Ctel Vocabulary

Front 1

Advanced
organizer

Back 1

The presentation of relevant learning activities or subject
information to students before reading begins.

Front 2

Affixes

Back 2

A morpheme attached to a base word (also called root
word) that changes the meaning of the base or its
function.

Front 3

Alphabetic
Principle

Back 3

The systematic use of alphabet letters to represent speech
sounds or phonemes in a language

Front 4

Assessment

Back 4

A means for measuring a student’s progress. Assessments
should be varied and ongoing.

Front 5

Auditory
discrimination

Back 5

The ability to tell the difference between one sound and
another sound. Auditory discrimination is very important
for developing phonemic awareness.

Front 6

Background
Knowledge

Back 6

The knowledge that students already possess. Students
who possess background knowledge in the subject of a
reading text are more likely to read that text fluently and
with comprehension.

Front 7

Base Word

Back 7

The word to which affixes are attached. A base word is
also called a root word.

Front 8

Big books

Back 8

Large “child-friendly” volumes that help children learn
concepts of print and enjoy positive reading experiences.

Front 9

Blending

Back 9

The ability to take separate sounds and blend them into a
single word or syllable.

Front 10

Cloze test

Back 10

A “fill-in-the-blank” assessment tool often used to test
reading comprehension.

Front 11

Comprehension

Back 11

The process of constructing meaning

Front 12

Comprehension
Strategies

Back 12

The techniques that students can use to better understand
reading texts. These techniques may include note taking,
outlining, self-monitoring, rereading, summarizing, story
mapping, and the use of learning logs.

Front 13

Concepts About
Print

Back 13

An understanding of the ways in which letters, words, and
sentences are represented on the page. The most basic
“concept of print” is the idea that oral language can be presented in a print format.

Front 14

Consonant
Blend

Back 14

Two or three consonants blended together. The sound that
this blend makes is the sound of the consonants blended
together.

Front 15

Consonant
Digraph

Back 15

A pair of consonants that makes a single sound that is
different from each individual letter sound.

Front 16

Content-Area
Literacy

Back 16

The ability to learn through reading

Front 17

Context Clue

Back 17

The use of information surrounding an unknown word or
group of words to identify the unknown word. Important
context information may include syntax, the meanings of
the surrounding words, available pictures or photographs,
or even typography.

Front 18

Conventional
Spelling

Back 18

Students who have mastered conventional spelling will
follow the essential conventions of English spelling. In
addition, they will understand how to apply prefixes and
suffixes, contractions, plurals, and verb markers to words.
They will show an understanding of compound words,
homophones, and homographs. Their use of silent
consonants, silent vowels, and doubled consonants will
improve. They will recognize when a word is spelled
wrong and may consider alternate spellings for the same
or similar sounds. They will apply irregular spelling
patterns where appropriate. Their percentage of correctly
spelled words is high.

Front 19

Curriculum-
Based
Assessment

Back 19

The use of measurement tools and tests that are directly
related to the current classroom curriculum.

Front 20

Decoding

Back 20

Analyzing words by identifying sound units

Front 21

Deletion

Back 21

The removal of a sound or phoneme from a word. Sound
deletion requires manipulation of phonemes in words and
is considered to be more difficult than other types of
phoneme awareness. Sound deletion generally involves
only initial or final sounds in words.

Front 22

Diagnosis

Back 22

The identification of a specific learning problem or
stumbling block.

Front 23

Diagnostic
Teaching

Back 23

The use of assessments about student problems and
progress to design lesson plans and organize reading
instruction.

Front 24

Diagnostic Test

Back 24

An assessment designed to measure a student’s academic
strengths and weaknesses.

Front 25

Diphthong

Back 25

A gliding vowel sound normally represented by two
adjacent vowels.

Front 26

Direct
instruction

Back 26

An instructional strategy that includes modeling reading,
writing, and speaking skills, the use of guided reading,
and the encouragement of independent reading and writing.

Front 27

Directed
listening
thinking activity
(DLTA)

Back 27

DLTA both assesses and instructs students. Listening,
predicting, and confirming one’s predictions are
emphasized.

Front 28

Directionality

Back 28

The ability to process words in a text in the correct order.
Directionality includes both left-to-right word progression
and the return sweep (the return to the beginning of the
next line when one line is completed).

Front 29

Emergent
Literacy

Back 29

The awakening of a student’s reading ability. Emergent
readers have well developed oral language skills,
understand print concepts, and are phonemically aware.

Front 30

Etymology

Back 30

The study of the origins and histories of words.