Illinois Content Exam 2026 Questions and
Answers
Transitional stage - Answer -a student who has moved beyond phonetic spelling
stage and are familiar with sophisticated correct rules and conventions
Metacognition - Answer -being aware and self-regulating one's own thinking as
comprehension takes place. Self-monitoring, or stopping to self-assess and check
one's own understanding is most related to metacognition
student sentences:
correct sentence: the children knew they would get in trouble. The lessons were
easy for them
incorrect sentence: the children new they wood get in truble. They lessens were
easy for the,
What is happening here? - Answer -the student recognizes that each syllable should
contain a vowel but does not alway add these letters correctly and is familiar with
consonant doubling
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,semi-phonetic stage - Answer -Children begin to comprehend letter to Sam
correspondences. They frequently use simple logic to symbolize words with single
letters. A good example is using "U" for "you".
phonetic stage - Answer -The child uses a letter or group of letters to represent
every speech sound that they hear in a word. Although some of their choices do not
conform to conventional English spelling, they are systematic and easily
understood. Examples are KOM for come and EN for in.
5 essential components of an effective reading instruction program? - Answer -1.
phonemic awareness
2. phonics
3. vocabulary development
4. reading fluency
5. Reading comprehension strategies
phonemic awareness - Answer -The ability to hear, identify,and manipulate the
individual sounds, phonemes, in oral language.
phonics - Answer --the understanding that there is a predictable relationship
between phonemes (sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letter and
spelling that represent those sounds in written language)
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, -you use the relationships to recognize familiar words and identify/decode
unfamiliar ones
Vocabulary development - Answer --the knowledge of stored information about the
meanings and pronunciations of words necessary for communication
-important for sounding out words a student might be unfamiliar with
reading fluency - Answer --the ability read words accurately and quickly
-reading with speed, accuracy, and proper expression
reading comprehension strategies - Answer -culmination of all the reading
strategies and the ultimate goal is learning to read
an entering-level ell student has acquired grade-level literacy skills in the home
language. Which of the following features of the home language would be most
likely to support the transfer of basic literacy skills from home language to
english? - Answer -correct answer: the home language's writing system is
alphabetic as is english
why:
-english is an alphabetic language and reading english is based on the alphabetic
principle
-letters and letter combinations represent the speech sounds of a language
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
Answers
Transitional stage - Answer -a student who has moved beyond phonetic spelling
stage and are familiar with sophisticated correct rules and conventions
Metacognition - Answer -being aware and self-regulating one's own thinking as
comprehension takes place. Self-monitoring, or stopping to self-assess and check
one's own understanding is most related to metacognition
student sentences:
correct sentence: the children knew they would get in trouble. The lessons were
easy for them
incorrect sentence: the children new they wood get in truble. They lessens were
easy for the,
What is happening here? - Answer -the student recognizes that each syllable should
contain a vowel but does not alway add these letters correctly and is familiar with
consonant doubling
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,semi-phonetic stage - Answer -Children begin to comprehend letter to Sam
correspondences. They frequently use simple logic to symbolize words with single
letters. A good example is using "U" for "you".
phonetic stage - Answer -The child uses a letter or group of letters to represent
every speech sound that they hear in a word. Although some of their choices do not
conform to conventional English spelling, they are systematic and easily
understood. Examples are KOM for come and EN for in.
5 essential components of an effective reading instruction program? - Answer -1.
phonemic awareness
2. phonics
3. vocabulary development
4. reading fluency
5. Reading comprehension strategies
phonemic awareness - Answer -The ability to hear, identify,and manipulate the
individual sounds, phonemes, in oral language.
phonics - Answer --the understanding that there is a predictable relationship
between phonemes (sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letter and
spelling that represent those sounds in written language)
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
, -you use the relationships to recognize familiar words and identify/decode
unfamiliar ones
Vocabulary development - Answer --the knowledge of stored information about the
meanings and pronunciations of words necessary for communication
-important for sounding out words a student might be unfamiliar with
reading fluency - Answer --the ability read words accurately and quickly
-reading with speed, accuracy, and proper expression
reading comprehension strategies - Answer -culmination of all the reading
strategies and the ultimate goal is learning to read
an entering-level ell student has acquired grade-level literacy skills in the home
language. Which of the following features of the home language would be most
likely to support the transfer of basic literacy skills from home language to
english? - Answer -correct answer: the home language's writing system is
alphabetic as is english
why:
-english is an alphabetic language and reading english is based on the alphabetic
principle
-letters and letter combinations represent the speech sounds of a language
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3