FTCE Humanities K-12 - independent subject foundations flashcards

30 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Narrator

The constructed voice presenting a narrative, whose knowledge, position and reliability must be distinguished from the author’s biography or beliefs.

Focalization

The perspective through which events are selected or perceived, which can differ from the grammatical person of the narrating voice.

Speaker

The voice constructed in a poem or utterance, whose situation and attitude require evidence rather than identification with the poet.

Theme

An interpretive claim about a work’s concerns developed through patterns and action, rather than merely naming a broad topic such as power.

Diction

The selection of words with particular meanings, associations and registers, whose function should be explained within the actual passage.

Imagery

Language evoking sensory experience, which can shape tone and ideas without being merely decorative or automatically symbolic in one fixed way.

Metaphor

A comparison or identification across domains that invites interpretation of their relationship, not necessarily a literal assertion of shared identity.

Irony

A structured discrepancy among words, knowledge, expectations or outcomes, whose particular form and effect depend on the context.

Tone

An attitude conveyed through language and form, inferred from evidence and distinguished from any one reader’s emotional response.

Enjambment

The continuation of syntax beyond a verse line ending, creating relationships between grammatical movement, pause and visual or sonic form.

Caesura

A pause or break within a verse line, whose placement and effect depend on rhythm, syntax and performance.

Meter

A patterned organization of beats or stresses in verse, which must be distinguished from the actual rhythm of a particular spoken line.

Motif

A recurring feature whose changing contexts can support interpretation, rather than an isolated detail assigned an automatic dictionary meaning.

Symbol

A feature that carries meanings beyond its literal role through contextual relationships, convention or a work’s repeated treatment.

Characterization

The construction of a character through action, speech, description and relationships, whose complexity may exceed one trait or role label.

Unreliable narration

Narration whose statements or interpretations require qualification against other evidence, not simply a voice the reader personally dislikes.

Context

Relevant historical, linguistic or cultural conditions that can illuminate a work without replacing attention to its actual form and language.

Claim

A proposition advanced for consideration, which must be distinguished from its evidence, underlying assumptions and possible qualifications.

Warrant

The reasoning or assumption connecting evidence to a claim, which itself may require justification rather than being true merely because it is named.

Counterargument

A serious alternative or objection addressed through reasoning and evidence instead of dismissed through a distorted or irrelevant substitute.

Revision

Reconsidering focus, structure and development to improve meaning, distinguished from correcting local spelling and punctuation alone.

Register

Language choices suited to a social situation, audience and purpose, which should not be confused with ranking all dialects as better or worse.

Phoneme

A contrastive sound category within a specified language variety and analysis, distinguished from a letter or complete syllable.

Morpheme

A minimal meaningful or grammatical unit, which may be a free form or bound element and does not equal a syllable.

Scaffolding

Temporary support that enables participation in a learning task while preserving its substantive objective and adapting as competence develops.

Formative assessment

Evidence used during learning to guide next steps and feedback, whose function is not established by the mere presence or absence of a score.

Corroboration

Comparison with independently situated evidence to evaluate a claim’s support and limits, rather than accepting multiple repetitions of the same source.

Aesthetic criterion

An explicitly stated basis for evaluating artistic form or effect, whose relevance and limitations should be explained rather than treated as universal preference.

Adaptation

A transformation of a work for a changed form or context, which may preserve a central conflict while changing language or representation.

Close reading

Detailed analysis connecting specific formal or linguistic choices with a supported interpretation, rather than plot summary or biography alone.