GLA GLA Reading Comprehension Strategies 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary reading skill assessed in the GLA reading component?
- Memorizing vocabulary lists
- Understanding and analyzing written texts (Correct answer)
- Speed-reading passages
- Summarizing only fiction texts
Correct answer: Understanding and analyzing written texts
The GLA reading component primarily assesses students' ability to understand, interpret, and analyze written texts across various genres.
Question 2: Which strategy best helps students identify the main idea of a GLA passage?
- Reading only the first sentence
- Scanning for keywords in bold
- Identifying what most of the passage is about and why it was written (Correct answer)
- Counting how many times a word appears
Correct answer: Identifying what most of the passage is about and why it was written
The main idea is the central point the author wants to convey, determined by considering what the passage as a whole is about and the author's purpose.
Question 3: What does 'making inferences' mean in the context of GLA reading tasks?
- Copying sentences directly from the text
- Drawing logical conclusions using text evidence and prior knowledge (Correct answer)
- Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words
- Skipping unclear passages and moving on
Correct answer: Drawing logical conclusions using text evidence and prior knowledge
Making inferences means using clues in the text combined with what you already know to reach a conclusion not directly stated.
Question 4: How should students best handle unfamiliar vocabulary encountered in GLA passages?
- Skip the word and ignore its meaning
- Use context clues from surrounding sentences to determine meaning (Correct answer)
- Stop reading and look up every word
- Replace the word with a familiar synonym before reading on
Correct answer: Use context clues from surrounding sentences to determine meaning
Context clues — information in surrounding words, phrases, or sentences — are the most efficient strategy for determining word meaning during a timed GLA assessment.
Question 5: What is the primary purpose of annotating a passage during GLA reading tasks?
- To decorate the test booklet
- To record personal opinions unrelated to the text
- To mark key ideas, evidence, and questions that aid comprehension and response writing (Correct answer)
- To rewrite the passage in your own words entirely
Correct answer: To mark key ideas, evidence, and questions that aid comprehension and response writing
Annotation helps readers actively engage with text by marking important ideas and evidence they can refer back to when answering questions.
Question 6: Which text structure presents a difficulty and then explains how it was or could be resolved?
- Chronological order
- Compare and contrast
- Problem and solution (Correct answer)
- Cause and effect
Correct answer: Problem and solution
The problem-solution text structure first identifies a challenge or issue and then describes one or more ways to address it.
What is the primary reading skill assessed in the GLA reading component?