Question 1

Phonemic awareness

Accepted Answer

Ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.

Question 2

Phoneme

Accepted Answer

Smallest unit of sound in a language.

Question 3

Grapheme

Accepted Answer

A written or printed representation of a phoneme.

Question 4

Alphabetic principle

Accepted Answer

Understanding that letters represent sounds in written language.

Question 5

Orthographic knowledge

Accepted Answer

Understanding of letter-sound relationships and spelling patterns.

Question 6

Phonics

Accepted Answer

Instructional method that teaches the relationship between sounds and letters.

Question 7

Phonological awareness

Accepted Answer

Broad term that encompasses various sound-related skills.

Question 8

Syllable

Accepted Answer

Unit of speech that contains a vowel sound.

Question 9

Onset

Accepted Answer

Initial consonant or consonant cluster of a syllable.

Question 10

Rime

Accepted Answer

The vowel and any consonant sounds that follow the onset in a syllable.

Question 11

Blending

Accepted Answer

Combining individual sounds to form a word.

Question 12

Segmenting

Accepted Answer

Breaking a word into individual sounds.

Question 13

Decoding

Accepted Answer

Using letter-sound knowledge to read a word.

Question 14

Encoding

Accepted Answer

Using sound-letter knowledge to spell a word.

Question 15

Sight word

Accepted Answer

High-frequency word that is recognized automatically without decoding.

Question 16

Context clue

Accepted Answer

Information from surrounding text that helps determine the meaning of a word.

Question 17

Morpheme

Accepted Answer

Smallest meaningful unit in language.

Question 18

Inflectional ending

Accepted Answer

A suffix that changes the form of a word (e.g., -s, -ed).

Question 19

Derivational suffix

Accepted Answer

A suffix that changes the meaning or part of speech of a word (e.g., -able, -ly).

Question 20

Homophone

Accepted Answer

Words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (e.g., two, too, to).

Question 21

Homograph

Accepted Answer

Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings (e.g., bow - to bend, bow - a tied ribbon).

Question 22

Homonym

Accepted Answer

Words that are either homophones or homographs.

Question 23

Base word

Accepted Answer

A word to which prefixes and/or suffixes can be added.

Question 24

Syllabication

Accepted Answer

Breaking words into syllables.

Question 25

Consonant blend

Accepted Answer

Two or more consonants blended together, each retaining its sound (e.g., bl, st).

Question 26

Consonant digraph

Accepted Answer

Two consonants that together represent a single sound (e.g., ch, sh).

Question 27

Vowel digraph

Accepted Answer

Two vowels that together represent a single sound (e.g., ea, ai).

Question 28

Diphthong

Accepted Answer

A complex vowel sound in which the tongue moves from one sound to another within the same syllable (e.g., oi, oy).

Question 29

Automaticity

Accepted Answer

The ability to read words accurately and effortlessly.

Question 30

Fluency

Accepted Answer

Ability to read text accurately, quickly, and with expression.

Question 31

Prosody

Accepted Answer

Appropriate use of intonation, stress, rhythm, and phrasing while reading aloud.

Question 32

Comprehension

Accepted Answer

Understanding and making meaning from text.

Question 33

Literal comprehension

Accepted Answer

Understanding the explicit meaning of a text.

Question 34

Inferential comprehension

Accepted Answer

Understanding implied or suggested meanings in a text.

Question 35

Metacognition

Accepted Answer

Awareness and control of one's own thinking and learning.

Question 36

Prior knowledge

Accepted Answer

Pre-existing knowledge and experiences that help make connections and deepen understanding.

Question 37

Main idea

Accepted Answer

Central concept or message of a text.

Question 38

Supporting details

Accepted Answer

Information that helps explain or prove the main idea.

Question 39

Summarize

Accepted Answer

Briefly retelling the main points or essential details of a text.

Question 40

Author's purpose

Accepted Answer

The reason why an author writes a text (e.g., to inform, persuade, entertain).

Question 41

Point of view

Accepted Answer

The perspective from which a story is told.

Question 42

Genre

Accepted Answer

Category or type of literature (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry).

Question 43

Narrative

Accepted Answer

A type of text that tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Question 44

Expository

Accepted Answer

A type of text that provides information or explains a topic.

Question 45

Persuasive

Accepted Answer

A type of text that tries to convince the reader to adopt a particular opinion or take a specific action.

Question 46

Text structure

Accepted Answer

The way a text is organized (e.g., chronological, cause and effect, compare and contrast).

Question 47

Context

Accepted Answer

The words, sentences, or passages surrounding a word or phrase that provide additional meaning.

Question 48

Vocabulary

Accepted Answer

Words and their meanings in a language.

Question 49

Tier 1 vocabulary

Accepted Answer

Common, everyday words (e.g., house, cat, run).

Question 50

Tier 2 vocabulary

Accepted Answer

Academic and domain-specific words that are important for understanding across multiple contexts (e.g., analyze, emphasize, democracy).

Question 51

Tier 3 vocabulary

Accepted Answer

Specialized or technical words related to specific domains or subjects (e.g., photosynthesis, mitochondria).

Question 52

Word analysis

Accepted Answer

Examining the structure of words to determine their meaning or pronunciation.

Question 53

Prefix

Accepted Answer

A word part added to the beginning of a base word to change its meaning (e.g., un- in unhappy).

Question 54

Suffix

Accepted Answer

A word part added to the end of a base word to change its meaning or function (e.g., -ed in jumped, -s in cats).

Question 55

Root word

Accepted Answer

The base word to which prefixes or suffixes can be added.

Question 56

Etymology

Accepted Answer

The study of word origins and how words have evolved over time.

Question 57

Synonym

Accepted Answer

A word that has the same or similar meaning as another word.

Question 58

Antonym

Accepted Answer

A word that has the opposite meaning of another word.

Question 59

Context clues

Accepted Answer

Words or phrases in a sentence that help determine the meaning of an unknown word.

Question 60

Inference

Accepted Answer

A logical conclusion or interpretation based on evidence or prior knowledge.

Question 61

Text features

Accepted Answer

Elements in a text that provide additional information or organization (e.g., headings, captions, maps).

Question 62

Text evidence

Accepted Answer

Specific details or examples from a text that support an idea or claim.

Question 63

Literal language

Accepted Answer

Words that convey their ordinary meaning.

Question 64

Figurative language

Accepted Answer

Language that goes beyond the literal meaning and uses figures of speech (e.g., simile, metaphor).

Mississippi Foundations of Reading Test