NES Elementary Education – Subtest 1 Study Guide with
Key Concepts and Practice Questions
the tools of communication children use to form their understanding of the word - correct
answer ✔✔ reading, writing, listening, and speaking
Competency 1 - correct answer ✔✔ demonstrate an understanding of the foundations of
language development, oral language skills, listening comprehension skills, and phonological
and phonemic awareness.
Informal conversations - correct answer ✔✔ Time to talk about things that interest and excite
children.
Language play - correct answer ✔✔ Exploring rhythms, sounds, and tones that young children
delight in as they work and play.
Rhymes and song - correct answer ✔✔ Experiences rich in rhythm and rhyme encourage
children to play with words.
Stories - correct answer ✔✔ Children discover new words and meanings as they listen to good
stories — either told or read aloud.
Group talk - correct answer ✔✔ Times during the day when conventions of shared
conversations are learned and practiced.
Because this entire period between birth and the early elementary school years helps prepare
children with the skills important for conventional literacy, we refer to this critical stage of
language development as _____ _____. - correct answer ✔✔ Emergent Literacy
,The key is to make reading and writing _____ to the everyday life of the classroom and to make
literacy activities _____ to each child. - correct answer ✔✔ fundamental, relevant
_____ and _____ to what the children have to say and they will learn to do the same. - correct
answer ✔✔ listen, respond
LEA - correct answer ✔✔ Language Experience Approach
Dictated Stories - correct answer ✔✔ LEA
alliteration - correct answer ✔✔ use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed
syllable in a line of verse
language delay - correct answer ✔✔ There are many factors that cause language delay, both
environmental and physical. Common conditions include inadequate language stimulation
(neither talking to nor playing with the child); delayed general development; parents/guardians
or siblings who often talk for the child; medical and physical problems; family history of
language delay; learning disabilities; and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
ASD - correct answer ✔✔ Autism Spectrum Disorders
Listening can be described as part of an active communication process that involves _____,
_____, and _____ to verbal input. - correct answer ✔✔ receiving, interpreting, responding
The three steps in the listening process are _____, _____, and _____ meaning. - correct answer
✔✔ receiving, attending, assigning meaning
,Students can be given opportunities to develop and practice listening skills during three phases
of the listening process: _____, _____ and _____ . - correct answer ✔✔ pre-listening, during
listening, after listening
discriminative listening - correct answer ✔✔ distinguishing beginning consonant sounds, for
example
aesthetic listening - correct answer ✔✔ for enjoyment
critical listening - correct answer ✔✔ to evaluate a message
efferent listening - correct answer ✔✔ to understand a message
phonological - correct answer ✔✔ the study of the sound system of a given language and the
analysis and classification of its phonemes
phoneme - correct answer ✔✔ (linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are
distinguished by the speakers of a particular language
Phonological awareness - correct answer ✔✔ an understanding that words are composed of
sound units and that sound units can be combined to form words.
graphemes - correct answer ✔✔ a written symbol that is used to represent speech
orthography - correct answer ✔✔ a method of representing the sounds of a language by
written or printed symbols
, Phonological awareness - correct answer ✔✔ the awareness that language is composed of
sounds and the understanding of the relationship of these sounds, such as rhyming and
identifying sound units such as words in sentences, syllables, onsets, and rimes.
A ______ is a basic unit of speech sounds that can be divided into two parts—onsets and rimes.
- correct answer ✔✔ syllable
onset - correct answer ✔✔ the consonant sound that precedes the vowel of the syllable
rime - correct answer ✔✔ the vowel and any consonant sound that follows the onset.
Phonemic Awareness - correct answer ✔✔ refers to the ability to focus on, hear, identify, and
manipulate phonemes, or the individual sounds that make up spoken words.
Phoneme segmentation - correct answer ✔✔ is a child's ability to recognize the separate sound
units of words
phoneme blending - correct answer ✔✔ is a child's ability to string together phonemes in a
meaningful way to create words.
Standard American English contains about _____ basic phonemes, although differences in
regional pronunciation and dialect can generate more. - correct answer ✔✔ 42
One would expect that since there are 26 letters in the alphabet that there would be only _____
phonemes. - correct answer ✔✔ 26
Phoneme isolation - correct answer ✔✔ —recognizing the individual sounds in words. For
example, "Tell me the first sound you hear in the word top (/t/)."
Key Concepts and Practice Questions
the tools of communication children use to form their understanding of the word - correct
answer ✔✔ reading, writing, listening, and speaking
Competency 1 - correct answer ✔✔ demonstrate an understanding of the foundations of
language development, oral language skills, listening comprehension skills, and phonological
and phonemic awareness.
Informal conversations - correct answer ✔✔ Time to talk about things that interest and excite
children.
Language play - correct answer ✔✔ Exploring rhythms, sounds, and tones that young children
delight in as they work and play.
Rhymes and song - correct answer ✔✔ Experiences rich in rhythm and rhyme encourage
children to play with words.
Stories - correct answer ✔✔ Children discover new words and meanings as they listen to good
stories — either told or read aloud.
Group talk - correct answer ✔✔ Times during the day when conventions of shared
conversations are learned and practiced.
Because this entire period between birth and the early elementary school years helps prepare
children with the skills important for conventional literacy, we refer to this critical stage of
language development as _____ _____. - correct answer ✔✔ Emergent Literacy
,The key is to make reading and writing _____ to the everyday life of the classroom and to make
literacy activities _____ to each child. - correct answer ✔✔ fundamental, relevant
_____ and _____ to what the children have to say and they will learn to do the same. - correct
answer ✔✔ listen, respond
LEA - correct answer ✔✔ Language Experience Approach
Dictated Stories - correct answer ✔✔ LEA
alliteration - correct answer ✔✔ use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed
syllable in a line of verse
language delay - correct answer ✔✔ There are many factors that cause language delay, both
environmental and physical. Common conditions include inadequate language stimulation
(neither talking to nor playing with the child); delayed general development; parents/guardians
or siblings who often talk for the child; medical and physical problems; family history of
language delay; learning disabilities; and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
ASD - correct answer ✔✔ Autism Spectrum Disorders
Listening can be described as part of an active communication process that involves _____,
_____, and _____ to verbal input. - correct answer ✔✔ receiving, interpreting, responding
The three steps in the listening process are _____, _____, and _____ meaning. - correct answer
✔✔ receiving, attending, assigning meaning
,Students can be given opportunities to develop and practice listening skills during three phases
of the listening process: _____, _____ and _____ . - correct answer ✔✔ pre-listening, during
listening, after listening
discriminative listening - correct answer ✔✔ distinguishing beginning consonant sounds, for
example
aesthetic listening - correct answer ✔✔ for enjoyment
critical listening - correct answer ✔✔ to evaluate a message
efferent listening - correct answer ✔✔ to understand a message
phonological - correct answer ✔✔ the study of the sound system of a given language and the
analysis and classification of its phonemes
phoneme - correct answer ✔✔ (linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are
distinguished by the speakers of a particular language
Phonological awareness - correct answer ✔✔ an understanding that words are composed of
sound units and that sound units can be combined to form words.
graphemes - correct answer ✔✔ a written symbol that is used to represent speech
orthography - correct answer ✔✔ a method of representing the sounds of a language by
written or printed symbols
, Phonological awareness - correct answer ✔✔ the awareness that language is composed of
sounds and the understanding of the relationship of these sounds, such as rhyming and
identifying sound units such as words in sentences, syllables, onsets, and rimes.
A ______ is a basic unit of speech sounds that can be divided into two parts—onsets and rimes.
- correct answer ✔✔ syllable
onset - correct answer ✔✔ the consonant sound that precedes the vowel of the syllable
rime - correct answer ✔✔ the vowel and any consonant sound that follows the onset.
Phonemic Awareness - correct answer ✔✔ refers to the ability to focus on, hear, identify, and
manipulate phonemes, or the individual sounds that make up spoken words.
Phoneme segmentation - correct answer ✔✔ is a child's ability to recognize the separate sound
units of words
phoneme blending - correct answer ✔✔ is a child's ability to string together phonemes in a
meaningful way to create words.
Standard American English contains about _____ basic phonemes, although differences in
regional pronunciation and dialect can generate more. - correct answer ✔✔ 42
One would expect that since there are 26 letters in the alphabet that there would be only _____
phonemes. - correct answer ✔✔ 26
Phoneme isolation - correct answer ✔✔ —recognizing the individual sounds in words. For
example, "Tell me the first sound you hear in the word top (/t/)."
