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Elementary Education K–6

Subtest 1 – Language Arts and Reading

Test Format and Sample Questions

The Language Arts and Reading subtest contains approximately 50 multiple-choice items. You will have 65 minutes to complete the subtest.

Each of the questions will contain four response options. You will choose the best response out of the available options, and indicate A, B, C, or D.

The table below presents types of questions on the exam and directs you to examples of these formats among the sample items that follow.

Table of Question Formats

Type of Question Sample Question
Sentence Completion
Select the response option that best completes the sentence. 		Question 1
Scenario
Examine a classroom situation or a student composition. Then select the response option that best answers a question, recommends a course of action, or gives the appropriate evaluation or teacher comment. 		Question 2
Direct Question
Choose the response option that best answers the question. 		Question 3

Sample Questions

The following questions represent both the form and content of questions on the examination. These questions will acquaint you with the general format of the examination; however, these sample questions do not cover all of the competencies and skills that are tested and will only approximate the degree of examination difficulty.

Question 1

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The most effective way to develop students’ reading fluency is through

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 2

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A kindergarten teacher prefaces reading to the class by pointing out the title, author, illustrator, and title page. Which skill is this teacher most likely developing with his students?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 3

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

What is the most effective method for teaching beginning first -grade students, who have had very little experience with print, to read?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 4

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following is the best definition of oral reading fluency?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 5

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A classroom teacher working with low-ability students uses the repeated reading strategy for the purpose of

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 6

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Repeated reading is most effective when accompanied by a(an)

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 7

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The following exercise provides practice of which vocabulary skill?

"The knight will bow before the king."

What does bow mean?

  • using a weapon with arrows
  • awarding a ribbon
  • bending at the waist to show homage
  • feasting to celebrate victory
Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 8

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A teacher is having his students rewrite their favorite fairy tale. As part of the assignment, the students must use a thesaurus. What processing skill is the teacher requiring his students to use?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 9

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Identify the word recognition method that could most effectively aid the pronunciation of the following words.

present, content, record, read

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 10

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which instructional method would help students categorize the following words?

shred, flake, crumble, bake, broil, fry, stir, toss, fold, broiler, mixer, blender

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 11

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

For first -grade students, the best strategy to encourage vocabulary development through writing is to have students

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 12

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Before students learn about reading a time zone map, the teacher presents slides of her trip to Greenwich, England, where the meridian time line was established by the British. The teacher then encourages discussion of the reasons for time zones and how they affect us. Which set of reading comprehension factors is demonstrated by this lesson?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 13

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Jeff is having difficulty remembering details from the story he has just read. What strategy would help him focus on details?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 14

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following tasks is the best for representing a sequence of events in a second -grade language arts lesson?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 15

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A teacher is having his students locate who, where, when, why, and how in a newspaper story. This activity will help the students develop which of the following reading skills?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 16

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Willa is a potentially at-risk emergent learner who lacks exposure to literature. The most effective activity for her to engage in is

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 17

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Phonological awareness includes levels of the English language sound structure which may be manipulated in phonological awareness tasks. Which of the following levels develops after the onset-rime level?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 18

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

When working with a small group, the teacher says each syllable of a word and instructs the students to say the whole word. The teacher says win-ter and asks aloud, “What word is win-ter?” The teacher then says winter and gives them another word to practice. The teacher says pea-nut, and asks, “What word is pea-nut?” The students respond together peanut.

This is an example of instruction in which of the following skills?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 19

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A teacher presents a student with several pictures. The teacher asks the student to choose one picture, name the picture, and say each sound they hear. The student chooses a cat and says, "Cat. /c/ /a/ /t/." This is an example instruction in which of the following?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 20

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following terms accurately describes the smaller unit of sound at the beginning of a word?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 21

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following terms accurately describes the phonemic awareness activity in which students mark the phonemes of two- or three-phoneme words?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 22

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 1—Knowledge of the reading process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A teacher says 'Can you tell me the two word parts in "open"?' This is an example of which type of phonological awareness?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 23

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which literary device is being used when inanimate objects or abstract concepts are seemingly endowed with human characteristics?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 24

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Directions for characters is an example of an element frequently found in

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 25

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Last summer, a student read a fact-based book about the life of Rosa Parks. The literary genre of this book is

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 26

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

By definition, poetry should contain

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 27

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following instructional strategies would be a good way to introduce a variety of genres to a class in order to compare and contrast information about a subject?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 28

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

After students read a detective story in their basal reader, a teacher asks them to make a judgment about the guilt or innocence of the main character. What type of thinking is the teacher encouraging?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 29

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

What organizational pattern does the author of the following passage use to present the information?

A drought has a number of consequences for ranchers. Grass ceases to grow and, in some cases, dies. Cattle become lean, and thus bring less cash at market. Calves born in a drought have a higher mortality rate.

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 30

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 2—Knowledge of texts and text analysis

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A 3rd-grade teacher reads an informational, nonfictional text about frogs, and a fictional narrative text about frogs. He wants his students to write an expository piece using facts and details to compare and contrast the two texts. Which of the following graphic organizers would be best to compare and contrast the two texts?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 31

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following describes what happens in the graphophonic component of writing?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 32

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following modes of writing is intended to provide information and includes facts and data?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 33

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which developmental stage of writing does Amy exhibit when she writes a string of standard letters from left to right on her paper?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 34

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A student writes about a dog.

The student has written the following lower case letters without spaces between them: M Y D G R U N S.

Which of the following skills should be the teacher's primary focus when conferencing with the student about the writing?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 35

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following best represents a student's writing sample in the emergent writing stage?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 36

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A kindergarten teacher is reviewing students' journals. She notices one student's writing is not legible and the marks do not correspond to letters of the alphabet. Which stage of emergent writing is the student demonstrating?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 37

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

To be most productive during the revising process, students should

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 38

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Recent studies of the stages of the writing process indicate that drafting is

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 39

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A sixth -grade teacher has asked students to write a selection of prose in which they analyze the positive and negative aspects of a recent field trip. The best mode of writing for students to use for this assignment would be

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 40

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Many members of a second -grade class have difficulty remembering which words are spelled with the letters i-e and which are spelled with e-i. Which of the following instructional methods would best help them overcome this problem?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 41

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 3—Knowledge of the writing process

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A third-grade teacher asks the students to partner-read a literary selection. The teacher walks around the room and stops to question each pair of students about the story. Which type of assessment is the teacher using?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 42

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 4—Knowledge of literacy instruction and assessments

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A sixth -grade language arts teacher is looking for an assessment tool to use with his students' performance products this year. He would like a tool that has scoring standards composed of model answers to score the tasks. The best tool for this purpose would be a

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 43

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 4—Knowledge of literacy instruction and assessments

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A fifth -grade teacher is preparing to teach map skills to her social studies class. She should

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 44

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 4—Knowledge of literacy instruction and assessments

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following information about student assessment data can be shared with the public?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 45

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 4—Knowledge of literacy instruction and assessments

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Students are assigned a complex project to include research, a visual aid, and a presentation. To provide the criteria for the assignment, the teacher should use a(an)

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 46

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 4—Knowledge of literacy instruction and assessments

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Teachers must make informed decisions about the appropriateness of modifications needed when using assessment instruments with special populations. In deciding how to address this issue in a class that includes several ee ell ells , which would be the best choice?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 47

Subtest 1 - Language Arts and Reading

Competency 5—Knowledge of communication and media literacy

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Students need a collection of maps to complete an assignment. The best resource for students to use would be a(an)

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.