Getting to know The Science of Reading

Which statement best describes the relationship between reading comprehension and word decoding in a beginning reader's development?

• Developing decoding skills is secondary to the development of text comprehension skills.

• These skills develop independently of one another.

• Accurate, fast word recognition is necessary for development of reading fluency and text comprehension

• Reading comprehension strategies directly facilitate the development of decoding skills.

What is the most important implication of the Four-Part Processing Model for Word Recognition?

• Context is a primary driver of word recognition during reading.

• Reading is primarily a visually driven process, dependent on the "brain's letterbox."

• Students can compensate for weak phonology if they know the meaning of many words.
  

• Reading depends on constructing pathways between the phonological, orthographic, and meaning processors.

With first-grade students, how much instructional time should be spent on English language arts?

• 30 minutes

• 1 hour

• 90 minutes

• 2 hours or more

What is the main reason that the ability to identify, segment, blend, and manipulate individual phonemes in spoken words is important for reading an alphabetic writing system?

• Wordplay and love of language are important characteristics of independent readers.

• Each letter in a word represents an individual phoneme.

• This skill ultimately supports the ability to read words "by sight."

• Semantic (meaning-making) processes are our primary concern.

How can phonics instruction be organized to be most effective?

• around the vocabulary words from science and social studies

• around a preplanned progression through a logical skill sequence

• to take advantage of teachable moments during authentic literature study

• so that students can work independently in centers

Which of the following tasks would best provide practice for automating letter recognition in kindergarteners?

• oral production (singing, recitation) of the alphabet song

• naming uppercase and lowercase printed letters in random order

• pointing to words in print as the teacher reads the text

• giving a sound for each letter that the teacher points to

A good phonics lesson should include opportunities for students to apply the phoneme-grapheme relationships that have been explicitly taught. Which text type would best provide the practice needed?

• grade-level text

• leveled reader

• predictable text

• decodable text

If a second-grader lacks fluency when reading aloud, what is the language skill that the teacher should assess first?

• listening comprehension

• executive functioning

• phonology and decoding

• breadth of vocabulary

A second-grade student writes: "I have finely finished my math project." Her misspelling of the word finally most likely indicates which of the following?

• She needs to know how the meaningful parts (morphemes) distinguish a word.

• She does not know basic letter-sound correspondences.

• She is not attentive to the sounds in the word.

• She needs to learn to pay closer attention to the syllable types.

The best definition for reading fluency is which of the following?

• oral reading at a rate that is above benchmark for the number of words read in a minute

• oral reading with accuracy, expression, and sufficient speed to support comprehension

• oral reading with at least 90% comprehension and 95% accuracy, regardless of the rate

• oral reading supported by the ability to scan for key phrases while extracting main ideas