Praxis 5002 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Phonemic awareness

The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual phonemes in spoken words, such as blending /k/ /a/ /t/ into cat or deleting the first sound from blend. It is an oral skill and a subset of phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness

The umbrella term for awareness of the sound structure of speech beyond individual phonemes: words in sentences, syllables, onsets and rimes. It develops from larger to smaller units and is assessed without print.

Onset and rime

The onset is the consonant or consonants before the vowel in a syllable (str- in string); the rime is the vowel plus everything after it (-ing). Segmenting by onset-rime is easier than by phoneme for young children.

Consonant digraph

Two consonant letters that represent a single phoneme, such as sh, ch, th, wh, ph, and ck. Unlike a blend, the individual letter sounds are not heard separately.

Consonant blend

Two or three consonants clustered together in which each letter's sound is still pronounced, as in bl, st, str, and spr. Blends differ from digraphs, which produce one new sound.

Alphabetic principle

The understanding that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language, allowing readers to decode unfamiliar printed words. It is the foundation of systematic phonics instruction.

Orthographic mapping

The process by which readers bond a word's spelling, pronunciation, and meaning in memory so the word is recognized instantly. Accurate decoding plus repeated exposure builds these mappings.

Reading fluency

Reading text accurately, automatically, and with appropriate expression, called prosody. It is often measured as words correct per minute on a grade-level passage and bridges word recognition and comprehension.

Six syllable types

Closed, open, silent-e (VCe), vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le. Knowing them helps students pronounce multisyllabic words by dividing them into pronounceable chunks.

Tier 2 words

High-frequency words used across many content areas and texts, such as contrast, illustrate, or significant. They are neither everyday conversation nor technical jargon and are the top priority for direct vocabulary instruction.

Inferential comprehension

Understanding ideas not stated directly in the text, which requires combining textual clues with background knowledge. It contrasts with literal comprehension, where answers appear explicitly in the words.

Story grammar

The structural elements of narrative text: characters, setting, initiating event, internal response, attempts, consequence, and resolution. Teaching these elements supports retelling and narrative comprehension.

Expository text structures

Common organizational patterns in informational text: description, sequence, comparison-contrast, cause-effect, and problem-solution. Signal words such as because, however, and finally cue each pattern for readers.

Text complexity

Judged by three factors: quantitative measures such as readability formulas, qualitative features such as levels of meaning and knowledge demands, and reader-and-task considerations. All three inform text selection.

Instructional reading level

The level at which a student reads with about 90-94 percent word accuracy and adequate comprehension, allowing new learning with teacher support. Independent level is 95-100 percent; frustration is below 90 percent.

Morphology

The study of meaningful word parts: prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Teaching morphology helps students decode and infer meaning in multisyllabic academic words such as unbelievable or transportation.

Comprehension monitoring

A metacognitive strategy in which readers notice when meaning breaks down and repair it by rereading, clarifying vocabulary, or using other fix-up strategies. It is central to self-regulated reading.

Writing process stages

Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The stages are recursive rather than strictly linear, and revising for content is a distinct step from editing for conventions.

Six plus one traits

A framework for teaching and assessing writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. The traits give teachers and students shared language for feedback.

Compound sentence

A sentence with two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, or by a semicolon. Each clause could stand alone as a complete sentence.

Complex sentence

A sentence containing one independent clause and at least one dependent clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction such as because, although, when, or since.

Subject-verb agreement

The rule requiring a verb to match its subject in number and person. Indefinite pronouns such as everyone, each, either, and nobody are singular and take singular verbs.

Semicolon use

A semicolon joins two closely related independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction, and it separates items in a series that already contain internal commas.

Spelling development stages

Typically precommunicative, semiphonetic, phonetic, transitional, and conventional. Children's invented spellings reveal their phonics knowledge, so instruction should target the next stage.

Analytic rubric

A scoring guide that evaluates separate traits or criteria independently, often on a scale, giving specific feedback on each dimension. It contrasts with a holistic rubric, which assigns one overall score.

Pragmatics

The social use of language: taking turns, staying on topic, adjusting register to the audience, and repairing misunderstandings. Pragmatic rules vary across cultures and are taught explicitly to English learners.

BICS and CALP

Cummins's distinction between basic interpersonal communication skills (conversational fluency, about two years to develop) and cognitive academic language proficiency (academic language, roughly five to seven years). CALP drives content-area reading.

Silent period

A stage early in second-language acquisition in which a learner understands more than they produce and may speak very little. It is developmentally normal and supported by comprehensible input.

Receptive versus expressive language

Receptive language is the ability to understand spoken or written language; expressive language is the ability to produce it. Receptive typically develops before expressive in first and second languages.

Accountable talk

Classroom discussion norms in which students build on one another's ideas, cite evidence from texts, and ask clarifying questions. The teacher facilitates rather than dominates, increasing student oral language production.

Academic language functions

The purposes for which students use language in school: recounting, describing, explaining, comparing, and arguing. Each function has characteristic vocabulary and sentence patterns that can be taught explicitly.

Syntax

The rule system governing how words combine into phrases and sentences, including word order and grammatical structure. Oral syntax knowledge in the primary grades predicts later reading comprehension.