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TExES ELAR 7-12 (331) study materials
TExES ELAR 7-12 (331) study resources

TExES ELAR 7-12 (331) practice questions

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Question 1Foundations of Language and Literacy

A teacher asks students to say the word "cat" aloud and then say it again without the /k/ sound. Which skill are the students practicing?

  1. Phoneme deletion Correct answer.
  2. Syllable blending
  3. Letter-sound mapping
  4. Onset-rime segmentation

Explanation

Phoneme deletion requires a listener to hold a spoken word in memory and remove one individual sound from it, producing a new spoken word. The task involves only speech sounds, with no letters or print involved.

Question 2Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which statement best describes the alphabetic principle?

  1. Readers rely on context more than letters to identify words.
  2. Each English letter stands for exactly one speech sound.
  3. Spoken words can be divided into onsets and rimes.
  4. Letters and letter combinations represent the sounds of speech. Correct answer.

Explanation

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that speech is composed of phonemes and that letters and letter combinations systematically represent those phonemes. It is the foundation for decoding and spelling.

Question 3Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which word contains a bound morpheme?

  1. garden
  2. pencil
  3. quickly Correct answer.
  4. window

Explanation

A bound morpheme cannot stand alone as a word and must attach to another morpheme. The suffix -ly in "quickly" is bound because it must attach to a base such as "quick."

Question 4Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which sentence contains a dependent clause?

  1. The dog barked loudly at the mail carrier.
  2. The students cheered loudly in the gym.
  3. She finished her homework before dinner.
  4. Although it was raining, the team practiced outside. Correct answer.

Explanation

A dependent clause contains its own subject and verb but cannot stand alone as a sentence. "Although it was raining" has a subject and verb and is subordinated by the conjunction "although."

Question 5Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which term refers to the emotional associations a word carries beyond its dictionary meaning?

  1. Denotation
  2. Collocation
  3. Etymology
  4. Connotation Correct answer.

Explanation

Connotation is the set of feelings and associations a word evokes, as when "home" suggests warmth while "residence" feels neutral. Denotation is the literal, dictionary-level meaning shared by such near synonyms.

Question 6Foundations of Language and Literacy

In the word "ship," which letters spell a single phoneme?

  1. shi
  2. hi
  3. sh Correct answer.
  4. ip

Explanation

The letters s and h together form a consonant digraph that spells the single phoneme /ʃ/. A digraph is two letters representing one sound.

Question 7Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which sequence best reflects a developmentally appropriate progression of phonological awareness?

  1. Rhyming, syllable counting, onset-rime blending, phoneme segmentation Correct answer.
  2. Syllable counting, phoneme segmentation, rhyming, onset-rime blending
  3. Onset-rime blending, rhyming, phoneme segmentation, syllable counting
  4. Phoneme segmentation, rhyming, syllable counting, onset-rime blending

Explanation

Phonological awareness develops from large, holistic units toward the smallest units: rhyme and syllable awareness precede onset-rime manipulation, and phoneme-level segmentation is the most advanced step.

Question 8Foundations of Language and Literacy

A kindergartner writes "ILVMM" to represent "I love my mom." This spelling is most characteristic of which stage?

  1. Semiphonetic stage Correct answer.
  2. Within-word pattern stage
  3. Derivational relations stage
  4. Syllables and affixes stage

Explanation

Semiphonetic spellers understand that letters represent sounds but supply mainly consonants and omit vowels, producing abbreviated forms like "ILV" for "I love." Later stages add vowels, complete patterns, and finally meaning-based spelling.

Question 9Foundations of Language and Literacy

A student infers that "biography" means "life writing" after recognizing that "bio-" means life. Which word-learning strategy is this?

  1. Syntactic analysis
  2. Contextual analysis
  3. Morphemic analysis Correct answer.
  4. Orthographic mapping

Explanation

Morphemic analysis uses knowledge of meaningful word parts, such as prefixes, roots, and suffixes, to infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Recognizing that "bio-" carries the meaning "life" is an application of that strategy.

Question 10Foundations of Language and Literacy

A preschooler says, "I goed to the park yesterday." This error is best described as which phenomenon?

  1. A dialect feature
  2. A phonological delay
  3. A pragmatic error
  4. Overgeneralization of a grammatical rule Correct answer.

Explanation

The child has applied the regular past-tense -ed rule to an irregular verb, which is a normal sign of rule learning known as overgeneralization. It typically disappears as the child acquires the irregular form.

Question 11Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which pair of words contains the same vowel sound?

  1. cat / came
  2. boot / book
  3. food / good
  4. said / bed Correct answer.

Explanation

Both "said" and "bed" contain the short vowel /ɛ/, even though the vowel is spelled differently. English spelling is not a reliable one-to-one guide to vowel pronunciation.

Question 12Foundations of Language and Literacy

The verb "televise" was created by removing the suffix from the noun "television." Which word-formation process does this illustrate?

  1. Compounding
  2. Conversion
  3. Back-formation Correct answer.
  4. Clipping

Explanation

Back-formation creates a new word by stripping what appears to be an affix from an existing longer word, as with "televise" from "television" or "edit" from "editor." The shorter form is the newer word.

Question 13Foundations of Language and Literacy

At dinner a student asks, "Can you pass the salt?" and the listener hands over the salt. The listener has correctly understood which of the following?

  1. A literal statement of fact
  2. A phonological process
  3. An indirect speech act Correct answer.
  4. A shift in register

Explanation

The question form functions as a request rather than a yes-no question, which is an indirect speech act. Listeners routinely infer the intended function from context rather than from the sentence form alone.

Question 14Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which description best captures prosody as a component of reading fluency?

  1. Accuracy on multisyllabic words
  2. Appropriate phrasing and expression Correct answer.
  3. Words read correctly per minute
  4. Silent reading rate

Explanation

Fluency includes accuracy, automatic rate, and prosody, which is the meaningful phrasing, intonation, and expression that show a reader is constructing sense from text. Rate and accuracy alone do not capture prosody.

Question 15Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which word begins with an open syllable?

  1. paper Correct answer.
  2. basket
  3. picnic
  4. napkin

Explanation

An open syllable ends in a vowel, which usually represents a long vowel sound. In "paper," the first syllable "pa-" ends in a vowel and is pronounced with long a.

Question 16Foundations of Language and Literacy

Why is the digraph "ph" pronounced /f/ in words such as "phone" and "graph"?

  1. It follows the vowel-consonant-e pattern.
  2. It marks a long vowel before the consonant.
  3. It is a native Anglo-Saxon spelling.
  4. It reflects Greek transliteration of the letter phi. Correct answer.

Explanation

Many English words of Greek origin spell the sound /f/ with ph because the Greek letter phi was transliterated that way into Latin and then English. Recognizing such etymological patterns helps students spell and decode academic vocabulary.

Question 17Foundations of Language and Literacy

What is the rime in the spoken word "string"?

  1. str-
  2. st-
  3. -ing Correct answer.
  4. -ring

Explanation

A syllable can be divided into the onset, the initial consonant or consonants, and the rime, the vowel plus everything after it. In "string" the onset is /str/ and the rime is /ɪŋ/.

Question 18Foundations of Language and Literacy

A Spanish-speaking English learner writes "I have fifteen years" to mean "I am fifteen years old." This error is best explained as which of the following?

  1. A phonics interference pattern
  2. A phonological delay
  3. A decoding deficit
  4. Transfer of an L1 pattern into English Correct answer.

Explanation

The learner is applying a lexical and grammatical pattern from Spanish, in which age is expressed with a form of "tener" (to have) plus years. This is cross-linguistic transfer, not a disability or decoding problem.

Question 19Foundations of Language and Literacy

The relationship between the words "flower" and "rose" is best described as which of the following?

  1. Antonymy
  2. Hyponymy Correct answer.
  3. Synonymy
  4. Homonymy

Explanation

Hyponymy is a hierarchical meaning relationship in which a more specific term (rose) is included within a broader category term (flower). Teaching these relationships helps students build and organize semantic networks.

Question 20Foundations of Language and Literacy

A preschooler points to each word while pretending to read a familiar storybook. This behavior best demonstrates which of the following?

  1. Letter-sound knowledge
  2. Phonemic awareness
  3. Oral vocabulary
  4. Concepts of print Correct answer.

Explanation

Concepts of print include knowing that print carries meaning, that words are separated by spaces, and that reading proceeds in a consistent direction. Pointing word by word shows the child is matching spoken words to printed units.

Question 21Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which practice best promotes deep learning of new academic vocabulary?

  1. Repeated use of words in varied contexts Correct answer.
  2. Alphabetizing the week's vocabulary words
  3. Weekly spelling lists practiced at home
  4. Copying definitions from a glossary

Explanation

Robust vocabulary instruction provides multiple encounters with a word across varied contexts and requires students to use it in discussion and writing. Depth of processing, not repetition of a definition, produces durable word knowledge.

Question 22Foundations of Language and Literacy

A middle school student reads grade-level passages aloud accurately but answers comprehension questions poorly and struggles to follow explanations in class. In terms of the Simple View of Reading, this student most likely shows which profile?

  1. A primary deficit in decoding accuracy
  2. A deficit in phonological awareness
  3. Adequate decoding with weak comprehension Correct answer.
  4. A problem limited to reading fluency

Explanation

The Simple View holds that reading comprehension is the product of decoding and linguistic comprehension. A student who decodes well yet comprehends poorly has a weakness in the language comprehension component, which also affects listening.

Question 23Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which sentence contains a relative clause?

  1. After the rain stopped, we went outside.
  2. He wanted to leave the party early.
  3. The book that I borrowed was overdue. Correct answer.
  4. She ran quickly because she was late.

Explanation

A relative clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun and is usually introduced by a relative pronoun such as who, which, or that. Here "that I borrowed" modifies "book."

Question 24Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which task requires phonemic awareness but no letter knowledge?

  1. Writing the letters for "map"
  2. Counting the sounds in spoken "map" Correct answer.
  3. Reading the word "map" aloud
  4. Sorting picture cards by first letter

Explanation

Phonemic awareness is purely oral: it involves identifying and manipulating individual sounds in spoken words without reference to print. Counting the three sounds in the spoken word /mæp/ requires no letters.

Question 25Foundations of Language and Literacy

English spells the plural as -s in "cats," as -es in "buses," and pronounces it three different ways. This pattern best shows that English orthography does which of the following?

  1. Follows no predictable pattern whatsoever
  2. Maps each speech sound to a single letter
  3. Encodes meaning and grammar, not just sound Correct answer.
  4. Reflects only Latin pronunciation habits

Explanation

English spelling is morphophonemic: it preserves consistent spelling of meaningful units such as the plural morpheme even when pronunciation varies. This keeps grammatical relationships visible to readers.

Question 26Foundations of Language and Literacy

A kindergartner writes "KT" for "cat" and "FR" for "flower," using letters to represent the dominant sounds she hears. This behavior most directly demonstrates development of which concept?

  1. alphabetic principle Correct answer.
  2. pragmatic competence
  3. syntactic awareness skills
  4. concept of word awareness

Explanation

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters and letter patterns stand for the sounds of spoken language. This child maps the prominent sounds she hears onto letters, which is the core of that principle. Concept of word concerns matching spoken words to printed words, and the other options concern syntax and social language use.

Question 27Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which word begins with a consonant blend rather than a consonant digraph?

  1. thin
  2. chat
  3. ship
  4. stop Correct answer.

Explanation

In a consonant blend, each consonant keeps its own sound, as with the /s/ and /t/ in "stop." A digraph is two letters that represent a single sound, as in "sh," "ch," and "th."

Question 28Foundations of Language and Literacy

How many morphemes does the word "unhappiness" contain?

  1. three Correct answer.
  2. two
  3. five
  4. four

Explanation

The word divides into the prefix un-, the base happy, and the suffix -ness, for a total of three morphemes. The spelling change from y to i in "happiness" does not create an additional morpheme.

Question 29Foundations of Language and Literacy

In the sentence "The arid, or extremely dry, climate discouraged settlement," the word "arid" is clarified by which type of context clue?

  1. a contrast clue
  2. a cause-effect clue
  3. an example clue
  4. a definition clue Correct answer.

Explanation

A definition clue restates the meaning of an unfamiliar word directly in the sentence, often after "or" or a dash. Here "extremely dry" supplies the meaning of "arid." Contrast clues rely on opposites, example clues list instances, and cause-effect clues show a relationship between events.

Question 30Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which pair of words illustrates a derivational rather than an inflectional change?

  1. walk / walked
  2. tall / taller
  3. sing / singer Correct answer.
  4. cat / cats

Explanation

Derivational affixes create a new word, often changing its part of speech, as when the verb "sing" becomes the noun "singer." Inflectional affixes mark grammatical information such as tense, number, or degree without changing the word's category.

Question 31Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which word carries the most negative connotation when describing a person's spending habits?

  1. economical
  2. stingy Correct answer.
  3. thrifty
  4. frugal

Explanation

Connotation is the emotional coloring a word carries beyond its literal meaning. "Stingy" suggests unwillingness to share or spend and carries disapproval, while the other choices suggest sensible management of money.

Question 32Foundations of Language and Literacy

A student emails a professor: "Hey, gotta ask-can I turn in the paper late?" Which description of the problem is most accurate?

  1. The register is too informal for the situation. Correct answer.
  2. The punctuation is inappropriate for an email.
  3. The message fails to identify the course.
  4. The request lacks a clear time frame.

Explanation

Register is the level of formality a writer chooses for an audience and purpose. A message to a professor calls for a more formal register than casual slang such as "Hey" and "gotta." The other choices name details that are not the central problem in this message.

Question 33Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which sentence is written in the passive voice?

  1. The committee will review the proposal.
  2. The committee reviewed the proposal carefully.
  3. The proposal was reviewed by the committee. Correct answer.
  4. The committee is reviewing the proposal.

Explanation

In passive voice, the subject receives the action and the agent often appears in a "by" phrase; "was reviewed" is a passive verb form. The other sentences place the actor, "the committee," in the subject position and are therefore active.

Question 34Foundations of Language and Literacy

An English learner whose first language is Spanish reads "The desert is arid" and uses the Spanish word "árido" to infer the meaning. This strategy is best described as which of the following?

  1. overgeneralizing a morpheme
  2. using syntactic cues
  3. drawing on a cognate Correct answer.
  4. applying phonics generalizations

Explanation

Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar form and meaning because of a common origin, such as "arid" and "árido." Recognizing these correspondences lets learners transfer vocabulary knowledge across languages.

Question 35Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which is the standard syllabication of the word "basket"?

  1. ba-sk-et
  2. bas-ket Correct answer.
  3. bask-et
  4. ba-sket

Explanation

"Basket" follows the vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel pattern, so the division falls between the two consonants: bas-ket. This keeps the first syllable closed, preserving the short vowel sound.

Question 36Foundations of Language and Literacy

A text explains how a drought reduced crop yields, which raised food prices, which in turn led to shortages. Which text structure does the passage use?

  1. chronological sequence
  2. problem and solution
  3. comparison and contrast
  4. cause and effect Correct answer.

Explanation

Cause-and-effect structure links events by showing how one condition produces another, as in drought leading to lower yields and then to shortages. Comparison and contrast examines similarities and differences, problem and solution proposes remedies, and chronological order arranges events by time.

Question 37Foundations of Language and Literacy

During which stage of the writing process would a student most likely reorder paragraphs and add a supporting example?

  1. editing
  2. drafting
  3. revising Correct answer.
  4. publishing

Explanation

Revising involves making substantive changes to content and organization, such as reordering paragraphs or adding evidence. Editing focuses on conventions such as grammar and spelling, drafting produces an initial version, and publishing presents the finished piece.

Question 38Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which sentence contains a participial phrase that modifies the subject?

  1. She enjoys running marathons in the fall.
  2. Her goal was to run a marathon.
  3. Running a marathon requires months of training.
  4. Running the marathon, she felt exhausted. Correct answer.

Explanation

A participial phrase begins with a participle and functions as an adjective describing a noun. In "Running the marathon, she felt exhausted," the phrase describes "she." The other sentences use a gerund or an infinitive as a noun.

Question 39Foundations of Language and Literacy

A 20-month-old points at her father's shoe and says, "Daddy shoe." In language acquisition, this utterance is best described as which of the following?

  1. an underextension error
  2. a holophrastic utterance
  3. telegraphic speech Correct answer.
  4. an overextension error

Explanation

Telegraphic speech consists of short word combinations that omit grammatical morphemes and function words, much like a telegram. "Daddy shoe" conveys the key content words while leaving out possessives and verbs, which is typical of the two-word stage.

Question 40Foundations of Language and Literacy

Which pair consists of homographs rather than homophones?

  1. wind (air current) / wind (to coil) Correct answer.
  2. flour (ground grain) / flower (bloom)
  3. bare (uncovered) / bear (animal)
  4. to (preposition) / two (number)

Explanation

Homographs share the same spelling, though they may differ in meaning and pronunciation, as the two senses of "wind" do. Homophones sound alike but differ in spelling or meaning, which describes the other three pairs.

Question 41Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

Read this sentence: "The moon was a silver coin tossed into the night sky." Which literary device is used?

  1. Simile
  2. Hyperbole
  3. Metaphor Correct answer.
  4. Personification

Explanation

A metaphor states that one thing is another thing directly, without using "like" or "as." The sentence calls the moon a silver coin, so it is a metaphor. Similes use comparative words, personification gives human traits to nonhuman things, and hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration.

Question 42Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

A story uses the pronoun "I" and describes only what the narrator personally sees, hears, and feels. Which point of view is this?

  1. First-person Correct answer.
  2. Third-person limited
  3. Second-person
  4. Third-person omniscient

Explanation

First-person narration uses "I" or "we" and limits readers to the narrator's own perceptions. Third-person narrators use he, she, or they, and omniscient narrators can enter multiple characters' minds. Second-person narration addresses the reader as "you."

Question 43Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

Read this stanza: "The wind is brisk, the sky is clear, / The children run across the lawn; / They shout until the light is gone; / The autumn colors now appear." Which rhyme scheme does the stanza use?

  1. AABB
  2. ABAB
  3. ABBA Correct answer.
  4. ABCB

Explanation

In an ABBA scheme, the first and fourth lines rhyme, and the second and third lines rhyme. Here "clear" rhymes with "appear," while "lawn" rhymes with "gone." The pattern therefore runs a-b-b-a.

Question 44Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

Read this sentence: "The speaker's desultory remarks wandered from weather to pets to old movies, never settling on one subject." What does "desultory" most nearly mean?

  1. Openly hostile
  2. Highly organized
  3. Brief and witty
  4. Rambling Correct answer.

Explanation

Context clues show that the remarks jump from topic to topic and never settle, which points to aimless or rambling speech. A word's surrounding details often supply its meaning.

Question 45Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

Read this passage: "Many cities are replacing asphalt playgrounds with gardens and shade trees. These changes lower surface temperatures, absorb rainwater, and give children a place to learn about plants." What is the main idea?

  1. Asphalt is the most expensive surface cities can install
  2. Playgrounds are being redesigned for green space Correct answer.
  3. Rainwater from city streets often causes serious flooding
  4. Children generally prefer gardens to asphalt playgrounds

Explanation

The main idea is the central point that all the details support. The passage explains several benefits of replacing asphalt with gardens and trees, so the redesign of playgrounds is the unifying idea.

Question 46Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

In a play, what is the main purpose of stage directions?

  1. To summarize the play's theme for readers
  2. To guide actors' movement, props, and setting Correct answer.
  3. To reveal what the audience should think of each character
  4. To list the playwright's previous works

Explanation

Stage directions are the playwright's instructions for performance, covering movement, gestures, props, lighting, and set design. They help directors and actors stage the script as intended.

Question 47Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

"The silver stream slipped softly through the stones" relies mainly on which sound device?

  1. Assonance
  2. Onomatopoeia
  3. Alliteration Correct answer.
  4. Rhyme

Explanation

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words. The repeated s sound in "silver," "stream," "slipped," "softly," and "stones" creates that effect.

Question 48Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

Read this passage: "The library opens at nine. On Saturdays it closes at two, two hours earlier than on weekdays." On Saturday, at what time does the library close?

  1. Noon
  2. Four
  3. Nine
  4. Two Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage states directly that the library closes at two on Saturdays. This is a literal detail that requires no inference beyond reading the sentence.

Question 49Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

In a play, a character confidently tells the audience that a bridge is safe, while the audience has already watched workers remove its supports. This situation is an example of which device?

  1. Dramatic irony Correct answer.
  2. Verbal irony
  3. Situational irony
  4. Foreshadowing

Explanation

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something important that a character does not. The audience has seen the supports removed, so the character's confident claim becomes ironic to them.

Question 50Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

A story's subject is "a family farm," but the story explores how pride can blind people to needed change. Which statement best describes the theme?

  1. The farm is failing financially
  2. The story is set on a family farm
  3. The characters are farmers
  4. Pride can prevent people from adapting Correct answer.

Explanation

A theme is an insight about life that a literary work conveys, not simply its topic or setting. The statement about pride expresses a general idea the story develops through its farm setting and characters.