A. Allowing students to discover spelling patterns independently
B. Teaching literacy skills explicitly and systematically
C. Relying primarily on memorization of whole words
D. Teaching comprehension without foundational reading skills
Answer: B
Rationale: Structured literacy uses explicit, systematic instruction in areas such as phonology,
sound-symbol relationships, syllable patterns, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
2. What is phonemic awareness?
A. Understanding the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary
B. Recognizing letters in printed words
C. Identifying and manipulating individual phonemes in spoken language
D. Reading connected text with appropriate expression
Answer: C
Rationale: Phonemic awareness is an oral-language skill involving the ability to identify,
segment, blend, delete, or manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.
3. Which activity primarily develops phonemic awareness?
A. Asking students to identify the beginning sound in a spoken word
B. Having students copy words from the board
C. Asking students to read a paragraph silently
D. Having students alphabetize vocabulary words
Answer: A
Rationale: Identifying individual sounds in spoken words directly targets phonemic awareness
without requiring students to work with printed letters.
4. What is the primary purpose of phonics instruction?
,A. Increase students' background knowledge
B. Develop handwriting speed
C. Teach students to memorize entire sentences
D. Teach relationships between letters and sounds
Answer: D
Rationale: Phonics teaches the alphabetic principle—the predictable relationships between
graphemes and phonemes—so students can decode unfamiliar words.
5. A student can accurately decode words but reads slowly and with little expression. Which
literacy component needs the most attention?
A. Phonemic awareness
B. Fluency
C. Morphology
D. Spelling
Answer: B
Rationale: Fluency involves accurate, appropriately paced, and expressive reading. Repeated
reading, modeling, and guided practice can improve fluency.
6. Which characteristic is most associated with fluent reading?
A. Reading every word as quickly as possible
B. Memorizing large numbers of isolated words
C. Accuracy, appropriate rate, and prosody
D. Reading without considering punctuation
Answer: C
Rationale: Fluent readers combine accuracy, appropriate reading rate, and prosody or
expressive reading. Fluency supports comprehension because less cognitive effort is spent on
word recognition.
7. Which strategy best supports vocabulary development?
A. Providing repeated meaningful encounters with words in different contexts
B. Requiring students to memorize dictionary definitions only
, C. Limiting vocabulary instruction to weekly spelling tests
D. Asking students to copy vocabulary words repeatedly
Answer: A
Rationale: Vocabulary grows when students encounter and actively use words repeatedly in
meaningful contexts and connect new words to existing knowledge.
8. What does morphology examine?
A. The speed at which students read
B. The smallest units of meaning within words
C. The number of sentences in a paragraph
D. The visual appearance of letters
Answer: B
Rationale: Morphology concerns meaningful word parts such as prefixes, suffixes, roots, and
bases. Understanding morphology can help students determine word meanings and spellings.
9. A teacher asks students to identify the prefix in “unhelpful.” Which literacy skill is being
emphasized?
A. Fluency
B. Phonemic blending
C. Morphological awareness
D. Reading rate
Answer: C
Rationale: Students are analyzing meaningful word parts: un-, help, and -ful. This is
morphological awareness.
10. Which example represents activating prior knowledge before reading?
A. Asking students to predict what a text might be about based on its title and illustrations
B. Having students copy every unfamiliar word
C. Asking students to memorize the first paragraph
D. Having students complete a spelling test before reading