Question 1

Which one of the following children provides the best example of emergent literacy?
A) Two-year-old Torina tears several pages out of the family telephone book before her parents realize what she's doing.
B) When four-year-old Jack plays school with his older sisters, he fills a sheet of paper with lines of random letters.
C) Donna is only five years old, and already she can read many storybooks independently.
D) Six-year-old Yasser understands basic rules of phonics but does not yet know how to spell many words that are exceptions to the rules.

Accepted Answer

Emergent literacy refers to the early stages of learning to read and write, where children begin to understand and experiment with books, letters, and words before they can actually read and write in the conventional sense. Jack's behavior of filling a sheet of paper with lines of random letters during play is a classic example of emergent literacy, as he is engaging in a literacy-related activity by mimicking the act of writing, even though he may not understand the actual meaning of the letters or words.

Question 2

Three of the following teachers are employing strategies to promote phonological awareness in their students. Which teacher is using a strategy that, although potentially beneficial for other reasons, will not necessarily promote phonological awareness?
A) Ms. Leach asks her class, "Who can think of a word that rhymes with boat?"
B) Mr. Gray has his students collect items that begin with the featured letter of the week.
C) Mr. Schofield plays a game with his students called "Making the Word." A sample question is "What letter do we add to it to make sit?"
D) Ms. Noble has the words to, too, and two posted on her wall. When students use those words in their speech, she asks them to point to the one they are using.

Accepted Answer

Ms. Noble's strategy focuses on homophones, which are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. This activity is more about vocabulary and spelling than phonological awareness, which involves the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken words.

Question 3

Which one of the following students is definitely demonstrating automatization in word recognition?
A) When Roland reads, he has to sound out most of the words.
B) When Samantha reads aloud, her voice lacks expression.
C) When Kristen reads, she recognizes words by sight and recalls their meanings immediately.
D) When Werner listens to someone say a new word, he closes his eyes and tries to imagine how it might be spelled.

Accepted Answer

Automatization in word recognition refers to the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly by sight, without needing to sound them out. Kristen's ability to recognize words by sight and recall their meanings immediately is a clear demonstration of automatization.

Question 4

Mr. Simon is curious about the experiences the children in his preschool class have had with printed materials. Three of the following behaviors will give Mr. Simon useful information about the children's emergent literacy skills. Which behavior is least likely to yield useful information?
A) Ability to handle books correctly
B) Willingness to share books with peers
C) Frequency of looking at books independently
D) Degree of attentiveness as an adult reads a storybook

Accepted Answer

Willingness to share books with peers is more indicative of social development rather than emergent literacy skills. The other options directly relate to how children interact with printed materials and their interest in reading, which are key components of emergent literacy.

Question 5

Many children from low-income homes have considerable exposure to books and other printed matter long before they begin school. Some, however, do not, and so they come to school with few of the "basics" (knowledge of alphabet letters, familiarity with common storylines, etc.) upon which to build as they learn to read. As these children progress through the school grades, they are most likely to:
A) Catch up to their peers by second grade
B) Catch up to their peers by fifth grade
C) Catch up to their peers by fifth grade if their teachers regularly praise them for their progress in reading
D) Fall further and further behind their peers in reading ability

Accepted Answer

Children who start school with less exposure to books and reading often struggle to catch up with their peers, leading to a widening gap in reading ability over time. This phenomenon is known as the Matthew effect, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in terms of reading achievement.

Question 6

Charlize has excellent phonological awareness and word recognition skills, but she often struggles to understand and remember what she reads. Three of the following strategies are consistent with recommendations for promoting reading comprehension. Which one is not recommended?
A) Ask Charlize to stop occasionally and imagine what is happening in a story, almost as if she were watching a movie in her head.
B) Draw comparisons between events in a story and Charlize's personal experiences.
C) Ask Charlize to summarize a short textbook passage.
D) Ask Charlize to read at a slower pace than she usually does-ideally, no more than two words per second.

Accepted Answer

Asking a student to read at a slower pace, specifically no more than two words per second, is not a commonly recommended strategy for promoting reading comprehension. Strategies like visualizing the content, relating it to personal experiences, and summarizing are more directly aimed at enhancing understanding and retention of the material. Slowing down reading excessively can disrupt fluency and may not effectively address comprehension issues.

Question 7

Ms. Trinh is about to begin a unit on sharks in her fifth-grade class. Some of her students have a strong interest in sharks and know a lot about them. Others know very little about sharks. When Ms. Trinh gives a reading assignment about sharks, she should expect that:
A) Students who know a lot about sharks will understand the reading material more readily than their classmates.
B) Students' reading comprehension will depend almost entirely on their word recognition skills; their prior knowledge won't make much of a difference.
C) Students who know a lot about sharks are less likely to monitor their comprehension and so may misunderstand parts of the assigned reading material.
D) Students with little knowledge about sharks may be reluctant to read about an unfamiliar topic, so motivating them to learn during the unit will be a challenge.

Accepted Answer

Prior knowledge on a topic generally enhances comprehension, allowing students who are already familiar with sharks to understand the reading material more readily.

Question 8

Four-year-old Rosemary picks up a picture book and pretends to read it to one of her preschool classmates. "Once upon a time," she says, "there was a fairy princess. She was very beautiful. A handsome prince asked her to marry him. They lived happily ever after. The end." Which one of the following is the most reasonable interpretation of Rosemary's behavior?
A) She has acquired a story schema for fairytales.
B) She has a good working sight vocabulary.
C) She is engaging in knowledge transforming.
D) Her lack of attention to the words on the page suggests possible dyslexia.

Accepted Answer

Rosemary's behavior of pretending to read a fairytale, including typical elements like a fairy princess and a happy ending, suggests she has internalized a basic structure or schema for fairytales, not that she is necessarily reading the words or has a learning disability.

Question 9

Five-year-old Chip writes "I WN TU B FIRMN WEN I GRO UPP". When you ask him to read what he has written, he says: "I want to be a fireman when I grow up." You can reasonably conclude that Chip:
A) Is probably going to need the assistance of a specialist to help him learn to read and write
B) Is showing only preliminary signs of emergent literacy
C) Has acquired considerable phonological awareness
D) Has little or no phonological awareness

Accepted Answer

Chip's ability to represent his thoughts through phonetically plausible spellings, despite inaccuracies, indicates a strong understanding of the sound structure of words, which is a key component of phonological awareness. This skill is crucial for reading and writing development, suggesting that Chip is making appropriate progress for his age.

Question 10

Five-year-old Harry is blind. Which one of the following aspects of literacy is Harry likely to have the least knowledge about?
A) Irregular verb forms
B) Letter-sound relationships
C) The left-to-right progression of words in print
D) Common English idioms and expressions (e.g., "neat as a pin")

Accepted Answer

Harry, being blind, would have the least knowledge about the left-to-right progression of words in print (C) because this aspect of literacy is visually oriented and relies on seeing how text is arranged on a page.

Question 11

Phonological awareness can best be described as:
A) A child's ability to hear the individual sounds within a spoken word
B) A child's ability to distinguish between words that sound similar but have different meanings
C) A child's knowledge that people who speak different dialects may pronounce the same word differently
D) A child's ability to describe what letters typically represent different sounds in words and to apply them in sounding out written words

Accepted Answer

Phonological awareness refers to the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures of spoken language, such as identifying individual sounds (phonemes) within words.

Question 12

Imagine that you are a high school teacher. Which one of the following assumptions should you make about your students' reading abilities?
A) Many will continue to need guidance about how to read effectively.
B) The great majority have mastered the process of reading, but perhaps 10%-15% of them will need your assistance in reading tasks.
C) Those students who have ineffective reading strategies will be obvious to you within the first two or three weeks of the school year.
D) Those students who struggle to understand their textbooks probably need intensive interaction by a reading specialist.

Accepted Answer

Many students, regardless of their grade level, continue to benefit from guidance on how to read effectively. This includes strategies for comprehension, critical thinking, and engagement with texts. It's a misconception that by high school, all students have fully mastered these skills.

Question 13

Three of the following adolescents are using metacognitive strategies that should enhance their reading comprehension. Which one is not necessarily using a metacognitive strategy that might improve his or her comprehension?
A) Before he begins reading a chapter in his geography textbook, Darren looks at the headings to get a sense of how the chapter is organized.
B) Keiko occasionally rereads a paragraph when she doesn't understand it the first time.
C) Josie prefers to read out loud so she can hear what the words sound like.
D) As Pablo reads his science textbook, he tries to think of new examples of the concepts he's reading about.

Accepted Answer

Josie's preference for reading out loud to hear what the words sound like is more about auditory processing than metacognitive strategy, which involves thinking about one's own thinking and learning processes. The other options (A, B, D) involve active strategies to understand and organize information, monitor comprehension, and apply concepts, which are metacognitive in nature.

Question 14

Research indicates that a major advantage of giving children multiple experiences with books during the preschool years is that they:
A) Develop greater awareness of syllables than they would otherwise
B) Usually learn to read on their own before they reach school age
C) Develop more advanced visual-spatial skills
D) Learn to read more easily once they begin school

Accepted Answer

Exposure to books during the preschool years helps children develop familiarity with the structure of stories, language patterns, and literacy concepts, making it easier for them to learn to read once formal education begins.

Question 15

Imagine that you are a second-grade teacher. If you were looking for signs of possible dyslexia in one or more of your students, which one of the following would you be most likely to look for?
A) Unusual difficulty hearing individual sounds in spoken words
B) Grammatically incorrect speech (e.g., "She goed to the store")
C) A tendency to read words backwards (e.g., reading ball as "lab")
D) Mispronunciations of everyday words (e.g., pronouncing school as "schtool")

Accepted Answer

Difficulty in hearing individual sounds in spoken words is a key indicator of dyslexia. Dyslexia primarily affects the ability to process language, especially how sounds relate to letters and words, which can manifest as difficulty in hearing individual sounds within words.

Question 16

As 9-year-old Chad encounters the word tall in his reading, he tells his teacher, "I know that word is tall because the last two letters go way up high." Which one of the following is the most accurate interpretation of what Chad has just said?
A) Chad appears to have developed a large sight vocabulary.
B) Chad's strategy is a bit worrisome, because it's more commonly seen in 5-year-olds.
C) Chad probably has greater reading comprehension ability than most of his classmates.
D) Chad is showing remarkable creativity in his word recognition skills and a potential for considerable creativity in writing later on.

Accepted Answer

Chad's strategy of recognizing words by their shape rather than by decoding the letters phonetically is more characteristic of an early stage of reading development, typically seen in younger children around the age of 5. This suggests that his approach to reading might be less advanced for his age, which is why the interpretation that this strategy is worrisome for a 9-year-old is accurate.

Question 17

Six-year-old Gisela was born deaf, but she was fortunate to have parents and an older brother who used American Sign Language (ASL) regularly around the house. Now that Gisela is in elementary school, she is learning to read. Given that ASL rather than English is her native language, she may have difficulty with three of the following as she learns to read. With which one is she least likely to have difficulty?
A) Distinguishing between similar-looking letters (e.g., b vs. d)
B) Understanding common idioms (e.g., "I have money to burn")
C) Knowing irregular verb forms (e.g., went is the past tense of go)
D) Learning letter-sound relationships (e.g., b makes a "buh" sound)

Accepted Answer

Gisela, being deaf, would not rely on sound-based cues for learning, making her less likely to struggle with distinguishing between visually similar letters like b and d. Her challenges would more likely involve aspects of language tied to auditory experiences, such as understanding idioms, irregular verb forms, and letter-sound relationships, which are not directly related to visual discrimination skills.

Question 18

Three of the following strategies are consistent with recommendations for teaching reading skills. Which one is generally not recommended?
A) Encourage students to meet in small groups to discuss a novel they are all reading.
B) Give students frequent opportunities to choose what they read. Students use better reading strategies when they are interested in the material.
C) Give students in the early elementary grades lots of practice with isolated reading skills before asking them to apply the skills in an actual reading assignment.
D) Use games such as "Twenty Questions" to enhance phonological awareness and other basic reading skills.

Accepted Answer

Isolating reading skills excessively before applying them in actual reading contexts is generally not recommended. Effective reading instruction integrates the practice of reading skills within the context of actual reading from the start, helping students see the relevance and application of these skills.

Question 19

Which one of the following alternatives most accurately describes ethnic and cultural differences in children's reading development?
A) In the Western hemisphere, virtually all cultural groups actively encourage children to learn how to read.
B) Young people respond more favorably to literature that reflects their cultural customs.
C) Considerable cultural diversity exists in attitudes toward reading, but these are not related to young children's reading development.
D) If young children have consistently been encouraged to learn to read, any differences in ethnic and cultural background have little or no impact on their ability to read.

Accepted Answer

Young people are more likely to engage with and respond positively to literature that mirrors their own cultural experiences and customs, as it resonates more with their personal identity and background.

Question 20

A faculty committee is revising the goals for the school district's reading curriculum. Three of the following goals are developmentally appropriate. Which one is not?
A) By the end of second grade, students should be able to count the number of syllables in words.
B) By the end of fourth grade, students should be able to identify symbolism in a novel.
C) By the end of tenth grade, students should use several strategies to help them monitor their comprehension as they read.
D) By the end of twelfth grade, students should be able to critically examine an author's point of view.

Accepted Answer

Identifying symbolism in a novel by the end of fourth grade is not developmentally appropriate because it requires a level of abstract thinking and literary analysis that is typically beyond the cognitive abilities of most fourth graders.

Quiz 10: Development in the Academic Domains

Which one of the following children provides the best example of emergent literacy?

Three of the following teachers are employing strategies to promote phonological awareness in their students. Which teacher is using a strategy that, although potentially beneficial for other reasons, will not necessarily promote phonological awareness?

Which one of the following students is definitely demonstrating automatization in word recognition?

Mr. Simon is curious about the experiences the children in his preschool class have had with printed materials. Three of the following behaviors will give Mr. Simon useful information about the children's emergent literacy skills. Which behavior is least likely to yield useful information?

Charlize has excellent phonological awareness and word recognition skills, but she often struggles to understand and remember what she reads. Three of the following strategies are consistent with recommendations for promoting reading comprehension. Which one is not recommended?

Ms. Trinh is about to begin a unit on sharks in her fifth-grade class. Some of her students have a strong interest in sharks and know a lot about them. Others know very little about sharks. When Ms. Trinh gives a reading assignment about sharks, she should expect that:

Five-year-old Chip writes "I WN TU B FIRMN WEN I GRO UPP". When you ask him to read what he has written, he says: "I want to be a fireman when I grow up." You can reasonably conclude that Chip:

Five-year-old Harry is blind. Which one of the following aspects of literacy is Harry likely to have the least knowledge about?

Phonological awareness can best be described as:

Imagine that you are a high school teacher. Which one of the following assumptions should you make about your students' reading abilities?

Three of the following adolescents are using metacognitive strategies that should enhance their reading comprehension. Which one is not necessarily using a metacognitive strategy that might improve his or her comprehension?

Research indicates that a major advantage of giving children multiple experiences with books during the preschool years is that they:

Imagine that you are a second-grade teacher. If you were looking for signs of possible dyslexia in one or more of your students, which one of the following would you be most likely to look for?

As 9-year-old Chad encounters the word tall in his reading, he tells his teacher, "I know that word is tall because the last two letters go way up high." Which one of the following is the most accurate interpretation of what Chad has just said?

Three of the following strategies are consistent with recommendations for teaching reading skills. Which one is generally not recommended?

Which one of the following alternatives most accurately describes ethnic and cultural differences in children's reading development?

A faculty committee is revising the goals for the school district's reading curriculum. Three of the following goals are developmentally appropriate. Which one is not?