Literacy Development

Question 1

Phonological Awareness

Answer 1

Umbrella skill for hearing and manipulating words, syllables, onsets–rimes, and phonemes in spoken language—no print involved.

Question 2

Phonemic Awareness

Answer 2

Ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual phonemes; a subset of phonological awareness.

Question 3

Rhyme Awareness

Answer 3

Recognizing when words end with the same sound (e.g., blue / flew).

Question 4

Alliteration

Answer 4

Recognizing words that share the same initial sound (e.g., candy / cookie).

Question 5

Word Awareness

Answer 5

Understanding that sentences are made up of individual words.

Question 6

Syllable Awareness

Answer 6

Ability to hear the syllable units within a word; e.g., ed-u-ca-tion has four syllables.

Question 7

Onset–Rime

Answer 7

Identifying the sound(s) before the vowel (onset) and the vowel plus following sounds (rime) in a syllable (e.g., /f/ + /ish/ in fish).

Question 8

Phoneme Isolation

Answer 8

Identifying a single sound in a position of a word (initial, medial, or final).

Question 9

Phoneme Blending

Answer 9

Combining individual phonemes to form a word (e.g., /j/ /e/ /t/ → jet).

Question 10

Phoneme Segmentation

Answer 10

Breaking a word into its individual phonemes (jet → /j/ /e/ /t/).

Question 11

Phoneme Addition

Answer 11

Adding a phoneme to form a new word (jet + /s/ → jets).

Question 12

Phoneme Deletion

Answer 12

Removing a phoneme to form a new word (jet – /j/ → et).

Question 13

Phoneme Substitution

Answer 13

Replacing one phoneme with another to make a new word (jet → set).

Question 14

Reasons to Teach Phonological Awareness

Answer 14

Predicts reading success; most students need explicit instruction; without it children struggle; must be paired with vocabulary, fluency, comprehension.

Question 15

Syllable Blending

Answer 15

Combining syllables to make a word (sib + ling → sibling).

Question 16

Syllable Segmentation

Answer 16

Separating a word into its syllables (hap-pi-ness).

Question 17

Syllable Deleting

Answer 17

Removing a syllable to form a new word (classroom – room → class).

Question 18

Elkonin Boxes

Answer 18

Row of boxes where learners push a token for each sound or syllable, making sound units visible.

Question 19

Thumbs‑Up / Thumbs‑Down

Answer 19

Whole‑class gesture to signal whether two words rhyme or share a target sound.

Question 20

Manipulatives for Phonics

Answer 20

Physical items such as letter tiles, magnets, or sand for tracing letters to connect sounds and symbols.

Question 21

Phonics

Answer 21

Instruction linking phonemes to graphemes for reading (decoding) and writing (encoding).

Question 22

Alphabetic Principle

Answer 22

Understanding that letters represent sounds that combine to form words.

Question 23

Print Awareness

Answer 23

Recognizing forms and functions of printed language, such as left‑to‑right directionality.

Question 24

Alphabetic Knowledge

Answer 24

Ability to recognize, name, and write letters of the alphabet.

Question 25

Consonant Blend

Answer 25

Two or more consonants whose sounds blend together while each keeps its sound (e.g., bl, str).

Question 26

Consonant Digraph

Answer 26

Two consonants that make a single sound (e.g., sh, ch, th).

Question 27

Silent e (Magic e)

Answer 27

Final 'e' that makes the preceding vowel long (hop → hope).

Question 28

Vowel Digraph (Vowel Team)

Answer 28

Two vowels together making one vowel sound (ai, ee, oa).

Question 29

Diphthong

Answer 29

Gliding vowel sound produced by two vowels in one syllable (oi, ou).

Question 30

R‑Controlled Vowel

Answer 30

Vowel followed by r where r alters the vowel sound (car, burn).

Question 31

Inflectional Ending

Answer 31

Suffix that changes a word’s grammatical form but not its meaning (-s, -ed, -ing, -er, -est).

Question 32

CVC Pattern

Answer 32

Consonant‑vowel‑consonant word pattern (cat, mop) used in early decoding.

Question 33

CCVC Pattern

Answer 33

Consonant‑consonant‑vowel‑consonant pattern with an initial blend (trip, shut).

Question 34

CVCC Pattern

Answer 34

Consonant‑vowel‑consonant‑consonant pattern with a final blend/digraph (desk, mask).

Question 35

CVCe Pattern

Answer 35

CVC pattern plus silent e creating a long vowel (bake, hope).

Question 36

CVVC Pattern

Answer 36

Consonant‑vowel‑vowel‑consonant pattern using vowel teams (rain, boat).

Question 37

Multisyllabic Decoding Strategy

Answer 37

Break word into syllables, apply known rules, and recognize morphemes (kit‑ten, pho‑to‑syn‑the‑sis).

Question 38

Decoding

Answer 38

Using letter‑sound relationships to pronounce and understand written words.

Question 39

Fluency

Answer 39

Reading with speed, accuracy, and expression; frees cognitive resources for comprehension.

Question 40

Sight Word (Irregular High‑Frequency)

Answer 40

Common word that cannot be easily decoded phonetically and must be recognized instantly (come, was).

Question 41

Word Identification Strategies

Answer 41

Phonics, structural/morphemic analysis, sight‑word recognition, and contextual analysis.

Question 42

Structural/Morphemic Analysis

Answer 42

Using prefixes, suffixes, and roots to decode or determine meaning (redo → re + do).

Question 43

Contextual Analysis

Answer 43

Using surrounding text to infer or confirm a word’s meaning or pronunciation.