Study Guide
Field 107: English
Test Design and Framework
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The test design below describes general assessment information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.
Test Design
*Does not include 15-minute C B T tutorial
Test Framework
Pie chart of approximate test weighting outlined in the table below.
| subareas | range of competencies | approximate percentage of test | |
|---|---|---|---|
| selected-response | |||
| roman numeral 1 | speaking, listening, and viewing | 0001–0003 | 14 percent |
| roman numeral 2 | writing process and applications | 0004–0010 | 31 percent |
| roman numeral 3 | reading process and comprehension | 0011–0014 | 18 percent |
| roman numeral 4 | language and literature | 0015–0019 | 22 percent |
| this cell intentionally left blank. | 85 percent | ||
| subareas | range of competencies | approximate percentage of test | |
|---|---|---|---|
| constructed-response | |||
| roman numeral 5 | pedagogical content knowledge | 0020 | 15 percent |
Subarea roman numeral 1–Speaking, Listening, and Viewing
Competency 0001–Apply knowledge of strategies for speaking to inform and increase understanding.
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- Demonstrate understanding of diversity in language use (e.g., dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, gender, and social roles) as it relates to oral expression.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamentals of language acquisition and language learning processes as they apply to oral expression of second-language learners and that the linguistic and rhetorical patterns of other languages affect the oral expression of diverse learners.
- Determine styles of language and levels of usage (e.g., slang, informal and formal language, jargon, technical language, regionalisms) appropriate for various purposes, content, audiences, and occasions (e.g., informal conversations, job interviews, workplace interactions).
- Evaluate multimedia materials and determine appropriate technological tools and applications for use in an oral presentation.
- Evaluate strategies for effective organization and delivery of formal and informal presentations in relation to given content, audience, purpose, and occasion.
- Evaluate the effectiveness or appropriateness of given details or examples (e.g., anecdote, analogy) within a presentation.
- Apply knowledge of the effective use of vocal techniques, intonation patterns, pacing, and emphasis in oral presentations.
Competency 0002–Apply knowledge of strategies for critical listening and viewing.
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- Analyze and evaluate the various methods visual image makers use to construct arguments in written, oral, visual, digital, nonverbal, and interactive texts.
- Analyze the role of critical-thinking skills (e.g., selecting and evaluating supporting data, evaluating a speaker's point of view, distinguishing fact from opinion, recognizing bias) in effective listening and viewing.
- Apply knowledge of the roles body language, gestures, and visual images play in communicating a point of view.
Competency 0003–Apply knowledge of strategies for active listening, speaking, and participation in academic discussions.
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- Apply knowledge of how to communicate effectively with audiences and individuals from varied backgrounds and perspectives.
- Analyze how individual, social, and cultural factors affect a listener's ability to understand spoken language in different contexts.
- Apply knowledge of techniques for participating in and contributing to conversations in pairs, groups, and whole-class settings by contributing ideas and building on and challenging the ideas of others.
- Analyze techniques for effective communication in small- and large-group situations (e.g., paraphrasing to clarify, monitoring reactions by interpreting nonverbal cues).
- Apply knowledge of large- and small-group dynamics, of factors that influence group communication (e.g., group composition, member roles), and of strategies for managing conflicts, solving problems, and making decisions in large and small groups (e.g., compromising, collaborating).
Subarea roman numeral 2–Writing Process and Applications
Competency 0004–Apply knowledge of the writing process.
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- Determine the audience and purpose of writing (e.g., to describe/inform, to explain, to entertain, to persuade, to analyze, to evaluate).
- Apply prewriting strategies for generating ideas (e.g., brainstorming, drawing on prior knowledge or personal experience) and organizing ideas (e.g., outlining, using graphic organizers).
- Apply knowledge of methods of drafting text so that it shows consistent development of a main idea or theme, including providing strong supporting details, logically organizing key points or events, and applying a consistent style.
- Apply methods of revising text to clarify meaning, including varying sentence structure, subordinating ideas, maintaining parallel form, using appropriate transitional words and phrases, eliminating distracting details and clichés, and keeping related ideas together.
- Apply methods of editing text so that it conforms to appropriate language conventions (e.g., correcting errors in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization; eliminating sentence fragments and misplaced and dangling modifiers; correcting errors in agreement; correcting inappropriate shifts in verb tense; correcting errors in word usage).
- Demonstrate familiarity with proofreading techniques (e.g., reading text backward, reading text aloud) and other tools used to finalize a text (e.g., word-processing software with spelling and grammar checks and find-and-replace features).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to use contemporary technologies and/or digital media to publish texts.
Competency 0005–Apply knowledge of the elements of effective composition.
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- Apply knowledge of effective ways to organize ideas in a text clearly, concisely, and coherently (e.g., spatially, chronologically, from general to specific).
- Apply knowledge of how to use appropriate abstract and concrete words to express ideas in writing.
- Apply knowledge of how to use simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing relationships between ideas.
- Apply knowledge of how to use various types of phrases (e.g., appositive, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional) and clauses (e.g., independent, dependent, adverbial) to convey specific meanings.
- Apply knowledge of how to use active and passive voice to achieve a desired effect.
- Apply knowledge of effective ways to emphasize, link, contrast, and expand ideas in a text, including the use of repetition, restatement, parallelism, transitional words and phrases, figurative language, idioms, analogies, and allusions.
- Apply knowledge of effective ways to incorporate graphic features in a text (e.g., tables, charts, graphs, maps, photographs, illustrations).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to use contemporary technologies and/or digital media to compose multimodal discourse.
- Demonstrate understanding of the fundamentals of language acquisition and language-learning processes as they apply to written expression of second-language learners.
Competency 0006–Apply knowledge of techniques for writing narratives.
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- Determine specific details that are important to include in a narrative to achieve an effect or fulfill a purpose (e.g., establish a tone, create a mood, describe a character or setting).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for developing a narrative through descriptions of setting, sequencing of events, and characterization.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for writing narratives or personal essays that make effective and appropriate use of various literary elements (e.g., figurative language, imagery, dialogue, voice, tone).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for writing narratives and personal essays that convey a message or point of view clearly and concisely and that engage and maintain the reader's interest.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for embedding narratives in other modes of writing to achieve a desired effect.
Competency 0007–Apply knowledge of techniques for writing informative and explanatory texts.
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- Apply knowledge of methods of selecting an appropriate subject or topic for writing and of formulating a specific question to address in writing.
- Apply knowledge of methods of developing a thesis statement that expresses the main idea of a piece of writing (e.g., makes a specific claim, provides a focus).
- Select an appropriate organizational structure or scheme for developing ideas in writing (e.g., definition and examples, cause and effect, problem and solution).
- Apply knowledge of methods of producing writing that provides instruction or guidance or performs a function related to everyday activities or tasks (e.g., recipe, schedule, walking/driving directions, invitation).
- Apply knowledge of methods of paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting sources appropriately and of acknowledging and documenting sources to avoid plagiarism.
- Apply knowledge of methods of developing a conclusion to a text that follows logically from the information presented and provides a resolution or a suggested course of action.
Competency 0008–Apply knowledge of techniques for writing arguments.
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- Apply knowledge of how to introduce precise, informed claim(s) and distinguish them from alternate or opposing claims.
- Apply knowledge of how to organize claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a way that provides a logical sequence for the entire argument.
- Apply knowledge of how to connect the most relevant evidence to a claim, developing a logical, balanced argument using credible sources, meaningful examples, and sound reasoning.
- Apply knowledge of methods of anticipating questions, concerns, and counterarguments for points expressed in an argument and of incorporating effective responses to them into the argument.
- Apply knowledge of how to compose a concluding statement that follows logically from the information presented and supports the argument.
Competency 0009–Apply knowledge of research techniques for acquiring, refining, and sharing knowledge.
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- Apply knowledge of strategies for acquiring and refining knowledge through a variety of written, oral, visual, digital, nonverbal, and interactive texts.
- Apply knowledge of how to formulate a viable research question and how to narrow or broaden inquiry.
- Apply knowledge of how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources of information (e.g., interviews/transcripts, surveys, statistical data, online encyclopedias, electronic databases) and how to assess the credibility, objectivity, and reliability of sources.
- Apply knowledge of how to evaluate the strengths and limitations of a source in terms of task, purpose, and audience.
- Apply knowledge of how to select and integrate relevant information from authoritative sources (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, digital).
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to avoid plagiarism by following ethical and legal guidelines for collecting, recording, and citing information.
Competency 0010–Apply knowledge of techniques for writing for literary response and critical analysis.
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- Apply knowledge of strategies for writing an analysis of a literary text that offers original insights about the use of various literary elements in the text (e.g., how a character's actions advance the plot, how setting creates a mood, how symbolism suggests a theme, how dialogue reveals the thoughts and feelings of characters).
- Determine how specific words and phrases, as well as general styles and tones, in a literary text can be used to support an interpretation of the text.
- Relate elements (e.g., characters, themes, points of view) from one literary text to elements in other texts.
Subarea roman numeral 3–Reading Process and Comprehension
Competency 0011–Apply knowledge of strategies for developing vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension.
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- Apply knowledge of various word identification strategies, including the use of phonics, semantic and syntactic cues, context clues, and word structure (e.g., roots, stems, affixes).
- Apply knowledge of the relationships between words (e.g., homonyms, synonyms, antonyms) and the issues related to word identification and recognition (e.g., denotative and connotative meanings, words with multiple meanings, idioms, similes, metaphors).
- Apply knowledge of general academic and domain-specific vocabulary to deepen understanding of a text.
- Determine the appropriate reading strategy (e.g., scanning, skimming, close reading, rereading) to use for various texts and purposes (e.g., reading a newspaper for a specific story, reading a textbook to learn about an unfamiliar topic, reading a poem to determine its theme).
- Apply knowledge of strategies to use before, during, and after reading to enhance comprehension (e.g., activating relevant prior knowledge, making connections to personal experience, previewing, predicting, using graphic organizers, taking notes, self-questioning, outlining, summarizing).
- Apply knowledge of literal comprehension skills (e.g., identifying facts, causal relationships, and the sequence of events in a text) and inferential comprehension skills (e.g., making generalizations from information presented in a text, interpreting information conveyed implicitly in a text).
Competency 0012–Apply knowledge of strategies for reading informational texts.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of a range of types of informational texts (e.g., biography, autobiography, essay, memoir, newspaper accounts of events, digital texts).
- Analyze how narrative point of view, tone, voice, and style affect the interpretation of an informational text.
- Analyze how the organizational structure of an informational text is used to help develop the main idea or theme of the work.
- Analyze how common literary and rhetorical devices (e.g., exaggeration, understatement, analogy, anecdote, examples, appeals to emotion or authority) are used in informational texts.
- Recognize accurate summaries of informational texts.
- Determine the main idea and purpose of an informational text, whether stated explicitly or implicitly, and details used to support the main idea.
- Make inferences and draw conclusions from an informational text.
- Determine the organizational structure of an informational text (e.g., cause and effect, compare and contrast) and how that structure helps convey and clarify the ideas in the text.
- Interpret graphic features used in an informational text (e.g., tables, charts, maps, photographs).
Competency 0013–Apply knowledge of strategies for reading persuasive texts.
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- Distinguish between fact and opinion in a persuasive text.
- Evaluate the relevance, importance, and sufficiency of evidence offered in support of an argument in a persuasive text.
- Assess the credibility, objectivity, and appropriateness of various sources of information used in a persuasive text.
- Analyze how tone, style, and rhetorical techniques (e.g., repetition, exaggeration, euphemisms, testimonials) are used to achieve certain effects in a persuasive text.
- Recognize incomplete, inaccurate, extraneous, or unclear information and faulty reasoning in a persuasive text.
Competency 0014–Apply knowledge of strategies for reading a range of genres of literary texts.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of various types of fictional narratives (e.g., folktale, epic, fantasy, mystery, realistic novel).
- Analyze the use of elements of fiction (e.g., plot, setting, characterization, theme) in works of fiction.
- Use textual evidence to determine the narrative point of view in a literary text.
- Analyze the use of common literary and rhetorical devices (e.g., irony, flashback, foreshadowing, symbolism, archetypes, tone, sound devices) in a literary text.
- Apply knowledge of the characteristics of major types of dramatic works (e.g., comedy, tragedy).
- Apply knowledge of plot structure (e.g., introduction/exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/denouement).
- Analyze the use of common dramatic devices (e.g., soliloquy, aside, subplot, irony, suspense) in dramatic works.
- Use textual evidence to determine a significant theme or main idea in a literary text.
- Analyze how specific words and phrases create or reveal a particular mood, tone, voice, or style in a literary text.
- Analyze how figurative language and imagery enhance and clarify ideas and meanings in a literary text.
Subarea roman numeral 4–Language and Literature
Competency 0015–Apply knowledge of the historical, social, cultural, and technological influences shaping the English language.
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- Analyze the significance of historical events that have influenced the development of the English language (e.g., the Norman Conquest, European colonization, immigration).
- Analyze the effects of technological innovations (e.g., printing press, telephone, television, computer) on the English language.
- Relate English derivatives and borrowings, including slang terms, to their origins in other languages.
- Analyze regional and social variations in language in the United States.
Competency 0016–Apply knowledge of the characteristics of various forms of poetry.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of the formal characteristics of various types of poetry (e.g., ode, villanelle, sonnet, haiku, free verse, blank verse).
- Apply knowledge of metrical structures (e.g., iambic pentameter) and stanzaic structures (e.g., couplet, tercet, quatrain).
- Analyze the use of formal rhyme schemes and other sound devices in works of poetry (e.g., slant rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia).
- Analyze the use of common poetic devices in works of poetry (e.g., imagery, allusion, simile, metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole).
- Analyze how the formal characteristics of a work of poetry relate to the tone, mood, or theme of the work.
Competency 0017–Apply knowledge of major themes, characteristics, trends, writers, and works in American literature from the colonial period to the present.
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- Apply knowledge of the characteristics and significance of mythology and folk literature from the oral tradition (e.g., Native American origin stories and trickster tales, tall tales from the American West).
- Analyze the significance of major writers (e.g., Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Kate Chopin, Jack London, Edith Wharton), works (e.g., Walden; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; The Red Badge of Courage), and movements (e.g., regionalism, naturalism) to the development of American literature.
- Analyze changes in literary form and style in American literature of the colonial, nineteenth-century, modern, and contemporary periods.
- Analyze within the context of a passage the thematic concerns and stylistic and formal characteristics associated with significant American fiction writers (e.g., F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, John Steinbeck, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, N. Scott Momaday, Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker, Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sherman Alexie), dramatists (e.g., Eugene O'Neill, Lorraine Hansberry, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, David Henry Hwang, Suzan-Lori Parks), and poets (e.g., Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Joy Harjo, Philip Levine, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Li-Young Lee).
- Analyze within the context of a passage references to social institutions, historical events, and cultural movements that have influenced the development of American literature (e.g., slavery, civil rights movements, the development of regional subcultures, the Great Depression, World War II, the labor movement, the Vietnam War, immigration).
- Analyze within the context of a passage the expression of cultural values and ideas (e.g., regional, ethnic, historical) in works of American literature.
- Analyze the role of given authors and works of American literature in influencing public opinion about and understanding of social and political issues (e.g., Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird).
- Apply knowledge of a range of genres (e.g., realistic, dystopian, fantasy fiction), authors (e.g., S.E. Hinton, Laurie Halse Anderson, Neal Shusterman, John Green), and works (e.g., The Giver, The Hunger Games, The Book Thief) of literature written for young adults.
Competency 0018–Apply knowledge of major themes, characteristics, trends, writers, and works in British literature.
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- Analyze the significance of major writers (e.g., Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, William Blake, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett), works (e.g., Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Paradise Lost, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein), and movements (e.g., alliterative verse, metaphysical poetry) to the development of British literature.
- Analyze within the context of a passage major themes (e.g., the ideal of the warrior-hero, the conventions of courtly love) and genres (e.g., the morality play, the Elizabethan sonnet) in British literature from the Anglo-Saxon period, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance.
- Analyze within the context of a passage the thematic concerns and stylistic and formal characteristics associated with major British literary works of the Enlightenment, the Romantic and Victorian periods, and the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
- Analyze within the context of a passage references to historical events and cultural movements that have influenced the development of British literature (e.g., the reign of Elizabeth I, the Industrial Revolution, World War I, the dissolution of the British Empire).
- Analyze within the context of a passage the expression of cultural values and ideas (e.g., regional, ethnic, historical) in British literature.
- Analyze the role of given authors (e.g., Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Ellen Gaskell, Wilfred Owen) and works of British literature (e.g., Animal Farm, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies) in influencing public opinion about and understanding of social and political issues.
Competency 0019–Apply knowledge of major themes, characteristics, trends, writers, and works in the literatures of Asia, Africa, continental Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
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- Apply knowledge of major literary forms (e.g., epic, ballad), works (e.g., The Iliad, the Upanishads), writers (e.g., Homer, Li Po, Ovid), and characteristics of literatures from ancient civilizations.
- Apply knowledge of major literary forms (e.g., T'ang poetry, romance), works (e.g., The Tale of Genji, Don Quixote), writers (e.g., Rumi, Leo Tolstoy), and characteristics of world literature written before the modern period in languages other than English.
- Apply knowledge of major literary forms, works, writers, and characteristics of modern and contemporary literature written in English outside Great Britain and the United States (e.g., the fiction of Chinua Achebe and Bessie Head, the drama of Wole Soyinka and Athol Fugard, the poetry of Derek Walcott).
- Apply knowledge of major literary forms, writers, works, and characteristics of modern and contemporary world literature in languages other than English (e.g., the drama of Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov, the fiction of Franz Kafka and Gabriel García Márquez, the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore and Pablo Neruda).
- Analyze within the context of a passage the expression of cultural values and ideas (e.g., regional, ethnic, historical) in world literature.
- Analyze the role of given authors and works of world literature in influencing public opinion about and understanding of social issues.
Subarea roman numeral 5–Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Competency 0020–Apply pedagogical content knowledge to design developmentally appropriate instruction to help students achieve a specific, standards-based learning goal in English language arts that promotes learning for all students.
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- Apply knowledge of how to assess student readiness for a standards-based learning goal for English language arts content, including how to identify potential and apparent student difficulties.
- Apply knowledge of how to design specific, developmentally appropriate instruction that connects students' prior understanding and experiences to new knowledge in English language arts.
- Apply knowledge of how to use appropriate and effective instructional strategies to help students analyze a literary or informational text.
- Apply knowledge of how to modify instruction to meet the needs of all students, including English language learners, students with special needs, students from diverse language and learning backgrounds, those designated as high achieving, and those at risk of failure.
- Apply knowledge of how to analyze student data to identify and address student strengths and needs in English language arts.
- Cite evidence of student learning in an English language arts lesson.
- Apply knowledge of appropriate and effective assessments to measure and promote student learning and growth in English language arts.