| Abstract | Research Project | References |
| My Biography | Findings | Additional Resources |
| Literature Review | Analysis | Favorite Links |
Glossary
assessment-the act or process of gathering data in order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of student learning.
auditory discrimination-the ability to hear phonetic likenesses and differences in phonemes and words.
big books-an enlarged version of a beginning reading book, usually illustrated and and with very large type, generally used by a group of students to read together and learn about concepts of print and various reading strategies.choral reading- a reading strategy where the teacher and students read orally together.
comprehension-the reconstruction of the intended meaning of a communication; accurately understanding what is written or said.
concepts of print-see print awareness.
dependent variables-the response variables in an experiment that are affected by the manipulation of the independent variable(s).
directionality-the ability to perceive spatial orientation accurately, directional orientation.
djembe -an African hand drum.early reading-reading in kindergarten into grade two.
early reader-a student who is able to read before entering school.
echo reading- a reading strategy where the teacher reads sections of print and the students reread the sections as an echo.
emergent literacy-the development of the association of print with meaning that begins early in a child's life and continues until the child reaches the stage of conventional reading and writing; the reading and writing concepts and behaviors of young children that precede and develop into conventional literacy.
emergent reading-the course of a child's early interaction with books and other print, as from pretend reading to genuine efforts to understand the nature and meaning of print.experimental design- the plan for conducting a specific piece of research; specifically, the plan for selecting subjects, manipulating dependent variables, and collecting and analyzing data.
fluent reader-any person who reads smoothly, without hesitation and with comprehension.
grapheme-a written or printed representation of a phoneme. In English, a grapheme may be a single letter or a group of letters.
guided reading-reading instruction in which the teacher provides the structure and purpose for reading and for responding to the material read.
high frequency word-a word that appears many more times than most other words in spoken or written language.
impress reading- a reading strategy where a fluent reader or the teacher and a student read orally simultaneously.
independent reader-one who reads with few word recognition problems and who comprehends what is written.
independent reading- a reading strategy where following the multiple readings of a text, students can choose a portion of the text to read independently.
independent variables- the stimulus variable(s) manipulated in an experiment to observe the effect upon one or more dependent variables.
invented spelling-the result of an attempt to spell a word whose spelling is not already known, based on a writer's knowledge of spelling system and how it works.
KWL- a strategy for identifying purposes for reading -"What I Know", "What I want to learn", and "What I learned."
leveled books-books which are grouped together based on degrees of difficulty of text.
literacy-1.the ability to read and write in a particular language. 2. the basic or primary levels of reading and writing that serve comparatively over time and across space.
miscue-a deviation from text during oral reading or a shift in comprehension of a passage.
oddity tasks-in studies of phonological awareness, a procedure in which children are asked to identify the discrepant member of a group of a trio of words based on their onset and rime characteristics.
one-to-one correspondence-1. any relationship in which every member of one set is matched exactly to one different member of a second set. 2. in an alphabetic writing system, the representation of each phoneme of oral language by one and only one unique grapheme, and vice versa.
onset -the part of a syllable preceding the syllable peak or nucleus; normally, the consonants preceding the vowel of a syllable.
oral language-spoken language.
oral reading-the process of reading aloud to communicate to another or to an audience.
paired reading-partner reading..
partner reading-a reading strategy where children read orally in pairs by taking turns.performance analysis (performance assessment)- the measurement of educational achievement by tasks that call for the student to produce a response like that required in the instructional environment, as in portfolios or projects.
phoneme-a minimal sound unit of speech that, when contrasted with another phoneme, affects the meaning of words in a language.
phonemic awareness-the awareness of the sounds (phonemes) that make up spoken words.
phonics-a way of teaching reading and spelling that stresses symbol-sound relationships, used especially in beginning instruction
phonological awareness -awareness of the constituent sounds of words in learning to read and spell. The constituents of words can be distinguished in three ways: a. by syllables, b. by onsets and rimes, and c. by phonemes.
picture book-a book in which the illustrations are as important as the text, both contributing to the telling of the story.
picture walk-discussing the pictures in a story book prior to the reading of the book.
predictable stories-stories in which children can guess "what comes next" as a result of the repetition of verse.
population-the whole group of individuals in a study.
print awareness-in emergent literacy, a learner's growing recognition of conventions and characteristics of a written language. Print awareness includes such features as the recognition of directionality in reading text (left to right and top to bottom in English), that print in the form of words corresponds to speech, that white space marks the boundaries of printed words, etc.
prior knowledge-knowing that stems from previous experience.
random sample-individuals chosen in such a way that each has an equal chance of being selected.
reading aloud-a reading strategy where the teacher reads aloud as the students follow along in their own text.
read alouds-"story time"-reading to children.
re-tellings-1. in discourse analysis ,a measure of comprehension. 2. in miscue analysis, the process in which the reader, having orally read a story, describes what happened in it.
rime-a vowel and the following consonants of a syllable.
scaffolding-in learning, the gradual withdrawal of adult (teacher) support, as through instruction, modeling, questioning, feedback, etc., for a child's performance across successive engagements, thus transferring more and more autonomy to the child.
schema.-1.a generalized description, plan, or structure . 2. a system of cognitive structures stored in memory that are abstract representations of events, objects, and relationships in the world.
shared reading-a reading strategy focusing on reading with children. It involves the reading and rereading of enlarged print (book, poem, nursery rhyme, or song) with a class or small group.
sight word- a word that is immediately recognized as a whole and does not require word analysis for its identification.
sound/letter association-the phoneme/grapheme correspondence of a word.
syllable-in phonology, a minimal unit of sequential speech sounds comprised of a vowel sound or a vowel- consonant combination.
think -alouds-a meta-cognitive technique or strategy in which the teacher verbalizes aloud while reading a selection orally, thus modeling the process of comprehension.
theory-establishes cause and effect relationships between variables with the purpose of explaining and predicting phenomena.
triangulate the data- have someone else (other than the observer) observe the subjects & compare observations (3 different people in all).
validity-1.truthful or factual condition. 2. the evidence that the inferences drawn from test results are accurate.
variables- 1. any quantity that is subject to variation. 2. anything that is subject to quantitative change, as behavioral responses.visual discrimination-the process of perceiving similarities and differences in stimuli by sight.
"x" axis-horizontal axis on a graph.
word wall-a collection of sight words displayed on a classroom wall for reference.
"y" axis-vertical axis on a graph.Source: Harris, T. L., & Hodges, R. E. (Eds.). (1995). The literacy dictionary: Vocabulary or reading and writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.