NYSESLAT NYSESLAT Reading Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does the term 'academic language' refer to in the context of NYSESLAT reading tasks?
- Language used only in science class
- Specialized vocabulary and sentence structures used in school subjects (Correct answer)
- Slang used by high school students
- Everyday conversational English
Correct answer: Specialized vocabulary and sentence structures used in school subjects
Academic language includes discipline-specific vocabulary and complex grammatical structures found in school texts.
Question 2: When a NYSESLAT reading question asks for a text-to-text connection, what is the student expected to do?
- Connect the passage to a personal experience
- Relate ideas in the passage to another text they have read (Correct answer)
- Identify spelling errors in the text
- Summarize the passage in one word
Correct answer: Relate ideas in the passage to another text they have read
Text-to-text connections involve linking ideas, themes, or information in the passage to another text.
Question 3: What skill do NYSESLAT reading questions test when they ask students to distinguish between fact and opinion?
- Phonics decoding
- Critical reading and evaluative comprehension (Correct answer)
- Grammar knowledge
- Vocabulary memorization
Correct answer: Critical reading and evaluative comprehension
Distinguishing fact from opinion is a critical reading skill requiring evaluation of whether claims can be verified.
Question 4: How does scaffolding in NYSESLAT reading tasks support lower-proficiency students?
- By providing longer and more complex passages
- By including visual supports, glossaries, and simplified syntax (Correct answer)
- By removing all graphics to focus on text
- By testing only phonics knowledge
Correct answer: By including visual supports, glossaries, and simplified syntax
Scaffolds like visuals, glossed words, and simpler sentence structures help lower-proficiency students access text meaning.
Question 5: What does an inference question on the NYSESLAT reading section require beyond literal comprehension?
- Memorizing vocabulary lists
- Drawing a conclusion from implied rather than stated information (Correct answer)
- Calculating reading speed
- Copying sentences from the passage
Correct answer: Drawing a conclusion from implied rather than stated information
Inference requires readers to use text clues plus prior knowledge to understand what the author suggests but does not state.
Question 6: Which graphic organizer concept is most associated with the compare/contrast text structure in NYSESLAT reading?
- Sequence chains
- Venn diagrams (Correct answer)
- Story maps
- Cause-and-effect webs
Correct answer: Venn diagrams
Venn diagrams visually represent similarities and differences, making them ideal for compare/contrast text structures.
NYSESLAT NYSESLAT Reading Skills 2
What does the term 'academic language' refer to in the context of NYSESLAT reading tasks?