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63 ASSIGNMENT E CASE STUDY Record your written response to the case study in the Case Study Response Booklet. Your response is limited to the lined space available in the Case Study Response Booklet. This case study focuses on a student named Katie, who is eight years old. Her primary language is English. The documents on the following pages describe Katie's reading performance during the middle of third grade. Using these materials, write a response in which you apply your knowledge of reading assessment and instruction to analyze this case study. Your response should include three parts: 1. identify three of Katie's important reading strengths and/or needs at this point in the school year, citing evidence from the documents to support your observations; 2. describe two specific instructional strategies and/or activities designed to foster Katie's literacy development for the remainder of the school year by addressing the needs and/or building on the strengths you identified; and 3. explain how each strategy/activity you describe would promote Katie's reading proficiency.

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Page 1: ASSIGNMENT E CASE STUDY Record your written · PDF file63 ASSIGNMENT E CASE STUDY Record your written response to the case study in the Case Study Response Booklet. Your response is

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ASSIGNMENT E

CASE STUDY

Record your written response to the case study in the Case Study Response Booklet. Your response islimited to the lined space available in the Case Study Response Booklet.

This case study focuses on a student named Katie, who is eight years old. Her primary language isEnglish. The documents on the following pages describe Katie's reading performance during the middleof third grade. Using these materials, write a response in which you apply your knowledge of readingassessment and instruction to analyze this case study. Your response should include three parts:

1. identify three of Katie's important reading strengths and/or needs at this point in the school year,citing evidence from the documents to support your observations;

2. describe two specific instructional strategies and/or activities designed to foster Katie's literacydevelopment for the remainder of the school year by addressing the needs and/or building on thestrengths you identified; and

3. explain how each strategy/activity you describe would promote Katie's reading proficiency.

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STUDENT READING SURVEY

Printed below are Katie's responses to a survey of reading habits prepared by her teacher.

Name: Katie

1. Do you enjoy reading?

no, almost never sometimes yes, most of the time

2. Do you read for fun outside school?

no, almost never sometimes, but not much yes, a lot

3. Do you think you are a good reader?

no sort of yes

4. Write the title of a book you like.

The Elmwood Kids and the Secret Club

5. What do you do when you want to find a good book to read?

I see if I can find a book about the Elmwood Kids.Sometimes I ask my friends.

My Reading

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INFORMAL READING ASSESSMENT

Printed below is an excerpt used for an informal assessment of Katie's reading performance. For thisassessment, Katie read aloud the beginning of a selection from a third-grade reader. As Katie read, theteacher made the following notes about her performance.

Key:deletion short pause repetition self-correctioninsertion long pause substitution

It had been a long day on the trail, and Sarah was tired. The covered wagons

stood in a circle, lit by the glow of cooking fires. As Sarah climbed into her family's

wagon to lie down beside her little sister, she looked up at the darkening sky. Soon

the sky above the prairie would be filled with more stars than she could count. Back

in New York State, the sky had never seemed so big.

"Sarah!" Lizzy was still awake. "I can't sleep. Tell me a story."

Sarah lay down and pulled the quilt up to her chin. She thought for a minute, then

began. "Grandma made this quilt to keep us warm in our new home in Oregon," she

said. "In one square, she made a patch in the shape of a maple leaf. We used to have

picnics under a maple tree in her yard." Suddenly her eyes filled with tears. When

would she see that maple tree again?

catcow

After Katie's oral reading, she reread the passage silently, and then the teacher asked her some questions.Printed below is a transcript of part of their conversation.

Teacher: Where is Sarah's family from, and where are they going?Katie: I think they are from New York State, and they're going to Oregon.Teacher: What can you tell me about Sarah?Katie: Um . . . she's a girl. She has a little sister.Teacher: Why do Sarah's eyes fill with tears?Katie: Because she's tired. My mom says she can tell when my brother's really tired because he

starts to cry at the littlest thing.

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TEACHER NOTES

Printed below is an excerpt from the teacher's notes documenting informal observations related to Katie'sreading activities.

Name: Katie

12/9 During SSRT [sustained silent reading time] Katiefidgeted, played with her hair, yawned, looked aroundthe room . Didn't distract others, but certainly wasn'tengaged in her own reading.

12/14 Conference today with Katie's parents; asked themabout her reading at home. They were a bit vague andapologetic: talked about being so busy that they oftendon't ask whether she's done the 20 minutes of dailyat-home reading that all the children are supposed to do.Her father pointed out that he always checks to see if she'sdone her written homework, which he described as "thereally important thing."

1/16 Most students chose their new independentreading books for the Rain Forest unit. Katie is still only3/4 of the way through her book for the Pioneer Life unit.Need to check in with her and help her work out a plan forfinishing the book by the end of the week.

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READING LOG EXCERPT AND STUDENT-TEACHER DIALOGUE

Students in Katie's class keep logs in which they write about the books they select for independentreading. For each entry the teacher provides a general question or short assignment to focus students'responses. Printed below is an excerpt from Katie's reading log. The assignment was as follows: "Writea short summary of the book you read. Identify the main character and tell three things about him or her."

My book was The Elmwood Kids and the best Yard Sale Ever. I haveread 6 other books about the Elmwood Kids. They are also on a T.V. show. Thisstory was on T.V. once. In this story there is a family that has a fire attheir house when they are away, and all their stuff burns up. So the ElmwoodKids have this huge yard sale. They make lots of money for the family. Thereare 6 main characters, the Elmwood Kids. They are also on the show. They areSally, Mei-Ling, Pedro, Jamal, Tim, and Vimla. I like Vimla best. She is quiet,but she always has the best ideas. She has shiny black hair and dark eyes.

Printed below is an excerpt from a dialogue between Katie and her teacher about this reading log entry.

Teacher: How did you happen to choose this book?Katie: Well, I just like the Elmwood Kids. I always watch them on TV, every week. I also

have almost all of the collector figures of them. The only one I still have to get isJamal—oh, and Pedro's mom.

Teacher: If a friend asked you why you liked this book, what would you say?Katie: Well, it's really good because it's just like the TV show.Teacher: Is there anything in the book that wasn't in the TV show?Katie: Oh . . . maybe some little parts, like when they get the rocking horse for the sale. But

mostly it's like the show, and the kids are just the same. Like I said, Vimla always hasgood ideas. And Tim always is good with animals. It's nice because I always know whatthe kids are going to be like, even if I don't know everything that's going to happen in thestory.

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WORKSHEET ON MULTIPLE-MEANING WORDS

Printed below are Katie's responses to a worksheet designed to measure students' understanding ofmultiple-meaning words.

Name Katie

Directions: Read each word. On the lines below, write sentences that show different meanings of the word.

Example: kind1. The boy was very kind to his sick neighbor.2. What kind of game did you watch last night?

park1. I went to the park. 2. My mom had to park the car.

rose1. A rose is a flower.

2.

rock1. I found a big rock.

2.

play1. I like to play with Kara.

2.

3.

left1. I left my book at school.

2. The car turned left.

beat1. My team beat the other team.

2.

3.

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CASE STUDY

Sample Response for Case Study

Katie has developed many reading strengths. She appears to be a good decoder, as

indicated by her performance on the informal reading assessment. She made short

pauses before only a few words (most of which either had "hard" spellings or were

somewhat uncommon), and she managed to decode them all. She made only one

minor deletion.

Another strength is good factual recall. She remembered that Sarah's family came

from New York and was going to Oregon and that Sarah had a little sister. She also

remembered that Sarah was tired, and this led to her misinterpretation of why

Sarah started to cry. On her reading survey, she indicated that she "sometimes"

enjoys reading and that she doesn't often read for fun. This may be because she is

not inferring much meaning.

Katie's lack of understanding of Sarah's sadness may reflect a weakness in inferential

comprehension. Katie needs to read details more carefully so that she can better

understand why characters in stories behave and think as they do. She also needs to

increase her vocabulary and understanding of multiple-meaning words.

One good instructional strategy would be to teach Katie to use information from

the text to better understand character motives. I would model how to analyze a

character's actions to better understand their motives and feelings. Katie needs to

refer to the text for details. By teaching Katie to refer to the text to find support

for her answers, I would be developing her inferential comprehension skills. She would

learn to base inferences on evidence from the text.

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A second strategy would be to help Katie increase her understanding of vocabulary

and words with multiple meanings. I would select a passage from classroom reading

that had multiple-meaning words, display the passage on the overhead, and point out

the multiple-meaning words, asking students to generate other meanings. For

example, if the passage had the word "run" in it, students would define how it's used

there and then identify other meanings for the word. Students would then go into

their own reading to identify other multiple-meaning words and record them in their

logs and on a class chart. These activities would expand Katie's vocabulary and

increase her comprehension of text.

Evaluation of Sample Response

This assignment assesses content related to the four domains of the RICA Content Specifications. The responsefulfills the purpose of the assignment by identifying two of Katie's reading strengths (i.e., decoding, factual recall)and one reading need (i.e., comprehension and vocabulary), discussing two strategies that should enhance Katie'sliteracy development in light of her current performance (i.e., instruction in inferential comprehension andunderstanding multiple-meaning words), and explaining how these strategies can be expected to benefit Katie.The writer accurately interprets Katie's performance (as indicated in various case study documents) anddemonstrates a solid grasp of current reading pedagogy by describing instructional strategies that are likely toimprove Katie's reading skills. Strong supporting evidence is found in the response's inclusion of accurate andappropriate details and explanations and in the inclusion of an accurate rationale explaining the probable benefitsof each of the two strategies described.

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ASSIGNMENT D

Record your written response to Assignment D on the Assignment D Response Sheet on pages 9 and 10 ofthe Answer Document. The length of your response is limited to the lined space available on the Assignment DResponse Sheet.

Use the information below to complete the exercise that follows.

A first-grade teacher is assessing Amie's reading comprehension of a story that she reads fluently andaccurately by having Amie retell the story in her own words. The story is printed below.

Pam is at school. She plays a new game. A girl tells her how to play the game. First, Pam has to runas fast as she can. She likes to run. When she runs fast she can feel the wind on her face. Next, the girlsays, "Red light!" Pam has to stop. She must stand very still. Then the girl says, "Green light!" Now,Pam can run again. She runs fast. Pam likes the new game. She wants to play it with her friend Rosaafter school.

After Amie reads the story, the teacher asks some questions. Printed below is a transcript of theirconversation.

Teacher: Can you tell me what you were reading about?Amie: It's a story about some girls. One girl is named Pam. She doesn't know how to cross the

street.Teacher: How do you know that Pam needs to learn about crossing the street?Amie: Because she doesn't even know about red lights and green lights. How red is for stop and

green is for go. I think she's a little kid.Teacher: What happens to Pam in this story?Amie: This other girl bosses her around. Pam wants to run in the wind. The other girl makes her

stop. She yells, "Red light!" and then Pam stops. I think the other girl tells her aboutcrossing the street when the cars stop. So, she learns about it.

Teacher: What else do you think Pam will do?Amie: Maybe she'll tell the girl to stop bossing her around.

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ASSIGNMENT D/DOMAIN III

Sample Response for Assignment D—Domain III

Amie demonstrated difficulty with literal comprehension, which led to her making

incorrect inferences. Since Amie read the story aloud “fluently and accurately,” she may

have been concentrating more on decoding than on comprehension. Therefore, the first

thing I would do is have Amie reread the story silently.

If after silent reading Amie’s answers to literal questions, like the teacher’s first and

third questions, were still weak, I would help her “reconstruct” the story by modeling self-

questioning as a strategy, using two kinds of basic questions: 1) "W" questions, like Where is

Pam? What is she doing? Who is she with? and 2) sequencing questions, such as What does

Pam do first? . . . Next? At first I would ask the questions out loud and answer them

myself, then I’d ask them of Amie, then finally I’d encourage her to ask and answer her

own questions. As a follow up, I’d have Amie practice this self-questioning strategy with

other passages.

This strategy would be effective in improving Amie’s literal comprehension because it

models and reinforces a technique she can use to monitor her own literal understanding

as she reads.

Evaluation of Sample Response

This assignment assesses one or more competencies in Domain III. The response fulfills the purpose of the assignmentby discussing Amie's reading need in literal comprehension (which also led to problems in inferential comprehension),describing an effective strategy for addressing Amie's need by promoting her use of self-questioning and self-monitoring during reading, and explaining why this approach would enhance Amie's comprehension. The writeraccurately identifies Amie's literal comprehension need, as well as possible causes and consequences of that need, andthen goes on to demonstrate knowledge of an effective strategy for enhancing Amie's literal comprehension bymodeling and promoting her use of self-questioning. The writer supports the response with relevant, accurate details(e.g., regarding types of questions to use when modeling self-questioning for literal comprehension, the importance ofgiving Amie follow-up activities for practice) and a clear rationale explaining why the strategy described can beexpected to improve Amie's literal comprehension.

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ASSIGNMENT C

Record your written response to Assignment C on the Assignment C Response Sheet on pages 7 and 8 ofthe Answer Document. The length of your response is limited to the lined space available on the Assignment CResponse Sheet.

Use the information below to complete the exercise that follows.

A second-grade teacher is assessing the reading performance of a student named Tony. As Tony readsaloud from an unfamiliar book, the teacher notes his performance on her copy of the passage. Printedbelow is an excerpt from the teacher's record of Tony's performance.

Do you like to have a carrot or a piece of celery for a snack? Do you like strawberries, figs,

and grapes? Many of the fruits and vegetables that we buy in the grocery store come from

farms in California. Farms in our state also grow grains for cereal. Some of these farms are

huge. Trains, planes, and large trucks carry food from these farms to cities and towns all

over our country.

kelry

hug larg kitties

county

grokry

peek

grass kereal

Key:deletion short pause repetition self-correctioninsertion long pause substitutioncatcow

Tony's teacher also gives him a worksheet designed to test his understanding of certain elements ofphonics. Printed below are Tony's responses to part of the worksheet. The directions read as follows:"Read the word in dark type. Circle the word after it that has the same sound as the underlined part of thefirst word."

1. cereal

2. cake

3. pencil

4. page

5. garden

coat

cider

car

pig

bridge

city

dance

pick

good

flag

cat

cold

nice

gym

age

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ASSIGNMENT C/DOMAIN II

Sample Response for Assignment C—Domain II

1) Tony’s decoding need: knowing that the consonants c and g make “soft sounds” (/s/and /j/) when followed by the vowels e, i, and y and “hard sounds” (/k/ and /g/) whenfollowed by other letters (a, o, u, or other consonants).

2) Strategy: Begin by focusing on c.

Materials:

• pocket chart

• Set 1 of about twenty soft c and hard c word cards with the vowels e, i, and yfollowing c in red

• Set 2 of the soft c and hard c word cards without the vowels colored

Steps:

1. Display Set 1 cards in the pocket chart and ask the student, "What do you notice?"

2. Teach the rule that when c is followed by e, i, or y, it sounds like /s/ in "sun."

3. Read the words in the pocket chart aloud together, applying the rule.

4. Give Set 2 to the student and work together to sort by soft c and hardc words.

5. After the words are sorted, ask the student to read them aloud.

3) Explanation: This activity should help Tony to read words with the soft c because hehas been taught the rule and has been asked to apply it by seeing, saying, andmanipulating words using the rule.

Evaluation of Sample Response

This assignment assesses one or more competencies in Domain II. The response fulfills the purpose of the assignmentby identifying a decoding need based on Tony's performance (i.e., distinguishing soft from hard c and g), describing aneffective teaching strategy for helping Tony learn to recognize hard versus soft c in words, and explaining why thestrategy would be effective. The writer demonstrates an accurate understanding of phonics issues related to Tony'sneed (e.g., the rules for soft versus hard c and g) and also describes effective procedures for using a pocket chart andword cards to foster Tony's learning and reinforcement of the rule for soft c. The writer offers strong support for theresponse by providing appropriate, accurate details and an accurate rationale explaining why the describedinstructional strategy would be effective.

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ASSIGNMENT B

Record your written response to Assignment B on the Assignment B Response Sheet on page 5 of theAnswer Document. The length of your response is limited to the lined space available on the Assignment BResponse Sheet.

Use the information below to complete the exercise that follows.

A sixth-grade teacher substitutes blank spaces for several nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in anewspaper article and distributes copies of the modified text to her students. Students work in pairsto determine reasonable and logical words that could fill in the blanks.

Examinee Task

Using your knowledge of English language structures, write a response in which you explain one waythat the activity described above can enhance the students' reading development.

You may use this space to make notes, but remember to record your final responseon the ASSIGNMENT B RESPONSE SHEET on page 5 of the Answer Document.

DO NOT REMOVE THIS OR ANY OTHER PAGE, or any portion of any page, from this test booklet.

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ASSIGNMENT B/DOMAIN IV

Sample Response for Assignment B—Domain IV

One way that this activity can enhance students’ reading development is by promotingtheir ability to use syntactic and semantic cues to aid in reading comprehension. Inorder to determine a “reasonable and logical” word for each blank, the students will needto pay attention to how different parts of speech are structured and placed within asentence. Increased knowledge of language rules and patterns will promote students’reading comprehension and fluency by helping them group words into meaningful chunksas they read.

Evaluation of Sample Response

This assignment assesses one or more competencies in Domain IV. The response fulfills the purpose of theassignment by using knowledge of English language structures to explain how the instructional activity described canenhance students' reading development. The response reflects an accurate understanding of the role of syntactic andsemantic cues in enhancing reading comprehension. Support for the writer's argument is found in a clear explanationof connections involving a reader's ability to use syntactic cues and language rules/structures when reading, thereader's ability to "chunk" text, and the reader's fluency and comprehension.

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ASSIGNMENT A

Record your written response to Assignment A on the Assignment A Response Sheet on page 3 of theAnswer Document. The length of your response is limited to the lined space available on the Assignment AResponse Sheet.

Use the information below to complete the exercise that follows.

A new student enters a fifth-grade classroom. The teacher wishes to determine the student's independentreading level.

Examinee Task

Write a response in which you describe an appropriate procedure for accomplishing this goal.

You may use this space to make notes, but remember to record your final responseon the ASSIGNMENT A RESPONSE SHEET on page 3 of the Answer Document.

DO NOT REMOVE THIS OR ANY OTHER PAGE, or any portion of any page, from this test booklet.

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ASSIGNMENT A/DOMAIN I

Sample Response for Assignment A—Domain I

An informal reading inventory can assess a student’s independent reading level.Here are the steps:

1. Administer a word recognition test using grade-level word lists (start at3rd-grade level for a 5th grader).

2. Stop when the student misses more than 20% of the words on a list.

3. Have the student read aloud from a graded series of passages (start one level belowthe highest level list the student passed).

4. For each passage, tally the miscues and ask 5-10 literal and inferential comprehensionquestions.

The student’s independent reading level is the highest level at which he/she reads99–100% of the words accurately and answers at least 90% of the questions correctly.

Evaluation of Sample Response

This assignment assesses one or more competencies in Domain I. The response fulfills the purpose of the assignmentby describing procedures for conducting an informal reading inventory, a method commonly used in the classroom forassessing independent reading level. The writer provides an accurate description of the procedures involved in aninformal reading inventory as they would be applied with a fifth-grade student. The highly specific list of stepsprovides evidence of the writer's thorough grasp of this subject matter.

Note: In a response to an assignment such as the one above, candidates may refer to a specific reading program orproduct (e.g., for this assignment, a commercially available informal reading inventory). It would not be considered anadequate response, however, to simply name a particular program or product. Candidates must fulfill the purpose ofthe assignment by providing the requested information. For the assignment above, for example, candidates who referto a specific commercially available informal reading inventory must include a clear, thorough description of the stepsor procedures involved.

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1. Compared with standardized readingassessments, one important advantageof informal reading assessments is thatthey allow the teacher to:

A. characterize a student's readingproficiency in terms of typicalgrade-level performance.

B. personalize reading assessmentsto identify the needs of individualstudents.

C. avoid bias in the administrationand interpretation of readingassessments.

D. compare the reading performance ofindividual students to other studentsin the class.

2. An elementary-school teacher isconsidering various instructionalmethods and materials to use in relationto specific reading objectives. Whenmaking these decisions, the teacher's firstpriority should be to select methods andmaterials that:

A. address the reading strengths andneeds of all students.

B. reflect the latest trends and ideasrelated to reading instruction.

C. represent the most cost-effectiveapproach to reading instruction.

D. are recommended by otherexperienced teachers in the school.

3. A sixth-grade teacher is reviewingthe results of a standardized readingtest that include a grade-equivalentinterpretation of student performanceon the test. When reviewing thesedata, the teacher should understandthat a grade-equivalent score of 6.4 isintended to indicate that a student'sreading performance on this test:

A. was as good or better than64 percent of students in thesame grade in the same school.

B. places her/him in the top 6.4 percentof students at the same grade levelin the same school.

C. was as good or better than64 percent of students in thesame grade nationwide.

D. corresponds to the expected skilllevel of a student in the fourthmonth of sixth grade.

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4. When creating lesson plans to promotespecific reading skills, a middle-schoolteacher should make sure that:

A. each planned activity for students isdesigned to strengthen two or morespecific reading skills.

B. the targeted reading skills relateto an appropriate instructionalprogression and reflect students'needs.

C. each planned activity connectsstudents' reading, writing, listening,and speaking skills.

D. the targeted reading skills aregrade-appropriate and taughtto all students using the sameinstructional methods.

5. A sixth-grade teacher wants to ensurethat the classroom reading environmentsupports content-area learning for theEnglish Language Learners in the class.Which of the following strategies is likelyto be most effective in addressing thisobjective?

A. replacing classroom content-areabooks with simpler texts on thesame subjects that the EnglishLanguage Learners can understandmore readily

B. scheduling daily practice drills inwhich students use flashcards tostrengthen recall of content-areavocabulary

C. making available in the classroomlibrary texts at various levels thatsupplement and reinforce theinformation presented in students'textbooks

D. grouping the English LanguageLearners together for study purposesand for all instruction related tocontent-area reading

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6. Of the following questions, whichwould be most important for a teacherto consider when interpreting the results ofa reading assessment for a particularstudent?

A. How did the student's performanceon this assessment compare withthat of the student's classmates?

B. Are these findings sufficient toassign a grade to the student'sperformance?

C. How do these findings relate to thestudent's performance on otherrecently administered readingassessments?

D. Do these findings provide informa-tion about the student's ranking inregard to national norms of readingachievement?

7. Early in the school year, a first-gradeteacher wants to conduct an assessmentof students' ability to read grade-appropriate words, including phoneticallyregular words and high-frequencyirregular sight words. Which of thefollowing assessment strategies would bemost appropriate and effective for thispurpose?

A. The teacher pairs each student witha partner for shared oral reading ofsimple texts and makes anecdotalnotes on their performance.

B. The teacher meets individually withstudents and asks each student towrite a list of words the studentknows how to read.

C. The teacher allows each student toselect a grade-appropriate text fromthe classroom library and asks eachstudent to try reading the text aloud.

D. The teacher prepares a list ofgrade-appropriate words, asks eachstudent to try reading the wordsaloud, and records the results.

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8. Lawrence is a sixth grader who, althoughof above-average ability, has difficultycompleting assigned reading selections inthe content areas. He appears motivatedwhen he begins reading, but he hasdifficulty focusing his attention on thetask at hand and generally does not followthrough. Which of the following wouldbe his teacher's best strategy foraddressing this problem?

A. Adapt Lawrence's readingassignments to reduce theircomplexity and level of cognitivechallenge.

B. Tell Lawrence that his grades willbe based in part on his ability toimprove his concentration when heworks on reading assignments.

C. Break down Lawrence's readingassignments into small steps andhelp him learn to monitor his ownattention and progress.

D. Manage Lawrence's content-areareading assignments so that hegenerally has only one to work onat any given time.

9. A second-grade teacher informallyassesses students' reading developmentby listening to them read aloud. Anna,a student who generally reads aloudfluently, reads aloud a short story selectedby the teacher. In this instance, Annacorrectly decodes about two-thirds of thewords and pauses frequently as she reads.This informal assessment suggests thatAnna:

A. needs instruction designed toimprove her phonemic awareness.

B. is likely reading a story at herfrustration reading level.

C. needs instruction designed toimprove her oral language skills.

D. is likely reading a story at herinstructional reading level.

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10. A fifth-grade teacher plans a multi-disciplinary unit on water pollution.For this unit, students will read fictionalnarratives as well as relevant chaptersfrom their social studies and sciencetextbooks. These materials also willbe incorporated into a variety ofinstructional activities designed topromote students' reading development.Which of the following statements bestdescribes an important advantage of thiscross-curricular approach?

A. Interdisciplinary reading instructionprovides more opportunities forteachers to tailor teaching strategiesto the needs of individual students.

B. Reading instruction that focuses onboth literature and content-area textshelps students recognize andunderstand differences betweenwritten and oral English.

C. Interdisciplinary reading instructionmotivates students to apply a varietyof word identification strategies toclarify the meaning of texts.

D. Reading instruction thatintegrates related narrativeand expository texts enhancesstudents' comprehension andmaximizes their learning.

11. Mr. Leonard's sixth-grade class includesstudents with widely varying levels ofreading proficiency. To introduce a newsocial studies unit on ancient Greece,Mr. Leonard assembles various readingmaterials on the subject and provides eachstudent with reading material at his/herinstructional reading level. Which of thefollowing strategies is likely to be mosteffective in helping all students benefitfrom the reading materials on ancientGreece?

A. Have students write a briefdescription of what they learnedfrom their reading to post on a unitbulletin board.

B. Keep students who have receivedthe same instructional materialstogether in small groups to readand discuss the materials.

C. Encourage strong readers toassist less proficient readers afterfinishing their own assignments.

D. Organize cooperative learninggroups in which each studentcontributes information basedon the material he/she has read.

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12. During class discussions about stories,Rosalinda, an English language learner,often mispronounces key words fromthe stories. The teacher's best responsewould be to:

A. ask Rosalinda to pause and correcther pronunciation before shecontinues with her remarks.

B. analyze Rosalinda's pronunciationpatterns and plan an intervention toaddress her needs.

C. encourage other students in the classto help Rosalinda work onpronouncing words correctly.

D. write down the words and includethem on a list of words forRosalinda to practice pronouncing.

13. Laila, a kindergarten student, hasdemonstrated the ability to write wordsphonetically. However, she seemsreluctant to write because she is worriedabout misspelling words. The teachercould best promote Laila's writtenlanguage development by:

A. giving Laila a spelling list of high-frequency sight words to copy andlearn each day.

B. reassuring Laila that it is okay fornow to express herself in writing byspelling words as they sound.

C. helping Laila make a list of wordsthat she already knows how to spellcorrectly.

D. suggesting that Laila spend timecopying some of the words foundin her favorite stories.

14. Which of the following strategieswould best help a kindergarten studentwith visual discrimination difficultiesdistinguish between frequently confusedletters?

A. creating sandpaper letters thatthe student can trace with his/herfinger while saying the letter name

B. helping the student locate the letterswithin the text of a favorite book

C. repeating the name of each letterseveral times as the student points tothe letter

D. encouraging the student to observeclosely as the teacher writes theletters

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15. Which of the following instructionalstrategies is likely to be most effective inimproving the reading fluency of Tolana,a third-grade student?

A. Tolana practices reading a favoritestory aloud several times and thenreads it into a cassette recorder totape the reading.

B. The teacher helps Tolana increaseher reading rate by prompting herwhen she hesitates over unfamiliarwords while reading aloud.

C. Tolana reads aloud an unfamiliarpassage from a content-area text andthen completes a semantic web toclarify the ideas in the passage.

D. The teacher models for Tolanahow to take advantage of contextclues to identify unfamiliar wordswhile reading aloud.

16. In the word chimpanzee, which of thefollowing pairs of letters is a digraph?

A. ch

B. mp

C. an

D. ee

17. A kindergarten teacher plays the followinggame with students. Shesays, "Guess whose name I'm going tosay now?" She then says the initial soundof a student's name (e.g., /m/ for Mary),and the children try to guess the name.This activity is likely to promote thereading development of students primarilyby helping them:

A. blend separate sounds in words.

B. recognize that a spoken word ismade up of sounds.

C. understand the principles ofphonics.

D. learn how to spell their own names.

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18. An eighth-grade teacher wants to helpstudents improve their spelling ofscientific vocabulary, including theterms listed below.

barometercentimeterdehydratehydrogenmicroscopetelescopethermalthermometer

Which of the following instructionalstrategies is likely to be most effectivefor this purpose?

A. showing students how to dividescientific terms into syllables tofacilitate accurate spelling

B. conducting practice drills to helpstudents memorize the irregularspelling patterns of the words

C. familiarizing students with thespelling and meaning of Greekmorphemes in scientific terms

D. helping students determine correctspellings by dividing the words intoonsets and rimes

19. A kindergarten teacher could informallyassess a student's phonemic awareness byasking the student to:

A. identify the sound he/she hears atthe beginning, middle, or end of aspoken word (e.g., "What sound doyou hear at the end of step?").

B. listen to a tape-recorded story whilelooking at the book, then answerseveral simple questions about thestory.

C. identify the letters in the alphabetthat correspond to the initialconsonant sounds of several familiarspoken words.

D. listen to the teacher read alouda set of words with the samebeginning sound (e.g., train, trap,trouble), then repeat the words.

20. The use of repetitive, rhyming texts forkindergarten read-alouds is likely topromote the reading development ofkindergarten students primarily by:

A. fostering their phonemic awareness.

B. increasing their vocabularyknowledge.

C. enhancing their understanding ofstory elements.

D. improving their letter recognitionskills.

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21. An elementary-school teacher is working individually with a student who is trying to decode the wordgem. Printed below is a portion of their conversation.

Teacher:Student:Teacher:

Student:Teacher:Student:Teacher:

Student:Teacher:Student:Teacher:Student:Teacher:

Student:Teacher:Student:Teacher:

Can you try to read this word?Is it gem [/g1em/]?Almost. The e and m sounds are correct. I like the way you chose the short vowelsound for e. Let's look again at that first letter.The letter g?Yes. What sounds can the letter g make?A /g/ sound?Yes, that's one sound a g can make—a "hard" g sound. It can also make anothersound—a "soft" g sound. Do you remember the story we read about the giant?Yes.Do you remember the first letter of the word giant?Oh . . . g!That's right. And what sound does g make in the word giant?Giant . . . that's a /j/ sound.That's right—/j/ is a "soft" g sound. Now try using the /j/ sound for the letter g in thisword [points to gem on the page].Is it gem [/j1em/]?That's right. Do you know what the word gem means?Is it kind of like a jewel?That's right. Gem means jewel.

This conversation most clearly demonstrates the teacher's understanding of which of the followingprinciples of effective reading instruction?

A. Systematic, explicit phonics instruction should be sequenced according to the increasingcomplexity of linguistic units.

B. Knowledge of English language structures and conventions can help students identify unfamiliarwords by allowing students to take advantage of semantic and syntactic cues.

C. Students benefit from teaching strategies that encourage them to apply their knowledge ofmorphology to decode unfamiliar words.

D. Corrective feedback should be given in a way that encourages students to keep trying and helpsthem recognize their progress in applying word identification strategies.

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22. Students in a fourth-grade class work ingroups to develop a list of spelling wordsthat focuses on homophones. Which ofthe following word pairs best representsthis concept?

A. answer and reply

B. playful and replay

C. table and stable

D. sight and site

23. During which of the followingstages of spelling development do studentstypically begin to show an understandingof the correspondence between letters andsounds?

A. pre-phonetic

B. phonetic

C. transitional

D. conventional

24. Ms. Carlyle, a sixth-grade teacher,observes that several students havemisspelled the word pasteurize. Afterwriting pasteurize and Louis Pasteuron the blackboard, the teacher explainshow Pasteur invented the process ofpasteurization. Students then discusshow the word Pasteur relates to the wordpasteurize. This instructional activityis likely to foster students' readingdevelopment primarily by:

A. helping students learn to useetymology to improve spellingand promote word recognition.

B. helping students improve theirspelling by comparing andcontrasting similar words.

C. motivating students to useorthographic patterns to expandtheir vocabulary knowledge.

D. motivating students to improvetheir spelling through the use ofsystematic study skills.

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25. Read the conversation below, in which akindergarten teacher is preparing astudent for a phonemic awarenessassessment, to answer the questionthat follows.

Teacher:

Student:Teacher:

Teacher:

Student:Teacher:

What is this a picture of?[The teacher displays apicture of a boat.]A boat?A boat, that's right. Now,let's say the word boattogether very slowly:/b/.../Â/.../t/. [The studentpronounces the word withthe teacher.]How many sounds do youhear? /b/.../Â/.../t/ . . . [Theteacher slowly repeats theword.]Three?That's right, three. Now,I'd like you to do this forsome more words.

This assessment would be an appropriateway to test the student's ability to performwhich of the following phonemicawareness tasks?

A. counting and blending thephonemes in a word

B. identifying onsets and rimes

C. recognizing how many phonemesare contained in a word

D. relating phonemes to letters

26. Tyler, a first grader, can identify theletters of the alphabet and decode anumber of simple words. He becomesconfused, however, when tracking printin consecutive lines of print. Which of thefollowing strategies is likely to be mosteffective in helping Tyler read a shortparagraph of simple text?

A. Help Tyler sound out unfamiliarwords included in the text beforehe attempts to read the entireparagraph.

B. Have Tyler use his finger or amarker as he reads the text.

C. Help Tyler increase his reading rateto improve his understanding of thecontinuity between words andsentences in the paragraph.

D. Modify the paragraph by usinga yellow highlighter to identifynatural groupings of words andphrases within the paragraph.

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27. A first-grade teacher provides studentswith explicit, systematic phonicsinstruction to promote their readingdevelopment. When designing activitiesto teach letter-sound correspondences,the teacher should:

A. provide reading opportunities forstudents to practice sounds incontext after studying the soundsin isolation.

B. make certain that students havemastered vowel sounds beforefocusing on consonants.

C. ensure that students master thespelling of practice words using thetarget sound before teaching a newsound.

D. include instruction in relatedconsonant blends when introducingindividual consonants.

28. In general, the best strategy for helpingbeginning readers identify function wordssuch as to, the, and of would be to:

A. encourage students to apply phonicanalysis to such words.

B. provide instruction in the use ofcontext clues.

C. develop students' structural analysisskills.

D. teach such words as sightvocabulary.

29. A second-grade teacher regularlyassesses students to monitor theirstages of spelling development. Basedon these assessments, she designs word-sort activities for each student. Using aset of word cards prepared by the teacher,the student decides how to separate thecards into two or more categories(e.g., words that begin with the letter c andwords that begin with ch). This activity islikely to promote the spellingdevelopment of students primarily by:

A. guiding them to apply a varietyof strategies for expanding theirvocabulary knowledge whileimproving their spelling.

B. motivating them to apply andassess their spelling skills acrossthe curriculum.

C. enabling them to discover spellingpatterns and generalizations that canthen be applied to the reading andspelling of unknown words.

D. helping them improve spellingaccuracy by strengthening theirproofreading skills.

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30. Reading fluency refers to students'ability to:

A. read smoothly and accurately.

B. pay particular attention to keywords as they read.

C. read with different levels ofcomprehension.

D. pay particular attention to properpronunciation as they read.

31. A teacher plans to assess a student'scomprehension of a short story throughoral retelling. After the student silentlyreads the story, the teacher will prompt thestudent's retelling by asking open-endedquestions. To prepare for this assessment,the teacher reads the story carefully andcomposes the questions. Which of thefollowing additional steps would be mosthelpful for the teacher to take before theretelling activity begins?

A. Prompt the student to recall similartasks he or she has previouslyperformed.

B. Prepare a checklist of the keyelements that an effective retellingof this story should include.

C. Review grades earned by the studenton recent tests and quizzes inlanguage arts.

D. Remind the student to concentrateon recalling as many details aspossible during the retelling.

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Use the information below to answerthe four questions that follow.

A sixth-grade teacher reads his studentsthe nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" byLewis Carroll. The first four lines of thepoem are shown below.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe.

32. The teacher reads aloud the clause "Allmimsy were the borogoves" and asksstudents what that might mean. Onestudent responds, "It means that theborogoves were all mimsy!" Thisstudent's response demonstrates skillin which of the following readingcomprehension strategies?

A. applying relevant contentknowledge

B. recognizing cause-effectrelationships

C. analyzing the use of figurativelanguage

D. interpreting unusual grammaticalconstructions

33. The teacher plans a variety ofactivities related to "Jabberwocky."Students will work in pairs to make updefinitions for some of the nonsensewords (e.g., slithy). They will read thepoem aloud using tone of voice to expressvarious moods. Finally, they will createtheir own nonsense poems and give oralreadings of them. These activities aremost likely to promote students' readingdevelopment by:

A. providing students with theopportunity for an in-depthanalysis of a specific literarygenre.

B. developing students' understandingof the differences between writtenand oral English.

C. fostering students' enjoyment ofplaying with and thinking aboutlanguage.

D. helping students make distinctionsbetween serious and whimsicalliterature.

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34. One student pronounces gyre with a hardg sound, while his classmate uses a softg sound. They ask the teacher who iscorrect. The teacher's best response wouldbe to:

A. remind students to use theirknowledge of syntactic principlesto determine the pronunciation.

B. suggest looking in the dictionaryat words that begin with gy to seewhat that suggests about thepronunciation.

C. have the class vote and suggest thatstudents use the pronunciation thatis preferred by the majority.

D. advise them that since gyre is anonsense word, it does not reallymatter whether they pronounce itwith a hard g or a soft g.

35. The teacher asks the students if they cantell which of the nonsense words in thepoem are nouns. One student says thattoves is a noun. Another says that wabeand borogoves are nouns and adds thatgyre and gimble are verbs. The class thendiscusses how students were able to drawthese conclusions. This exercise would beespecially useful for helping studentsunderstand that:

A. being familiar with conventions ofcapitalization and spelling can helpa reader interpret a text.

B. recognizing the roots of words canhelp a reader decode the words.

C. being familiar with commonlanguage structures can help areader interpret a text.

D. recognizing a text's genre can help areader comprehend the text.

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36. A fourth-grade teacher sets aside time each week for students to check out books from the school library.In the conversation shown below, the teacher is circulating among his students in the library, talking withthem about their selections.

Teacher: This book cover looks interesting. Why did you choose this book, Caleb?Caleb: It's just for fun.Teacher: So, you're reading for enjoyment. (turns to another student at the table) How about you,

Velma? Why did you choose this book about crocodiles?Velma: I need to find out more about crocodiles for my research project.Teacher: You're reading for information. (turns to another student at the table) I see your book is

about France, Rodrigo. Did you choose it to help you with a research project?Rodrigo: No. My sister is going to Paris for an exchange program. I wanted to find out what Paris

is like.Teacher: Sounds like you're reading to learn about the world.

The teacher's conversations withstudents in this situation are likely topromote students' reading developmentprimarily by:

A. helping students understand thatthere are different types of booksand purposes for reading.

B. modeling critical thinking and literalcomprehension skills forthe students.

C. demonstrating prediction andclarification strategies to thestudents.

D. increasing students' motivation toread their books closely and taketheir reading seriously.

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37. Yusef is a third grader who reads at gradelevel. Lately, when choosing a book toread, Yusef always selects books from aseries that is written in a very formulaicstyle that does little to extend hisconceptual or language development.The teacher's best response to thisbehavior would be to:

A. avoid interfering with Yusef'sselection of books as long as hefinds his choices enjoyable.

B. provide Yusef with books withsimilar themes or on similar topicsthat are more challenging for him.

C. point out to Yusef some of themajor limitations of the books he ischoosing to read and ask him not toread those books at school.

D. advise Yusef that he should choosebooks that will prepare him for themore difficult reading he willencounter in fourth grade.

38. Ms. Habib is teaching a unit on fiction inher fifth-grade class. To begin, studentsread several simple fairy tales and discussthe moral or meaning of each one. Theteacher then assigns a more complex storyand leads a discussion about the moralof the story after students finish readingit. This instructional strategy is mostlikely to promote students' readingproficiency by:

A. guiding students to analyze therelationship between plot andcharacter in a literary text.

B. fostering students' ability todistinguish an author's use offact versus opinion in a text.

C. helping students identify andunderstand the theme of a literarytext.

D. enhancing students' ability to useself-monitoring strategies to clarifythe meaning of a text.

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39. Spring, a second grader, has demonstratedthe ability to decode individual words, buther reading fluency is weak, which has ledto difficulties with comprehension. Whenthe teacher asks Spring to read aloud,she says she feels "embarrassed" andwould rather read silently. Which ofthe following responses by the teacherwould likely be the most appropriate andeffective way to help improve Spring'sreading fluency?

A. Encourage Spring to serve as an"audience" for other students whoread aloud until she demonstratesreadiness to read aloud herself.

B. Arrange frequent opportunities forSpring to participate in small-groupactivities that involve rereadingfamiliar texts aloud.

C. Teach Spring how to use self-monitoring techniques to improveher literal comprehension as shereads.

D. Focus on explicit phonicsinstruction to improve Spring's wordidentification skills before requiringher to read aloud.

40. Adrian, an eighth grader with a learningdisability, demonstrates strong mathcomputational abilities but has difficultyinterpreting and solving word problems.Which of the following comprehensionstrategies is likely to be most effectivein facilitating Adrian's understanding ofword problems?

A. After reading a problem silently,Adrian and a partner reread it aloudand then discuss and write downeach step of the problem.

B. Adrian works with the teacher toslow his reading rate to promotegreater concentration as he readsthe problem.

C. After reading a problem silently,Adrian reads it aloud to the teacherand then performs the necessarycalculations independently.

D. Adrian previews the problem bylocating and writing down all thenumbers provided in the problem;then he reads the problem silently.

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41. Students in a fourth-grade class have beenreading and discussing a story. Whichof the following informal assessmentstrategies would likely be most effectivein evaluating students' ability to analyzestory elements and make personalconnections with the text?

A. Students write a brief essaycomparing the plot of the story tothe plot of other familiar stories ofthe same genre.

B. Each student pretends to be acharacter from the story and writes ajournal entry reflecting on thesignificant events of the story.

C. Students cite passages fromthe text in which the author usesdescriptive language to enhancecharacterization.

D. Each student pretends to be theauthor of the story and writes aparagraph summarizing the story'stheme.

42. Students in a middle-school classfrequently use Venn diagrams to clarifytheir understanding of expository texts.To assess a student's comprehension of apassage about comets and meteoroids, theteacher asks the student to use facts fromthe text to complete the following Venndiagram.

comets meteoroids

This strategy is likely to be particularlyuseful in helping the teacher evaluate thestudent's ability to:

A. use inferential comprehensionskills to identify cause-and-effectrelationships.

B. draw on prior knowledge to clarifyunderstanding.

C. organize textual informationby analyzing similarities anddifferences.

D. apply his/her vocabulary knowledgein new contexts.

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43. A third-grade teacher prepares several poster-sized copies of the star diagram illustrated below.

What?

Where?

Who?

Why?

When?

How?

After reading an assigned story, students divide into small groups, and the teacher distributes a copyof the star diagram to each group. The members of each group discuss how the six questions (who,what, when, where, why, and how) apply to the story and write answers in the six points of the star.The teacher then displays the completed star diagrams and leads a whole-class discussion about them.This instructional activity is most likely to promote students' reading proficiency in which of thefollowing ways?

A. improving students' comprehension by familiarizing them with common text structures

B. helping students learn a strategy to organize information to clarify meaning when readinga text

C. improving students' comprehension by encouraging them to connect personal experienceto a text

D. helping students learn to use evaluative comprehension skills to determine an author'spoint of view

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44. A fourth-grade teacher designs aninstructional activity in which studentswork in small groups to create a differentending to an adventure story they haveread. Each group then shares with theclass their new version of the story. Thisactivity is likely to promote students'reading proficiency primarily by:

A. having them apply their under-standing of the elements ofliterary texts.

B. helping them extend theirunderstanding of the meaningsof words.

C. enhancing their understanding ofliterary genres.

D. helping them clarify their under-standing of English grammar.

45. A teacher wants to facilitate students'comprehension of an expository passageby setting a purpose for reading. Whichof the following strategies is likely to bemost effective?

A. The teacher provides students with alist of key vocabulary words fromthe passage, and students writesentences using the words.

B. Students participate in a prereadingactivity in which they freewriteabout the general topic of thepassage.

C. The teacher describes the main ideasand supporting details of thepassage for students before theybegin reading.

D. Students preview a set of questionsthat they will be required to answerin writing after they finish readingthe passage.

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Use the information below to answer the two questions that follow.

Ms. Hollister's fourth-grade class is beginning a unit on deserts. She starts the unit by having the studentsform small groups and list everything they know about deserts. Then the whole class meets to share theirlists, and Ms. Hollister asks the students to help her arrange their ideas into a web. The class's partiallycompleted web is shown below.

PLANTScactus

LANDFORMSsand dunesbig boulders

ANIMALSsnakesscorpionscamels

DesertsPEOPLE

sheltertents

dryhotthunderstormssandstorms

nomads

food water

CLIMATE

46. Creating such a web is likely to promotestudents' ability to retain and use infor-mation they read about a topic by:

A. encouraging students to attend tonew information on the topic ratherthan to familiar information.

B. providing students with thevocabulary they need to makesense of their reading.

C. prompting students to assess theaccuracy of their prior knowledge ofthe topic.

D. helping students learn to usecategories to organize their thinkingabout the topic.

47. Ms. Hollister gives each student a copyof the web developed by the class. Shecould best help students make use of theweb to learn and retain facts from theirreading by asking them to:

A. add continuously to the web asthey encounter and organize newinformation in their reading.

B. try to maintain a mental image ofthe web while they are reading onthe topic.

C. review each category on the web toensure that it is an appropriate oneto have included.

D. memorize the information on theweb before they begin their reading.

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48. Mr. Montaine plans to have his eighthgraders read Shakespeare's play, Romeoand Juliet. He is concerned that Sharlene,who has a reading disability, will havetrouble keeping up with and understandingthe reading. His best strategyfor promoting Sharlene's comprehensionof the text and her ability to participatefully in class discussions would be to:

A. assign Sharlene to begin readingthe play several weeks beforeher classmates are given theassignment.

B. provide Sharlene with a narrativeversion of the play to read ratherthan the original, dramatic version.

C. assign Sharlene to read onlyselected portions of the text, suchas key speeches and dialogues.

D. provide Sharlene with an audiotapedversion of the playto listen to in conjunction withher reading.

49. When selecting texts for first gradersto read in the upcoming school year,a teacher should be aware of theimportance of:

A. focusing primarily on realistictexts that mirror the children'sown experiences.

B. including a wide range of fictionand nonfiction texts in a variety ofgenres.

C. focusing largely on simple fictionalnarratives such as folk and fairytales.

D. providing students with transcriptsof their own oral language as theirprimary reading materials.

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50. A teacher could most effectively supportat-home reading by:

A. sending parents a regular newsletterdescribing classroom readingactivities.

B. sharing with parents importantarticles from professional readingjournals.

C. recommending books that parentswould likely enjoy reading aloud totheir children.

D. providing parents with periodicreports on their children's progressin reading.

51. A middle-school teacher designs aninstructional activity in which studentscombine several sentences to form a singlesentence, as illustrated below.

Combine:Matthew stood and waited for the bus.The sun was blazing hot.Matthew fanned himself with thenewspaper.

Single sentence:Waiting for the bus, Matthew stoodin the blazing sun, fanning himself withthe newspaper.

This activity is likely to be most effectivein helping students:

A. strengthen their ability tocomprehend and write complexsentences.

B. apply literal comprehension skillsto identify and write main ideastatements.

C. improve their inferentialcomprehension skills.

D. use self-monitoring techniques toclarify the meaning of text.

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52. A fifth-grade teacher gives students thefollowing sentence:

Neither walking on the beach norrunning around the track cheeredDanny up.

The teacher asks the students how thephrases that come just after neitherand just after nor are similar. Thisexercise can promote students' readingcomprehension by helping them:

A. distinguish between explicit andimplied main ideas.

B. identify cause-effect relationships.

C. apply literal comprehension skills.

D. recognize parallel constructions.

53. A middle-school teacher designs thefollowing instructional activity. Using theboard, the teacher writes and pronouncesdict. She explains that dict derives fromthe Latin word for "speak." She then asksstudents if they can think of English wordsthat start with or include dict.The teacher uses students' suggestionsto create the diagram shown below.

benediction dictionary

contradict

predict

dict(speak)

dictator

This activity is likely to promote students'vocabulary development primarily byhelping the students:

A. recognize common prefixes andsuffixes.

B. apply the techniques of conceptmapping.

C. use word roots to determine themeaning of related words.

D. draw on a knowledge of phonicsto unlock word meanings.

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Use the information below to answer the three questions that follow.

Mr. Batista's sixth-grade class has been studying volcanoes. He designs the following activity for theclass, which includes a number of English Language Learners.

Paragraph-Building Activity

1. The teacher leads a whole-class discussion on a topic related to the science unit on volcanoes.

2. Students form heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with three or four students in eachgroup. The students in each group continue discussing the topic.

3. Each student writes one or two sentences about the topic on sentence strips.

4. The members of the group then decide how to put the various sentences together, editing thesentences as necessary to form a comprehensible paragraph about the topic and correcting anyerrors in grammar or spelling.

After participating in this activity, all of the students review the chapter in their science text aboutvolcanoes.

54. After assessing the effectiveness of thisactivity, Mr. Batista decides that thenext time he offers the activity he willinclude an additional step. For step 5,Mr. Batista will guide students to developtopic sentences for the paragraphs theygenerated. This modification is mostlikely to enhance students' readingproficiency by:

A. encouraging students to draw onprior knowledge to clarify theirunderstanding as they read.

B. helping students distinguishbetween facts and opinions asthey read.

C. encouraging students to applyvocabulary knowledge in newcontexts.

D. helping students recognize mainideas and how supporting detailsrelate to main ideas.

55. The paragraph-building activity designedby Mr. Batista is likely to promotestudents' reading development primarilyby helping students:

A. apply knowledge of commontext structures to improvecomprehension as they read.

B. transfer skills from oral language towritten language.

C. use a variety of word identificationstrategies.

D. understand differences betweenspoken and written English.

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56. Which of the following best describes oneimportant way in which this activity islikely to benefit English LanguageLearners?

A. Analyzing and editing individualsentences improves the readingfluency of English LanguageLearners by helping them chunktext as they read.

B. Combining sentences intoparagraphs encourages EnglishLanguage Learners to employ avariety of word identificationstrategies.

C. Discussing and writing about acontent-area topic supports EnglishLanguage Learners' reading ofrelated texts by reinforcing keyvocabulary, language structures,and schemata.

D. Arranging sentences in ameaningful order helps EnglishLanguage Learners develop skillsfor locating and retrievinginformation from content-area texts.

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57. Structural analysis would be an especiallyappropriate strategy for a student to use todetermine the meaning of which of thefollowing words?

A. impassable

B. elephant

C. interim

D. examine

58. The cloze technique is an especially usefulmethod for assessing students'understanding of English languagestructures because it requires students to:

A. define the various parts of speech intheir own words.

B. select appropriate words based ontheir grammatical function as wellas on their meaning.

C. group words into phrases to clarifytheir meaning.

D. draw on grammatical knowledge toidentify the subjects and predicatesof complex sentences.

59. At the beginning of the school year,Ms. Ignacio, a fifth-grade teacher, designsthe following activity in which studentsinterview one another.

1. The teacher guides students tobrainstorm interview questions(e.g., What do you like to do forfun?).

2. The teacher types the questionsand makes copies of the"questionnaire."

3. Students interview one anotherin pairs, with each student readingthe questions and writing his/herpartner's answers on thequestionnaire.

4. Students discuss their findings ina whole-class discussion and thengive their completed questionnairesto the teacher.

As an informal assessment strategy, theinterview activity designed by Ms. Ignaciois likely to be most useful in helping theteacher evaluate students':

A. oral and written languageproficiency.

B. ability to apply vocabularyknowledge in new contexts.

C. understanding of differencesbetween oral and written language.

D. use of literal and inferentialcomprehension skills.

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60. Mr. Cabrera, a second-gradeteacher, regularly engages in informalconversation with students about storiesthey are reading. Printed below is anexcerpt from his conversation withAlexandra, who is reading a story abouta whale.

Alexandra:

Mr. Cabrera:

Alexandra:

The whale in this book isenormous!

Sounds interesting.What other words wouldyou use to describe thewhale in this story?

Very very big! Huge!Bigger than my house!

This conversation is likely to be mosthelpful to Mr. Cabrera in evaluatingAlexandra's ability to:

A. draw on a variety of cues to identifyunfamiliar words as she reads.

B. recall main ideas and significantdetails after reading.

C. verify and extend the meaning ofwords she reads by relating them tofamiliar words and concepts.

D. draw conclusions or generalizationsfrom a text.

END OF SECTION IProceed to Section II of the test.

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MULTIPLE-CHOICE ANSWER KEY

ItemNumber

CorrectResponse

ContentArea

1 B 12 A 23 D 14 B 25 C 26 C 17 D 18 C 29 B 1

10 D 211 D 112 B 213 B 614 A 415 A 516 A 517 B 318 C 619 A 320 A 321 D 522 D 623 B 624 A 625 C 326 B 427 A 528 D 529 C 630 A 5

ItemNumber

CorrectResponse

ContentArea

31 B 732 D 733 C 1134 B 1235 C 1336 A 937 B 1038 C 839 B 740 A 741 B 842 C 943 B 744 A 845 D 746 D 947 A 948 D 749 B 850 C 1051 A 1352 D 1353 C 1254 D 755 B 1156 C 1157 A 1258 B 1359 A 1160 C 12