Reading Comprehension Glossary
Assessment and Progress Monitoring - using appropriate tools to track student progress and inform instruction.
Balanced Literacy - an approach that integrates various reading methods and includes both reading and writing instruction.
Comprehension – understanding and deriving meaning from what is read.
Credibility – the trustworthiness or believability of a source of information.
Critical Thinking – the ability to use logic and reason to analyze information, solve problems, and form conclusions.
Decoding – the process of breaking apart words to sound out and read aloud unfamiliar words.
Explicit Teaching – involves clearly explaining concepts and modeling skills so that students understand what to do and learn (Science of Reading).
Fluency – the ability to read text accurately, quickly, and with proper expression.
Grapheme – the letter or combination of letters that represent the sounds.
Opening the Literature Window – the idea of teachers opening access and engagement with literature that may be challenging for them to read independently.
Morpheme – smallest meaningful word part.
Multi-Sensory Teaching – using multiple senses to teach reading concepts.
Phonemes – individual sounds.
Phonics – understanding the relationship between written letters and the sounds they represent. Phonics help students decode words by sounding out letters and blending them together.
Phonological Awareness – noticing words in a sentence; syllables; beginning, middle, and end sounds.
Prior Knowledge – using or building information and experiences a learner already has about a topic before they begin reading about it
Reading level – a measure of a student’s ability to read and comprehend text at a particular grade level.
Scaffold – a teacher provides temporary support structures to help students learn new skills by gradually decreasing assistance as they become more proficient.
Sight Words – commonly used words that readers should recognize instantly.
Student Choice – allowing students to select reading materials, making reading more personally relevant (Guthrie & Klauda, 2012).
Supportive Tex Features:
Caption - show an important object or idea from the text
Heading - helps the reader identify the main idea of the next section of text
Labels - allow the reader to see detailed depiction of an object from the text with 'labels' that teach the important components
Title - quickly tells the reader the main idea of the text
Syllable – a unit of pronunciation made up of one or more vowel sounds.
Text Structure – the way an author organizes information within a text.
Vocabulary – knowledge of word meanings and the ability to use them effectively.
Writing – developing the skill of expressing ideas through written language.
Big Ideas
Balanced Literacy - Expert definitions
"Balanced instruction is a fine blend of a variety of teaching strategies and styles through scaffolding and personalized instruction that best Balanced Literacy 9 meets the needs of students. It provides a positive, print-rich environment where students' interests and opinions are valued" (Freppon & Dahl, 1998, p. 246).
"Balanced literacy employs the fundamentals of letter-sound correspondence, word study, and decoding as well as holistic experiences in reading, writing, speaking, and listening to create one integrated model that addresses all the facets of literacy" (McKenzie , 2002, para. 2).
The Reading Rope – Scarborough’s visual model that shows how word recognition and language comprehension work together (Science of Reading).
The Simple View of Reading (SVR) – a foundational model that says reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and language comprehension (Science of Reading).
References
Freppon, P.A. and Dahl, K.L. (1998). Balanced instruction: Insights and considerations. Reading Research Quarterly, 33, pp. 240-251.
McKenzie, W. (2002, November). Balanced literacy. The Innovative Teaching Newsletter. 5(12).