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Study Guide

Field 130: English Language Arts (7–12)
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 high school English language arts teacher provides students with intentional interactions with socially, culturally, and linguistically diverse texts. Which of the following instructional practices would make interactions with traditional Anishinaabe narratives most meaningful for students?

  1. inviting an Anishinaabe storyteller to the class to share traditional narratives with the students
  2. reading traditional narratives in the Anishinaabe language printed side-by-side with English translations
  3. analyzing how nature themes and imagery in Anishinaabe narratives represent examples of ecocriticism
  4. playing audio recordings of traditional Anishinaabe narratives and discussing the importance of language preservation
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 002—Culturally Responsive Practices in English Language Arts

2. In order to foster a culturally responsive curriculum, a high school English language arts teacher provides opportunities for each student to share information about their background. Which of the following approaches would best help ensure that the teacher's instructional practices are responsive to what students have shared?

  1. having students write personal narratives and read historical fiction about particular cultures
  2. incorporating students' cultural backgrounds and individual identities into the classroom curriculum
  3. making clear to students that diverse cultural groups may have diverse values or express similar values in various ways
  4. stating that each student is welcome and will be treated equally in the classroom regardless of their cultural background or individual identity
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 003—Student Motivation and Engagement

3. During a class discussion on character development in the novel of their unit of study, a student asks a question that does not directly relate to the novel, but does concern the time period in which the novel is set. Which of the following responses to the student's question would be most appropriate for the teacher to make?

  1. explaining why the question is unrelated to the topic of character development
  2. asking the class how they might be able to find the answer to the question together
  3. promising to answer the question during an upcoming lesson on the novel's historical context
  4. suggesting that the student research the answer after class and report the results on the following day
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 004—English Language Arts Curriculum Design

4. Which of the following student activities would provide authentic purposes for students to ask and answer questions about humanity and society and communicate their message to diverse communities?

  1. participating in an inquiry-based media project in which students engage in online inquiry to develop an argument and use media to convey their message to a global audience
  2. engaging in an inquiry-based research project in which students chart their individual learning through reflective journals and blog posts within their personal learning network
  3. completing a guided research project in which students read a set of articles on a teacher-chosen topic and develop a unique argument to post on a public class blog
  4. keeping a reflective journal in which students chronicle their personal lives and using journal entries to compose an autobiography to share with their class
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 005—Assessment in English Language Arts

5. A teacher plans to use a collaborative group activity to assess students' comprehension of a play they have read. Which of the following activities would most effectively demonstrate students' in-depth understanding of the play?

  1. creating character maps to show the protagonist's development
  2. presenting a scene-by-scene summary of the play's narrative arc
  3. writing an original monologue that reveals the thoughts of a minor character
  4. performing student-selected scenes from the play that reflect its key themes
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 006—Accommodations and Differentiated Instruction in English Language Arts

6. A ninth-grade English language arts teacher develops a rubric for an assigned essay. One criterion included in the rubric is "Style and Conventions." Which of the following descriptors, if included in the rubric, would effectively allow the teacher to differentiate expectations for emergent bilingual and multilingual learners to build on their home languages and dialects?

  1. Uses correct verb tense
  2. Intentionally shifts across languages
  3. Demonstrates growth between drafts
  4. Distinguishes between formal and informal usage
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Subarea 2—English Language Arts Foundations

Objective 007—Language Conventions and Reading Comprehension

7. An eleventh-grade English language arts teacher plans to support students' comprehension of an informational text. Which of the following student activities would most effectively achieve this goal?

  1. working in pairs to complete a Venn diagram that illustrates how the author uses the text's organizational structure to convey ideas
  2. listening to a mini-lecture on common rhetorical moves used in writing and then identifying examples of each rhetorical move in the text
  3. completing a K-W-L chart to identify what they already know about the topic, what they would like to know, and what they learn as they read the text
  4. engaging in a collaborative strategic reading during which they preview the text, discuss their understanding, and develop questions about key concepts
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 008—Vocabulary and Language Study in Context

8. An English language arts teacher plans to introduce new vocabulary words that are central to a text students will read. When selecting vocabulary words to review, the teacher should ensure that:

  1. the words are grade-level appropriate and may occur in multiple contexts.
  2. the same vocabulary words will appear on an upcoming standardized test.
  3. definitions for the words are included in the text's glossary as well as the dictionary.
  4. each word's meaning can be determined from context or structural clues in the text.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 009—Digital Literacies

9. A twelfth-grade English language arts teacher designs a community-based project for which students will use technology and digital resources to create a multimodal product that is published outside the classroom. Which of the following projects would most effectively prompt students to use a variety of technologies and digital resources while collaborating with classmates and the community?

  1. crafting a persuasive editorial and submitting it to the local newspaper for publication
  2. creating a classroom blog to write creative and reflective posts about content they are learning
  3. designing marketing materials for a local nonprofit organization's website and social media page
  4. producing video public service announcements related to current events they are learning about in the classroom
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 3—Literature and Literary and Rhetorical Analysis

Objective 010—Literature

10. A ninth-grade English language arts teacher plans literature circles using the young adult novels The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley, and Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. The teacher's goal is to draw on the potential of young adult literature to promote social engagement. Which of the following student activities would best achieve the teacher's goal?

  1. designing a rubric as a class and using it to evaluate the literary and entertainment value of the novels
  2. participating in small-group discussions focusing on contemporary issues explored in each of the novels
  3. creating a video book trailer for one of the novels with the goal of persuading their peers to read the novel
  4. keeping a response journal in which they compare their beliefs and values to those of characters in the novels
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 011—Literary and Rhetorical Analysis

11. A ninth-grade English language arts teacher plans to guide students in a rhetorical analysis of writer's craft in a complex argument. Which of the following strategies would be most effective to introduce students to this kind of analysis?

  1. assigning students to work in pairs to define rhetorical moves writers commonly make in arguments
  2. having students compose an essay that analyzes three rhetorical moves the writer makes in the argument
  3. asking text-dependent questions to assess students' comprehension of figurative language used in the argument
  4. using a think-aloud to model how to identify and analyze rhetorical devices while reading and annotating the argument
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Subarea 4—Composition, Speaking, and Listening

Objective 012—Composition

12. An eleventh-grade English language arts teacher prioritizes supporting all students' ability to compose written arguments in ways that sustain the cultural and linguistic assets students bring to writing experiences. The teacher plans a lesson to help students draw on their families' and communities' practice of teaching moral values through oral storytelling. Which of the following rhetorical strategies would be the most appropriate focus of the lesson?

  1. organizing facts and examples chronologically
  2. using a narrative structure to present evidence
  3. gathering information by conducting interviews
  4. paraphrasing and quoting directly from sources
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 013—Speaking and Listening

13. Students in a ninth-grade English language arts class read informational articles on a current event. Which of the following activities would most effectively engage students in collaborative inquiry from multiple perspectives?

  1. responding in writing to a question about the event and then sharing their responses with a classmate
  2. working in pairs to read aloud one of the articles and then answering text-dependent questions about the event
  3. forming expert groups to research aspects of the event and then reorganizing into different groups to share their findings
  4. grouping themselves by degrees of agreement with a position related to the event and then debating peers who oppose their position
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.