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Features of Structured Literacy

What is structured literacy? an approach that emphasizes highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy

New to structured literacy? Explore our helpful articles and timely talks below.

Teacher holding a mini whiteboard
The Simple View of Reading

Word Recognition x Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

Assessment

The process of measuring students' progress and providing information to help guide instruction

Screener

Diagnostic

Formative

Word Recognition

The ability to see a word and know how to pronounce it without consciously thinking about it

Phonological Awareness

A group of skills that enable you to recognize and manipulate parts of spoken words

Articulation

The accurate production of a word or word part and how that word or word part sounds when spoken

Articulation Skill Explainer

Syllables

Onset-Rime

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

A method for teaching children the relationship between spoken sounds and written letters so they can learn to decode and encode

Sound-Letter Correspondence

Phonics Patterns

Common letter combinations found in words.

Short Vowels Skill Explainer
Closed Syllables Skill Explainer
Glued Sounds Skill Explainer
Short vs. Long Vowels Skill Explainer

Coming soon.

    Open Syllables Skill Explainer

    Coming soon.

      Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k' Skill Explainer
      Consonant Digraphs Skill Explainer
      Blends Skill Explainer
      ‘-ck’ Pattern Skill Explainer

      Coming soon.

        FLoSS(Z) Pattern Skill Explainer
        ‘y’ as a Vowel Skill Explainer

        Coming soon.

          Magic 'e' Skill Explainer
          Soft 'c' and Soft 'g' Skill Explainer

          Coming soon.

            R-Controlled Vowels Skill Explainer

            Coming soon.

              Vowel Teams and Dipthongs Skill Explainer

              Coming soon.

                Trigraphs Skill Explainer
                Consonant '-le' Skill Explainer

                Coming soon.

                  Schwa Skill Explainer

                  Coming soon.

                    Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

                    High-frequency words that have a part of their spelling that has to be memorized

                    Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

                    Multisyllable Words

                    Words that have more than one word part

                    Prefixes

                    How to add meaningful beginnings to words

                    Suffixes

                    How to add meaningful endings to words

                    Language Comprehension

                    The ability to understand the meaning of spoken words

                    Background Knowledge

                    All the information you acquire over time that is needed to understand language

                    Oral Language Structures

                    The elements of speech needed to understand and communicate effectively

                    Vocabulary

                    The body of words whose meanings you understand, so you can comprehend and express ideas

                    Building Word Knowledge Skill Explainer

                    Morphology

                    An understanding of how words can be broken down into the smallest units of meaning

                    Prefixes and Suffixes Skill Explainer

                    Reasoning

                    A critical-thinking skill in which you draw conclusions by analyzing language

                    Inferencing Skill Explainer

                    Literacy Knowledge

                    The recognition that texts have unique elements, organization, structure, and purpose

                    Reading Comprehension

                    The ability to understand the meaning of printed text

                    Text Considerations

                    Characteristics of a text that impact the ease or difficulty of comprehension.

                    Strategies and Activities

                    How a reader approaches a specific text, depending on their purpose for reading

                    Reader’s Skill and Knowledge

                    The skills and knowledge a reader brings to the reading task that are necessary for comprehension

                    Sociocultural Context

                    Elements in a classroom that affect how well a child learns to read

                    Fluency

                    The ability to read accurately with automaticity and expression

                    Fluency: Accuracy, then Automaticity

                    Reading or decoding words correctly (accuracy) and reading at an appropriate rate (automaticity)

                    Fluency: Expressive Text Reading

                    Reading characterized by accuracy with automaticity and expression

                    Writing

                    (active)
                    Features of Structured Literacy

                    A systematic and explicit approach to teaching reading based on research

                    All Structured Literacy Content

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                    Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (opens in new window); the AFT (opens in new window); the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation (opens in new window); and three anonymous donors.