2 Basic Concepts and Terminology “I have to admit, sometimes I get mixed up about all the jargon and terms surrounding reading and I know my fellow teachers do also,” says Julia, a reading specialist in an elementary school. “Occasionally I will get into a conversation with some other teachers and the discussion will turn to some reading skill or element such as digraphs. Although digraphs is the topic, diphthongs and blends are provided as examples of digraphs. Boy! It’s confusing. I don’t think students need to know all this special vocabulary, but I think I should. How else can we talk about these things unless we agree on what they are and what they mean?” Our colleague Julia is absolutely correct. Any discussion of issues related to phonics, word recognition, reading fluency, and reading instruction needs to begin with an understanding of the basic concepts and terminology that frame these skills and issues. Without this understanding, productive interchanges of ideas about issues related to phonics, word recognition, and reading fluency are difficult and often confusing. With this in mind, in this chapter we identify and define some essential concepts related to phonics, word recognition, and reading fluency using language understandable to teachers, parents, and other school audiences. A more comprehensive and technical presentation of definitions can be found in The Literacy Dictionary (Harris and Hodges 1995). · Affix A meaningful combination of letters that can be added to a base word in order to alter the meaning or grammatical function. Prefixes and suffixes are types of affixes. · Prefix An affix that is added in front of a base word to change the meaning (e.g., predetermine, disallow). · Suffix An affix that is added to the end of a base word that changes the meaning of the base word (e.g., instrumental, actor, containment). · Alphabetic Principle The notion that in certain languages, such as English, each speech sound or phoneme can be represented by a written symbol or set of written symbols. · Automaticity In reading, automaticity refers to the ability to recognize words in print quickly and effortlessly. It is a component of fluent reading and is marked by word recognition that is accurate and at an appropriate rate. · Balanced Literacy Instruction Literacy instruction that is marked by an equal emphasis on the nurturing of reading through authentic reading experiences with authentic reading materials and more direct instruction in strategies and skills needed for successful reading. It is a decision‐making approach through which the teacher makes thoughtful choices each day about the best way to help each child become a better reader and writer. A balanced approach is not constrained by or reactive to a particular philosophy. It is responsive to new issues while maintaining what research and practice has already shown to be effective. (Spiegel, 1998, p. 116) · Consonants Refers to both letters and sounds. Consonant sound ...

1. 2 Basic Concepts and Terminology
“I have to admit, sometimes I get mixed up about all the jargon
and terms surrounding reading and I know my fellow teachers
do also,” says Julia, a reading specialist in an elementary
school. “Occasionally I will get into a conversation with some
other teachers and the discussion will turn to some reading skill
or element such as digraphs. Although digraphs is the topic,
diphthongs and blends are provided as examples of digraphs.
Boy! It’s confusing. I don’t think students need to know all this
special vocabulary, but I think I should. How else can we talk
about these things unless we agree on what they are and what
they mean?”
Our colleague Julia is absolutely correct. Any discussion of
issues related to phonics, word recognition, reading fluency,
and reading instruction needs to begin with an understanding of
the basic concepts and terminology that frame these skills and
issues. Without this understanding, productive interchanges of
ideas about issues related to phonics, word recognition, and
reading fluency are difficult and often confusing. With this in
mind, in this chapter we identify and define some essential
concepts related to phonics, word recognition, and reading
fluency using language understandable to teachers, parents, and
other school audiences. A more comprehensive and technical
presentation of definitions can be found in The Literacy
Dictionary (Harris and Hodges 1995).
· Affix A meaningful combination of letters that can be added to
a base word in order to alter the meaning or grammatical
function. Prefixes and suffixes are types of affixes.
· Prefix An affix that is added in front of a base word to change
the meaning (e.g., predetermine, disallow).
· Suffix An affix that is added to the end of a base word that
changes the meaning of the base word (e.g., instrumental, actor,
containment).
· Alphabetic Principle The notion that in certain languages,

2. such as English, each speech sound or phoneme can be
represented by a written symbol or set of written symbols.
· Automaticity In reading, automaticity refers to the ability to
recognize words in print quickly and effortlessly. It is a
component of fluent reading and is marked by word recognition
that is accurate and at an appropriate rate.
· Balanced Literacy Instruction Literacy instruction that is
marked by an equal emphasis on the nurturing of reading
through authentic reading experiences with authentic reading
materials and more direct instruction in strategies and skills
needed for successful reading. It is a
decision‐making approach through which the teacher makes
thoughtful choices each day about the best way to help each
child become a better reader and writer. A balanced approach is
not constrained by or reactive to a particular philosophy. It is
responsive to new issues while maintaining what research and
practice has already shown to be effective. (Spiegel, 1998, p.
116)
· Consonants Refers to both letters and sounds. Consonant
sounds represent all the letters of the alphabet except the
vowels, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y and w. The letters and
letter combinations (blends and digraphs) that represent
consonants do so with fairly good correspondence, especially at
the beginning of words and syllables.
· Consonant Blends Two or more consonant letters grouped
together in which the sound of each of the consonants is
retained (e.g., bl, cl, pr, tr, sm, st, scr, str).
· Consonant Digraphs Two or more consonant letters grouped
together that produce one sound. That sound can be a new sound
not represented by any other letter or letter combination ( that),
a sound represented by one of the grouped letters ( gnome, back
), or a sound represented by a letter not present in the group (
phone).
· Context The linguistic environment. The words or phrases
surrounding a written word. For word recognition, context
refers to the meaning that precedes and follows words that are

3. analyzed. Context can aid in the recognition of words in texts.
· Decode To analyze graphic symbols (letters in written words
and sentences) into their oral representation, which leads to
meaning. Synonymous with word identification and word
recognition.
· Fluency To read expressively, meaningfully, in appropriate
syntactic units (phrases, clauses), at appropriate rates, and
without word recognition difficulty. Fluency has two major
components: word recognition automaticity and prosody. Word
recognition automaticity refers to the ability to recognize words
effortlessly or automatically so that readers can attend to
meaning while reading. Prosody refers to reading with
expression and phrasing that reflect the meaning of the passage
read.
· Grapheme A written letter or combination of letters that
represents a phoneme.
· Homographs Words that have the same spelling but different
pronunciations and meanings (e.g., sow—a female pig; to plant
seeds).
· Homonyms Words that have the same spelling and
pronunciation but different meanings (e.g., plain—flat land;
ordinary looking).
· Homophones Words that have the same pronunciation but
different spellings and meanings (e.g., bare/bear, do/dew).
· Morpheme The smallest unit of meaning in oral and written
language (e.g., the word cars contains two morphemes—car, an
automobile, and s, meaning more than one).
· Orthography Refers to the symbols or letters in a writing
system. Spelling is part of orthography.
· Phoneme The smallest unit of speech that affects meaning of
words (e.g., b in book vs. k in cook).
· Phonemic Awareness The awareness of individual phonemes
in spoken words; the ability to consciously manipulate (e.g.,
identify, segment, blend) individual phonemes in spoken
language.
· Phonics A method of teaching word recognition or decoding

4. that emphasizes the relationships between written symbols
(letters) and sounds that exist in a language. Phonics is usually
employed in the beginning stages of reading instruction.
· Analogical Phonics An approach to phonics in which learners
are taught letter patterns found in words they recognize and
apply that knowledge to new, unknown words. For example, if
students know that at in bat has a particular sound, they can use
that knowledge to help decode new words such as sat, cat,
rattle, and Patrick. Word families or rimes and affixes are the
most common letter patterns used in analogical phonics
instruction.
· Analytic Phonics An approach to phonics instruction that
maintains a whole‐to‐part orientation. Students are initially
taught a set of words by sight. Then, from these sight words,
phonics generalizations (letter‐sound relationships) are
identified and then applied to other words.
· Synthetic Phonics In contrast to analytic phonics, synthetic
phonics embodies a part‐to‐whole approach to phonics
instruction. Students are directly taught specific individual
sounds that are represented by letters and letter combinations.
Students are then instructed in synthesizing or putting together
multiple letters and sounds to decode or sound out a word.
· Phonogram Also known as a rime or word family. See
syllable.
· Prosody The melodic qualities of oral language, including
expression and phrasing during oral reading. A component of
fluent reading.
· Response to Intervention (RTI) A method of academic
intervention and instruction. RTI seeks to prevent academic
failure through early intervention, frequent progress
measurement, and the employment of graduated and intensive
research‐based instructional interventions for students who
continue to have difficulty. Students who do not demonstrate a
positive response to one level of intervention are referred for a
more intensive intervention level.
· Schwa The sound “uh” made by vowel in the unaccented

5. syllables in a multisyllabic word (e.g., the vowel sound in the
second syllable of secret, the vowel sound in the first syllable
of about). As with many technical elements of language and
reading, knowledge of the schwa is not essential to reading
success.
· Semantics The study of meaning in language (words, phrases,
sentences, paragraphs, entire texts); semantic knowledge can aid
readers in decoding unknown words in context.
· Sight Word A word that is recognized immediately as a whole
with minimal effort and without detailed analysis. Sight words
are recognized automatically. The collection of words
recognized by sight is referred to as a person’s sight
vocabulary.
· Syllable A group of letters that are produced as a unit and
contain one vowel sound (except in words containing vowel
diphthongs). Some basic syllable patterns are described below
(C = consonant, V = vowel):
CVC (also known as closed syllable)
Short vowel sound
cat, sit, shot, back, myth
CV (also known as open syllable)
Long vowel sound
be, because, she, try, total, label
CVVC
Often long vowel sound
beak, sail, coat
VCe
Long vowel sound
late, bite, tote
Cle
L controlled sound
maple, babble, stable
· In addition to the information listed above, there are several
patterns that guide readers in dividing longer words into
individual syllables. These patterns include:
base word—base word (compound words)

6. cowboy
cow/boy
prefix—base word—suffix
unfit retool basement
un/fit re/tool base/ment
V/CV
bacon open baby
ba/con o/pen ba/by
VC/CV
temper carton ginger
tem/per car/ton gin/ger
· Onset The part of a syllable that contains any consonants that
precede the vowel (e.g., b in bat, sl in slack, t and p in temper, c
and t in carton). The sound‐symbol relationship between onset
letters and sounds is quite reliable.
· Rime Also known as a phonogram or word family. The part of
a syllable that contains the vowel and any consonants that
follow the vowel. Letter rimes are easily recognized and are
consistent in the sound or sound combination they represent (at
in cat and ight in sight are rimes).
· Syntax The pattern of word order in sentences, clauses, and
phrases and the effect of word order on meaning. Syntactic
knowledge can aid readers in decoding unknown words in
context.
· Vocabulary The stock of words for which a person knows or
understands the meaning.
· Vowels Refers to sounds and letters. The sounds represented
by the letters a, e, i, o, u. The letter y can serve as a vowel
when it is not in the initial position of a word (e.g., why). The
w can function as a vowel when it follows a vowel (e.g., cow).
Vowels are the most prominent sound in and defining feature of
a syllable. Vowel letters typically represent more than one
vowel sound. Vowel sounds can be represented by a variety of
letter combinations (e.g., the long vowel a can also be
represented by ai in bait, eigh in eight, and ay in day).
· Long vowel sounds are associated with the letter name of a

7. vowel. Long vowel sounds are often marked by a macron (¯):
make
broke
beak
unit
pie
· Short vowel sounds are another group of sounds associated
with the vowel letters. The short vowel is marked by a brev (˘),
and the sound of each vowel letter is found in the following
words:
bad
body
bed
bud
bid
· L Controlled Vowels Occurs when the letter form of a vowel is
followed by the letter l, which alters the vowel sound (e.g.,
when the letter a is followed by an l, a particular sound is
produced, as in shallow and tall.)
· R Controlled Vowels Occurs when a letter form of a vowel is
followed by the letter r, which alters the sound of the vowel
(e.g., star, her, sir, for, burr).
· Vowel Digraphs Two adjacent vowels that represent one
sound, usually the long sound of one of the vowel letters (e.g.,
bead, boat, beet, bay, sew, die, chief).
· Vowel Diphthongs Also known as vowel blends. Diphthongs
are sounds made up of the blending of two vowel sounds (e.g.,
oi as in boil, oy as in boy, ou as in ouch, ow as in how, and aw
as in flaw).
· Word Family Also known as phonogram or rime. See syllable.
· Word Recognition The process of analyzing a word in print in
order to determine its pronunciation. Same as decoding and
word identification.