TExES Science of Teaching Reading (293)

Which list correctly names the five essential components of scientifically based reading instruction?

• APhonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
• BSpelling, handwriting, grammar, fluency, and comprehension
• CPrint awareness, rhyming, blending, decoding, and prosody
• DListening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing

A teacher notices a student can read words accurately in isolation but reads connected text slowly and word-by-word. Reciprocal teaching aside, what relationship best explains how this affects comprehension?

• ASlow, labored reading consumes cognitive resources, leaving fewer available for comprehen…
• BAccurate word reading guarantees comprehension regardless of rate
• CComprehension depends only on vocabulary, not fluency
• DReading rate has no measurable connection to understanding

Which scenario best illustrates the reciprocal relationship between decoding and encoding?

• AA student who practices spelling words by sounds also becomes more accurate at decoding t…
• BA student memorizes whole words by sight and never analyzes letters
• CA student improves handwriting speed and therefore reads faster
• DA student listens to audiobooks and improves oral fluency

A first grader consistently reverses letters, struggles with rapid letter naming, and has difficulty connecting sounds to letters despite strong oral language. These are early indicators most associated with which condition?

• ADyslexia
• BA hearing impairment
• CAn expressive language disorder
• DAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Within a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS/RTI), what is the primary purpose of Tier 1 instruction?

• AHigh-quality, evidence-based core instruction provided to all students
• BIntensive one-on-one intervention for students with disabilities
• CSmall-group targeted intervention for students below benchmark
• DDiagnostic testing to identify dyslexia

A teacher wants to determine whether a new reading assessment consistently produces similar scores when the same student is tested on different days under similar conditions. Which assessment concept is being examined?

• AReliability
• BValidity
• CEquity
• DAuthenticity

A student reads a passage with 95% word accuracy and comprehends most of it with minimal teacher support. According to standard criteria, this text is at the student's:

• AInstructional reading level
• BIndependent reading level
• CFrustration reading level
• DListening comprehension level

Which of the following is the best example of a formative, informal classroom reading assessment?

• AA teacher's running record taken during a student's oral reading
• BA state standardized end-of-year reading test
• CA nationally normed achievement battery
• DA formal diagnostic dyslexia evaluation by a specialist

When communicating a young student's reading progress to families, which practice is most appropriate?

• AShare specific strengths and needs in clear, jargon-free language with concrete examples
• BProvide only the numerical percentile rank with no explanation
• CCompare the child publicly to higher-performing classmates
• DLimit communication to a single end-of-year report card

Which assessment is primarily code-based rather than meaning-based?

• AA nonsense-word decoding fluency measure
• BA retelling rubric for a narrative passage
• CAn inferential comprehension question set
• DA vocabulary-in-context cloze task

Which classroom factor is most likely to support overall reading development for all students?

• ADaily access to a print-rich environment with explicit, systematic instruction
• BRelying solely on incidental exposure to books without direct teaching
• CPostponing phonics until students can read fluently
• DUsing only whole-class instruction with no differentiation

A teacher selects a leveled text for a diagnostic reading assessment. Which consideration is most important for valid results?

• AThe text matches the skill being assessed and is appropriate for the student's level
• BThe text is the longest available to maximize data
• CThe text is the teacher's personal favorite story
• DThe text contains only words the student already knows by sight

Which instructional practice best reflects differentiated reading instruction?

• AAdjusting tasks, grouping, and supports based on individual student assessment data
• BGiving every student the identical worksheet regardless of skill
• CTeaching only to the highest-performing group
• DReducing expectations for all students equally

A teacher reviews a student's assessment and finds strong decoding but weak comprehension. Which assessment concept explains why both code-based and meaning-based measures are needed?

• ADifferent assessments measure different constructs, so a full profile requires multiple m…
• BOne reading test can validly measure every reading skill at once
• CComprehension and decoding are the same construct
• DMeaning-based assessments are always more reliable than code-based ones

What is the most appropriate use of progress-monitoring data collected every two weeks during a reading intervention?

• ATo determine whether the intervention is working and adjust instruction accordingly
• BTo assign permanent ability labels to students
• CTo rank students publicly for motivation
• DTo replace all core classroom instruction

Which statement best describes the relationship between oral language and literacy development?

• AStrong oral language provides a foundation for vocabulary, comprehension, and later readi…
• BOral language and reading develop independently of each other
• COral language only matters after a child can decode
• DWritten language must be mastered before oral language develops

An English learner is highly proficient in their home language. Which approach best supports their reading development in English?

• ALeveraging the student's home language as an asset and a foundation for English literacy
• BDiscouraging use of the home language to speed English acquisition
• CWaiting to teach reading until the student is fully fluent in English
• DAssuming the student has a reading disability because of an accent

According to second-language acquisition research, students typically develop social conversational fluency before:

• ACognitive academic language proficiency used for reading and content learning
• BAny ability to understand spoken English
• CThe ability to recognize a single English word
• DMastery of their home language

Which activity primarily develops phonological awareness rather than phonemic awareness?

• AClapping the syllables in multisyllabic words and identifying rhyming pairs
• BSegmenting the individual sounds in the word /c/ /a/ /t/
• CBlending isolated phonemes to form a spoken word
• DDeleting the first phoneme from a spoken word

Which sequence best reflects the typical developmental continuum of phonological awareness from earlier to later skills?

• ARhyming and word awareness, then syllables, then onset-rime, then individual phonemes
• BPhoneme deletion, then rhyming, then syllable counting
• CIndividual phonemes, then onset-rime, then whole words
• DSpelling whole words, then identifying rhymes

How many phonemes are in the word 'ship'?

• AThree
• BFour
• CTwo
• DFive

A kindergartner can identify the beginning sound in 'sun' and blend /m/ /a/ /p/ into 'map' but cannot yet delete sounds from words. The most appropriate next instructional step is to:

• AContinue strengthening blending and segmenting before introducing phoneme deletion
• BSkip phonemic awareness and move directly to silent reading
• CBegin teaching multisyllabic morphemic analysis
• DAssume a disability and refer for special education evaluation

Which best defines the alphabetic principle?

• AThe understanding that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language
• BThe ability to recite the alphabet in order
• CThe skill of writing letters neatly
• DThe memorization of whole words as visual shapes

Which concept-of-print skill would a teacher most likely assess in an emergent reader?

• AKnowing that print is read left to right and top to bottom with return sweep
• BDecoding multisyllabic words using syllable types
• CAnalyzing an author's use of figurative language
• DSummarizing the central idea of an informational text

Why are predictable (patterned) texts valuable for emergent readers?

• AThey use repetitive structures that let beginners experience successful reading and build…
• BThey eliminate the need for any phonics instruction
• CThey are the only texts that build comprehension
• DThey prevent students from ever needing decoding skills

Which statement about alphabet knowledge and early reading is best supported by research?

• ALetter-name and letter-sound knowledge are strong predictors of later reading achievement
• BLetter knowledge has no relationship to reading success
• CChildren should learn all uppercase letters only before any lowercase
• DLetter knowledge should not be taught until second grade

A teacher provides explicit, systematic phonics instruction. Which feature best characterizes this approach?

• ALetter-sound relationships are taught in a planned, logical sequence with cumulative revi…
• BStudents discover letter-sound relationships incidentally without direct teaching
• CPhonics elements are introduced randomly as they appear in texts
• DOnly sight-word memorization is used to teach reading

The words 'their,' 'there,' and 'they're' are best described as:

• AHomophones
• BHomographs
• CSynonyms
• DCompound words

When teaching beginning decoders, which instructional choice best supports applying phonics to reading connected text?

• AUsing decodable texts that feature the phonics patterns recently taught
• BAssigning complex novels well above the students' decoding level
• CEncouraging students to guess words from the first letter and picture
• DRemoving all phonics instruction once students know letter names

A student reads 'jumps' as 'jump' and 'walked' as 'walk,' omitting inflectional endings. Which skill should instruction target?

• AReading and attending to inflectional endings such as -s, -ed, and -ing
• BRhyme identification at the syllable level
• CConcepts of print and book handling
• DListening comprehension of read-alouds

Which of these is an example of a closed syllable?

• AThe word 'cat,' which ends in a consonant and has a short vowel
• BThe word 'go,' which ends in a vowel and has a long vowel
• CThe word 'cake,' with a silent-e long vowel
• DThe word 'car,' with an r-controlled vowel

In the word 'unhappiness,' the morphemes are best identified as:

• AThe prefix 'un-,' the root 'happy/happi,' and the suffix '-ness'
• BThree syllables with no meaning units
• CA single morpheme because it is one word
• DTwo compound words joined together

Which word is a compound word that a teacher could use to introduce structural analysis?

• A'Sunflower,' formed from 'sun' and 'flower'
• B'Running,' formed from 'run' plus '-ing'
• C'Replay,' formed from 're-' plus 'play'
• D'Quickly,' formed from 'quick' plus '-ly'

Teaching students to recognize common morphemes such as 'tele-,' 'graph,' and '-ology' most directly supports:

• ADecoding and determining the meaning of unfamiliar academic and content-area words
• BImproving handwriting fluency
• CBuilding phonemic awareness of single sounds
• DDeveloping concepts of print

Why is teaching students to read words in 'chunks' (syllables and morphemes) beneficial?

• AIt promotes automaticity and reduces the cognitive load of sounding out every letter
• BIt eliminates the need to ever learn letter-sound relationships
• CIt is only useful for single-syllable words
• DIt replaces the need for comprehension instruction

Which three components are the key indicators of reading fluency?

• AAccuracy, rate, and prosody
• BVocabulary, spelling, and handwriting
• CRhyming, blending, and segmenting
• DInference, summarizing, and questioning

What does 'prosody' refer to in the context of reading fluency?

• AReading with appropriate expression, phrasing, intonation, and stress
• BThe number of words read correctly per minute
• CThe percentage of words decoded accurately
• DThe ability to recognize sight words instantly

Which instructional strategy is most effective for building reading fluency?

• ARepeated oral reading of an appropriately leveled text with feedback
• BSilent independent reading of a text far above the student's level
• CRound-robin reading where each student reads once aloud cold
• DHaving students copy the text by hand