AECTP Reading Instruction 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to Scarborough's Reading Rope model, which of the following is a LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION strand?
- Decoding
- Phonological awareness
- Background knowledge (Correct answer)
- Sight recognition
Correct answer: Background knowledge
Scarborough's Reading Rope places background knowledge within the language comprehension strands, which interweave with word recognition strands to produce skilled reading.
Question 2: A teacher pre-teaches vocabulary before students read an informational text about ecosystems. The PRIMARY goal of this practice is to:
- Reduce the length of the reading assignment
- Activate and build background knowledge to support comprehension (Correct answer)
- Assess students' prior knowledge of the topic
- Develop phonemic awareness of scientific terms
Correct answer: Activate and build background knowledge to support comprehension
Pre-teaching key vocabulary activates schema and builds conceptual knowledge, reducing cognitive load and supporting comprehension during reading.
Question 3: Which of the following BEST describes the 'gradual release of responsibility' model in reading instruction?
- Students take turns reading aloud in small groups
- Instruction moves from teacher modeling to guided practice to independent student application (Correct answer)
- Teachers assess students and release them to the next reading level
- Students gradually read longer and harder texts each week
Correct answer: Instruction moves from teacher modeling to guided practice to independent student application
The gradual release model ('I do, We do, You do') systematically shifts cognitive responsibility from teacher to student through modeling, guided practice, and independent application.
Question 4: A student consistently omits the endings of words when reading aloud (e.g., reads 'jump' for 'jumping'). This pattern MOST likely indicates a weakness in:
- Phoneme blending
- Morphological awareness (Correct answer)
- Letter-name knowledge
- Text fluency rate
Correct answer: Morphological awareness
Omitting inflectional endings like -ing, -ed, and -s reflects poor morphological awareness and attention to grammatical word parts.
Question 5: Which activity is MOST effective for building reading fluency in elementary students?
- Round-robin reading where each student reads one paragraph aloud
- Timed silent reading at an independent level
- Partner reading with repeated readings of the same passage (Correct answer)
- Listening to the teacher read while following along silently
Correct answer: Partner reading with repeated readings of the same passage
Partner reading with repeated readings provides supported practice and multiple exposures to the same text, which research consistently links to fluency gains.
Question 6: A teacher assesses phonemic awareness by asking a student to say the word 'strip' and then say it without the /t/ sound. This task measures:
- Phoneme blending
- Phoneme deletion (Correct answer)
- Phoneme segmentation
- Phoneme isolation
Correct answer: Phoneme deletion
Phoneme deletion tasks require students to remove a specific phoneme from a word and say the remaining word.
Question 7: Which instructional grouping configuration is MOST appropriate for targeted intervention with three students who share the same decoding deficit?
- Whole-class direct instruction
- Small homogeneous skill group (Correct answer)
- Heterogeneous cooperative learning group
- Independent center activity
Correct answer: Small homogeneous skill group
A small homogeneous skill group allows the teacher to deliver focused, targeted instruction matched to the specific shared need of those students.
AECTP Reading Instruction 4
According to Scarborough's Reading Rope model, which of the following is a LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION strand?