Tools such as indexes or headings that help a reader find information.

Text Structure

The organizational pattern of a text, such as Cause and Effect or Sequence.

First-person

A point of view where the narrator is a character referring to themselves as 'I'.

Pre-Alphabetic Phase

A reading phase where visual cues or logos are used instead of letter sounds.

Consolidated Alphabetic Phase

A reading phase utilizing chunks, patterns, and word families.

Full Alphabetic Phase

A reading phase where complete letter-sound knowledge is used to decode all sounds.

Pre-Linguistic Stage

The earliest stage of language development before actual speech begins.

Holophrastic Stage

A stage where a single word (e.g., 'milk') is used to convey a whole sentence of meaning.

Telegraphic Stage

A stage where short sentences like 'Me go park' are used, omitting grammar words.

Recasting

A technique where a teacher repeats a child's words in a longer, grammatically correct way.

Letter-Like Forms

Scribbles that resemble letters but are not actual letters yet.

Invented (or Phonetic) Spelling

Spelling based on the sounds a child hears rather than conventional rules.

Pre-writing

The initial writing stage involving planning, brainstorming, or using graphic organizers.

Publishing

The final stage where a student shares their completed work.