Literacy at NNPS
Literacy Glossary
Automaticity – the ability to recognize words effortlessly (sight words)
Decoding – the ability to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words
Encoding – using individual sounds to build and write words
Fluency – the ability to read with a rate of speed, accuracy, and expressiveness appropriate to the text
Foundational Reading Skills – includes phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension
Graphemes – letters or letter combinations that represent sounds
Morphemes – meaningful units of language, such as prefixes, suffixes, and base or root words
Morphology – the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language
Phonemes – individual sounds in a word
Phonemic Awareness – the ability to recognize the individual indivisible sounds (phonemes) that make up a word
Phonics – one-to-one letter-to-sound correspondences that lead to decoding printed words
Phonological Awareness – understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes)
Print Concepts – the organization and basic features of print
Prosody – reading with expression and appropriate intonation
Reading – drawing meaning from and making meaning of written text
Reading Comprehension – the ability to understand and make meaning from text
Systematic Instruction – word patterns are taught in a specific, sequential order
Vocabulary – the words known and/or used by a person
Writing – a form of communication used to express or communicate ideas
