Glossary

This is an ongoing list of terms used in the many resources consulted for this website. The goal of listing these terms is for teachers to speak the same language and avoid misunderstanding.

To contribute or report a mistake, complete the Contact Us form found in the About page.

Title	Definition	Source
Blends	Usually two consonant sounds, occasionally three sounds, that are closely associated; they can be harder to segment into separate sounds (e.g. bl in the word blend).	by Rose Elliot
Contextual clues	Hints in a text and int he physical and socio-cultural elements surrounding an interaction that help a person to comprehend meaning (e.g. body language, tone, pictures, etc.)	from CLB Document page 206
Contextual clues	Hints in a text and in the physical and socio-cultural elements surrounding an interaction that help a person to comprehend meaning (e.g. body language, tone, pictures, etc.)	from CLB Document page 206
Cursive	A written in a style of writing with the letters joined together.	from Longman Dictionary
Decode	The process of creating meaning from the symbols on the page (one part of reading).	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Digraphs	Two letter consonants that represent one sound together (e.g. ph).	by Rose Elliot
Diphthongs	A vowel sound made by pronouncing two vowels quickly one after the other (e.g. main).	from Longman Dictionary
Directionality	The direction that text goes in order to be meaningful. In English, directionality is left to right, top to bottom.	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Emoticons	A special sign that is used to show an emotion in email and on the Internet, often by making a picture (e.g. :-) means happy face or a joke).	from Longman Dictionary
Encode	The process of creating meaning by making symbols on a page (one part of writing).	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Function words	A word that does not mean anything on its own, but shows the relationship between other words in a sentence (e.g. but, or, if)	from Longman Dictionary
Hanging letters	Letters that have a portion going below its base. There are five hanging letters: g, j, p, q and y.	from Wikipedia
Inflectional endings	An inflectional ending is a group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning (e.g. -s, -ed, -ing). See suffixes.	from McGraw-Hill's Literacy eHandbook
Long vowel	A long vowel is a vowel sound that is pronounced the same way as the name of the letter itself.	from YourDictionary
Manipulatives	Physical objects that learners can use to help them learn (e.g. flash cards and sentence strips)	from ESL Support Kit page 302
Mature grasp	Also known as 3 finger grasp is the ideal grasp for school.	from OT Mom Learning Activities
Medial vowel	A sound or letter found in the middle of a word (e.g. bag).	from Wikipedia
Onset	The beginning sound or blend of sounds in a word (e.g. c in the word cat).	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Parts of speech	One of the types into which words are divided in grammar according to their use (e.g. noun, verb, or adjective).	from Longman Dictionary
Phoneme	A sound in a language, not to be confused with a letter. There are approximately 44 English phonemes (e.g. /s/, /a/, /ch/, and /sh/).	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Phonemic awareness	An awareness of the sounds of a language and how they can be combined. Phonemic awareness is one of the greatest predictors of learning to read.	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Phonological awareness	Knowledge about the sound system of a language, including rhyme, syllables, and onset and rime. Phonemic awareness is part of phonological awareness.	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Phrase	A group of words without a finite verb, especially when they are used to form part of a sentence (e.g. walking along the road).	from Longman Dictionary
Prefixes	A syllable that comes at the front of the word and changes its meaning (e.g. undo)	from Rose Elliot
Realia	Real objects	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Rime	The remaining sounds in the word after the onset (e.g. at in the word cat).	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Sans-serif	A style of printing in which letters have no serifs or decorative designs.	from Longman Dictionary
Segmentation	Split or slice the sounds in a word (e.g. c-a-t).	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Sentence	A group of words that usually contains a subject and a verb, and expresses a complete idea.	from Longman Dictionary
Sight word	A word that you can decode with automaticity.	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Silent letter	A letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation (e.g. k in the word knight).	from Wikipedia
Suffix	A syllable that is found at the end of the word and forms a new word (e.g. kindness).	by Rose Elliot
Syllable	A word or part of a word which contains a single vowel sound. It is also known as a beat.	from Longman Dictionary
Tall letters	Letters that have a portion going up. There are seven tall letters: b, d, f, h, k, l and t.	from Wikipedia
Think aloud	A process of demonstrating a strategy to learners by talking about what is going on inside your head while you are reading.	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Tracking	Following a line of text with your eyes.	from A Practical Guide to Teaching ESL Literacy
Transition words	Transition words and phrases are used to relate ideas.	from Purdue Online Writing Lab
Word families	A group of words that have a base word and then different suffixes and prefixes (e.g. work, works, worked, working, workable).	by Tammy Wells
Word shapes	Visual representation of the shape of a word.	by Diana Agudelo
Word wall	A word wall is a collection of words which are displayed in large visible letters on a wall, bulletin board, or other display surface in a classroom.	from Reading Rockets