Glossary
academic vocabularythe terms that are commonly used in the classroom and across a range of academic areas but not often in everyday contexts; includes the vocabulary required for classroom discussion and curriculum work, e.g., define, method, nevertheless automaticityperforming a function without having to think about it coherencethe way in which the meanings and sequences of ideas work together to make an integrated meaning cohesion(of a text) holding together as a whole text, e.g., by relating ideas clearly for an explicit purpose. In a cohesive text, the parts relate to each other clearly and the text is linked smoothly so that it flows. collocationa set of two or more words that are often used together, e.g., red hot or hot and bothered competing information information that doesn’t match the reader’s purpose for reading, e.g., an anecdote that is not relevant for the reader connotative languagewords and phrases used deliberately to evoke particular associations that words can have in our minds, e.g., the word pig can have connotations of dirty or greedy content-specific vocabularywords associated with or specific to a particular topic denotationthe use of words to name or symbolise particular things, e.g., Labrador denotes a certain breed of dog digrapha combination of two letters that represents one sound, e.g., ph, ai discourse markera word or phrase in a text that helps the listener or reader to follow the relationships between the parts of a text, e.g., Of course, but, Firstly ... finally dominant medial sounds the sounds that are clearly heard in the middle of a word, e.g., the “b” in wobble, the “o” in pot ellipsis (grammar)the omission of a word that can be understood from the context, e.g., “She went home but he didn’t [go home].” ellipsis (punctuation)punctuation (three dots) to indicate that words have been omitted, e.g., She loved her garden, but … high-frequency wordsthose words that occur most frequently in speech and writing, e.g., a, the, of, and, in, if, this hybrid texta text in which the text types or forms are so intermingled that no main text type can be identified inflected endingsaffixes that add to or change the meanings of words, e.g., -ed, -ing, -s lexical chaina set of words or phrases that occur in different parts of a text but build the text’s coherence because they are related in meaning, e.g., computer … menu … went online morphemethe smallest unit of meaning in a word, e.g., jumped has two morphemes, jump-, meaning “to leap”, and -ed, meaning “in the past”
morphologythe study of the forms of words and how they are constructed in terms of parts that have meaning, e.g., fall, falls, falling, fell, fallennote makingmaking notes based on a text for a particular writing purpose note takingtaking down notes as someone speaks, in order to summarise the text orthographythe study of the spelling system or of how letters combine to represent sounds and form words personal wordswords that hold special significance for a person, e.g., family names, local place names phonemethe smallest segment of sound in spoken language registerthe vocabulary and language features associated with a particular kind of audience or context rimethe sound that follows the onset (initial sound) in a syllable, e.g., sh/op, scr/ap, th/ink semantic informationthe information used to gain meaning from a text that is conveyed by the words and images in their context specialist textstexts written for a specialist audience, e.g., a research article in a scientific journal subject-specific vocabularywords that are used in the context of a specific subject, e.g., alliteration, chemical reaction, communities syntactic informationthe information (used to gain meaning from a text) that is conveyed by the grammatical structures of words and phrases technical wordswords associated with particular “technical” topics, e.g., photosynthesis, specifications, hacksaw texta piece of spoken, written, or visual communication that is a whole unit, e.g., a conversation, a poem text formthe essential structure of a text with characteristic features, e.g., a poem, a magazine article, a letter to the editor text type (genre)a particular kind of text, with features and conventions linked to the text’s purpose, e.g., an illustrated article to explain how something works, a letter written to argue a case, a narrative written to entertain visual and grapho-phonic information
information (used to decode) that is partly visual and graphic (the printed shapes of letters, words, and symbols) and partly aural or phonic (the sounds that letters or words represent) voicethe personal characteristics in a text (including tone, register, style, and text features) through which the reader can identify either a particular writer or the kind of person that the writing suggests the writer is
