Literacy Reading Comprehension
Informal Reading Comprehension
Potpourri
Vocabulary Development
Assessment
100
During weekly independent reading time, fifth-grade students read high-interest literature and record their thoughts, reactions, and questions in a teacher/student dialogue journal. The dialogue journal activity is likely to promote the students' reading proficiency primarily by: a. encouraging students' active construction of meaning with a text and developing their literary response skills. b. increasing students' reading fluency and facilitating their rapid automatic word recognition. c. expanding students' vocabulary knowledge and providing them with extensive, varied reading experiences. d. promoting students' appreciation for literacy genres and exposing them to the various features of literary texts.
What is encouraging students' active construction of meaning with a text and developing their literary response skills.
100
A teacher can best help sixth graders to draw inferences from informational text by asking them to complete which of the following statements: a. In my opinion... b. The passage suggests... c. In comparison... d. The author's first point is...
What is The passage suggests...
100
A first-grade teacher encourages beginning readers to "write" to their own captions beneath their drawings. This practice is most likely to lead to which of the following? a. The students will tend to lose interest in writing because of their frustration with their lack of mastery of the English spelling system. b. The students' overall reading proficiency will be adversely affected by any spelling errors that go uncorrected. c. The student will tend to develop strong automatic word recognition skills from their interaction with print. d. The students' development of phonics knowledge will be reinforced as they experiment with their own phonetic spellings.
What is (d.) The students' development of phonics knowledge will be reinforced as they experiment with their own phonetic spellings.
100
Before beginning a new content-area reading passage, a fourth-grade teacher asks students to think of words related to the topic of the text. The teacher writes the words on the board and then asks the students to suggest ways to group the words based on meaningful connections. The teacher also encourages them to explain their reasons for grouping particular words together. This series of activities is likely to promote the students' reading development primarily by helping them: a. extend and reinforce their expressive and receptive vocabularies related to the text's topic b. infer the meaning of new vocabulary in the text based on word derivations c. strengthen and extend their understanding of the overall structure of the text d. verify word meanings in the text by incorporating syntactic and semantic cues into their word analysis
What is (a.) extend and reinforce their expressive and receptive vocabularies related to the text's topic
100
Which of the following types of assessment would best provide information about the comparative reading proficiency of students in an elementary school? a. a test of vocabulary development b. a norm-referenced survey test c. a reading miscue inventory d. a diagnostic portfolio
What is (b.) a norm-referenced survey test
200
A second-grade teacher reads a trade book aloud to the class. Which of the following postreading activities would be most likely to promote the students' comprehension of the story by enhancing their literary analysis skills? a. encouraging the students to identify the key vocabulary words in the story. b. helps the students make a concept map of the main events of the story. c. asking the students to reread the story silently and respond to literal comprehension questions. d. having the students "freewrite" about the story in their journals.
What is helps the students make a concept map of the main events of the story.
200
Skimming is likely to be the most effective strategy for accomplishing which of the following tasks? a. evaluating the validity of information on an Internet Web site b. previewing a chapter in a content area textbook c. synthesizing information from various sources for a research report d. studying specific facts for a content area exam
What is previewing a chapter in a content area textbook?
200
A fifth-grade class silently reads an informational text. In subsequent informal assessments, several students demonstrate poor overall comprehension of the text as well as lack of understanding of key vocabulary. The teacher could most appropriately address these students' needs by adjusting future instruction in which of the following ways? a. using informational texts that are written at the students' independent reading level b. providing the students with explicit instruction in test-taking strategies c. introducing a text's key vocabulary and concepts prior to engaging the students in silent reading d. emphasizing reading activities that focus on narrative texts
What is (c.) introducing a text's key vocabulary and concepts prior to engaging the students in silent reading
200
A fifth-grade teacher is about to begin a new unit on weather and climate. Which of the following types of vocabulary words from the unit would be most appropriate for the teacher to preteach? a. words that are conceptually challenging b. high-frequency, phonetically irregular words c. multisyllable words d. high-frequency words with multiple meanings
What is (a.) words that are conceptually challenging
200
An advantage of using assessment tools such as portfolios and scoring rubrics is that they: a. provide more objective results than do multiple-choice tests b. promote student participation in self-assessment activities c. ensure consistency among different evaluators d. offer more reliable assessment data
What is (b.) promote student participation in self-assessment activities
300
After reading a historical novel about the U.S. Civil War, students in a sixth grade class each bring in an object that, to them, represents the book. The students share the different objects and discuss ways in which each object might represent the book. This activity is most likely to promote students' reading development by helping them: a. determine the author's main point of view. b. understand plot structure and overall chronology of the book. c. analyze the author's use of figurative language. d. create personal interpretations about the book.
What is create personal interpretations about the book.
300
A third-grade teacher observes that students who read aloud fluently also demonstrate greater comprehension of expository texts. The best explanation for this is that fluent readers: a. posses a self-awareness that allows them to use metacognition skills efficiently. b. have already developed the base of background knowledge typically covered by textbooks. c. have well-developed skills for decoding any level of text word by word. d. are able to focus their full attention and cognition resources on the meaning of a text.
What is are able to focus their full attention and cognition resources on the meaning of a text.
300
Which of the following children is most in need of immediate intervention? a. a preschool child who has limited book-handling skills b. a kindergarten child who has limited ability to correlate alphabet letters with the sounds they make c. a first-grade student who requires reading texts that have a high degree of "predictability" d. a second-grade student who is beginning to track print
What is (a.) a preschool child who has limited book-handling skills
300
In which of the following sentences is the context most helpful in understanding the italicized word? a. Tulip trees are (ubiquitous) in Virginia and in some other parts of the United States as well b. John's friends (surreptitiously) planned a housewarming party for him soon after he had moved in c. Mary is (magnanimous) in all of her dealings with people, even when she does not know a person well d. Peter's mother was (adamant) that he should attend college, but his father did not seem to care
What is (d.) Peter's mother was (adamant) that he should attend college, but his father did not seem to care
300
In order to select a trade book that emphasizes predictability, a teacher should ensure that: a. the text includes some pictures or illustrations b. the concepts in the text are at an appropriate level of difficulty for the target student(s) c. a phrase, rhyme, or sentence is repeated throughout the text d. The length of the text is not likely to exceed the attention span of the target student(s)
What is (c.) a phrase, rhyme, or sentence is repeated throughout the text
400
A second-grade teacher notices that one of her students lacks fluency when reading aloud. The first thing the teacher should do in order to help this student is access whether the student also has difficulties with: a. predicting. b. inferring. c. metacognition. d. decoding.
What is decoding.
400
An English Language Learner reads academic texts fluently in her primary language but is struggling to understand her content-area textbooks in English. This student would likely benefit most from engaging in which of the following activities? a. translating textbook reading assignments from English into her primary language. b. receiving reading comprehension instruction with texts written in her primary language. c. learning to use metacognition reading strategies with English texts. d. reading texts in her primary language that cover the same material as her English textbook.
What is learning to use metacognition reading strategies with English texts.
400
Which of the following strategies is likely to be most effective in promoting reluctant readers' interest in independent reading outside of school? a. calculate numerical scores based on the number and difficulty level of the books students read at home and integrate the score into students' report card grade for reading b. Encourage parents to give their children simple external rewards for at-home reading, such as an extra helping of a favorite treat c. Encourage students and parents to read books together on a regular basis, either silently or aloud, and discuss their personal responses to each chapter or key event d. Recommend that parents make their children's daily television-watching time contingent on their reading a specified number of pages first
What is (c.) Encourage students and parents to read books together on a regular basis, either silently or aloud, and discuss their personal responses to each chapter or key event
400
A third-grade class that includes several English Language Learners is about to read a text about water sports. Which of the following teaching strategies would be most effective in promoting the English Language Learners' comprehension of the text? a. Have the students look up unknown English words using bilingual dictionaries and make vocabulary lists in both languages b. Pair English Language Learners with native speakers of English and have the native speakers explain any unknown vocabulary c. Activate students' prior knowledge about the topic and provide visual aids as illustrations to clarify new vocabulary d. Give students a list of new vocabulary with definitions and ask the students to try to construct their own sentences using the words
What is (c.) Activate students' prior knowledge about the topic and provide visual aids as illustrations to clarify new vocabulary
400
Which of the following informal assessments results provides the clearest indication that a kindergarten child has attained a beginning level of phonemic awareness? a. the student can clap the 'beats' or syllables of familiar multi-syllable words b. the student can delete the second 'word' or syllable in compound words c. the student can identify the beginning sound of single-syllable words d. the student can substitute phonemes in the middle position of single syllable words
What is (c.) the student can identify the beginning sound of single-syllable words
500
A third-grade class includes some struggling readers. The teacher would like the whole class to read historical novels as park of an interdisciplinary unit on Native Americans of the Northeast. Which of the following activities is likely to help promote the struggling readers' comprehension of the novels? a. Before reading these novels, the teacher pre-teaches key vocabulary and develops the students' schema related to the story. b. During reading, the student stops after reading each chapter and tries to write a summary of the chapter in their own words. c. After reading these novels, the teacher helps the student create a story map of the main events and characters in their stories. d. During reading, the students read their stories aloud by taking turns reading specific pages.
What is before reading these novels, the teacher pre-teaches key vocabulary and develops the students' schema related to the story.
500
A fifth-grade teacher gives students a reading guide to complete as they read an informational text. The reading guide contains several questions to answer and a chart to complete, as well as comprehension aids for potentially challenging vocabulary and passages. This activity is likely to be most effective for achieving which of the following instructional purposes? a. teaching students to adjust their reading rate based on text difficulty. b. encouraging students to interact with text. c. supporting students' development of reading fluency. d. fostering students' motivation to read cooperatively.
What is encouraging students to interact with text.
500
Which of the following is most important reason for a fourth-grade teacher to assign trade books as a component of reading instruction? a. the themes typical of children's literature tend to help facilitate students' development of literal comprehension skills b. reading a variety of genres helps students develop an understanding of how to approach the structures and features of different texts c. the simplified syntax and controlled vocabulary typical of children's literature provide scaffolding for students who are struggling readers d. reading a variety of texts help to promote students' development of phonological and phonemic awareness skills
What is (b.) reading a variety of genres helps students develop an understanding of how to approach the structures and features of different texts
500
A beginning reader can sound out and write a phonetically regular one- and two-syllable words. When reading sentences or longer texts, however, the student frequently has poor comprehension. Which of the following is the first step the teacher should take in order to promote this students' reading proficiency? a. Evaluate the students' ability to apply grade-level-appropriate phonics generalizations b. Evaluate the level of the students' phonemic and phonological awareness c. Ascertain the degree to which the student uses syntactic clues d. Ascertain the level of the students' vocabulary development
What is (d.) Ascertain the level of the students' vocabulary development
500
Which of the following criteria world be most important to consider when selecting 'leveled texts' for use in assessments and guided reading with beginning-level readers? a. the texts should use repeated words and natural oral language structures b. the texts should require readers to use problem-solving to connect text to illustrations c. the texts should emphasize use of literacy language and dialogue d. the texts should feature a range of punctuation and context-specific vocabulary
What is (a.) the texts should use repeated words and natural oral language structures
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