GLA Content Focus Areas 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student reads a science article explaining how vaccines work. Which GLA content focus area does this text primarily represent?
- Literary analysis
- Informational and explanatory text (Correct answer)
- Narrative fiction
- Persuasive argumentation
Correct answer: Informational and explanatory text
Informational and explanatory texts present factual content to help readers understand a topic, such as how vaccines function.
Question 2: On the GLA, which skill is most directly assessed when students are asked to identify the author's purpose in a nonfiction passage?
- Decoding phonics patterns
- Reading comprehension and analysis (Correct answer)
- Spelling and mechanics
- Creative writing conventions
Correct answer: Reading comprehension and analysis
Identifying an author's purpose requires comprehension and analytical reading, a core GLA content focus.
Question 3: A GLA prompt asks students to compare two editorials on school lunch policy. Which content area is being assessed?
- Literary narrative
- Argument and evidence evaluation (Correct answer)
- Grammar rules
- Vocabulary in isolation
Correct answer: Argument and evidence evaluation
Comparing editorials requires evaluating arguments and evidence, a key GLA informational literacy focus.
Question 4: Which type of text would BEST help a student practice the GLA's focus on drawing inferences from literary passages?
- A bus schedule
- A short story with an ambiguous ending (Correct answer)
- A math textbook chapter
- A product instruction manual
Correct answer: A short story with an ambiguous ending
Short stories with ambiguous endings require readers to infer meaning beyond what is stated, aligning with the GLA literary inference focus.
Question 5: The GLA assesses students' ability to use context clues. Which scenario best demonstrates this skill?
- Looking up a word in a glossary
- Guessing a word's meaning from surrounding sentences (Correct answer)
- Memorizing vocabulary lists before the test
- Asking a teacher for a definition
Correct answer: Guessing a word's meaning from surrounding sentences
Using context clues means determining word meaning from surrounding text without outside help, a tested GLA literacy skill.
Question 6: In a GLA writing task, a student is asked to support a claim with textual evidence. Which content focus area does this task address?
- Handwriting and formatting
- Argumentative writing with evidence (Correct answer)
- Creative storytelling
- Grammar identification only
Correct answer: Argumentative writing with evidence
Supporting claims with textual evidence is a central GLA argumentative writing focus area.
Question 7: Which question type on the GLA specifically tests a student's ability to understand text structure?
- 'What is the definition of the underlined word?'
- 'How does the author organize the information in this passage?' (Correct answer)
- 'Which answer is spelled correctly?'
- 'What is the plot of this story?'
Correct answer: 'How does the author organize the information in this passage?'
Questions about how an author organizes information directly assess knowledge of text structure, such as cause-effect or compare-contrast.
GLA Content Focus Areas 2
A student reads a science article explaining how vaccines work.
Which GLA content focus area does this text primarily represent?