ETS Form 1 Flashcards
Sarah looked forward to her family’s vacation at the shore. She loved building sand castles and searching for beautiful shells. Even on a day with rain, Sarah had fun staying indoors playing cards and board games with her family.
Question: A second-grade student makes several miscues when orally reading the passage above. Which of the following shows an error in decoding a word containing a vowel digraph?
A. Pronouncing “cords” for “cards”
B. Substituting “chore” for “shore”
C. Saying “ran” for “rain”
D. Omitting the “l” in “playing”
Option (C) is correct. A vowel digraph is a combination of vowels that combine to make a single vowel sound. Vowel combinations such as “oa” in “boat,” “ai” in “rain,” “ee” in “feet,” and “ea” in “sea” are examples of words containing vowel digraphs.
Later I found my old camera with one picture left I took a picture of my dog and I sent in to my uncle he loves dogs.
Question: A student wrote the sentence above in a journal. Which of the following teacher actions will most likely help the student improve his or her writing?
A. Having the student read aloud the journal entry and add appropriate punctuation where needed
B. Providing a list of rules for capitalization that the student can use for reference
C. Suggesting that the student add adjectives to his or her writing to make it more descriptive
D. Circling misspelled words and having the student use a dictionary to find the correct spellings
Option (A) is correct. Reading aloud would help the student identify the separate sentences contained in this run-on sentence.
A student who reads with expression, appropriate phrasing, and good inflection, is described as reading with
A. generalization B. inference C. intensity D. prosody
Option (D) is correct. Prosody is the appropriate use of phrasing and expression to convey meaning.
After studying a classic novel, which of the following instructional activities should a middle school reading teacher include in a lesson to best promote student higher-order thinking?
A. Creating a backstory for a secondary character in the novel that explains his or her behavior in the book B. Reading other texts by the same author and then identifying character similarities across texts C. Answering comprehension questions that require textual evidence to support the answers D. Viewing an excerpt of a video version of the novel to observe the character interaction and setting
Option (A) is correct. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, tasks at the synthesis level are more complex and get at higher-order thinking skills more than do lower-level tasks that focus on recall of facts or details, comprehension, and comparisons. Synthesis requires putting parts together to create something new or proposing alternative solutions to a problem. In this example students are using what they have read to create a new product: a backstory for a secondary character.
Although the creative process of screenwriting owes a great deal to the history and development of the theater, the two art forms differ. In a play, the bulk of what is on the page is the characters’ dialogue; in a screenplay the balance shifts toward scene description, the scene description, the actions of the characters, and the visuals the audience sees. Put another way, the play depends upon the words of the characters to carry the weight of the storytelling, while a screenplay (and the film made from it) depends on the actions of the characters.
Question: Which of the following organizational patterns is used in the passage?
A. Compare and contrast B. Chronological order C. Problem and solution D. Argument and counterargument
Option (A) is correct. Compare and Contrast is a text structure or pattern of organization where the similarities and differences of two or more things are explored. In the excerpt a screenplay and a play are compared and contrasted.
Which list of words is most appropriate in assessing student knowledge of the /t/ sound for the suffix “-ed”?
A. Wanted, sorted, branded B. Ticked, ditched, nipped C. Fringed, dodged, hummed D. Attached, angled, invented
Option (B) is correct. The correct pronunciation of “-ed” in these words is /t/. The other answers contain /d/ and /ed/ sounds.
During parent conferences, the parents of a student ask the teacher to explain their child’s stanine score of 8 in the area of reading comprehension. Which of the following responses most accurately describes the student’s score?
A. The student is performing at a level expected of students of the same age. B. The results indicate limited achievement in the measured area. C. The student is performing below grade level compared with grade-level peers. D. The results show above-average achievement in the measured area.
Option (D) is correct. A stanine is a point on a 9-point scale, with 5 being average. The stanines 1, 2, and 3 are below average, and 6, 7, and 8 are above average. Stanines are useful when making comparisons among the subtests.
How many phonemes does the word “shade” have?
A. 4 B. 3 C. 5 D. 2
Option (B) is correct. The word shade has three phonemes: /sh/-/a/-/d/. Phonemes roughly correspond to the letters, but the connection is not one-to-one. It can be confusing because early readers will want to segment the word into four parts /s/-/h/-/a/-/d/.
- I reread the paper carefully for all errors.
- I checked the paper for complete sentences.
- I double-checked for correct spelling.
- I capitalized all proper nouns.
Question: At which stage of the writing process would the above checklist be most helpful for third-grade students to use?
A. Rewriting B. Editing C. Revising D. Drafting
Option (B) is correct. During the editing stage, students correct errors in spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
A first-grade teacher plans to instruct students in the decoding strategy of dividing phonetically regular words into onsets and rimes. Which of the following words is best for the teacher to use to most effectively model the skill?
A. Stop B. Catch C. Break D. Want
Option (A) is correct. Teaching beginning readers about onsets and rimes helps them recognize common phonetically regular chunks within words. This knowledge can help readers decode new words with similar spelling patterns. “Stop” contains the major phonogram “-op,” knowledge of which assists students in decoding unknown words with the same phoneme-grapheme pattern.
Which of the following is/are the most important criterion/criteria when identifying a quality informational text?
A. Controlled vocabulary for ease of comprehension B. Illustrative attractiveness and design C. Accurate information and cohesiveness of ideas D. Location aids, such as an index
Option (C) is correct. Accuracy of the content and cohesiveness of the ideas are the most important criteria when choosing an informational text. The text may have an attractive design and index but students will not benefit from a text presenting inaccurate or biased information.
During a reading lesson, a teacher shows students five cards. Each card contains the picture of an object and the name of the object. The five objects are an igloo, an umbrella, an egg, an octopus, and an apple. The students look at each object and say the word for the object. Which of the following vowel sounds is the focus of the lesson?
A. Beginning short vowel sounds B. Middle short vowel sounds C. Beginning long vowel sounds D. Middle long vowel sounds
Option (A) is correct. All of the five objects have a short vowel sound at the beginning (“igloo,” “umbrella,” “egg,” “octopus,” and “apple”).
Which of the following is the first step a parent can take to promote phonological development in a child?
A. Teach all the letters of the alphabet B. Play rhyming games with one-syllable words C. Play a game taking turns blending simple words D. Provide computer software games on letter-sound identification
Option (B) is correct. Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language – parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. Children who have phonological awareness are able to identify and make oral rhymes, can clap out the number of syllables in a word, and can recognize words with the same initial sounds like “money” and ”mother.“
A fifth-grade teacher asks students to complete the following writing assignment.
Nonfiction Text Assignment
Read the short article titled “Protection for Coral Reefs.”
Then write a paragraph in which you do the following:
1. Identify the author’s message or purpose for writing the article.
2. Provide three pieces of evidence from the article that support your statement in 1.
The assignment can best be used to assess students’ mastery of which of the following reading-content standards?
A. Verifying facts presented within a text through the use of multiple sources
B. Recognizing contradictory statements made by an author within a text
C. Making an inference by connecting ideas within a text
D. Comparing the viewpoints of different authors among multiple texts
Option (C) is correct. The assignment does address this content standard. Students are asked to demonstrate mastery of the complex task of connecting different ideas presented in the text in order to make an inference about the author’s intended message or purpose.
A fifth-grade teacher asks students to complete the following writing assignment.
Nonfiction Text Assignment
Read the short article titled “Protection for Coral Reefs.”
Then write a paragraph in which you do the following:
1. Identify the author’s message or purpose for writing the article.
2. Provide three pieces of evidence from the article that support your statement in 1.
Which of the following modifications to the assignment will most appropriately accommodate an English-language learner writing at the intermediate level of English-language proficiency?
A. Identifying the author’s purpose for the student B. Providing the student with relevant sentence stems C. Requiring the student to list only one piece of evidence D. Translating the article into the student’s first language
Option (B) is correct. This modification maintains the integrity of the assignment while also providing useful support for the ELL student. Providing sentence stems removes the obstacle of generating a complete paragraph in English while also allowing the student to demonstrate mastery of the assignment.
