MTTC English
B: This is the opening sentence of James Joyce's last novel, Finnegans Wake (1939). He published Ulysses (A) previously, in 1922; and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (D) even earlier, in 1916. Adventures in the Skin Trade (C) was not written by Joyce but by Dylan Thomas (1938).
riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. 4. This is the opening sentence of... a. Ulysses. b. Finnegans Wake. c. Adventures in the Skin Trade. d. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
C: The lower-case initial letter of the first word was not an error (D). It did not continue Joyce's previous novel (B). And he did not use it to make the opening stand out as different to the reader (A). Rather, it is uncapitalized to show that it completes the book's last sentence fragment, "A way a lone a last a loved a long the—." By writing the end of the book to be completed and continued only by the beginning, Joyce embodied the cyclical nature of history and of the novel within its sentence structure.
riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. 6. Why does this opening sentence begin with an uncapitalized word? a. This is to make it stand out to the reader. b. It is the continuation of the author's previous novel. c. It forms the completion of the novel's unfinished last sentence. d. A typesetting error in the original edition was preserved in perpetuity.
D: Joyce used the word "vicus" because it means "vicinity" (A) or "lane" in Latin; to refer to Vico Way (B), the name of the shore road running alongside of Dublin Bay; and to allude to Giambattista Vico (C), an Italian philosopher (1688-1744) who espoused the cyclic theory of history, a theme in Joyce's novel.
riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. In the excerpted sentence, the word "vicus" represents which of the following? a. Vicinity b. Vico Way c. Giambattista Vico d. All of the above
A: Joyce is famous for using stream-of-consciousness in his novels, as in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. The unreliable narrator (B) is a technique used often in murder mysteries, as by Edgar Allan Poe in "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado," and many other stories and by Agatha Christie in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Joyce is not famous for using it. He used third-person narration and often included soliloquies, but is not famous for using first-person narration (C). An example of the author surrogate (D) is Socrates in Plato's works; Joyce is not known for using this technique.
riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. The author of the excerpted work is famous for using a literary technique known as... a. Stream-of-consciousness. b. The unreliable narrator. c. First-person narration. d. The author surrogate.
C: The Syntactic Cueing System is that set of cues available in the syntax. Syntax is the sentence structure and word order of language. The Phonological (A) Cueing System is that set of cues available in the phonological structure of language. Phonological structure is the language's speech sounds and the letters representing them. The Semantic (B) Cueing System is that set of cues available in the semantics. Semantics are the meaning (and meanings) of words and the morphemes (smallest units of meaning) that comprise words. The Three Cueing Systems model does not include a Pragmatic (C) system. However, it recognizes, as all linguists and reading instructors do, that pragmatic cues involve reader understanding of their reasons for reading and of how text structures operate. (In linguistics, pragmatics is the study of how language is used for social communication.)
57. In the Three Cueing Systems model of word recognition in reading instruction, which system most relates to how words are assembled into meaningful language? a. Phonological b. Semantic c. Syntactic d. Pragmatic
D: Semantics refers to the meanings of words and language. The semantic system in the Three Cueing Systems model is the set of cues (including words, phrases, sentences, discourse, and complete text) that readers can use to recognize words based on meanings. Pragmatic cues (A) are based on reader purposes for reading and reader understanding of text structure. The phonological system (B) consists of cues related to the phonemic (or sound) structure of language. The syntactic system (C) consists of cues related to the sentence structure and word order of language.
58. In the word-recognition model of the Three Cueing Systems used in teaching reading, which of the following is most associated with the meanings of words? a. Using pragmatic cues b. Phonological system c. The syntactic system d. The semantic system
C: Phonological cues are based on the speech sounds in words and their alphabetic representations in print. Readers can identify words by knowing sound-to-letter correspondences. Syntactic cues (A) are based on how words are arranged and ordered to create meaningful phrases, clauses and sentences. Semantic cues (B) are based on the meanings of morphemes and words and how they combine to create additional meanings. Pragmatic cues (D) are based on the readers' purposes for reading and their understanding of how textual structures function in the texts that they read.
59. In the model known in reading instruction as the Three Cueing Systems, which of these relate most to how sounds are used to communicate meaning? a. Syntactic cues b. Semantic cues c. Phonological cues d. Pragmatic cues
B: Pragmatics is the study of how language is used socially for communication. In reading instruction, pragmatic cues relate to the reader's purposes for reading and the reader's understanding of the workings of textual structures. Although pragmatic cues are valid and important, the Three Cueing Systems model does not include a pragmatic "system." The three cueing systems named in this theory are the phonological system of sound cues (D), the Semantic system of meaning cues (C), and the Syntactic system of sentence-structure cues (A).
60. In reading instruction, the Three Cueing Systems is one model used. Which of the following represent a valid reading strategy that is NOT a system in the Three Cueing Systems model? a. Syntactic cues b. Pragmatic cues c. Semantic cues d. Phonological cues
D: Reading instructors should teach students to activate their prior knowledge because it will improve their reading comprehension. Before reading (A), teachers should discuss and model connections with existing knowledge to prepare students by helping them consider what they already know about the subject of the text. While they read (B), students can make better sense of the text by considering how it fits with what they already know. After reading (C), teachers can lead discussions helping students focus on how the connections they made between the text and their previous knowledge informed their understanding of the text, and on how the text helped them build on their foundations of existing knowledge.
61. When should students be taught to activate their prior knowledge? a. Before reading b. During reading c. After reading d. All of the above
C: Certain cognitive strategies used by good readers have been identified through research. Teaching children these strategies and helping them apply these until they can do so independently are found to support mastery of reading comprehension. Good readers who use such successful strategies are not necessarily reading teachers, and it is not necessary for students to find different ways (A) to apply them. Such strategies are less likely to be used by beginning students, and always applying them with assistance (B) without ever graduating to independent application is less effective. These strategies are used by all proficient readers, not just published writers (D). Finally, creativity is important to many kinds of writing, but not necessary to understand what one reads
62. Which choice most appropriately fills the blanks in this statement? "Teaching children which thinking strategies are used by ________ and helping them use those strategies ________ creates the core of teaching reading." (Mosaic of Thought, Keene and Zimmerman, 1997) a. Reading teachers; in different ways b. Beginning students; with assistance c. Proficient readers; independently d. Published writers; more creatively
A: The student making this observation is connecting reading of a mythological text (presumably Greek or Roman) s/he reads to the world—in this instance, to human nature—by noting that despite greater powers, the gods' emotional reactions and behaviors are like those of humans. The student statement in option B reflects a connection of text to text—fiction (a novel) to historical accounts of a period (for example, see Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities). The student statement in option C reflects a connection of text to self: the student can relate to the feelings of a character in the text. Because each choice reflects a different one of the three kinds of student connections named, option D is incorrect.
63. Scholars have identified three kinds of major connections that students make when reading: connecting text to self, text to the world, and text to text. Which of the following student statements best reflect(s) the connection of text to the world? a. "These mythic gods have more power, but feel and act like humans." b. "This novel is set during a period I learned about in my history class." c. "I can relate to how the main character felt about being controlled." d. All three statements equally reflect connection of text to the world.
64. C: Thinking about thinking, or understanding our own cognitive processes, is known as metacognition. Explicitly teaching effective reading comprehension strategies does more than deepen student understanding of reading: it also promotes the higher-order, abstract cognitive skill of metacognition. Schemata (A) (plural; singular is schema) is Piaget's term for mental constructs we form to understand the world. Piaget said we either assimilate new information into an existing schema or alter an existing schema to accommodate the new knowledge. Reading instruction experts may refer to experience or background knowledge as schemata because students undergo this cognitive process when they fit what they read to their existing knowledge/experience. Scaffolding (B), a term coined by Jerome Bruner, refers to the temporary support given to students as needed while they learn, which is gradually reduced as they become more independent. Reading instruction experts may also describe students' connections of text to prior experience as scaffolding. Metamorphosis (D) is a term meaning a transformation—literally in biology as with caterpillars into butterflies, or figuratively, as in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, wherein protagonist Gregor Samsa becomes a cockroach.
64. When students are taught to use effective reading comprehension strategies, they not only achieve deeper understanding, but they also learn to think about how they think when reading. This is known as... a. Schemata. b. Scaffolding. c. Metacognition. d. Metamorphosis.
B: Why the students participate in a reading/learning activity refers to the motivation for the activity. Option A refers to the timing of the reading/learning activity. Option C refers to the place or physical setting of the learning activity. Option D refers to the way(s) in which the learning activity is defined and executed. All of these activity settings are factors that influence learning differently according to the different cultural, social, and economic factors involved in each specific situation.
65. Activity settings (Tharp and Gallimore, 1988) are aspects of the sociocultural context that affect how students learn and read. Of five activity settings, one is participant identity, or who the students are. Of the other four, which is most related to motivation? a. When the activity is done b. Why the activity is done c. Where the activity is done d. How the activity is done
A: The process of actively constructing meaning from reading is interactive, in that it involves the text itself, the person reading it, and the setting in which the reading is done: the reader interacts with the text, and the text interacts with the reader by affecting him/her; the context ofreading interacts with the text and the reader by affecting them both; and the reader interacts with the reading context as well as with the text. Choice B is a better definition of the strategic aspect of the process. Options C and D are better definitions of the adaptable aspect of the process.
66. Some experts maintain that teaching reading comprehension entails not only the application of skills, but also the process of actively constructing meaning. This process they describe as interactive, strategic, and adaptable. Which of the following best defines the interactive aspect of this process? a. The process involves the text, the reader, and the context in which reading occurs. b. The process involves readers using a variety of strategies in constructing meaning. c. The process involves readers changing their strategies to read different text types. d. The process involves changing strategies according to different reasons for reading.
B: Researchers find that learners of both their native language (L1) and a second language (L2) go through all three developmental stages, which means that choices A and C are both incorrect. However, learners of a second language are often urged by teachers and others to skip the Silent Period, whereas young children acquiring their native languages are not similarly expected to speak immediately. L2 learners are not likely to undergo the third stage later (D) but sooner than or at a similar time as L1 learners, due either to having not yet learned all linguistic forms of the L2 or to being unable to access all of the L2's forms as they produce language.
67. In first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) acquisition, which of the following is true about developmental stages? a. L2 learners do not undergo the first stage called the Silent Period as L1 learners do. b. L2 learners undergo all stages, but are urged to skip the first stage more than L1s. c. L2 learners do not undergo the second stage of Formulaic Speech as L1 learners do. d. L2 learners undergo the third stage of Structural and Semantic Simplifications later.
C: L2s can be learned in a number of educational contexts, such as being segregated from the L1, formally taught via the medium of the L1, through submersion, or within the language classroom but not used to communicate outside it, among many others. They can also be taught/learned in several natural contexts: as the majority language to members of ethnic minority groups, as the official language of a country where learners are non-natives, or for international communication purposes separate from the L1 or official language. Therefore, it is not accurate that L2s are never learned in natural contexts (B and D). Unlike L2s, L1s are always first acquired in natural contexts, meaning choice A is inaccurate.
68. Which statement is most accurate about social contexts of L1 and L2 acquisition? a. Both L1 and L2 learning can occur in equally varied natural and educational contexts. b. L1s are only learned in natural contexts, while L2s are learned in educational contexts. c. Variations in L2 proficiency can result from the different contexts of learning the L2s. d. L2s are not a speaker's natural language and so are never learned in natural contexts.
D: The process of fossilization occurs when some of the incorrect forms a learner of a second language has developed are not corrected over time, but become permanently fixed. (When a learner's L2 contains many such fossilized forms, it is termed an interlanguage.) Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (A), in which a learner can accomplish tasks with assistance that s/he could not yet achieve independently, applies to the acquisition of both first and second languages. The hypothesis that there is a critical period for learning language (B) has also been applied to both L1 and L2 acquisition. In the same way, proponents of linguistic universals—both the typological universals proposed by Greenberg and the Universal Grammar described by Chomsky—find that in both first- and second-language learning, marked (language-specific) features do not transfer and are harder to learn, while unmarked (universal across most languages) features conform to general linguistic principles and are easier to learn. Fossilization is the only choice that occurs exclusively in second-language acquisition.
69. Which of the following is unique to second-language learning? a. Zone of proximal development b. The critical period hypothesis c. Marked/unmarked features d. The process of fossilization
C: Omitting articles (for example, a/an, the, these) and plural endings (-s), which is common among Chinese ESL students, is not because they have not yet learned the English forms (A) or words for these. Nor are these omissions a way to avoid having to choose the correct form among various English irregularities (C). Nor are these errors due to the student's lack of understanding of the relationship between the Chinese and English versions of the forms (D). Rather, Chinese doesnot include articles or plural endings the way English does, so the student has no frame of reference or comparison. Therefore, the student's ESL pattern of absent articles and plurals reflects the nature and rules of the L1, which have transferred to the L2 but are incompatible with it.
70. An ESL student whose L1 is Chinese tends to omit plural endings and articles before nouns. Of the following, which is the best explanation for these errors? a. The student has not yet learned these English grammatical forms. b. Omission avoids having to choose among irregular English forms. c. Incompatible nature and rules of the L1 are transferring to the L2. d. The student does not understand how the L1 and L2 forms relate.
A. Dialect B. Literary Authors C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)
A. is a form of a language spoken by people according to their geographical region, social class, cultural group, or any other distinctive group. It includes pronunciation, grammar, and spelling. B. often use A. when writing dialogue to illustrate the social and geographical backgrounds of specific characters, which supports character development. For example, in C., Mark Twain's novel is written in the dialect of the young and uneducated white Southern character, opening with this sentence: "You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter." Twain uses a different and exaggerated dialect to represent the speech of the African-American slave Jim: "We's safe, Huck, we's safe! Jump up and crack yo' heels. Dat's de good ole Cairo at las', I jis knows it."
B: The author of the excerpted poem, "To His Coy Mistress," is Andrew Marvell. Marvell, Donne (A), Herbert (C), and Vaughan (D) were all members of a group of mainly 17th-century poets known as the Metaphysical Poets for their common time period, themes, content, and style.
Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day. But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity 1. Who is the author of this poem? a. John Donne b. Andrew Marvell c. George Herbert d. Henry Vaughan
A: Carpe diem is Latin for "seize the day." This tradition reflects the theme that time flies and that life is fleeting, and thus we should take advantage of the present moment. The tradition of classicism (B) reflects ancient Greek and Roman ideals of beauty and principles of form and discipline (as opposed to Romanticism's principles of emotional impact), as reflected in the works of Alexander Pope and John Dryden. The cinquain (C) is a five-line type of poem in which line 1 is a one-word title, line 2 contains two words describing the title, line 3 has three words telling the action, line 4 contains four words expressing the feeling, and line 5 reverts back to one word that recalls the title. The conceit (D) type of poetry uses a metaphor, simile, or image comparing two very dissimilar things, such as Shakespeare's Sonnet # 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day. But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity 2. This poem reflects a thematic tradition known as... a. Carpe diem. b. Classicism. c. Cinquain. d. Conceit.
D: Tetrameter means four beats per line, which is the meter of the rhymed couplets in this poem.Pentameter (A) means five beats per line. Heptameter (B) means seven beats per line. Hexameter (C) means six beats per line. Also, beats are only the stressed syllables, not total syllables.
Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day. But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity 3. What is the meter of the couplets in this poem? a. Pentameter b. Heptameter c. Hexameter d. Tetrameter
A. To Kill A Mockingbird B. Wuthering Heights (1847)
In A. , author Harper Lee used dialect in the characters' dialogue to portray an uneducated boy in the American South: "Reckon I have. Almost died the first year I come to school and et them pecans—folks say he pizened 'em." Lee also uses many Southern regional expressions, such as "right stove up," "What in the sam holy hill?", "sit a spell," "fess" (meaning "confess"), "jimdandy," and "hush your fussing." These contribute to Lee's characterization of the people she describes, who live in a small town in Alabama circa the 1930s. In B., Emily Bronte reproduces Britain's 18th-19th-century Yorkshire dialect in the speech of servant Joseph: "Running after t'lads, as usuald!... If I war yah, maister, I'd just slam t'boards i' their faces all on 'em, gentle and simple! Never a day ut yah're off, but yon cat o' Linton comes sneaking hither; and Miss Nelly, shoo's a fine lass!"
Exercises include: 1. Identifying dialect/Standard English features 2. Rewriting dialect in Standard English 3. Identifying audiences 4. Identifying how author choices of dialects or Standard English affect readers and accomplish author purposes
In addition to using dialects to support character development in novels, plays, poems, and other literary works, authors also manipulate dialects to accomplish various purposes with their intended reading audiences. For example, in an English Language Arts lesson plan for eighth graders (Groome and Gibbs, 2008), teachers point out author Frances O'Roark Dowell set her novel Dovey Coe (2000) in the Western North Carolina mountains of 1928. Dowell writes protagonist Dovey's narration in the regional Appalachian Mountain dialect to remind readers of the significance of the novel's setting. This lesson plan further includes two poems by African-American author Paul Laurence Dunbar: "When Malindy Sings" and "We Wear the Mask." Students are asked why Dunbar wrote the former poem in Southern slave dialect and the latter in Standard English. What four exercises would go with these pieces?
C. Survey
To learn about different dialects spoken in different geographic regions, social classes, and cultural groups, students can undertake simple C. of small groups of informants. Students should first make a list of words they have heard used in certain dialects. Then they can ask their respondents to identify the words they know. Students can also ask respondents to identify words they have heard of but cannot define. Using their lists of dialect words, students can ask informants to identify which words they use in their day-to-day conversations. For a more multidimensional C., a student can ask the sampled informants all three questions—words that they know, those that they have heard of but do not know the meanings, and those that they use in their speech.
A. Dialect B. Diction
When written as characters' dialogue in literary works, A. represents the particular pronunciation, grammar, and figurative expressions used by certain groups of people based on their geographic region, social class, and cultural background. For example, when a character says, "There's gold up in them thar hills," the author is using dialect to add to the characterization of that individual. B. is more related to individual characters than to groups of people. The way in which a specific character speaks, including his or her choice of words, manner of expressing himself or herself, and use of grammar all represent individual types of diction. For example, two characters in the same novel might describe the same action or event using different diction: One says "I'm heading uptown for the evening," and the other says "I'm going out for a night on the town." These convey the same literal meaning, but due to their variations in diction they are expressed in different ways.
