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Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the key characteristics, elements, and organizational structures of various literary/narrative texts.
- Apply knowledge of explicit instruction in the key characteristics, elements, and organizational structures of literary/narrative texts.
- Apply knowledge of explicit instruction in literary analysis skills (e.g., evaluating a plot's logic and credibility, identifying recurrent themes, interpreting literary devices such as symbolism and foreshadowing, recognizing that texts can reflect diverse cultural perspectives).
- Apply knowledge of explicit oral-language activities (e.g., literature circles, think-pair-share) and writing activities (e.g., literary response journals, character analyses) that develop and reinforce comprehension of literary/narrative texts and literary analysis skills.
- Apply knowledge of differentiated instruction (e.g., interventions, modifications, enrichments) in comprehension and analysis of literary/narrative texts to address the needs of all students (i.e., students who are experiencing difficulty in one or more of these areas, students with special needs, students who are English language learners or speakers of nonstandard English, and students who are advanced in one or more of these areas).
Sample Item:
Which of the following questions about a children's novel most directly focuses on a key element of
narrative texts?
- What does the main character want to accomplish?
- How are the antagonist and the main character alike?
- Which characters does the main character seem to like most?
- When does the main character first appear in the novel?
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
A. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of key elements of
literary/narrative texts. A central organizing feature of a fictional text is the motivation of the main
character. What the main character of a story wants to accomplish—his or her motivation—reflects the
temperament and moral qualities of the character, often provides the impetus for the action of the story,
guides the main character's choices in response to events, and lends meaning to the outcome of the story.
Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the key characteristics and organizational structures of various informational/expository texts.
- Demonstrate knowledge of textual and graphic features that help support comprehension of informational/expository texts.
- Apply knowledge of explicit instruction in the characteristics, text structures, and features of informational/expository texts.
- Apply knowledge of explicit instruction in skills related to the analysis of informational/expository texts (e.g., evaluating the logic and internal consistency of a text; analyzing the development of an author's argument; comparing diverse viewpoints in expository texts).
- Apply knowledge of explicit oral-language activities (e.g., conducting oral preview and/or review of text content, engaging students in oral paraphrasing of texts) and writing activities (e.g., developing graphic organizers, summarizing) that develop and reinforce comprehension and analysis of informational/expository texts.
- Apply knowledge of explicit instruction in study and research skills that promote students' ability to locate, retrieve, retain, and use information from informational/expository online and offline texts.
- Apply knowledge of differentiated instruction (e.g., interventions, modifications, enrichments) in comprehension and analysis of informational/expository texts, study skills, and research skills to address the needs of all students (i.e., students who are experiencing difficulty in one or more of these areas, students with special needs, students who are English language learners or speakers of nonstandard English, and students who are advanced in one or more of these areas).
Sample Item:
A sixth-grade advanced English language learner has difficulty comprehending content-area textbooks.
Which of the following modifications to instruction would be most effective in addressing the student's needs?
- providing the student with guided practice in using context as a word identification strategy to improve the student's reading rate with textbook passages
- preteaching key vocabulary and activating the student's prior knowledge before assigning a new textbook passage
- assigning the student a reading partner who is a native English speaker and who can lead the student in echo reading new textbook passages
- providing a bilingual dictionary and encouraging the student to translate challenging textbook passages into the student's primary language
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
B. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of differentiated instruction in
comprehension and analysis of informational/expository texts. An advanced English language learner who has
comprehension difficulties specific to content-area textbooks is likely having difficulty comprehending
academic prose as well as unfamiliar content-specific vocabulary. Preteaching key vocabulary words scaffolds
the reading task for the student, while activating the student's background knowledge facilitates the student's
use of independent strategies to learn new words and concepts and to repair gaps in comprehension.
Descriptive Statements:
- Analyze features and uses of formal and informal assessments in comprehension and analysis of literary/narrative and informational/expository texts and in study and research skills.
- Interpret results from formal and informal assessments in comprehension and analysis of literary/narrative and informational/expository texts and in study and research skills.
- Demonstrate ability to use the results of formal and informal assessments in comprehension and analysis of literary/narrative and informational/expository texts and in study and research skills for diagnostic, instructional, progress-monitoring, and evaluative purposes (i.e., determining students' current knowledge, skills, and abilities with respect to relevant standards; planning appropriate instruction and interventions; monitoring student progress; modifying or adjusting instruction as needed; and determining whether students have achieved relevant standards).
Sample Item:
After several fourth-grade students have finished reading a novel that takes place in the early nineteenth
century, the teacher asks the group to respond individually in writing to the following question: "How would
this story be different if it took place during the present day?" Student responses could most appropriately
be used to assess their understanding of:
- the interaction of plot and character in historical novels.
- the impact of historical events on the present.
- the role played by the setting in a historical novel.
- how historical novels differ from nonfiction history texts.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
C. This question requires the examinee to analyze uses of informal assessments in
comprehension and analysis of literary/narrative texts. The prompt requires the students to identify aspects
of the novel that are a direct reflection of the particular time and place in which the story occurs; that is,
the story's setting. Setting is particularly important in historical novels, in part because characters are
likely to demonstrate behaviors, reactions, and/or motivations that have been shaped and/or constrained by
physical and sociocultural factors specific to that period and place.
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