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GLOSSARY

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alphanumeric codes
  visual symbols such as the letters and the digits.  
analytic-sequential learning preference  
  learning by attending to small details or parts of the information and retaining them in the sequence or order in which they are presented  
auditory acuity  
  detecting sounds of particular frequencies or levels of pitch  
auditory discrimination  
  distinguishing between words with similar sounds  
auditory figure-ground  
  identifying sounds in the presence of background noise for each ear  
auditory perceptual processing  
  detecting various parts of auditory information  
Auditory Short Term Memory  
  (See STAM)  
automaticity  
  handling information automatically, without needing to think about it  
blends  
  consonant letter clusters that occur commonly in words
Examples: bl-, cr-, -st, -nd
 
cloze reading tasks  
  written sentences from which words have been deleted  
cognitive skills  
  ways of reasoning or thinking  
comprehending strategies  
  Actions (strategies) readers use to link ideas that they are reading about. These are the things readers do while they are reading  
comprehension  
  a reader's understanding having read a text; it is what the reader has put together having finished reading the text  
concept of a word  
  knowing that a word has particular grammatical properties and is used in particular ways in sentences  
criterion based tests  
  link a reader's score on a test with reading abilities or competencies displayed  
decode, decoding  
  say or vocalize one or more letters  
digraph  
  two or more letters that represent or match one sound
Examples: sh, ch, th, ph, wh, ck
 
Distinctive Visual Features (DVF)  
  the letters that a reader selects to use to read a word  
episodic memory, episodes  
  recalling experiences, previous episodes in one's life  
explicit learning  
  Identifying overtly the learning outcomes at any time  
explicit teaching  
  definite, clear, precise instruction as opposed to generalised instruction  
general ability  
  The ways in which readers reason or think about ideas. It is what is measured by intelligence tests.  
grapheme  
  a letter
Examples: A, a
 
graphophonics  
  links between sounds and letters (graphemes or orthography)  
high frequency words (sight words)
 
  mostly function words(or structure words) such as conjunctions, pronouns and prepositions  
infer, inferential comprehension  
  Think beyond the information given in a text, make links with unstated ideas using what readers know. Readers may infer or guess subsequent events, purpose or intent.  
interactive evaluation  
  ask readers to use particular strategies and note the ones that improve their reading  
letter cluster pattern  
  a string of letters that constitutes a part of a word  
lexical access  
  opening up or 'getting into' the word bank  
lexicon  
  dictionary, word bank  
literal comprehension  
  understanding sentences as they are written  
meaning making motor (MMM)  
  working out the meaning of an unknown word by reading on, using the surrounding text...  
metacognition (self-management)  
  knowledge of one's own thinking and learning activities, knowing how to manage and direct one's thinking and learning  
metalinguistic  
  how words are used, how words operate  
norm based tests (standardised tests)  
  link a reader's score on a test with age and / or grade norms, describe the performance as a %ile rank or stanine score, a standard score  
onsets (and rimes)  
  parts of syllables. The onset is the consonant or consonant cluster before the vowel
Examples: Word: that
onset: th_
rime: _at

 
orthographic knowledge  
  patterns of letters used in written English to write words  
phoneme  
  a single sound  
phonemic knowledge  
  knowledge of individual speech sounds or phonemes  
phonemic recoding  
  changing each letter into a sound  
phonics  
  links between patterns of sounds (phonemes) and patterns of letters (graphemes)  
phonological awareness  
  awareness of the different sound units in oral language
Examples: syllables, onsets and rimes
 
phonological knowledge
 
  what we know about the sound properties
(phonology) of our language
 
pre-literate developments  
  Knowledge children learn in the years before they begin to learn to read  
prose reading  
  reading sentences, words linked into strings of meaning  
psycholinguistic knowledge  
  the reader's knowledge of oral language  
Rapid Automatised Naming (RAN)  
  recalling names automatically, such as the sound of each letter fast enough so they can blend them and link with the letter pattern  
readability  
  the readability of a text indicates its reading grade level or comparative difficulty of texts  
receptive vocabulary  
  understanding spoken words  
recode (recoding)  
  refer to phonemic recoding  
rime unit  
  part of a syllable that includes the vowel and any consonants that come after it
Examples: Word: that
Onset: th__
Rime: __at

 
segmentation (segment)  
  the process of breaking words into smaller sound units
Examples: hat = /h/ + /at/ or /h/ + /a/ + /t/
 
self-efficacy  
  the readers' belief in their own ability to perform a task  
self-management  
  learning what to do independently at each stage of reading  
self-talk  
  egocentric speech, internalised talk about what they are doing/going to do  
Short Term Auditory Memory (STAM)  
  retaining briefly a sequence of auditory sounds in order to use them in various ways  
Short Term Working Memory (STWM)  
  retaining ideas briefly while a person thinks about them, combines them in various ways  
sensory impairment  
  Difficulty sensing or receiving information. We usually use it to apply to visual and auditory information  
sentence meaning propositions  
  the meaning coded in a sentence, between the various verbal concepts mentioned  
sub vocally  
  talking to yourself about ideas 'in your head', saying things to yourself without saying them aloud  
visual perceptual abilities  
  abilities to do with detecting visual information