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Study Guide

Field 117–120: Lower Elementary (PK–3) Education
Subtest 2: Literacy
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Subarea 1—Literacy in Context

Objective 001—Literacy Learning Environments

1. A third-grade teacher notices that students are struggling to spell previously learned high-frequency words during daily journal-writing. Which of the following word learning artifacts would be most helpful to incorporate in the classroom for these students?

  1. sentence starters
  2. online dictionaries
  3. thematic word lists
  4. interactive word walls
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Sentence starters are used as a scaffold to support students' ability to analyze, understand, and write about content.
  2. Online dictionaries are best used for looking up the meaning and usage of words.
  3. Thematic word lists focus on words that are content-specific rather than on high-frequency words.
  4. Correct. Interactive word walls are used to help students recognize high-frequency words and as an easy reference for students when spelling these words.
Objective 002—Culturally Responsive Practices in Literacy

2. A teacher selects a variety of texts for the classroom library that reflect the diverse cultures represented in the class and school community. An important rationale for the teacher's practice is that it will enable all students to:

  1. make text-to-self connections with reading materials.
  2. access a variety of texts written about similar topics.
  3. locate books that appeal to their personal interests.
  4. choose a book at their independent reading level.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. Correct. When selecting texts for a classroom, the teacher should choose texts that allow students to see themselves and identify with the characters.
  2. Texts that represent diverse cultures may be written in many different genres on a variety of topics.
  3. Selecting high-interest texts is a good practice, but these texts may not necessarily reflect diverse cultures.
  4. Selected texts that reflect diverse cultures do not need to be at students' independent reading level.
Objective 003—Literacy Curriculum Design and Assessment

3. A teacher should provide students with direct and specific vocabulary instruction primarily when the target words:

  1. appear in high frequency throughout grade-level texts.
  2. represent complex concepts that are unfamiliar to students.
  3. are likely to be encountered in typical everyday interactions.
  4. relate to integral concepts that are part of students' daily lives.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. The teacher should pick Tier Two or Tier Three words that students can learn and use in their writing and conversation, which are not usually words that appear frequently.
  2. Correct. When a teacher provides vocabulary instruction, the target words should be words that are less familiar and that will support students' learning of the content areas.
  3. Students will already know and understand the words that are encountered in everyday interactions, so vocabulary instruction should be focused on expanding students’ knowledge and understanding of words.
  4. The words chosen for vocabulary instruction should be new words to students and not related to concepts that are an integral part of the students’ daily lives.
Objective 004—Motivation and Engagement

4. A teacher wants to evaluate students' literacy interests, with the goal of promoting the students' literacy motivation and engagement. Which of the following questions would be most helpful for the teacher to ask for this purpose?

  1. "Why do you think that reading is either important or unimportant?"
  2. "What did you like and dislike about the last few books you have read?"
  3. "Do you enjoy reading for pleasure, or do you only read your assigned work?"
  4. "What do you do when you are reading and come to a word you don't know?"
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
  1. This question is asking about the importance of reading and not about the students' reading interests.
  2. Correct. This question directly gets to the heart of the students' reading interests, which supports their motivation to read and engagement.
  3. This question is a general question asking if the students like reading, and it does not get in depth about what they like to read.
  4. This question is about reading strategies that the students use and not about their reading interests.

Subarea 2—Literacy Skills–Instruction and Practices

Objective 005—Print Concepts

5. Which of the following instructional strategies would most effectively promote kindergarten students' development of print concepts?

  1. tracking text from left to right and line to line with a finger while reading to students
  2. guiding students to segment the individual sounds of one-syllable words in a text
  3. previewing the illustrations in a text with students before beginning a read-aloud
  4. reading a text aloud to students and then having them read the text chorally
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. Correct. Concepts of print is an awareness of how print works; left-to-right directionality and one-to-one matching when reading are examples of print concept skills.
  2. Sound segmenting supports students with decoding words when reading and encoding words when writing.
  3. Previewing illustrations builds background knowledge and supports making connections when reading a story to students, but this practice does not include instruction in the print on a page.
  4. Choral reading activities are used to support reading fluency.
Objective 006—Phonological Awareness and Phonics

6. In a planned sequence of phonics lessons, a kindergarten teacher introduces the consonants p, t, b, m, and s before introducing any vowels. Which of the following statements identifies an evidence-based rationale for sequencing the lessons this way?

  1. Vowels have more than one sound and are more challenging than consonants to learn.
  2. Letter-sound correspondence of consonants is easier for students to learn than that of vowels.
  3. Students are more familiar with these consonants so they will generally learn them faster than vowels.
  4. Consonants such as these can be used to create easily decodable words once a vowel is introduced.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Vowels do make more than one sound, but that does not mean learning the sounds is more challenging.
  2. Letter-sound correspondence of consonants may be easier for students to learn, but that is not a sound rationale for introducing the specific consonants p, t, b, m, and s first.
  3. There is no evidence that shows that these letters are more familiar than other letters as students' background knowledge and experience will determine the letters with which they are familiar.
  4. Correct. These consonant letters are common and are found in many decodable words.
Objective 007—Spelling and Handwriting

7. First-grade students work in small groups using letter tiles to sound out and build decodable, high-frequency words that the teacher taught in a whole-group lesson. Which of the following areas of early literacy is most directly supported by this activity?

  1. invented spelling
  2. phoneme segmenting
  3. basic concepts of print
  4. letter-sound correspondence
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Invented spelling is when students use the sounds they hear to write words phonetically.
  2. Phoneme segmenting is separating words into their individual sounds.
  3. Concepts of print is the knowledge that print carries meaning and the understanding that print is organized in a specific way.
  4. Correct. Letter-sound correspondence is the relationship of letters and the sounds they produce, and this activity has students using their letter-sound knowledge to build words with letter tiles.
Objective 008—Word Recognition

8. A small group of second-grade students is able to read a list of teacher-provided words (e.g., bookend, contest, market, paper) that will be included in an assigned text. The students are likely in which of the following stages of word recognition according to Ehri's model?

  1. consolidated alphabetic
  2. partial alphabetic
  3. pre-alphabetic
  4. full alphabetic
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. Correct. In the consolidated alphabetic stage, students use chunks of words to decode, and they understand larger units (e.g., word families, affixes) that recur in words while they continue to develop automaticity with sight-word vocabulary.
  2. In the partial alphabetic stage, students recognize some letters of the alphabet and demonstrate early phonological and phonemic awareness skills (e.g., syllables, onset-rime, initial sound match).
  3. In the pre-alphabetic stage, students know general print concepts and can recognize incidental visual features of words, but they do not possess letter-sound correspondence skills.
  4. In the full alphabetic stage, students have a working knowledge of most letter-sound correspondence and phonemic awareness: they can use decoding skills to read unfamiliar words with three to four sounds and begin to recognize sight words automatically.
Objective 009—Morphology

9. During reading groups, a third-grade teacher notices that a number of students have difficulty understanding the words evolution and biodiversity found in a life science text. Which of the following strategies is most likely to support the students in their ability to make meaning out of these complex content-specific vocabulary words?

  1. asking the students to use prior knowledge of the topic they are learning about to determine the words' meanings
  2. providing instruction to the students on how to use dictionaries and online sources to look up the words' definitions
  3. having the students do a think-pair-share in which they discuss possible definitions for the words using context clues
  4. conducting a mini-lesson with the students on ways to use their knowledge of roots and affixes to construct meaning
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Prior knowledge is the information that students already have before the activity; since the students do not understand the target words, they do not appear to have prior knowledge.
  2. While students can use dictionaries and other online sources to look up definitions, it is more effective to help them learn the target words' roots so they can transfer this knowledge to other similar words in the future.
  3. Think-pair-share is used to give students opportunities to share their thoughts and understandings while fostering social skills; however, it is not the most effective way to learn accurate word definitions.
  4. Correct. The target words have clear Greek and Latin roots and affixes, so teaching these word parts will support students in understanding many words beyond the target words.
Objective 010—Syntax

10. A third-grade teacher reviews a student's composition for errors. Which of the following sentences from the student's composition demonstrates an error in syntax?

  1. With my friend my vacation I went to the beach on.
  2. I swam to the beach and so did my best friend.
  3. In the sun we ate soft ice cream at the beach.
  4. I had fun swimming with the beach.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. Correct. Syntax refers to the rules that determine the order or arrangement of words and phrases to form proper sentences, and the order of the words in this sentence is not grammatically correct (e.g., I went with my friend to the beach on my vacation).
  2. The syntax in this sentence is correct; this is an example of a compound sentence.
  3. The syntax of this sentence is correct, even though the phrases in the sentence are not in the order in which they would normally be spoken.
  4. This sentence has a preposition error rather than a syntactical error; at should replace with in the sentence.

Subarea 3—Literacy Processes–Instruction and Practices

Objective 011—Reading Fluency

11. A third-grade teacher wants to improve the fluency of students as they read grade-level passages that are part of the curriculum. Which of the following student activities would likely be most effective in helping the students become more fluent readers?

  1. using flash cards to increase students' recognition of words from the passages
  2. reading passages that are just above students' independent reading levels
  3. discussing the readings in small groups to better understand the content
  4. reflecting on reading performance after repeated readings of passages
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Flash cards will increase the number of words recognized; however, that does not mean students will become more fluent readers.
  2. To build fluency, students should read at, rather than above, independent level and know most of the words in the passages, so that they do not have to stop to decode words as they read.
  3. While an understanding of content may be necessary for developing strong fluency, the teacher's primary goal is to improve students' speed, accuracy, and proper expression as they read.
  4. Correct. Rereading a text is a strategy to build fluency, and the teacher's practice of having students reflect on how their reading improved after repeated readings helps them use metacognitive strategies to increase their fluency.
Objective 012—Vocabulary

12. A first-grade teacher is planning a unit on how authors develop engaging narrative texts. The teacher plans to read aloud the books The Very Busy Spider and The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle and have the students complete various activities related to plot, setting, and characters. Which of the following modifications to this lesson would most effectively support the needs of English learners during this activity?

  1. previewing unfamiliar vocabulary before reading aloud the books
  2. having the students draw pictures as they listen to the books
  3. providing books about small insects in the classroom library
  4. rereading aloud each book to the students several times
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. Correct. Previewing and teaching unknown words to English learners before reading helps build background knowledge that will support reading comprehension.
  2. Drawing pictures without setting a purpose will not support English learners' understanding of the books.
  3. Exposing English learners to different books about a topic is a good strategy to use after the students comprehend the vocabulary that is important to understanding the unit.
  4. Rereading aloud will only help the English learners understand the books if they already understand the vocabulary.
Objective 013—Comprehension

13. A second-grade teacher wants to select and use informational texts to determine students' reading comprehension levels. Which of the following methods shows the teacher's understanding of how important it is to consider students' background knowledge when making text selections?

  1. selecting a single text that students are required to read for the exercise
  2. selecting excerpts from texts that the class has already read together
  3. selecting texts on a variety of topics that appeal to students' interests
  4. selecting texts about topics that the class has studied previously
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
  1. Having students read a required text does not indicate that students have background knowledge of the given topic.
  2. Rereading a text does not provide evidence that students have background knowledge of what is being read.
  3. Considering students' interests supports reading engagement, but interest does not mean that students have background knowledge about the topic.
  4. Correct. Background knowledge is information students have on a particular topic, so if students have studied a topic, they will have knowledge of it.
Objective 014—Composition

14. When pre-kindergarten children express ideas in writing, their teacher encourages them to sound out words and use invented spelling. The rationale for the teacher's developmental approach is that it:

  1. enables the children to focus on their ideas and on communicating meaning.
  2. provides insight into the children's future writing abilities and challenges.
  3. reduces the children's reliance on sentence starters to initiate writing.
  4. guides the children in developing focused topics for their writing.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
  1. Correct. Invented spelling refers to the practice of students using incorrect spelling for words, drawing on the sounds they hear; this practice builds confidence and gives students control over the learning process.
  2. Invented spelling can show students' development of phonemic awareness, letter-sound association, and concepts of print, but it is not a predictor of future writing ability or challenges.
  3. Sentence starters are used to help students understand what in a text they should analyze to complete a writing activity; use of invented spelling should not reduce the use of sentence starters if students need this scaffold.
  4. Invented spelling is a way for beginning writers to express their ideas in print, but it does not guide students in developing a writing topic.