TEXES ELA

Ms. Smith is trying to help her student's distinguish between fact and opinion. She assigns an article and asks them to underline facts and circle opinions. What instruction could she give to help her students distinguish between the two?

A fact is something that could be proven true or false, even if the supporting evidence isn't included in the text.

Which of the following statements describes the main differences between a literary and a non-literary text?

A literary text relies on figurative language and imagery to tell a story, while a non-literary text uses facts and details to inform the reader on a particular topic.

How does a student's level of oral vocabulary impact their decoding and reading abilities?

A student with a large vocabulary is more likely to recognize whether or not they have decoded a word correctly.

A language arts teacher is providing instruction on the proper use of capitalization. Each student will write a three-paragraph essay and then exchange their papers with other students for peer editing. What is the best tool for the teacher to provide to students for peer edits?

Conduct a mini-lesson on capitalization rules and how to use proofreading symbols for capitalizations; then, post the proofreading symbols on the board while students make peer edits.

Which of the following is the primary benefit of requiring students to give oral book reports?

They encourage students to share reading experiences and model how the book was enjoyable.

While reading a new short story, a teacher incorporates the think-pair-share discussion strategy to engage students in the story. In which way does this strategy promote oral language development?

Think-pair-shares give all students an opportunity to participate in an oral discussion of the text.

A reading teacher has designed a lesson focused on skimming and scanning texts for significant features. What is the purpose of developing this skill?

This skill will help students locate information more quickly.

How does identifying transition words help readers construct meaning?

Transition words clarify how ideas relate to one another.

Which of the following statements is true in regards to a student's progression through the stages of spelling development?

While there are specific, predictable stages of spelling development, there is no set time period or age range in which a student will enter into or advance through each stage.

A dialect is different from a standard language in all of these ways except:

a dialect blends words and structures of multiple standard languages.

A reader would most frequently encounter captions in which genre of writing?

a magazine article

A second-grade teacher has both native English speakers and English Language Learners in the class. The teacher informally assesses each student for language skills. Which of the following should be selected for further evaluation by the teacher?

a native English speaker who cannot clearly verbalize ideas in conversations with peers

Mr. Kirkpatrick is beginning a unit on morphology with his third-grade class. In order for his students to be most successful in using and manipulating morphemes, he should begin his unit with which activity?

a review of basic morphemes like /ing/, /s/, or /ed/

A third-grade teacher notices that two students are both automatic readers and share the same reading rate and comprehension level. She would like to assign them an activity that will help improve their individual reading rates without compromising comprehension. Which of the described activities would be best suited for this purpose?

a shared reading activity in which both students silently read the same text independently, pausing along the way to discuss the main points of the text

Which of the following is least important for reading comprehension?

accuracy when required to read aloud to class

An example of evaluative comprehension is when a reader:

analyzes the word choice of the author.

A second-grade teacher is reassessing her classroom routines and practices to ensure that she is dedicating enough time to activities that will help build reading fluency in her students. Which of the following activities is not supporting her goal of improving student reading fluency?

asking students to summarize the stories they read in class either verbally or in writing

A third-grade student has mastered decoding individual words, but his oral reading is slow, which keeps him from grasping the meaning of the text. When the teacher encourages him to read to the class, he says he is "ashamed" and wants to complete the assignment by himself. Which of the following approaches would best differentiate the reading lesson and help the student improve his overall reading fluency?

assigning the student a text at his independent reading level and allowing him to read it quietly to himself before discussing it with others

Reading aloud to students increases all of the following oral language skills except:

automaticity.

A kindergarten teacher assesses a student by asking questions based on scenarios. The teacher says, "Listen to me as I say some words very slowly. If I say /c/ /at/, you know the word is 'cat'. What would the word be if I said /d/ /og/?" What skill is this teacher assessing?

blending phonemes The teacher is assessing students' ability to blend sounds together to make them into words.

Ms. Jennings incorporates time into her class's weekly schedule to provide opportunities for students to choose a book that they have already read and read it aloud to either her or a classmate. Which of the following is most likely Ms. Jenning's goal for this activity?

build student fluency

A third-grade class visits the library weekly. Approximately once a month, one student checks out her favorite book, along with other new books. She has now taken this book home for independent reading many times. How can the teacher best support this student's fluency development?

by allowing the student to continue periodically checking out and rereading the book she loves

Which of the following strategies provides the opportunity to informally practice all reading fluency skills?

choral reading

Which of the following terms best describes the turning point of the main conflict in a story?

climax

In order to help students learn to use metacognitive strategies during reading, a teacher should:

conduct a think-aloud while reading, focusing on asking questions and making predictions.

Students are instructed to write a summary of a section of the story they have just finished reading. Before being able to summarize, students first must be able to:

delete extraneous information and determine main idea.

A second-grade teacher conducting a phonics lesson reads the words "kite," "bike," and "recite" aloud and has students write and discuss the use of these words. The greatest benefit to this strategy is it:

discusses vowel rules in a realistic context familiar to students.

Which of the following methods would be effective in helping students correctly punctuate compound sentences?

edit a student-written paragraph to create compound sentences from simple ones

When reading and analyzing fiction texts, which element(s) might students compare?

figurative language use characterization

A first-grade teacher is looking for a new way to help students with literary analysis of complex texts. She decides to reread a text multiple times, each time asking the students to analyze the text in a specific manner. For example, after the first reading the teacher checks for comprehension. Then she reads it again, this time focusing on plot structure. During the third reading, she would like the students to identify character development. The teacher can best accomplish this goal by:

focusing on the illustrations and text to analyze the characters' feelings.

A student is currently in the transitional stage of writing development. Which activity would be most appropriate for this student?

generating lists of family members and favorite places

Which of the following genres could specifically help a reader compare the purpose of dialogue to narration?

graphic novel

A teacher presents her class with a series of simple sentences. For each sentence, the teacher asks the students to identify how many times a specific letter is used. This activity requires students to use which processing skill?

graphophonemic

Requiring students to read texts aloud is an important part of developing fluency. Which of the following improves the effectiveness of this strategy?

have adults listen to them read aloud

A kindergarten teacher pulls individual students aside and asks them to tell their favorite memory from the weekend. As the student talks, the teacher writes down the words on a paper then asks the students to illustrate the story above the words. What is the teacher hoping to accomplish through this activity?

help students understand the connection between oral and written language

Based on current research, what is the best way for ELL students to be grouped in a content area class for a discussion activity?

heterogenous English-language levels and content-area knowledge English language learners should spend the most time in heterogeneous groups. They benefit in these settings when they can experience authentic communication with fluent English-speaking models. It is also best to group students with varying levels of content knowledge so that students can help and learn from one another.

A teacher wants to create literature stations in which students will work in groups on literature skills. One of the stations will include a focused lesson given by the teacher on a specific skill or topic. Which of the following grouping strategies best fits the teacher's goals?

homogeneous groups, based on recent testing data

When considering fine motor skills and writing, students need to be taught which of the following?

how to hold a pencil where on the paper to begin writing how to properly space letters and words

Before beginning a unit on writing compound sentences with his second-grade class, Mr. Stevenson needs to assess whether his students can do which of the following?

identify conjunctions identify simple sentences

According to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, which of these word sets would be appropriate for a fifth-grade spelling list?

inspect, inspection, select, selection, music, musician

A third-grade student reads below grade level, and the teacher is planning how to best support her fluency development within the upcoming week's lesson plans. Which of the following would best support this student?

instructing the student to "whisper read" a book on her independent reading level during independent reading time

A student writes the following sentence to accompany a picture they drew of ducks swimming in a pond. My park has to yelo duks and I lik to fed them. This sentence demonstrates that the student has not yet developed which spelling skill?

knowledge of common word structures and spelling rules

Which of the following stages of spelling development is primarily characterized by letter-sound correspondence?

phonetic Phonetic spelling, also known as invented spelling, requires students to use their knowledge of sounds in words and then assign corresponding letters.

A kindergarten student is reading the following sentence aloud. "The dog ran to the porch." When the student gets to the word "porch," he pauses to sound out each individual sound in the word. The student is using which processing system while reading this word?

phonological

An ESL student consistently writes sentences and places the adjective after the noun, as in "I went to the house blue." What is this student struggling with?

syntax

What principle of language will the reader use to determine the part of speech of the word "hits" in the following sentence: Max ended the baseball game with a total of four hits!

syntax

A teacher reads a non-fiction passage aloud to her class. She occasionally stops and asks questions that relate the text to concepts taught in the previous week. The students are using the skill known as:

synthesizing.

Which of the following reading instructional strategies would be most beneficial for providing a student with multiple genres to read while researching a topic?

text sets

Which of these abilities is the weakest connection between strong oral language skills and strong writing abilities?

the ability to decode new words in a text

The exposition in a story is best described as:

the introduction to the story's setting, characters, and plot.

Mr. Rogers class is studying a unit on law, and they watch a video with the following dialogue: Lawyer 1: "I object." Judge: "Your objection is overruled. Please proceed."Lawyer 2: "Thank you. Witness, can you please resume the stand?" The ELLs might have trouble understanding the dialogue due to:

the jargon.

Pragmatics is:

the study of language in its use.

While reading a piece of fiction writing, a teacher asks her class to select a short passage and rewrite the story from a different character's point of view. What is the most likely goal of this writing activity?

to understand how perspective and point of view impact a text

In which of the following stages of spelling development does the child start to leave behind their phonetic dependence and rely on visual and morphemic strategies?

transitional

Following the whole-class discussion of the organizer, the teacher distributes a copy of it to every student in the class. Throughout the unit, the teacher can help students utilize the web to continue their learning by showing them how to:

use the web to monitor their reading comprehension by adding new information to it after each reading assignment.

Which of the following is a morpheme?

write A morpheme is a combination of sounds that has meaning in speech or writing and cannot be divided into smaller grammatical parts. "Write" cannot be divided into smaller parts.

Mrs. Meyers is teaching a lesson to students who are in the second stage of writing development. The writing activity she has planned for her students should focus on developing their ability to:

write strings of letters in a row.

A teacher wants to encourage her students to think critically about a text. Which activity below would help develop this reading skill?

writing notes and annotations while reading

Henrique, a low-intermediate level ELL student from Mexico, is having trouble with his writing skills. His parents have an advanced level of English and want to help him, but they aren't sure what to do. Which of the following should his teacher recommend?

Encourage Henrique to keep a journal and write about topics of his choice. Spend time each evening reading together with Henrique. Encourage Henrique to tell them simple stories as they write them down.

A kindergarten teacher is working with a student with a developmental disability. This student struggles with reading fluency. The teacher is concerned that this is also impacting the student's reading comprehension and understanding of the content. Why is the teacher concerned about the relationship between the two?

Fluent readers are able to focus on what is happening in the text versus struggling to decode the words, which allows for better understanding and overall comprehension of the material.

A teacher is forming reading groups for small group book clubs. Which of the following grouping strategies should the teacher use to encourage a positive engagement with the text?

Group students based on reading level and topic interest.

Maria, an English language learner, tells the teacher she is concerned the class will not understand her presentation because of her inability to pronounce words perfectly. Which of the following would be the most appropriate recommendation for the teacher to make?

Have Maria write out notes that indicate the correct pronunciation of the words.

Mrs. Morrison, a middle school ELA teacher, requires her students to complete an audio journal entry at the end of class to reflect on their learning. What are the benefits of audio journaling for English language learners?

It encourages risk-taking and develops confidence in expressing thoughts.

In order to help her students with their overall study skills now and in the future, Mrs. Gibbs, a fourth-grade reading teacher, decides to teach a variety of strategies. Which of the following would be the least effective strategy for Mrs. Gibbs to include in her activity?

Practice answering literal questions at the end of the chapter after reading about a topic.

Mr. Otwinowski is working with his sixth-grade students on why dialogue needs to be punctuated in written text. Which activity would best illustrate the need for dialogue punctuation in written text?

Present students with multiple sentences that could be misunderstood without dialogue punctuation.

Mrs. Thompson is working with her kindergarten students on listening for meaning while stories are read aloud. What activity could she ask them to do to best enhance this skill?

Take breaks to have students act out what was read.

Which of the following is an example of hyperbole?

The line for the sale was two miles long.

A small group of ELL students is struggling with recognizing how printed words and spoken language are related. Which activity below would best help the students develop this skill?

The teacher reading aloud a familiar story to the group and pointing out the text and punctuation marks as she reads.

Ms. Smith is planning to incorporate active listening instructions and expectations into her daily routine. Which of the following would best reinforce actively listening in class?

After giving instructions for an activity or assignment, have each student summarize or paraphrase the instructions for their neighbor.

A fifth-grade teacher is working on improving her students' abilities to accurately follow multi-step directions. She provides students with a set of materials and begins giving oral instructions to the class. After a few steps, she sees that the majority of the class is struggling to complete each step. What is one strategy the teacher could use to help the students complete the task and develop their oral language skills?

Ask students to repeat the step back to the teacher after she says it.

Which of the following best describes a similarity between the genres of graphic novels and drama?

Both generally rely more on dialogue than other genres.

Read the following sentence and identify the type of phase underlined. The mountains covered in snow were a far more impressive view than what they were used to.

participle phrase

Follow-up activities are crucial to enhancing young students' listening skills. After listening to a story, which of the following activities would be most appropriate for a class with many English Language Learners?

Have the students perform a skit about the events in the story.

A teacher is creating a reading fluency handout for parents so that parents can support the students' reading development at home. Which of the following suggestions would be the most valuable to include in the handout?

Have your child read aloud the same book multiple times while listening to them.

Paula is an ELL student from Mexico. Her mother, Natalia, is a fluent English speaker and is concerned with Paula's reading fluency. She asks Mrs. Dilbert, her ESL teacher, about the different ways that she can help Paula to practice at home. Mrs. Dilbert recommends all of the following except:

Having Paula read "frustration level" texts, or texts that she can read at less than 90% accuracy, at home to challenge her.

Of the following, which is the most likely group structure for promoting English proficiency among English Language Learners?

Heterogeneous in English proficiency

What is one way in which written discourse differs from spoken discourse?

In order to understand written discourse, a person must be literate.

How should fluency practice for a struggling reader differ from fluency practice for a student who is on or above grade level?

It should use a text at the student's reading level regardless of how far below grade level that is.

An author who has strong skills in clarity of writing will be able to do which of the following?

Organize information and use transitional words. Use precise language specific to his audience.

After reading a text that describes the process of mailing a letter from one location to another, a student is struggling to summarize the steps included in the text. Which of the following strategies would best support this student's reading comprehension?

Provide the student with a sequencing map graphic organizer to complete while reading the text.

A second-grade teacher is planning to use independent reading to further develop her students' reading fluency. Which TWO of the following details would best support the teacher's goal?

Require students to read books at their current reading level. Provide opportunities for students to read the same text multiple times.

Which of the following is the most appropriate way for a teacher to help students develop an understanding of parts of speech?

Show example words and example sentences to help analyze/explain how each part of speech functions within a sentence.

Which of the following describes what happens in the conventional stage of writing?

Students learn to adjust their writing for specific purposes and audiences.

Which of the following describes what happens in the transitional stage of writing?

Students learn to explain different purposes for writing.

After reading a short story in which a character gets ready to go on an adventure, the teacher asks students to create a list of the steps taken by the character in order. This activity requires students to use which comprehension level?

literal

Which of the following activities best promotes students' understanding of how oral language relates to literacy?

modeling the writing of words or phrases

Mrs. Richardson wants to make sure she is effectively teaching all the components of a word and how to sound them out correctly. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary for Mrs. Richardson and all ESL teachers to use their knowledge of:

morphology and phonology.

While discussing a read-aloud, an intermediate-level ELL shared her favorite part of the story with her classmate. Sara: The fishes were my favorite. Sara's mistake can be best described as an error in:

morphology.

Which of the following is most important in promoting reading comprehension across all content areas?

oral reading fluency

Amanda is a first-grade student learning to read and is practicing the following words in her reading this week: slide hate pine crime lane nope After learning these words, Amanda is able to read the words "slime," "fate," and "rode" simply by visually recognizing the pattern. Which of the following best describes the processing system that Amanda is using to apply her learning to the new words

orthographic

Jenny is in pre-K and writes random mock letters. What stage of writing best describes Jenny's current skill level?

pre-conventional

Students who need assistance comprehending expository texts should receive instruction in how to:

pre-read text features and scan for organizational patterns.

A teacher has grouped students based on their current reading fluency mastery. Which of the following strategies would be most beneficial for students demonstrating a high level of reading fluency?

readers' theater

"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury is an example of which genre of literary fiction?

science fiction

An elementary student is reading aloud to her teacher. When she encounters the unfamiliar word "encounter," she says the word in three chunks, "en-coun-ter." Which of the following best describes the principle that she is using to determine the pronunciation of the word?

segmentation

A first-grade student writes the following sentence on the board: "Mi dg lks mi hnd" but means "my dog licks my hand." Which of the following does the student's sentence best demonstrate?

semiphonetic spelling

Lisa is struggling to comprehend grade-level texts during independent reading and her oral reading is jerky and irregular. Mr. Harris wants to improve Lisa's reading comprehension. Which of the following instructional strategies should Mr. Harris focus on?

sight-word automaticity

Which activity would best help students master common vowel spelling patterns?

sorting words based on spelling patterns

As part of reading instruction for a new fiction text, students are given a graphic organizer to track characters, setting, and major plot points. Students enter information as they read and use it to answer some discussion questions after. This best describes a:

story map.