Reading Assessment and Intervention

Accuracy (part of fluency)

Reading words in text with no errors.

Advanced Phonics

Strategies for decoding multisyllabic words that include
morphology and information about the meaning, pronunciation, and parts of speech of
words gained from knowledge of prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

Alliteration

The repetition of the initial phoneme of each word in connected text.
Example:
Alice's aunt ate apples and acorns around August.

Alphabetic Principle

The concept that letters and letter combinations represent
individual phonemes in written words.

Base Word

A unit of meaning that can stand alone as a whole word (e.g., friend, pig).
Also called a free morpheme.

Blending

The task of combining sounds rapidly, to accurately represent the word.

Blooms Taxonomy

A system for categorizing levels of abstraction of questions that
commonly occur in educational settings. Includes the following competencies:
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Chunking

A decoding strategy for breaking words into manageable parts (e.g., /yes
/ter/ day). Chunking also refers to the process of dividing a sentence into smaller phrases where pauses might occur naturally (e.g., When the sun appeared after the storm, / the new

Comprehension

Understanding what one is reading, the ultimate goal of all reading
activity.

Consonant Blend

Two or more consecutive consonants which retain their individual
sounds (e.g., /bl/ in block; /str/ in string).

Consonant Digraph

Two consecutive consonants that represent one phoneme, or sound (e.g., /ch/, /sh/).

Differentiated Instruction

Matching instruction to meet the different needs of learners in a given classroom.

Digraphs

A group of two consecutive letters whose phonetic value is a single sound
(e.g., /ea/ in bread; /ch/ in chat; /ng/ in sing).

Dipthongs

A vowel produced by the tongue shifting position during articulation; a vowel that feels as if it has two parts, especially the vowels spelled ow, oy, ou, and oi.

Emergent Literacy

The skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to conventional forms of reading and writing.

Five Components of Reading

Phonemic awareness
phonics
fluency
vocabulary
comprehension

Frustrational Reading Level

The level at which a reader reads at less than a 90%
accuracy (i.e., no more than one error per 10 words read). Frustration level text is difficult text for the reader.

Grapheme

A letter or letter combination that spells a phoneme; can be one, two, three, or four letters in English
(e.g., e, ei, igh, eigh).

Independent-Instructional Reading Level

The reading range that spans instructional and independent reading levels or level of text that a student can read with 90% to 95% or above accuracy.

Invented Spelling

An attempt to spell a word based on a student's knowledge of the
spelling system and how it works
(e.g., kt for cat).

K-W-L

A technique used most frequently with expository text to promote
comprehension. It can be used as a type of graphic organizer in the form of a chart, and it consists of a 3-step process:
What I Know (accessing prior knowledge)
What I Want to Know (setting

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of language.

Orthography

A writing system for representing language.

Pedagogy

How instruction is carried out or the method and practice of teaching.

Prosody

Reading with expression, proper intonation, and phrasing. This helps readers to sound as if they are speaking the part they are reading. It is also this element of fluency that sets it apart from automaticity.

Rhyming

Words that have the same ending sound.

Schema

Refers to prior knowledge, the knowledge and experience that readers bring to the text.

Think-Alouds

Student reads appropriate text with a predetermined number of words
to be read within a specific amount of time.

Vowel Digraph

Two vowels together that represent one phoneme, or sound.
(e.g., ea, ai, oa)

Word Study

The act of deliberately investigating words.
(e.g., vocabulary-building exercises, word-identification practice, and spelling)