ELAR Reading Comprehension and Assessment 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A passage describes how deforestation leads to soil erosion, which then causes rivers to become silted, which ultimately destroys fish habitats. Which text structure is the author primarily using?
- Description
- Compare and contrast
- Chronological order
- Cause and effect (chain reaction) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Cause and effect (chain reaction)
A chain of events where each effect becomes the cause of the next effect is a multi-step cause-and-effect (causal chain) structure.
Question 2: A student is asked to make a text-to-self connection while reading a story about a character who feels anxious before a public speech. What does this connection involve?
- Comparing the story to a similar novel the student has read
- Relating the character's feelings to a personal experience of the student (Correct answer)
- Connecting the story's theme to a current news event
- Identifying the historical period in which the story is set
Correct answer: Relating the character's feelings to a personal experience of the student
A text-to-self connection links what happens in the text to the reader's own life experiences, feelings, or memories.
Question 3: Which term describes the perspective from which a story is narrated when the narrator refers to characters as 'he,' 'she,' and 'they,' and knows the thoughts of all characters?
- First-person limited
- Second-person
- Third-person omniscient (Correct answer)
- Third-person limited
Correct answer: Third-person omniscient
Third-person omniscient narration uses 'he/she/they' and gives the narrator access to the inner thoughts of all characters.
Question 4: On a standardized ELAR reading assessment, a passage is followed by the question: 'Which detail from the passage BEST supports the central idea?' What skill is being tested?
- Identifying figurative language
- Citing relevant textual evidence (Correct answer)
- Determining word meaning from context
- Analyzing narrative point of view
Correct answer: Citing relevant textual evidence
Selecting the detail that best supports the central idea requires students to cite and evaluate relevant textual evidence.
Question 5: A reader finishes an article and asks, 'What is the most important point the author wants me to take away?' Which comprehension goal does this question reflect?
- Identifying supporting details
- Determining the central idea or main idea (Correct answer)
- Analyzing text structure
- Evaluating author's word choice
Correct answer: Determining the central idea or main idea
Asking what the author most wants the reader to understand is the core question for identifying the central or main idea.
Question 6: In an informational text, the phrase 'for instance' most likely signals which type of text organization at the sentence or paragraph level?
- A contrast between two ideas
- An example supporting a general statement (Correct answer)
- A time sequence of events
- A cause leading to an effect
Correct answer: An example supporting a general statement
'For instance' is a transitional phrase that introduces a specific example to illustrate or support a broader claim.
Question 7: A student reads a persuasive article and identifies that the author uses only statistics that support their argument while ignoring contradictory data. This is an example of which bias technique?
- Ad hominem attack
- Cherry-picking evidence (Correct answer)
- False analogy
- Circular reasoning
Correct answer: Cherry-picking evidence
Selectively presenting only supportive data while omitting contradictory evidence is called cherry-picking, a common form of confirmation bias in writing.
ELAR Reading Comprehension and Assessment 5
A passage describes how deforestation leads to soil erosion, which then causes rivers to become silted, which ultimately destroys fish habitats.
Which text structure is the author primarily using?