Reading VSC Glossary
Alliteration:
The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words (i.e., Waves want to be wheels…)
Analyze:
To examine, closely study, and evaluate a text by breaking down and examining its elements to comprehend its meaning.
Antithesis:
The opposite of (i.e., Good is the antithesis of evil.)
Antonym:
A word that means the opposite of another word (i.e., happy/sad)
Base word:
A word to which affixes may be added to create related words (i.e., hemisphere, coauthor)
Bias:
A general tendency or leaning in one direction; a partiality toward one view over another
Character:
A person, animal, or an imaginary being in a narrative
Characterization:
The techniques an author uses to develop a character: description of physical appearance, thoughts and feelings, speech, and behavior
Cognate:
A word related to one in another language, such as theater (English) and theatre (French)
Colloquialism:
Language that is familiar, informal everyday talk. Movies is an informal term for the more formal term cinema
Compound word:
A combination of two or more words that function as a single unit of meaning, such as barefoot
Connotation:
An idea or feeling associated with a word in addition to its literal meaning. Hysterical has a stronger connotation than laughable
Consonant blend:
A combination of two or three consecutive consonants each representing a distinct sound (i.e., thr, br)
Context clue:
Information surrounding a word or phrase (i.e., words, phrases, sentences, or syntax) that gives clues to its meaning
Contraction:
The shortening of a written or spoken word or expression by omission of one or more letters or sounds, such as can't
Culture:
The ideas, activities (art, foods, businesses), and ways of behaving that are special to a country, people, or region
Decode:
To pronounce a word by applying knowledge of letter/sound correspondences and phonetic generalizations
Denotation:
A literal dictionary meaning of a word
Diction:
A choice of words to express an idea accurately
Digraph:
Two letters that represent one speech sound (i.e., autumn, snow)
Diphthong:
A vowel sound produced by two adjacent vowels in the same syllable whose sounds blend together (i.e., oy, ow)
Drama:
A form of literature to be acted out before an audience
Ethnicities:
The characteristics, language, and customs of a race, or country of people
Etymology:
The origin or history of words
Fable:
A brief tale that teaches lessons about human nature
Figurative language:
Language enriched by word meanings and figures of speech (i.e., similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole)
Figures of speech:
Words or groups of words the writer doesn't mean literally, such as similes (thin as a reed), metaphors (…traffic is a high energy current jumping constantly between the poles of Brooklyn and New Jersey), and personification (…the very skins of the drums are singing with pleasure…)
Flashback:
An event in a narrative presented out of sequence from an earlier time
Fluency:
The ability to easily speak, read, or write a language; automatic word recognition, rapid decoding, and checking for meaning
Folk tale:
Stories passed by word of mouth from generation to generation
Folklore:
Traditions, customs, and stories passes down within a culture
Foreshadow:
Hints or clues in a text that suggests what may occur later in a narrative
Genre:
A category used to define literary works, usually by form, technique, or content (i.e., poetry, realistic fiction, historical fiction, play, and folklore)
Glossed words:
Words which are defined within the text
Graphic organizer:
Visual representations of information used for constructing meaning in reading, writing, and speaking
Haiku:
A form of Japanese poetry which has three lines focused on a single element
Homograph:
One of two or more words alike in spelling but different in meaning, derivation, or pronunciation; for example, the noun conduct and the verb conduct are homographs
Homophone/homonym:
One of two or more words alike in pronunciation but different in meaning, derivation, or spelling (i.e., to, two, too)
Hyperbole:
A statement where truth is exaggerated for effect
Hypertext:
Online highlighted or underlined text that take a user to another website which has related information
Idiom/Idiomatic expression:
A phrase whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in it
Illustration:
Artwork, photography, or other pictures
Imagery:
Words and phrases that appeal to the five senses
Independent level text:
Text that is relatively easy for the reader, with no more than approximately 1 in 20 words that are difficult for the reader (95% accuracy); Source: Put Reading First by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievment (CIERA), September 2001
Inference:
A logical guess based on text evidence I made an inference about the child's height when I saw his tall parents.
Inflectional ending:
The change of form that words undergo to mark distinctions such as number and tense (i.e., ing, s, es)
Informational text:
Text that conveys or explains information
Instructional level text:
Text that is challenging but manageable for the reader, with no more than approximately 1 in 10 words that are difficult for the reader (90% accuracy); Source: Put Reading First by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA), September 2001
Internalize:
To make vocabulary and concepts a part of one's learning
Irony:
The contrast between what is said and what is meant or the contrast between what appears to be and what actually is
Literary text:
A wide range of texts that tell a story to make a point, express a personal opinion, or provide an enjoyable experience
Message:
The author's thoughts about a topic in informational text
Metaphor:
A stated comparison of two things that have some quality in common not using the words like or as
Mood:
The feeling a text creates within a reader
Narrative text:
A text that tells a story
Novella:
A short novel
Onomatopoeia:
The use of words that sound like the natural noises they name
Onset:
The initial consonant (i.e., the onset of bag is b and the onset of swim is sw)
Organizational structure/pattern:
The way facts and details are arranged in a text that help the reader understand the text (i.e., sequential order, time order, location order, cause/effect, comparison/contrast, similarities/differences)
Paraphrase:
A restatement of a text in a reader's own words
Peripheral information:
Information in a text that is not of central importance
Personification:
A statement that an inanimate object has lifelike characteristics
Perspective:
A reference to an author's beliefs and attitudes
Phonemes:
A minimal sound unit of speech, such as single letters
Phonemic awareness:
The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words
Plausibility:
An appearance of reality in a literary text
Plot:
The action or sequence of events in a story
Point of view:
The perspective from which an author tells a story. The two major points of view are first and third person
Prefix:
A word part added to the beginning of a root or base word to create a new meaning (i.e., regain, incomplete)
Primary source:
An original source, such as someone's diary or journal, a survey or interview, letters, autobiographies, and observations
Print feature:
Type of text feature that relates to print such as font style, color, and size
R-controlled vowel:
The modified sound of a vowel immediately preceding /r/ in the same syllable, such as car, birth, curl
Rhetorical question:
A question that is asked for effect where no answer is expected
Rimes:
Part of a syllable that contains the vowel and all that follows it (i.e., the rime of bag is ag and the rime of swim is im)
Secondary source:
A source that contains information that other people have gathered and interpreted, extended, analyzed, or evaluated, such as newspaper articles, a documentary on television, a website, a science text, and an encyclopedia entry
Setting:
The place and time when a story occurs
Sight word:
A word that is immediately recognized as a whole word and does not require word analysis for identification
Simile:
A stated comparison of two things that have some quality in common using the words like or as
Stanza:
A group of two or more lines of poetry
Strategy:
A systematic plan, consciously adapted and monitored, to improve one's performance in learning
Style:
The way an author uses language to express ideas including word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, repetition, symbols, dialogue, imagery, etc…
Suffix:
A word part that is added to the end of a root word (i.e., darkness)
Summarize:
A recounting of the important ideas of a text
Symbolism:
The use of a person, place, item, etc…that represents an abstract idea
Synonym:
A word that has a meaning identical with, or very similar to, another word in the same language (i.e., right/correct)
Syntax:
The way in which the words and phrases of a sentence are ordered that shows how they relate to each other
Synthesize:
To examine, closely study, and evaluate how individual text elements work together as a whole by combining the knowledge of one text element to the analysis of an additional element.
Text feature:
An important feature of literary and informational text that facilitates understanding for the reader (i.e., title, illustrations, diagrams, labels, bulleted lists, captions, etc.)
Theme:
The author's message about a topic within a text
Tone:
An author's attitude toward a subject
Trade books:
Books published for a general readership rather than specifically for the classroom
Transition words and phrases:
Words or phrases that signal a change from one idea to another
URL:
Uniform Resource Locator is the address of a website
Vignette:
A short, descriptive, literary sketch
Word root:
The main part of a word to which a prefix and/or suffix may be added to make another word, such as actor
