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Study Guide

Field 132: English Language Arts (5–9)
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Subarea 1—Pedagogical Knowledge and Professional Practices for Teaching English Language Arts

Objective 001—The English Language Arts Learning Environment

1. A middle school English language arts teacher provides students with access to culturally diverse texts in the classroom library. Which of the following factors would be most important for the teacher to consider when selecting novels that feature Anishinaabe characters?

  1. The novels offer contemporary perspectives on historical events in which the Anishinaabe played significant roles.
  2. The novels are designed to inform and inspire young readers with positive portrayals of the Anishinaabe and their cultures.
  3. The novels include words from the Anishinaabe language and dialects, with English translations and pronunciation guides provided in a glossary.
  4. The novels are by Anishinaabe authors, offer accurate depictions of Anishinaabe cultures, and present Anishinaabe characters as unique individuals.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 002—Culturally Responsive Practices in English Language Arts

2. A middle school English language arts teacher prioritizes building on English learners' knowledge of their first or home language(s) and dialects to enable them to strengthen their writing. Which of the following instructional practices would most effectively prepare students to blend languages or dialects purposefully when writing personal narratives?

  1. having students exchange draft personal narratives with another speaker of their first or home language or dialect when conducting peer review
  2. including criteria for effective use of first or home languages and dialects in a rubric that students use while drafting and revising personal narratives
  3. reading with students published personal essays by multilingual authors and discussing how the authors develop voice using various languages and dialects
  4. assessing students' strengths in their first or home language and dialects and assigning writing prompts that provide students with opportunities for development
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 003—Student Motivation and Engagement

3. A ninth-grade English language arts teacher invites students to make independent-reading selections from a wide range of genres, including fantasy, dystopian fiction, and science fiction. The teacher asks students to respond to their selections using media of their choice. The teacher's approach will most likely cultivate students' positive self-concept as readers and writers in which of the following ways?

  1. by encouraging students to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections
  2. by using popular contemporary literature as a bridge to more challenging works
  3. by modeling ways in which students can express opinions and respond to literature through artistic choices
  4. by signaling to students that the teacher values the interpretive complexity of students' responses to literature
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 004—English Language Arts Curriculum Design

4. A middle school English language arts teacher selects a variety of literary texts to promote students' analysis of authors' craft. Which of the following statements provides the strongest rationale for including graphic novels among the texts selected for this purpose?

  1. Visual representations promote students' ability to decode unfamiliar words.
  2. Panels presented in sequential order support students' comprehension of plot.
  3. Interplay of images and text highlights dialogue and deepens characterization.
  4. Graphic novel adaptations of classic novels help build background knowledge.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 005—Assessment in English Language Arts

5. An English language arts teacher adapts writing assessments for English learners in alignment with principles of language acquisition in order to assess their writing fairly and equitably. Which of the following elements should the teacher provide feedback on, but not grade, for students with intermediate or advanced compositional fluency in English?

  1. vocabulary
  2. organization
  3. genre features
  4. critical analysis
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 006—Accommodations and Differentiated Instruction in English Language Arts

6. A seventh-grade English language arts teacher organizes students into skills-based groups and assigns them to read and discuss an informational text. One group is composed of students who have dyslexia. Which of the following types of instructional support would be most appropriate for the teacher to provide for this group?

  1. pausing to paraphrase and explain the text while reading it aloud to the group
  2. creating a modified text for the group that includes less challenging vocabulary
  3. modeling for the group how to decode multisyllabic words that appear in the text
  4. showing the group visual representations of key information presented in the text
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 2—English Language Arts Foundations

Objective 007—Language Conventions and Reading Comprehension

7. Students in a middle grades English language arts class struggle to comprehend a historical fiction novel written for young adults. Which of the following instructional strategies would most effectively support the students' understanding of the novel's historical setting and events?

  1. displaying biographical information on the author's life and influences
  2. having students write personal letters to one of the novel's characters
  3. presenting primary sources and discussing how they relate to the novel
  4. working with students to create a story map that describes elements of the novel
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 008—Vocabulary and Language Study in Context

8. A middle school English language arts teacher plans to expand on students' expressive language. Which of the following activities would be most effective for this purpose?

  1. providing a list of content-specific vocabulary words from an informational text students are reading in class and having students use each word in a written summary of the text
  2. displaying a word wall that includes all the vocabulary words that students will learn over the course of the school year and having students discuss the words' definitions as needed
  3. presenting a list of new vocabulary words at the beginning of each week, asking students to learn the words' definitions, and quizzing students on the definitions at the end of the week
  4. inviting students to choose an unfamiliar word from a text they are reading in class, define the word, and use it appropriately during small-group discussions and when writing about the text
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 009—Digital Literacies

9. At the conclusion of a unit on persuasive techniques used in advertising, a ninth-grade English language arts teacher plans for students to demonstrate their learning by creating an artifact. The teacher prioritizes students' purposeful use of contemporary technologies and digital resources. Which of the following projects would be most appropriate for this purpose?

  1. Students create an original print advertisement for an existing product and explain the difference between print and digital advertisements.
  2. Students collaborate in small groups to develop a script and storyboard for a television commercial and then perform the commercial for the class.
  3. Students review market research and then create and present a short video with visual and audio elements that are designed to appeal to a specific demographic.
  4. Students analyze an advertisement of their choice and use a rhetorical triangle diagram to document characteristics of rhetorical appeals used in the advertisement.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 3—Literature and Literary and Rhetorical Analysis

Objective 010—Literature

10. A sixth-grade English language arts teacher encourages students to make text-to-self connections while reading a biography of a historical figure they are studying. Which of the following activities would be most effective in helping students to make text-to-self connections while reading?

  1. discussing with classmates any background knowledge they have of the real events and people that are portrayed in the biography
  2. creating an identity chart by listing words and phrases that students use to describe themselves and those that others use to describe them
  3. comparing the author's description of the subject of the biography to a description of a character in a novel based on the life of the historical figure
  4. turning and talking to a classmate about perceived similarities and differences between their lives and the lives of individuals portrayed in the biography
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 011—Literary and Rhetorical Analysis

11. A ninth-grade English language arts teacher designs a series of lessons focusing on the use of literary devices in several short stories the students have read in class. Which of the following student activities would best support students' analysis of how the authors use literary devices to achieve specific effects?

  1. drafting an original short story that includes examples of each literary device found in the short stories
  2. creating a chart that provides examples of literary devices that different authors use across the short stories
  3. discussing in small groups how the authors use literary devices to create tone and mood in each short story
  4. reflecting on and writing a brief personal response to an example of a literary device from one of the short stories
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 4—Composition, Speaking, and Listening

Objective 012—Composition

12. At the conclusion of a poetry unit, an eighth-grade English language arts teacher has students compose original poems that incorporate literary elements they have studied. Students will share their draft poem with a classmate and revise the poem based on the classmate's feedback. Which of the following additional activities would most effectively expand students' opportunities to write for an authentic audience?

  1. publishing their poems on the class website
  2. sending their poems to a poet whose work they admire
  3. performing their poems for community members at the local library
  4. displaying printed and illustrated versions of their poems in the classroom
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 013—Speaking and Listening

13. Ninth-grade English language arts students read and analyze Langston Hughes's long poem Freedom's Plow1. The poem was commissioned by the National Urban League during World War II and performed by an actor with musical accompaniment on a live radio broadcast. The teacher invites students to perform a dramatic reading of the following excerpt from the poem.

Who is America? You, me!
We are America!
To the enemy who would conquer us from without,
We say, NO!
To the enemy who would divide
and conquer us from within,
We say, NO!

FREEDOM!
BROTHERHOOD!
DEMOCRACY!

To all the enemies of these great words:
We say, NO!

A long time ago,
An enslaved people heading toward freedom
Made up a song:
Keep Your Hand On The Plow! Hold On!
That plow plowed a new furrow
Across the field of history.
Into that furrow the freedom seed was dropped.
From that seed a tree grew, is growing, will ever grow.
That tree is for everybody,
For all America, for all the world.
May its branches spread and its shelter grow
Until all races and all peoples know its shade.

KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE PLOW!
HOLD ON!

Which of the following activities would most effectively guide students in preparing to perform dramatic readings of the excerpt?

  1. listening to the original radio broadcast of Freedom's Plow and discussing how the musical accompaniment affects their responses to the poem
  2. viewing a documentary about the experiences of Black members of the U S armed forces who served in segregated units during World War 2
  3. listening to recordings of "Keep Your Hand On The Plow" as interpreted by various gospel and folk singers and comparing the interpretations
  4. viewing photographs of plowed fields and discussing the meaning of the lines "That plow plowed a new furrow / Across the field of history"
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Acknowledgments

1acknowledgement 1 Hughes, Langston. Freedom's Plow. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Copyright 1994 by the Langston Hughes Estate.