Introduction
As a special education teacher, you will be working with many parents who may not be familiar with the terminology of education, especially academic terminology. When speaking to parents, many teachers may assume that parents understand what is being said, but in our discussions with thousands of parents, many have indicated that they need guidance with terms used by teachers. This Parent Teacher Conference Handout provides parents with an explanation of academic terminology in the area of reading. Future handouts will deal with terminology related to each specific skill area.
I – Reading Terminology
Decoding: The child’s ability to sound out words. Also known as word attack skills
Phonic skills: Phonics is the understanding of how letters combine to make sounds and words.
Sight word recognition: When we mention sight words as part of the recognition process of words, it refers to words that readers recognize automatically.
Reading comprehension: Reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text. The goal of all reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping a reader comprehend text
Oral Reading: Reading aloud by the child; Oral reading provides a window for the listener to understand the integration of skills that the child uses to read.
Reading Rate: the speed with which you get what you want from your reading.
Dyslexia: A difficulty in learning to read despite traditional instruction, average intelligence, and an adequate
Fluent Reading: Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with proper expression and comprehension. opportunity to learn.
Vocabulary: The words a reader knows
Whole Language: An approach to reading instruction that de-emphasizes letter-sound relationships and emphasizes recognition of words as wholes.
Guided Reading: a teacher works with a small group of students who have similar reading processes.
Blending: Bringing sounds together to make words or syllables. The word Dog is a blending of the phonic sounds D O G.
Miscue: any departure from the text when reading orally.
Kinds of Miscues
Correction: During oral reading, the student realizes he/she has made an error and re-reads the section/word without prompting.
Insertion: As the student is reading, he/she will insert a word or two that isn’t on the page.
Omission: During oral reading, the student leaves out a word(s).
Repetition: A student repeats a word or portion of the text.
Reversal: A student will reverse the order of the print or the word. (say something like of for the word for etc.)
Substitution: Instead of reading a specific word, the student inserts a different word.
Download Information
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