antecedent

The person or thing to which or to whom a pronoun refers. For example, consider the sentence: “Applicants with dependants must fill out section B before they can apply.” The phrase ‘applicants with dependants’ is the antecedent for the he pronoun ‘they.’

attribute

A quality or feature of the thing under discussion. For example, a ball can have a size attribute, large, and a colour attribute, red. When we ask the question “What distinguishes the Northern Flicker?” we are asking for attributes such as size, colour, beak shape and markings.

background knowledge

In reading, the sum total of all the ‘facts’ known by the reader. It includes a lot of information about categories and membership in categories, the names of things, and the basics of science and causality. Without such background knowledge, we would have problems making sense of the world, and consequently any documents or prose we encountered. The requirement for specialized or expert background knowledge raises the complexity level of literacy tasks.

cognition

The faculty of knowing and perceiving.

combined list

Two or more lists combined into one structure. A price list combines a list of sale items and a list of prices. The ordering of both lists usually depends on the order of the first.

distractor

A word, phrase or feature which is similar to the word, phrase or feature being given or requested in questions and directives. If the distractor is for the given information, it will cause the reader to look for the answer in the wrong place; if the distractor is for the requested information the reader making a correct match on the given word, phrase or feature will be confronted by several possibilities for the requested information–the answer and one or more distractors.

document literacy

The knowledge and skills required to locate and use information contained in documents such as payroll forms, maps, applications, tables and graphs. Document literacy tasks include locating an address on a map, using a schedule to plan a train trip, or entering information on a form.