Glossary

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Braille(also: Braille System, Braille Code)

A tactile writing system used by people who are blind or have low vision, consisting of patterns of raised dots arranged in cells of up to six dots in a 3x2 configuration. Each cell represents a letter, number, punctuation mark, or other symbol. Developed by Louis Braille in…

Braille Contractions(also: Braille Short Forms, Braille Abbreviations)

Abbreviated representations in Grade 2 braille where a single braille cell or short sequence of cells stands for a common word, letter combination, or word fragment. For example, a single cell can represent the word "the" or the letter group "ing." Contractions follow…

Braille Literacy(also: Braille Reading and Writing)

The ability to read and write using the braille system, a tactile code of raised dots representing letters, numbers, and symbols. Braille literacy is fundamental to educational achievement, employment, and independence for people who are blind or have low vision. It encompasses…

Braille literacy(also: Braille fluency)

The ability to read and write using the Braille tactile writing system of raised dots. Braille literacy rates among blind people have declined significantly — from over 50% in the 1960s to under 10% in some countries — due to factors including mainstreaming in education, reduced…

Dale-Chall Readability Formula(also: Dale-Chall, New Dale-Chall)

A readability formula first published by Edgar Dale and Jeanne Chall in 1948 and revised in 1995. Unlike formulas that rely only on surface counts, Dale-Chall compares every word in a text against a manually curated list of "easy" words familiar to fourth-grade readers; the raw…

English Literacy(also: Reading Literacy, English Reading Literacy)

The ability to read, write, and comprehend written English. In the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing accessibility, English literacy is a significant consideration because many DHH individuals — particularly those who are native ASL users — may have lower levels of English…

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level(also: Flesch-Kincaid, FKGL, Flesch-Kincaid readability)

A readability formula that estimates the U.S. school grade level required to comfortably read a given English text, based on average sentence length and average syllables per word. Developed for the U.S. Navy in 1975 by Rudolf Flesch and J. Peter Kincaid, the formula is widely…

Functional Illiteracy(also: Low Literacy, Limited Literacy)

A condition in which a person has basic reading and writing skills but cannot effectively understand or use written text for everyday tasks such as reading instructions, filling out forms, or comprehending web content beyond simple sentences. UNESCO defines functional illiteracy…

Functional Literacy(also: Functional illiteracy)

The level of reading and writing skill needed to handle everyday tasks — filling out forms, reading medication instructions, understanding a utility bill, using a web service. Adults below this threshold are described as functionally illiterate, which in the United States is…

Grade 1 Braille(also: Uncontracted Braille, Alphabetic Braille)

The basic level of braille in which each letter, number, and punctuation mark is represented by its own distinct braille cell, with no abbreviations or contractions. Grade 1 braille is typically used by beginning braille learners and for labeling purposes. While straightforward…

Grade 2 Braille(also: Contracted Braille)

The standard form of braille used in most published materials, which employs contractions — single braille characters or short groups of characters that represent common words, letter combinations, or word parts. Grade 2 braille is more concise than Grade 1, reducing reading and…

Grapheme

The smallest unit of a writing system, typically a letter or group of letters that represents a single phoneme (sound). For example, the word "ship" contains three graphemes: <sh>, <i>, and <p>. Understanding grapheme-phoneme correspondence — how written letters map to spoken…

Graphicacy(also: Graph Literacy, Visual Literacy)

The ability to read, interpret, and communicate information presented in graphs, charts, maps, and other visual representations of data. Graphicacy is considered a foundational literacy alongside reading, writing, and numeracy. It involves three progressive stages: reading the…

Illiteracy(also: Functional Illiteracy, Low Literacy)

The inability to read or write, or having reading and writing skills below a functional level needed for everyday tasks. In the context of digital accessibility, illiteracy and low literacy present significant barriers to using text-based interfaces, navigating websites,…

Lexile Framework(also: Lexile, Lexile Measure)

A commercial readability framework developed by MetaMetrics that places both texts and readers on a common scale — the Lexile measure — to support matching readers with materials at an appropriate level of challenge. A text's Lexile measure is computed from sentence length and…

Literacy Bias(also: Literacy bias of a metric)

In accessibility research methodology, a literacy bias describes the phenomenon where an evaluation metric systematically produces different scores for participants with different reading-literacy levels, independent of the characteristic being measured. For example,…

Newsela

An educational content platform that publishes news articles in multiple professionally-edited versions simplified to different U.S. school reading levels, enabling teachers to assign the same story at grade-appropriate difficulty. Because Newsela pairs original articles with…

Numeracy(also: Mathematical Literacy, Quantitative Literacy)

The ability to understand, use, and reason with numbers and mathematical concepts in everyday contexts. Numeracy skills include counting, arithmetic operations, understanding percentages and proportions, interpreting number lines, and making sense of numerical information in…

Reading Fluency

The ability to read connected text accurately, at an appropriate pace, and with proper expression - distinct from word-level decoding skill on one side and from reading comprehension on the other. Fluency is typically measured along three dimensions: accuracy (proportion of…

Reading Level(also: Grade Level, Reading Grade Level)

An estimate of the education or skill level a reader needs to understand a text, usually expressed as a U.S. school grade (e.g., grade 4) or an equivalent band. Reading level is the target output of most readability formulas and automatic readability assessment systems, and it…

Score Prediction(also: Predicted grade, Comprehension self-prediction)

A subjective-response evaluation item in which a research participant, immediately after reading a passage and before learning their actual comprehension-question score, estimates the percentage of questions they will have answered correctly. Score prediction is used in…

Sighted Braille Learner(also: Visual Braille Learner)

A person with typical vision who learns to read and write braille, usually for professional or personal reasons such as teaching blind students or supporting a blind family member. Sighted braille learners process braille visually rather than tactilely, which creates a…

Sign Language Writing System(also: Sign Language Script, Sign Language Notation, Sign Language Character System)

A system of symbols or characters designed to represent sign language in written form. Unlike spoken languages, which have well-established writing systems, sign languages generally lack a standard written form — meaning the approximately 70 million people worldwide who use sign…

SignWriting

A writing system for sign languages that uses visual symbols to represent handshapes, movements, facial expressions, and body positions. Created by Valerie Sutton in 1974, SignWriting allows sign languages to be written and read without translation into a spoken language. Unlike…

Synthetic Phonics(also: Phonics, Systematic Phonics)

A method of teaching reading that emphasises learning the sounds (phonemes) associated with letters and letter combinations, then blending those sounds together to form words. Unlike analytic phonics, which starts with whole words and breaks them down, synthetic phonics builds…

Tactile Graphicacy(also: Tactile Literacy, Tactile Reading Skills)

The learned ability to read, interpret, and create meaning from tactile images, maps, diagrams, and graphics through touch. Just as visual graphicacy is developed through exposure to visual images, tactile graphicacy requires practice with a wide range of tactile materials and…

Tactile Reading(also: Touch Reading)

The process of reading text through the sense of touch, primarily using the fingertips to perceive raised characters such as braille. Tactile reading requires distinct perceptual and cognitive skills from visual reading, including fine tactile discrimination, spatial pattern…

Unified English Braille(also: UEB)

The standard braille code used for English-language literary materials in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and other English-speaking countries. UEB was adopted to replace multiple competing braille codes with a single unified system, providing consistent…

Wide-Range Achievement Test(also: WRAT, WRAT-5, WRAT sentence comprehension)

A standardised achievement test used to measure basic academic skills, including word reading, sentence comprehension, spelling, and math computation. In accessibility research, the WRAT sentence-comprehension sub-test has been validated as a measure of English literacy for Deaf…

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