Chapter 8: Promoting Comprehension: Reader Factors
Multiple Choice Items
1. When Mai, an English Language Learner, read the sentence, “Blow out your birthday
candles,” she became confused because she had never had a birthday cake. A lack of background
knowledge that affects comprehension can be categorized as a:
a) text factor
b) reader factor
c) miscue
d) semantic error
2. Comprehension is a complicated process which begins:
a) during prereading as students activate background knowledge
b) during reading as students connect words and ideas
c) when teachers ask post-reading questions
d) when students discuss their reading with a peer
3. Comprehension depends on the two factors of:
a) word recognition and thought
b) phonics and background knowledge
c) the reader and the text
d) vision and cognition
4. A group of athletic sixth grade students read and discussed the novel, Travel Team, a story
about neighborhood basketball teams. Their teacher correctly realized that her students almost
seemed to comprehend the novel better than she did primarily because they:
a) played on basketball teams and had the background knowledge and vocabulary
b) were able to apply phonics generalizations as they read
c) did not have a genuine interest in the story
d) were able to discuss the novel with their parents
5. When students reflect upon their thinking, they engage in a type of behavior known as:
a) semantics
b) scaffolding
c) metacognition
d) prosody
6. Teachers can best model comprehension strategies by:
a) encouraging students to read with a partner
b) inviting the principal to speak to the class
c) adding words to the classroom word wall
d) thinking aloud
7. As she was reading the novel Charlotte’s Web, Helen thought about the farm on which she
lived and the baby pig she received on her birthday. In this situation, Helen made a:
a) text-to-self connection
b) text-to-text connection
c) text-to-world connection
d) text-to-word connection
8. The best way to help students apply comprehension strategies is to provide time for them to:
a) view and discuss films with classmates
b) read expository texts in basal readers
c) read interesting books at their reading level
d) add interesting words to the word wall
9. A group of fifth grade students in Alaska wanted to read the novel Hoot which is set in the
Florida. Because their teacher suspected that they didn’t have the background knowledge
necessary for comprehension, she correctly decided to:
a) ask the students to select a different book
b) preteach key words to build background knowledge
c) provide minilessons on decoding strategies
d) ask the students to write reflections after they read each chapter
10. Teachers can help their students become more fluent readers by providing:
a) daily periods of round-robin reading
b) graphic organizers
c) seating at the front of the classroom
d) many opportunities for repeated readings
11. Questions arise as readers engage with a text. Research suggests that comprehension
improves most significantly when:
a) teachers ask questions and students listen
b) students learn to generate questions about a text
c) students write their responses to the teacher’s questions
d) students keep lists of the teacher’s questions
12. Before they read a new text, fourth grade teacher Harry Clifton helps his students focus their
attention and remember important details by:
a) engaging them in readers’ theatre
b) engaging them in round-robin reading
c) helping them set a purpose for reading
d) assigning related homework
13. To monitor comprehension, a teacher asked his students to supply missing words in the
following passage: Today is Kyle’s birthday. His father will bake a ________. Kyle’s friends will
come to his _______. That type of assessment is known as a (n):
a) informal reading inventory
b) cloze procedure
c) retelling
d) DRA
14. Before her vacation, ten-year-old Gloria will visit the local library to select books for leisure
reading. For this purpose, Gloria should select books written at her:
a) independent level
b) instructional level
c) frustration level
d) scaffold level
15. Of the following, the instructional procedure which offers students the most opportunities to
make choices is:
a) the basal reading program
b) reading workshop
c) guided reading
d) the thematic unit
16. Research suggests that a student’s motivation to read increases when:
a) he is punished if he doesn’t read
b) the teacher selects the books for literature circles
c) the classroom has a competitive atmosphere
d) the classroom has a collaborative atmosphere
17. Capable readers:
a) view reading as a decoding process
b) monitor their reading
c) are reluctant to use comprehension strategies
d) rely on teachers to select reading materials
18. New teacher Katrina Smith said that her students didn’t seem to form inferences as they read.
Her principal correctly responded that:
a) students can’t be taught to form inferences
b) teachers can use modeling to help students form inferences
c) struggling students should read only expository texts
d) struggling students should read only narrative texts
19. Fluent readers tend to have better comprehension primarily because they:
a) are more interested in books
b) have better speaking ability
c) don’t have to stop reading to decode words
d) don’t monitor their reading
20. Of the following, the instructional material that would best help students summarize a text is
a(n):
a) Elkonin Box
b) word chain
c) graphic organizer
d) miscue analysis
21. Capable writers usually:
a) focus upon mechanical correctness rather than meaning
b) write expository texts rather than narrative texts
c) neglect to monitor their writing
d) vary their writing to fit their purposes and audiences
22. Many informal reading inventories (IRIs) have been published to help teachers assess literacy
progress. Most IRIs include:
a) cloze passages
b) phonemic awareness inventories
c) graded narrative and informational passages
d) motivation surveys
23. Capable readers usually:
a) create mental images as they read
b) focus upon decoding
c) prefer to read orally
d) read only books written at their independent level
24. A teacher wants to help his students categorize questions and ask higher-level questions. To
achieve this goal, the teacher should introduce the strategy known as:
a) SSR
b) DRA
c) QAR
d) SQ3R
25. Effective literacy teachers encourage students to make predictions:
a) only when reading a narrative text
b) only when reading an informational text
c) when reading any type of text
d) to help them apply phonics generalizations
1. Comprehension is dependent upon three prerequisites-background knowledge, vocabulary,
and fluency. For each of those terms, write one to three sentences to explain how it contributes to
comprehension.
2. List three ways in which teachers can assess comprehension.
3. Describe three steps teachers can take to motivate reluctant readers to read.
Chapter 8 Answer Key for Multiple Choice
1. Comprehension is dependent upon three prerequisites-background knowledge,
vocabulary, and fluency. For each of those terms, write one to three sentences to explain
how it contributes to comprehension.
2. List three ways in which teachers can assess comprehension.
3. Describe three steps teachers can take to motivate reluctant readers to read.