NES EAS Reading (NT001) key terms

The broad ability to notice and work with the sound structure of spoken language, including syllables, rhymes, and individual sounds, apart from meaning or letters.

The specific ability to hear, isolate, blend, segment, and manipulate the smallest units of sound in spoken words, such as recognizing that /k/ starts cat.

The smallest unit of speech sound that can change a word's meaning, as the /b/ in bat versus the /k/ in cat.

A phonemic awareness task in which a learner breaks a spoken word into its individual sounds, saying /s/ /u/ /n/ for sun.

A phonemic awareness task in which a learner hears separated sounds and combines them into a whole spoken word, as when /m/ /a/ /p/ becomes map.

A unit of pronunciation containing one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, such as the two beats in rabbit.

The division of a syllable into its opening consonant or consonants (the onset) and the remaining vowel-plus-consonant part (the rime), as in /bl/ and /ock/.

The repetition of the same ending sound in stressed syllables of different words, as in cat and hat; awareness of rhyme supports later phonics learning.

The understanding that spoken words are made of sounds and that letters or letter combinations systematically represent those sounds in written language.

Instruction in the predictable relationships between letters or letter patterns and the speech sounds they represent, used to decode and spell words.

A written letter or group of letters that represents a single phoneme, such as b, sh, or igh.

The process of translating printed letters and letter patterns into spoken sounds to pronounce a written word, especially an unfamiliar one.

The reverse of decoding: converting spoken sounds into written letters and patterns to spell a word.

Two letters that together spell one sound, as sh in ship, ch in chin, or ai in rain.

Two or three consonants whose individual sounds are each pronounced in sequence, as the /s/ /t/ /r/ in street; unlike a digraph, each sound is heard.

Two or more letters that work together to represent one vowel sound, such as ea in bread or oa in boat.

A spelling pattern in which a final e is not pronounced but signals that the preceding vowel is long, as in cap becoming cape.

A category describing how vowels and consonants are arranged in a syllable, such as closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le.

The smallest unit of meaning in a word, such as the base help plus the suffix -ful in helpful.

A meaningful word part attached before a base or root that changes meaning, as re- in reread or un- in unhappy.

A meaningful word part attached after a base or root that changes meaning or grammatical function, as -ed in walked or -ness in kindness.

The process by which readers store written words as connected letter-sound sequences in memory, allowing instant recognition without deliberate decoding.

A word a reader recognizes automatically and effortlessly by sight; it may be irregular or fully decodable once mapped in memory.

A word that appears very often in printed English, such as the, of, and, or was, and is therefore taught early for rapid recognition.

Reading with reasonable accuracy, appropriate rate, and meaningful expression, which frees attention for understanding the text.

The expressive features of oral reading, including pitch, stress, phrasing, and pauses, that reflect comprehension of sentence meaning.

The ability to recognize words quickly and accurately with little conscious effort, freeing working memory for comprehension.

A fluency practice in which a student reads the same short passage several times, often with feedback, to build rate, accuracy, and expression.

The body of words a learner understands and can use; breadth and depth of word knowledge strongly support reading comprehension.

Surrounding words or sentences that help a reader infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word, such as a definition, example, or contrast.

The study of word structure and meaningful parts; teaching it helps students analyze unfamiliar words by breaking them into prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

Words and phrases used across school subjects to discuss ideas and texts, such as analyze, evidence, and compare, distinct from everyday conversational words.

The construction of meaning from text by integrating word knowledge, background knowledge, and reasoning about what the author conveys.

The most important point a text conveys about its topic, supported by details rather than stated only as the subject.

A conclusion drawn by combining clues in the text with the reader's prior knowledge when the author does not state the idea directly.

Specific words, sentences, or details from a passage that a reader cites to support an answer, claim, or interpretation.

The organizational pattern an author uses, such as compare-contrast, cause-effect, sequence, description, or problem-solution, which guides comprehension.

A brief restatement of a text's central ideas and key supporting details in the reader's own words, without personal opinion.

Fiction, poetry, or drama that uses imaginative elements such as character, setting, plot, and figurative language to convey meaning or theme.

Nonfiction writing designed to explain, inform, or persuade, often using headings, diagrams, and facts rather than story elements.

A central message or insight about life that a literary work conveys, usually implied rather than stated directly.

The recursive stages writers move through, typically planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing, rather than a single fixed sequence.

A feature used to describe and evaluate writing, such as ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.

A task statement that specifies a topic, purpose, and audience for a piece of writing, often used for assessment or practice.

The agreed rules of written language, including spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar, that make text clear for readers.

Ongoing checks during instruction that reveal what students understand so the teacher can adjust teaching immediately, such as exit tickets or running records.

An evaluation at the end of a unit or period that measures what students have learned, such as a unit test or end-of-year reading test.

Frequent, brief measures of a student's growth in a skill, such as words read correctly per minute, used to judge whether an intervention is working.

An individual oral reading assessment in which the teacher records errors, self-corrections, and reading behaviors to analyze accuracy and strategy use.

Examination of a reader's oral reading errors to infer the cue systems and strategies the reader is using, such as meaning, syntax, or visual cues.

A tiered system of increasingly intensive instruction and intervention, with progress monitored at each tier to identify and support struggling readers.

Planning instruction so content, process, or product is adjusted to meet varied readiness levels, interests, and learning needs within a classroom.

Temporary support, such as modeling, prompts, or graphic organizers, that helps a learner complete a task and is gradually removed as competence grows.

Direct, clearly sequenced teaching that states the skill, models it, guides practice with feedback, and then releases students to independent use.

The early reading and writing behaviors of young children, such as print awareness, oral language, and interest in books, that precede conventional reading.

Basic understandings about how print works, including that text carries meaning, is read left to right, and is made of letters, words, and sentences.

A model stating that reading comprehension results from two components working together: decoding words and understanding spoken language.