Study Guide

Elementary Education Multi-Content: English Language Arts
Sample Questions

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Competency 0011
Understand foundations of language and literacy development.

1. A first-grade teacher puts a rime on a board using magnetic letters and gives a student three onsets for that rime. The teacher asks the student to place one onset in front of the rime and read the word aloud. This activity would be most effective for promoting the student's:

  1. letter-name recognition skills.
  2. phonics blending skills.
  3. morphological skills.
  4. sight-word identification skills.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B. In this activity, the student is decoding words by blending the sound of an onset with the sound of a rime.

Competency 0012
Understand text comprehension and vocabulary development.

2. A fourth-grade teacher regularly integrates content-area vocabulary into language arts lessons and activities. This practice benefits students primarily by:

  1. introducing them to new vocabulary words.
  2. increasing their level of engagement during language arts work.
  3. providing them with a systematic overview of the content-area curriculum.
  4. enhancing their ability to understand and use the new vocabulary words in context.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D. Providing students with frequent exposure and opportunities to use new content-area vocabulary in a variety of meaningful contexts promotes depth of vocabulary knowledge.

Competency 0013
Demonstrate the ability to comprehend, interpret, and analyze literary and informational texts.

3. Foreshadowing is a device used in works of fiction and drama primarily to:

  1. create an authentic setting.
  2. reveal characters' thoughts.
  3. suggest an event that occurs later.
  4. highlight a central theme.
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Correct Response: C. In a work of fiction or drama, an author may use dialogue, action, or exposition to indirectly suggest an event or revelation that occurs later in the work. Foreshadowing can add to a work's structural and thematic unity by drawing connections between early and later events.

Competency 0014
Understand processes, modes, and conventions of written and oral communication.

4. A third-grade student drafts the opinion piece below.

Goldfish are the best pets. They are easy to take care of. Some people like cats or dogs. I do not. Dogs make me nervous. They bark and sometimes they bite. Goldfish are quiet. Cats are also quiet, but they scratch furniture and even people. You have to play with dogs and take them on walks. I have 5 goldfish. They are very independent. They swim around minding their own business. When I watch them I feel relaxed and happy. They are the best pets.

Which of the following strategies would be most effective for the student to use to strengthen the argument when composing a second draft of the opinion piece?

  1. adding supporting facts and details
  2. providing a concluding statement
  3. using linking words and phrases
  4. addressing a counterargument
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C. The student provides many reasons to support the opinion that goldfish are the best pets. By using linking words and phrases such as because, therefore, since, and for example to logically connect the opinion and reasons provided, the student would strengthen the opinion piece by highlighting the logic behind the student's reasoning.