Study Guide

Field 039: Reading (Subtest II)
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Competency 0011
Understand factors that affect reading comprehension.

Which of the following best describes the primary research-based rationale for involving beginning readers in activities that develop their oral language proficiency?

  1. Oral language proficiency helps students form social relationships that provide the foundation for the development of a supportive classroom community of readers.
  2. Oral language proficiency directly promotes motivation for independent reading by giving students confidence in their academic abilities.
  3. Oral language proficiency provides students with a foundation of vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension skills that facilitates their reading development.
  4. Oral language proficiency allows students to develop background knowledge in a wide range of topics in multiple content areas.
Answer
Correct Response: C.
Oral language proficiency contributes directly to reading proficiency at all stages of reading development, but it plays a particularly important role in early reading development. As beginning readers start to develop a sight-word vocabulary and decoding skills, they must also begin to develop reading comprehension skills. In order to connect print to meaning, beginning readers connect words they encounter in print to words in their oral vocabulary. They also begin to apply comprehension skills they have developed through oral language (e.g., by listening to storytelling and read-alouds, participating in conversations) to their reading.
Competency 0012
Understand methods, activities, and techniques for applying comprehension strategies throughout the reading process.

A seventh-grade teacher plans to have students maintain reading response journals in which students will write a brief entry about each of the literary and informational texts that they read in class. Which of the following extensions to the journal activity is likely to be most effective in promoting their ability to analyze the development of a text's theme or central idea?

  1. Students write questions in their journals about key aspects of a text that they did not understand and the teacher suggests specific sections to reread to help answer the queries.
  2. Students briefly summarize a text in their journals and describe how key parts or elements of the text interrelate.
  3. Students write about their personal reactions to key elements of a text and exchange their journals with a partner who critiques the entry and adds to the comments.
  4. Students describe in their journals ways in which a text compares to or contrasts with other texts they have read on similar topics.
Answer
Correct Response: B.
Summarizing is a high-level skill that requires students to distill the main ideas or events in a text and describe them clearly and succinctly. The students can use the summary they created to analyze how the ideas or events are introduced in the text, how they are repeated or expanded on, and how they work together to contribute to the text's theme or central idea.
Competency 0013
Understand the selection and use of reading materials for different purposes, including materials for introducing or reviewing various comprehension skills and strategies.

A high school student is writing an expository essay about a controversial topic and has located a large amount of potential resources on the Internet and in print that relate to the topic. The student consults the teacher for help in deciding which resources to use. To promote the student's research skills most effectively, the teacher should advise the student to use which of the following strategies to facilitate text selection?

  1. Scan the resources to locate the publication date of each resource to identify those that were published most recently.
  2. Scan the resources to identify those that include the most tables, charts, and other useful graphic evidence.
  3. Skim the resources to identify those that take the same side of the argument that the student plans to take in the essay.
  4. Skim the resources to identify those that present both sides of the argument most objectively.
Answer
Correct Response: D.
The purpose of an expository essay is to explain a factual subject or a personal insight into a subject. An effective expository essay presents credible evidence in support of its thesis. To determine which resources contain the most credible or objective evidence, the student should use skimming, which involves a superficial, rapid reading of a text to get a general overall impression of the material.
Competency 0014
Understand the characteristics of a variety of genres and types of literature and informational texts.

Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

High school students read the following passage as part of a U.S. history lesson.

Thomas Jefferson's political achievements are easily recognized. Most Americans are aware that he authored the first draft of the Declaration of Independence and later served our young nation in a number of key roles, including secretary of state, vice president, and president. Although he is best known for his work in the political arena, Thomas Jefferson was also an accomplished scientist and inventor. He was particularly interested in the science of agriculture, striving to advance the technology of farming. One of his most noteworthy inventions was an innovative moldboard for a plow (the part of a plow that turns over the soil) that was based on mathematical formulas involving right angles.

The presentation of the information in this passage suggests that it was most likely taken from which of the following types of informational texts?

  1. memoir
  2. autobiography
  3. biography
  4. persuasive essay
Answer
Correct Response: C.
A biography is a true story about a person's life. Key features of a biography include that it focuses on interesting or important aspects of a person's life, the facts presented in it can be verified, and it is written by another person. This passage focuses on facts from Thomas Jefferson's life that can be verified easily using a variety of sources. It is written in the third person, and therefore was not written by Jefferson himself.
Competency 0017
Understand strategies for developing and reinforcing students' reading comprehension skills as they relate to informational texts.

Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

High school students read the following passage as part of a U.S. history lesson.

Thomas Jefferson's political achievements are easily recognized. Most Americans are aware that he authored the first draft of the Declaration of Independence and later served our young nation in a number of key roles, including secretary of state, vice president, and president. Although he is best known for his work in the political arena, Thomas Jefferson was also an accomplished scientist and inventor. He was particularly interested in the science of agriculture, striving to advance the technology of farming. One of his most noteworthy inventions was an innovative moldboard for a plow (the part of a plow that turns over the soil) that was based on mathematical formulas involving right angles.

The teacher wants to develop students' ability to analyze complex texts that focus on more than one central theme. Which of the following assignments related to this passage is likely to be most appropriate and effective for this purpose?

  1. Students conduct research about another famous inventor and write an essay using information from the passage to compare Jefferson's work with that of the other inventor.
  2. Students identify the main ideas in the passage and the details that support them and then rewrite the passage as two distinct passages.
  3. Students explore other aspects of Thomas Jefferson's career and expand the passage to include additional information about his accomplishments in other fields.
  4. Students read more about Thomas Jefferson's invention techniques and work in small groups to design their own invention using the techniques.
Answer
Correct Response: B.
The given text touches on two distinct ideas, Thomas Jefferson's achievements as a politician and those as a scientist/inventor. Having the students identify these ideas and then rewrite the text as two distinct passages provides them with opportunities to practice parsing a complex text into its component ideas or themes.
Competency 0015
Understand literary texts from various genres, cultures, and time periods and how to use evidence and main ideas as the basis for interpretation.

Read the passage below; then answer the question that follows.

The weekly farmers' market is a hive of activity. People of all shapes and sizes clad in their multicolored finery swarm around wobbly stands overflowing with mounds of produce and goods. They push and shove their way through the narrow walkways, hovering here, zooming there, seeking out the best bargains. The shouts of sellers boasting their wares blend with the chatter of buyers bartering as the blare of tinny music accompanies this industrious buzz.

This passage would be most appropriate for introducing students to which of the following types of figurative language?

  1. hyperbole
  2. personification
  3. metaphor
  4. simile
Answer
Correct Response: C.
A metaphor is a figure of speech that contains an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase generally used to describe one thing is used to describe another. The topic sentence of this passage introduces the metaphor of the market as a beehive, while the supporting sentences extend the metaphor. People in the market "swarm," "hover," "zoom," and "buzz"—words generally associated with the activities of bees around a beehive.
Competency 0016
Understand strategies for developing and reinforcing students' reading comprehension skills as they relate to literary texts.

After sixth graders in a small group finish reading a short story, the teacher asks them to rewrite the story in the first person from the perspective of the story's antagonist. Which of the following describes the primary benefit of this activity in promoting students' comprehension of literary texts?

  1. Taking an alternative perspective on a literary text promotes students' ability to analyze an author's point of view.
  2. Rewriting a literary text promotes students' awareness of different types of literary genres.
  3. Taking an alternative perspective on a literary text promotes students' ability to identify themes in literary texts.
  4. Rewriting a literary text provides students with practice applying literary response skills.
Answer
Correct Response: A.
Most stories focus on events from the protagonist's perspective. Having students rethink and then rewrite a story from the perspective of the antagonist develops their awareness of point of view and their understanding of how an author's point of view can affect basic story elements, such as the descriptions of characters and conflicts.
Competency 0018
Understand strategies for promoting content-area knowledge through reading and for improving research habits and study skills.

Before assigning students a new chapter in their science textbook, a teacher introduces new vocabulary from the chapter and has the students conduct a simple experiment that illustrates one of the chapter's key concepts. The teacher can most effectively build on these activities to promote the students' reading comprehension by:

  1. asking the students to scan the chapter's headings and graphics to locate instances of the vocabulary words and the key concept.
  2. having the students complete an outline as they read the chapter that already lists the content covered during the prereading activities.
  3. asking the students to write down the chapter's new vocabulary and key concepts in an entry in their science journals.
  4. having the students compare and contrast the information gained from the activities with that gained from reading the chapter.
Answer
Correct Response: D.
Effective prereading activities help build required background knowledge about a text, establish a purpose for reading, and create motivation for reading. The teacher's first two prereading activities, preteaching vocabulary and having students conduct an experiment, help build students' background knowledge about the text. Challenging students to compare and contrast the information they gained during these activities with that gained from the chapter provides students with both a purpose and motivation for reading the text.
Competency 0019
Understand various methods for promoting and expanding vocabulary development.

Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

As part of a geometry unit, a fifth-grade teacher guides students in completing the following analysis of key terms.

This instructional approach is most likely to promote students' vocabulary development by:

  1. fostering students' ability to classify words according to various semantic categories.
  2. providing students with practice applying etymology to understand words with similar meanings.
  3. prompting students to use synonyms and antonyms to understand new words.
  4. helping students to apply the meanings of content-area words in new contexts.
Answer
Correct Response: A.
The graphic organizer shown supports the students' vocabulary development by facilitating their identification of the key features of each shape and their ability to make comparisons among the shapes based on these features. This categorization of the terms by feature helps reinforce students' understanding of each term and promotes their retention of new vocabulary.
Competency 0020
Understand how to vary reading strategies for different texts and purposes for reading and how to facilitate students' use of various reading materials.

Middle school students are likely to find which of the following strategies most useful in facilitating their comprehension of both informational and literary texts across the curriculum?

  1. completing a Venn diagram to represent the relationships among the key elements of a text
  2. creating an outline of the main ideas and supporting details of a text
  3. completing a KWL chart based on background knowledge about the topic of a text
  4. creating a semantic map of key words and concepts in a text
Answer
Correct Response: D.
Semantic maps are used to identify and organize the key words and concepts in a text, which contribute to students' comprehension of the text. Completed maps also provide students with a concrete, visual representation of new terms and ideas and their interrelationships, which promotes retention of new vocabulary and concepts from the text. Semantic maps can be used with any genre of text, both informational and literary, and in any subject area.