EDUC 201: Processes and Acquisition of Reading
Final Exam: Summer 2013
Matching: Major Components of Reading Instruction (each item is worth 2 points)
For each activity, identify the component of reading instruction that is being developed.
1 = phonemic awareness
2 = phonics/phonological awareness
3 = reading fluency
4 = vocabulary development
5 = comprehension
5___ The teacher asks students to summarize the main idea of the passage in a short paragraph.
4
In small groups, the children list as many meanings as they can think of for the word “main.”
3
Children pair up; using timers, they time each other to see how many words they can read
accurately in one minute while reading a familiar passage aloud.
1
The teacher says /f/ /l/ /E/ and asks the students to blend the sounds.
2
The teacher points to the written word matador and asks how many syllables will be in that
word.
1
Students move three chips into boxes as they say the single sounds in the word /h/ /ou/ /s/.
5
Before reading, the students browse the book to predict the main content of the story and to ask
questions about what they will learn.
2
The teacher tells the students that –dge and –ge both stand for the ‘j’ at the end of words. The
students sort a group of 20 –ge and –dge words to determine when the “dge” spelling is used.
3
Students reread words with known phonic patterns so that they can recognize them instantly
without having to sound them out laboriously.
4
Students attempt to define the word burden by reading this sentence: “The pilgrim’s burden
weighed heavily on his shoulders as he ascended the steep mountain trail.”
Multiple Choice (Each item is worth 2 points)
1. The alphabetic principle states that
a. Each first-grader should know all letters by the end of the school year
b. Written symbols represent spoken sounds.
c. Each letter represents many sounds.
d. The English alphabet is far from straightforward.
2. Which of the following can be rimes?
a. an, ack, in
b. bat, cat, sat
c. do, re, mi
d. /p/, /t/, /k/
3. _____ is the ability to identify words rapidly.
a. accuracy
b. fluency
c. automaticity
d. decoding
4. The National Reading Panel purports which of these components as being necessary for a
comprehensive reading program?
a. meaning, syntax, visual, pragmatics, prosody
b. predictable text, decodable text, non-fiction text, authentic literature
c. phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency
d. before, during, after reading comprehension strategies
5. Reading taught from a behaviorist perspective suggest that students
a. learn best in social settings with opportunities to interact with one another
b. learn best through drill, skill, and repetition
c. should be able to respond to what they read in creative, unique ways
d. critically examine their reading for signs of bias or political agendas
6. Of the following, who is not a major contributor to contemporary literary research?
a. Marilyn Adams
b. Marie Clay
c. Joseph Lieberman
d. Keith Stanovich
7. The “Great Debate in Reading”, also known as the “Reading Wars,” involved
a. skills-based vs. meaning-based reading instruction
b. phonics vs. vocabulary instruction
c. worksheets vs. hands-on learning
d. none of the above
8. Which of the following is the best example of a morpheme?
a. /k/
b. downtown
c. trid. none of the above
9. Teachers who believe in social constructivist learning theory often
a. ask students to keep their ideas to themselves
b. give tests that allow only one right answer to each question
c. allow time for students to work together and learn from one another
d. believe that learning proceeds in a predetermined sequence for each child
10. Which of the following contains an example of a dipthong?
a. spoil
b. train
c. sheet
d. scrub
11. According to the bottom-up theory of teaching
a. students should be given easy texts as soon as they enter school
b. word analysis should always be in the context of reading whole texts
c. students can and do read emergent texts without knowing all of the letters first
d. learning to read can be seen as a series of skills that are accomplished, like walking up steps
12. Psycholinguists would say that
a. readers access cueing systems, informational sources that allow them to make sense of print
b. every error a child makes when reading should be corrected by the teacher
c. in order to read, you first have to know the names of the letters of the alphabet
d. none of the above
13. According to those who believe in the transactional theory of reading
a. each person who reads gets the same meaning out of a text
b. the author who writes a text intends a particular message to be received by the reader
c. meaning-making is influenced by the readers’ prior knowledge and the social and cultural
background of the reader
d. all of the above
14. All of the following sociocultural factors are extremely important in literacy learning except
a. family traditions
b. ethnicity
c. social class
d. primary language
15. Literacy has been conceived as
a. mostly a cognitive process
b. a political issue
c. a sociocultural act
d. all of the above
Application (Each item is worth 2 points.)
The next series of questions involve fictional teachers at an elementary school and middle school.
Analyze the activity in each classroom using what you have learned throughout this course.
Mrs. Phillips is working with some Kindergarten students on the nursery rhyme “Three Little Kittens.
Three little kittens have lost their mittens and they began to cry
Oh, Mother dear, we sadly fear, out mittens have been lost
What! Lost your mittens? You naught kittens!
Then you have shall have no pie.
Meow, Meow, Meow, now we shall have no pie!
1. Mrs. Phillips points out the similarity of mittens/kittens, dear/fear.
a. She is working on onset and rime.
b. She is working on same-ending sound.
c. She is working on rhyme.
d. She is working on same beginning sound.
2. Mrs. Phillips points out the similarity of the sound that begins the name of a student in the class,
Kathy, and the word kittens.
a. She is working on onset and rime
b. She is working on same-ending sound
c. She is working on rhyme
d. She is working on same beginning sound
3. Mrs. Phillips asks the students to think of the sound at the beginning of the word mitten and the
letter that makes this sound.
a. She is working on phonemic awareness
b. She is working on onset-rime
c. She is working on phonics
d. She is working on sight vocabulary
4. Mrs. Phillips points to the word you and asks who knows that word.
a. She is working on comprehension
b. She is working on fluency
c. She is working on sounding out words
d. She is working on sight vocabulary
5. Mrs. Phillips has the students look at the word sad, then take out the “s” and replace it with “d”
and read the new word.
a. She is working on onset and rime
b. She is working on the same-ending sound
c. She is working on rhyme
d. She is working on the same beginning sound
Brief Constructed Response (This item is worth 15 points)
Examine the various theoretical understandings regarding literacy and the reading process. Synthesize
these ideas to formulate a personal definition of literacy that represents your current
understanding. In other words, what do you believe it means to be literate and how will this
definition influence your teaching practices.
Extended Constructed Response (This item is worth 25 points)
Analyze the reading and writing development of a student in one grade by using one set of writing
samples.
For those of you that are work with or intend to teach elementary or middle school use the writing
samples from this site to represent the student’s growth and development throughout the school year.
Review the samples for one grade level (3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, high school) in the high (current writing
sample), medium high, medium, medium-low, and low (first writing sample at beginning of school
year) categories for one genre.
For those of you that are working with preK or K children use the four writing samples #1, #2, #3, and
#4. These samples are in chronological order with the first one completed at the beginning of the school
year and the last (fourth) completed at the end of the school year.
For those of you that are working with or intend to teach special education please choose the grade
level that best represents the grade level of the students you will be working with. The idea is to
understand what the children should be able to do.
The analysis should be positive and informative, as it will be shared with the student’s
parents/caregivers at the upcoming spring parent-teacher conference. This conference should
highlight what the student knows about reading, writing and spelling as supported by the
representative samples that you have chosen.
NOTE: Your response must be two pages in length, as it should utilize all of the information from the
course.
The following questions are provided as a guide for the development of your analysis. Each question
does not need to be answered. Again, the focus of your analysis is what the student knows about
reading, writing, and spelling as supported by the writing samples.
1. Are there any letter names used for sounds?
2. Are there any words with “random” letters put in as fillers?
3. Does the student represent most of the speech sounds in words?
4. Are there examples of phonetically accurate spelling that are orthographically naïve? Are there
examples of words that are spelled the way they sound and not spelled correctly?
5. What are some basic concepts this student has learned?
6. How does the organizational structure support the writer’s purpose?
7. Provide examples of the lower level and higher level skills that the student used while writing
this piece. (Refer back to the paragraph you wrote about your weekend plans using your nondominant hand and unable to use words with s in it.)
8. What developmental phase indicators are evident in this student’s writing?
9. Is there a pattern in the spelling errors? What do these errors suggest regarding the student’s
level of literacy development?
10. What does the student’s vocabulary choice and sentence construction suggest regarding the level
of literacy development?
Scoring Rubric: Analysis of Writing Samples
5
4
3
2
0
Content
The analysis
The analysis stays The analysis
The analysis
The
stays fully
mostly
addresses a
includes much
writing is
focused on
Focused and
broad topic OR
irrelevant
off topic.
topic and
includes mostly
focuses on a
information.
includes
relevant
trivial point. The There is little
relevant
Information. The arrangement of
or no attempt
information
ideas may wander ideas is stilted
to establish
and may be
or occasionally
order or to
predictable.
random
connect ideas
Provides some
connections
between ideas
Explanation Successfully
Develops
Attempts
Evidence is not
No
analyzes
analysis, offering analysis, yet
explained
evidence
the evidence,
clear yet
offers shallow
or is incoherent,
is offered.
offering clear
incomplete
interpretation
or offers no
and
explanations/inte that may
explanation of
complete
rpretations
be faulty,
evidence
explanations/
of evidence
misleading, or
interpretations
incorrect
of evidence
Elaboration Elaboration
Provides main
Provides
Does not
Analysis
consists of
idea but details
information that provide main
is offspecific,
are general, brief, may be list-like.
ideas or does
topic or
developed
or obvious.
Information has not support
incohere
details.
Information has
major
them; details
nt
Provides main
minor
weaknesses in
may be
ideas and
weaknesses in
relation to
repetitious. An
specific,
relation to and/or and/or support
attempt has been
elaborated
support of the
of the topic.
made to add
details that
topic.
information but it
move beyond
was unrelated or
the obvious.
confusing.
Opinions
Opinions are
Opinions are
The opinion is
Opinion is not
No
very clear with
somewhat clear
mostly clear and clear and there is opinion
detailed
but there is a
is supported by
a need for more
evident
supporting
need for more
some detailed
supporting
information.
detailed
information.
information.
information.
Mechanics
No errors in
Makes 1 – 2
Makes 3 – 4
Makes more than Errors
grammar,
errors in
errors in
4 errors in
distract
spelling,
grammar,
grammar or
grammar or
the
capitalization or spelling,
spelling, and a
spelling, and
reader
punctuation
capitalization, or
few errors in
several errors in
from the
that distract the punctuation that
capitalization
capitalization
content
reader from the distract the
and/or
and/or
and
content.
reader from the
punctuation,
punctuation, that interrupt
Analysis is
content. The
that distract the
distract the
flow.
exceptionally
easy to read.
analysis is still
easy to read.
reader from the
content and
interrupt flow.
reader from the
content and
interrupt flow.