Chapter 4 – Theories of Literacy Development
Pre-reading questions
1. What is curriculum?
a. a set of mandates
b. a way of organizing classroom practices
c. external pressure from the district
d. state standards for teaching and writing
2. The best reason for a teacher or teacher candidate to understand theories of teaching:
a. to make informed instructional decisions
b. to be well-spoken at a teaching job interview
c. because it will improve children’s scores on standardized tests
d. to get better grades in college
3. Teachers’ beliefs about reading and writing are partly a result of:
a. their class’s ability-based reading groups
b. the curriculum from the school district
c. the whole language-phonics debate
d. their own previous experiences in reading and writing
4. The two most common reading models in use in schools are:
a. reader response and four resource
b. syntactic and semantic
c. skills-based and whole language
d. transactional and critical
5. Implementing a reading program is:
a. literal
b. recursive
c. instructional
d. linear
Post-reading questions
1. The industrial perspective of learning includes:
a. text sets to facilitate deeper meaning
b. whole language to support reading and writing
c. an assembly line model
d. all completing the curriculum at a predetermined pace
2. The phonics-first approach to learning to read focuses on:
a. vocabulary words
b. letters and sounds
c. text sets
d. whole language
3. A feature of the four resource model is;
a. the components are inclusive
b. learned in a hierarchical sequence
c. it follows the explicit curriculum
d. the components are discrete
4. Examining texts that give voice to those traditionally silenced is a feature in which theory of learning?
a. transactional
b. whole language
c. critical
d. psycholinguistic
5. Reading for information is called the:
a. aesthetic stance
b. reader response stance
c. efferent stance
d. transaction stance
6. In the top-down theory of learning, ________________ should inform teaching:
a. curriculum
b. teachers’ editions of texts
c. standardized tests
d. assessment
7. The whole language model includes:
a. the phonics-first approach
b. the four cueing systems
c. the skills-based approach
d. the reader response system
8. The most common commercially produced materials in elementary schools are:
a. basal reading materials
b. construction paper
c. tradebooks
d. text sets
9. A dilemma faced by some teachers is:
a. disconnect between what one believes about how children learn and mandates about curriculum
b. the pressure to achieve AYP (adequate yearly progress)
c. they would rather learn teaching techniques than theory
d. how to determine which theory to enact in the classroom
10. Worksheets and flashcards are examples of activities in this theory:
a. psycholinguistic
b. top-down
c. transactional
d. bottom-up
11. Reading a variety of types of texts on a topic and recording impressions is an example of this theory:
a. critical
b. bottom-up
c. top-down
d. transactional
12. When considering social issues while reading, the reader is making:
a. text–to-world connections
b. text-to-text connections
c. text-to-work connections
d. text-to-self connections
13. The four-resource model in critical theory includes:
a. phonics, syntax, punctuation fluency
b. graphophonemic, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic
c. bottom-up, top-down transactional critical
d. code breaking, text participant, text user, critical practices
14. A skills-based approach to literacy development is most likely used by a teacher who ascribes to:
a. the critical theory of learning
b. the reader response model
c. the bottom-up theory of learning
d. the four-resource model
15. Literacy as a silent, individual endeavor is part of:
a. the psycholinguistic theory of learning
b. the industrial model of learning
c. the critical theory of learning
d. the top-down model of learning
16. In the transactional theory, interpretation of text should be:
a. a social experience
b. based on comprehension
c. completed alone
d. carefully assessed
17. An advantage of the whole language approach is:
a. the predetermined assessments
b. it is easy for the teacher to follow the predetermined sequence of instruction
c. the focus on social issues
d. available texts are closely aligned with experiences outside of school
18. A strength of the bottom-up theory is:
a. skills are taught in context
b. readers work with a variety of texts
c. the focus is on decoding and fluency
d. skills are differentiated to meet students’ needs
19. An important aspect of the transactional theory is:
a. the experiences and knowledge of the learner
b. the text sets provided by the teacher
c. the assessments
d. the four cueing system
20. The critical theory of learning:
a. treats literacy as a technical skill
b. questions current beliefs
c. highlights whole language
d. incorporates specific texts
21. An advantage of the transactional theory is:
a. that readers realize many different purposes for reading
b. there is an explicit curriculum for the teacher to follow
c. that students learn strong decoding skills
d. students begin to realize the important social issues
22. A drawback of critical literacy is:
a. it relies on skill-building
b. stressing efferent over aesthetic reading
c. challenging of social issues
d. sometimes difficult to address tough issues in class
23. In the top-down model, an example of assessment includes:
a. giving a test
b. talking with the children
c. completing a running record
d. implementing the four cueing systems
24. A disadvantage of the bottom-up theory is:
a. there is little attention paid to decoding skills
b. there is a predetermined set of skills
c. there are no predetermined assessments
d. teacher decisionmaking is limited
25. Engaging students in the act of making meaning from their reading is an example of:
a. the top-down theory
b. the critical theory
c. the bottom-up theory
d. the transactional theory