Diagnostic Generalist Content Exam, Language Arts, EC­4 Directions: Read each question carefully. Record your answer choice on the answer sheet provided. Occasionally, make sure the number of the exam question you are working corresponds to the same number on the answer sheet. Take this diagnostic exam in an environment similar to that of the state exams, using the answer sheet on page 10. Once the exam begins, the instructor will not answer any questions and there will be no conversations. You should take no more than three hours to complete the exam, and try to take it all at once, to gauge your stamina and attention span. An answer key is provided for you to check yourself and record why you missed a question. If you are unsure, ask the TExES instructor for assistance. ************************************************************************************* Competency 1 1. How many phonemes does the word “six” have? A. One B. Two C. Three 4. Four 2. Mr. Michaels leads his kindergarten class in a game in which he says words such as “running,” “catching,” sleeper,” and “helper,” and students repeat each word without the “­ing” or”­er” ending. What dies Mr. Michaels want to call his students’ attention to? A. phonemes B. morphemes C. syntax D. semantics 3. Juan is a new student in Mrs. Arlen’s 1st­grade class. Mrs. Arlen knows that Juan I s an English Language Learner whose command of English is very limited. What should Mrs. Arlen do to promote Juan’s oral language development? A. Encourage Juan to express himself in either his home language or English through writing, drawing pictures, and any other method. B. Encourage Juan to participate in show and tell and other oral language activities, but tell Juan what to say in advance. C. Treat Juan no differently from the rest of the class. D. All of the above. 4. Every morning, a kindergarten teacher enlists a different helper from her class. Helpers assist the teacher in giving instruction to the other students about class activities. How is being a helper most likely to benefit children? A. It reinforces children for using complex syntactic structures. B. It strengthens children’s vocabulary. C. It encourages children to use their home language, thereby enhancing oral language development. D. It helps children learn how to adapt spoken language for different purposes and occasions.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! Competency 2 5. What term is used to describe the way sounds can be combined in order to pronounce a word? A. B. C. D. segmentation fluency blending phonic conjunction 6. Which of the following kindergarten activities is designed to promote segmentation? A. The entire class is involved in choral reading of a familiar story. B. Children are taught each other’s names. C. Children are taught how to use Elkonin boxes for familiar words. D. None of the above. 7. A pre­kindergarten teacher plays a game with students that call their attention to alliteration. What aspect of literacy is this game most likely to benefit? A. B. C. D. phonemic awareness semantic development auditory discrimination all of the above 8. Which of the following is likely to foster the development of phonological awareness? A. B. C. D. language games informal conversations direct instruction all of the above Competency 3 9. How many graphemes does the word “bright” contain? A. B. C. D. three four five six 10. As a teacher introduces letter­sound correspondences, which of the following is problematic? A. B. C. D. In English, certain sounds can be represented by more than one letter. In English, certain letters represent more than one sound. At first, students sometimes confuse similar letters and sounds. All of the above. 11. Which of the following is most important to the development of reading among children entering the first grade? A. B. C. D. the ability to say the alphabet in correct order the ability to speak with good grammar the ability to recognize letters the ability to enunciate clearly
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! 12. Which of the following instructional approaches should be most effective at helping kindergarten children acquire alphabetic knowledge? A. a multisensory approach, including activities such as read alouds, letter­identification games, air­ writing, and the creation of art projects that focus on letter shapes B. a skill­and­drill approach in which the goal is quick and accurate identification of individual letters, in isolation at first, and then in the context of meaningful words C. a collaborative approach, in which each child is given responsibility for learning a particular letter, and then teaching the letter to the rest of the class D. a direct instruction approach, in which the teacher introduces each letter to students, and the students engage in active listening Competency 4 13. A pre­kindergarten teacher might encourage a parent to engage in which of the following activities? A. Sitting next to the child and asking the child to turn the pages of a storybook while the parent reads it out loud. B. Asking the child to review each of the preschool day’s activities. C. Using index cards with letters on them to drill children in letter recognition. D. Teaching their child how to write letters and words. 14. Which of the following contains examples of invented spelling? A. B. C. D. Mary walked to the store. Mary walkd to the store. Meri wokd to th stour. M w t s. 15. Which of the following is typically not learned during the emergent literacy stage? A. the concept of authorship B. the directionality of print C. the idea that print conveys meaning D. the use of graphic organizers 16. When very young children are first able to recognize environmental print, what do the still lack? A. an appreciation that certain signs and symbols convey meaning B. an appreciation that text conveys a different kind of information that logos and other graphic images do C. an interest in particular objects and places in their environments D. all of the above Competency 5 17. Why might a kindergarten teacher articulate the phonemes in a word very slowly? A. B. C. D. The teacher wants to model a blending strategy. The teacher wants to make sure that everyone in the class can hear the word. The teacher wants to promote auditory discrimination among students in the class. The teacher wants to instill alphabetic knowledge among the class.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! 18. Which of the following is most important for a teacher to keep in mind when choosing texts for early readers? A. The texts chosen should always correct deficiencies in content­area knowledge. B. The texts chosen should match students’ current knowledge of letter­sound relationships as closely as possible. C. The texts chosen should always match each student’s current interests as closely as possible. D. The texts chosen should be written at a level that is especially difficult for students, in order to challenge them. 19. A teacher who is introducing words to beginning readers should keep in mind which of the following suggestions? A. Words should always be introduced in isolation, so that children can make use of decoding strategies one word at a time. B. Words such as “bad” and “dab” should be introduced early, so that children can practice visual discrimination between highly similar letters. C. Words with consonants such as “t” should be introduced before words with consonants such as “j.” D. A mix of multi­syllabic and monosyllabic words should be introduced from the beginning. 20. Yvette, a 2 nd grader, is slow, clear, expressive reader who is having difficulty decoding some of the multi­syllabic words in the following passage: Steve kicked the basketball as hard as he could. The basketball hit the bush where the ducks were standing. The ducks flew off, honking loudly. What should Yvette’s teacher do to help her? A. Tell Yvette that she needs to read more carefully. B. Ask Yvette to read the passage even more slowly. C. Help Yvette apply structural analysis to the difficult words. D. Encourage Yvette to make use of contextual information. Competency 6 21. Which of the following is one of the most important consequences of acquiring a large store of sight words? A. B. C. D. substantial improvement in phonological awareness a significant increase in oral language skill a shift from learning to read to learn a larger vocabulary 22. As a teacher listens to one of his 3 rd graders read a new book our loud, he notices that the student pronounces the words in a slow and halting way. Which of the following is an appropriate response by the teacher? A. B. C. D. Encourage the student to read an easier book. Ask the student to practice at home in front of a mirror. Provide the student with phonics exercises. Reassure the student that it is natural to struggle with written text.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! 23. Nancy gets embarrassed when she reads out loud, because she is one of the least fluent readers in the class. What should Nancy’s teacher do? A. B. C. D. Correct Nancy’s mistakes whenever possible. Tell Nancy that it is natural for people to make mistakes when they read. Make sure that Nancy has familiar books when she reads out loud. All of the above 24. Texts of reading fluency typically measure which of the following? A. B. C. D. rate accuracy expression all of the above Competency 7 For questions 25­27, refer to the following scenario: Students are asked to read the following passage silently: one night, sally was sitting in her room. Sally heard a noise behind her. The noise scared her. Sally turned around and saw a tiny mouse. Sally smiled. 25. After reading the passage, students are asked questions such as where Sally was sitting when she heard the noise, and why sally smiled. What is the highest level of comprehension tapped into by these questions? A. B. C. D. literal comprehension inferential comprehension analytical comprehension evaluative comprehension 26. After reading the passage, students are asked questions such as where Sally was sitting when she heard a noise, and what she saw when she turned around. What is the highest level of comprehension tapped into by these questions? A. B. C. D. literal comprehension inferential comprehension analytical comprehension evaluative comprehension 27. After reading the passage, the teacher asks students what they think the writer should describe next. What is the highest level of comprehension tapped into by this question? A. B. C. D. literal comprehension inferential comprehension analytical comprehension evaluative comprehension 28. Which of the following is a useful strategy for a student to use if she already knows a little bit about whales and is planning to do more research for a report? A. B. C. D. Write and revise a draft of the report. Brainstorm, and then examine pertinent reference materials. Use the K­W­L method while examining pertinent reference materials. Ask classmates for their thoughts on how to proceed.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! Competency 8 29. Jana, a 4 th grader, seems to be interested in and knowledgeable about class material during group discussions, but she shows poor comprehension on tests. Which of the following is most likely to be the source of her difficulty? A. B. C. D. the quality of her notes low intelligence oral language limitations lack of motivation 30. When teaching students what bibliographies are, which of the following is the prerequisite of most immediate importance? A. B. C. D. an appreciation for the limitations of narrative as a source of information interest in independent research an understanding of other text organizers such as chapter titles, headings, and summaries the concept of authorship 31. Which of the following would be the most effective use of a graphic organizer? A. B. C. D. Students illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Students create an alphabetized list of class members. Students depict the main characters in a story and the relationships between them. Students look at pictures of trees and classify each one as “evergreen’ or “deciduous.” 32. Which of the following is a benefit of electronic texts? A. B. C. D. Readers generally enjoy electronic texts more that printed ones. Readers have an enhanced ability to search for information in electronic texts. Electronic texts are easier to read than printed ones. The flow of information in an electronic text is much more easily controlled. Competency 9 33. Knowledge of spelling reflects what dimension of language? A. B. C. D. alphabetic pragmatics prosody orthography 34. Which of the following activities for 1 st graders is most likely to promote a range of literacy skills, including phonemic awareness, reading, and writing? A. B. C. D. Children choose small magnetic letters out of a bowl to spell familiar words. Children are asked to draw a picture and discuss it with the class. Children are invited to bring objects from home for show­and­tell. Children play a game in which the object is to take turns thinking of things that begin with a particular letter.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! 35. Which of the following can be expected in the handwriting of first graders? A. B. C. D. inconsistencies in the size of letters upper and lower case letters of the same size insufficient spacing between words all of the above 36. Which of the following is most indicative of a problem that a kindergarten teacher needs to address? A. B. C. D. A student complains of discomfort during handwriting. A student sometimes writes mock letters instead of real ones. A student sometimes reverses letters during writing. A student sometimes writes words that are inconsistent in size. Competency 10 37. A 3 rd grade class is reading a book about a little girl who grows up in Vietnam. What can the teacher do to help students be actively engaged in the book? A. B. C. D. Ask students to keep a journal in which they describe their own lives. Teach children facts about Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. Have students keep response journals as they read. Have students keep a learning log that focuses on what they are learning about life in Vietnam. 38. Which of the following is one of the key assumptions of process writing? A. Effective writing depends on an appreciation of the process of writing and not just the product. B. The main focus of instruction in writing should be on the finished product. C. In­class writing assignments should be structured so that they can be completed in a single class period. D. Students do not need guidance from their teachers when completing written assignments. 39. Which of the following is most appropriate during the prewriting stage of the writing process? A. B. C. D. free writing revising editing annotation 40. Lisa, a 3 rd grader, finds handwriting to be a slow and somewhat laborious process. What can the teacher do to help Lisa express her ideas in written form? A. B. C. D. Excuse Lisa from written assignments. Allow Lisa to complete some of her assignments using word processing software. Ask Lisa whether she would rather use a pen instead of a pencil. Encourage Lisa to practice, so that she can write more quickly and easily.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! Competency 11 41. A 3 rd grade student expresses interest in reading a relatively advanced book on motorcycles. The teacher asks the student to read a passage form the book to her. The teacher finds that the student reads less than half of the words correctly, and has limited comprehension of that was read. What should the teacher do? A. Create a list consisting of the words the student cannot red correctly, and then work with the student on making those into sight words. B. Tell the student t keep reading, because it will be easier in time. C. Help the student select a less advanced book. D. Spend five minutes per day helping the students with a chosen passage. 42. A 2 nd grade teacher notices that one of her students I reading well on the whole but still struggles with words such as “though” and “which.” Instructional emphasis on what types of words would benefit this student the most? A. B. C. D. high frequency fords with irregular spellings complex morphemes low­frequency, morphemically simple words phonetically regular words 43. A 2 nd grade teacher is worried that her book basket contains books that are too difficult for most of her student. What assessment should the teacher use? A. B. C. D. Texas primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) Reading Miscue Inventory (MRI) 44. Which of the following is the most accurate statement about assessment? A. Teachers need to assess the literacy development of each student on a regular basis by means of both informal and formal evaluations. B. Assessment should play a minor role, at most, in the selection of books for student use. C. Formal assessments of literacy development are a more important source of information for teachers than informal assessments. D. Assessments of literacy development are not needed if a teacher is attentive to the progress of each student in the class.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! Now, check your answers against this key and determine why you missed what you missed! If you have not studied the Put Reading First booklet, that resource is a must! If you find errors, please contact the staff.
Center for Teacher Certification at ACC For student use only! Diagnostic Generalist EC­4 Key 1. D 2. B 3. A 4. D 5. C 6. C 7. A 8. D 9. B 10. D 11. C 12. A 13. A 14. C 15. D 16. B 17. A 18. B 19. C 20. C 21. C 22. A 23. C 24. D 25. B 26. A 27. D 28. C 29. A 30. D 31. C 32. B 33. D 34. A 35. D 36. A 37. C 38. A 39. A 40. B 41. C 42. A 43. C 44. A
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