Glossary (Version 8.4)

A capacity to step outside familiar frames of reference, to consider alternative views, experiences and perspectives and to look critically and objectively at one’s own linguistic and cultural behaviour.

A process of working out the meaning of a text. Decoding strategies involve readers/listeners/viewers drawing on contextual, lexical, alphabetic, grammatical and phonic knowledge to decipher meaning. Readers who decode effectively combine these forms of knowledge fluently and automatically, using meaning to recognise when they make an error and to self-correct.

A variant of a language that is characteristic of a region or social group.

A scattered population with a common origin in a smaller geographical area.

Various platforms via which people communicate electronically.

Audio, visual or multimodal texts produced through digital or electronic technology. They may be interactive and include animations or hyperlinks. Examples of digital texts include DVDs, websites and e-literature.

Two letters that represent a single sound:

  • vowel digraphs have two vowels (for example, ‘oo’, ‘ea’)
  • consonant digraphs have two consonants (for example, ‘sh’, ‘th’)

Two vowel sounds pronounced in a single syllable with the individual vowel sounds distinguished. (For example, hour)

A direction in which writing/script occurs, for example, from left to right, right to left.