Decoding words means sounding them out by applying letter-sound relationships. In reading, this concept refers to word identification rather than word comprehension.

Over time, students must understand how the letters in a language create sounds and how those sounds together create a word. For students to be able to speak, read, or write in a language, they must first understand how the words in that language are constructed so they can read and/or spell them on their own. Without this understanding, students cannot combine words to create sentences that convey ideas, which is the goal of communication.

In the English language, the information that a word conveys can be changed by adding other word parts to it. A word can change in meaning or function by adding these word parts. For example, the word happy changes in meaning when the prefix un- is added to create unhappy. Morphology, or the study of words, how words are formed, and the relationship between words and their parts, allows students to understand how words change in order to expand their own vocabulary and communicate effectively.

Students should use their experience hearing words pronounced in conversational and academic settings to make connections to sound-symbol relationships and spelling patterns evident in the written English language. The relationship between sounds and letters is known as phonics and is used by students learning to read and spell new words. At higher grade levels, phonics gradually gives way to a focus on morphology.

the ability to detect and manipulate the sound structures of spoken language, including recognizing differently sized sound parts (i.e., phrases, words, syllables, phonemes) and manipulating those parts (i.e., blend, segment, delete, add, and change)

in reading, the ability of a reader to know and recognize how text works (e.g., know what a book is, print directionality, the differentiate between words and sentences, and understand that printed text conveys a message)