HSPA Language Arts: Reading Persuasive Text
Summary of Content to be Tested
Students will be given 45 minutes to complete the Reading Persuasive Text section of the HSPA.Students will read a persuasive passage and then respond to multiple-choice and open-ended questions to assess literal and inferential thinking. Questions will be based on those skills that critical readers use to understand, analyze, and assess texts.
For the purposes of this assessment, "persuasive text" is defined as text in which the writer attempts to sway the reader to a specific point of view. Because persuasive writing is based on a personal vision, it is inherently controversial. Exploring these controversial issues develops and enhances students' critical thinking skills. Persuasive passages will be selected from previously published text, such as essays, speeches, book and movie reviews, editorials, letters, advertisements, charitable campaign appeals, and political literature. Students will respond to open-ended and multiple choice questions about these passages.
Students will:
· recognize a theme or central idea.
· recognize details that develop or support the main idea.
· extrapolate information and/or follow directions.
· paraphrase, retell, or interpret words, phrases, or sentences from the text.
· recognize a purpose for reading.
· make tentative predictions of meaning.
· make judgments, form opinions, and draw conclusions from the text.
Student open-ended responses will be scored using the Reading Open-Ended Scoring Rubric.
General Tips for Reading Persuasive Text
Active readers will get more out of a text if they begin with a series of questions to guide their reading.
What is the author's main idea?
As you are reading, be sure to identify the author's main idea- what is s/he trying to sell, make you believe, or make you do?
What are the author's main points?
Identify the author's main points, or the main arguments to support the point of view.
What support does the author have for the arguments?
Look for and recognize the supporting details- these might include quotes, anecdotes, details, examples, or statistics.
What is the author's purpose?
Look for the action that the author wants from the reader- does the author ask you to think, or believe something? What is it? Does the author want you to buy something? To send money?
Tips for Answering Persuasive Reading Multiple-Choice Questions
· Pay close attention to an author’s tone. Does he tell a lot of jokes, or is he serious, relying on straight facts to make his point?
· Try to do your best to summarize the story in one or two lines; this will give you the author’s purpose.
· Identify any question that asks you to make predictions based on the author’s perspective. Try to predict as you read.
· Remember that you are trying to be persuaded to be for or against an idea. What is the author’s intent?
Working With Multiple Choice Questions on the Persuasive Reading Section
For this persuasive excerpt from Arthur C. Clarke’s essay “We’ll Never Conquer Space,” you are required to answer five (5) multiple choice questions. They are very similar to ones you might encounter on the HSPA test. Before reading the story excerpt, read through the questions and identify what is being asked of you in each:
1. Do you see a question that asks you to identify a vocabulary word in context? What is the word?
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2. Are you being asked to make predictions or summarize the author’s position or purpose for writing?
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3. Is there a question that asks you to identify the supporting details of the author’s main idea?
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4. Have you identified questions that direct you to specific paragraphs in the story? Have you marked off those paragraphs for easy reference?
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After you read the excerpt, fill in your answer choices below (40 minutes):
1. ______2. ______3. ______4. ______5. ______
Persuasive Reading Multiple Choice Questions for “We’ll Never Conquer Space”
MULTIPLE CHOICE: Choose the best answer for the questions below.
1. What is the purpose of this passage?A. to explain current technology
B. to speculate about space travel
C. to define the concept of space
D. to describe the history of Earth
2. Which statement from the passage is NOT an opinion of or a generalization made by the author?
A. “Every technical device is always developed to its limit.”
B. “Man has always accepted whatever price was necessary for his explorations and dis-coveries.”
C. “They will never reach that goal.”
D. “The nearest star will be less than five years’ voyaging from the earth.”
3. Which of the following best supports the main idea of the passage?
A. “Every technical device is always developed to its limit.”
B. “On one of these islands, an energetic race has just discovered the art of building ships.”
C. “We can never get from one [star] to the next in less than five years.”
D. “After a few centuries, they might have established colonies on many of the nearby islands and have briefly explored many others.” / 4. When the author states that “the stars themselves are scattered no more widely than the seed of Adam,” he is using figurative language. The specific literary device he employs here is
A. allegory
B. apostrophe
C. allusion
D. alliteration
5. Read the sentence from paragraph 6. “There could only be the most tenuous contact between the home island and its offspring.” In this context, tenuous means
A. accurate and specific
B. having little substance
C. using simple language
D. speculative and emotional
Enter your choices
onto the answer sheet
provided on the previous page.
LANGUAGE ARTS LITERACY – Persuasive Reading
DIRECTIONS FOR QUESTIONS 1-5: Read the passage and record your answers to the multiple-choice questions in the area labeled "LANGUAGE ARTS LITERACY- Persuasive Reading, MULTIPLE-CHOICE SECTION" on the answer sheet following the excerpt.
Introduction: The author gives his opinion of the future of space exploration.
from "We'll Never Conquer Space"
by Arthur C. Clarke
One day, it may be in this century, or it may be a thousand years from now, we shall discover a really efficient means of propelling our space vehicles. Every technical device is always developed to its limit (unless it is superseded by something better), and the ultimate speed from spaceships is the velocity of light. They will never reach that goal, but they will get very close to it. And then the nearest star will be less than five years' voyaging from the earth.
Our exploring ships will spread outwards from their home over an ever-expanding sphere of space. It is a sphere which will grow at almost—but never quite—the speed of light. Five years to the triple system of Alpha Centauri, 10 to the strangely matched doublet Sirius A and B, 11 to the tantalizing enigma of 61 Cygni, the first star suspected to possess a planet. These journeys are long, but they are not impossible. Man has always accepted whatever price was necessary for his explorations and discoveries, and the price of Space is Time.
Even voyages which may last for centuries or millennia will one day be attempted. Suspended animation has already been achieved in the laboratory, and may be the key to interstellar travel. Self-contained cosmic arks which will be tiny traveling worlds in their own right may be another solution, for they would make possible journeys of unlimited extent, lasting generation after generation ...
Looking far into the future, therefore, we must picture a slow (little more than half a billion miles an hour!) expansion of human activities outwards from the solar system, among the suns scattered across the region of the galaxy in which we find ourselves. These suns are on average five light-years apart; in other words, we can never get from one to the next in less than five years.
To bring home what this means, let us use a down-to-earth analogy. Imagine a vast ocean, sprinkled with islands—some desert, others perhaps inhabited. On one of these islands, an energetic race has just discovered the art of building ships. It is preparing to explore the ocean, but must face the fact that the very nearest island is five years' voyaging away, and that no possible improvement in the technique of ship-building will ever reduce this time.
In these circumstances (which are those in which we will soon find ourselves), what could the islanders achieve? After a few centuries, they might have established colonies on many of the nearby islands and have briefly explored many others . . . But now consider the effects of the inevitable, unavoidable time-lag. There could only be the most tenuous contact between the home island and its offspring. Returning messengers could report what happened on the nearest colony—five years ago ...
And so we return to our opening statement. Space can be mapped and crossed and occupied without definable limit; but it can never be conquered. When our race has reached its ultimate achievements, and the stars themselves are scattered no more widely than the seed of Adam, even then we shall still be like ants crawling on the face of the earth. The ants have covered the world, but have they conquered it—for what do their countless colonies know of it, or of each other?
Answers for Multiple Choice Questions for the Persuasive Passage:
Below you will review the answers you chose for the excerpt from Arthur C. Clarke’s essay “We’ll Never Conquer Space.” Write the correct answer in the space for each number. If you got the answer wrong, write the clarification given by the teacher of why the correct answer was a better choice. If you got the answer right, just write “correct” under the explanation:
1. Correct Answer: ______
Explanation for correct answer: ______
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2. Correct Answer: ______
Explanation for correct answer: ______
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3. Correct Answer: ______
Explanation for correct answer: ______
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4. Correct Answer: ______
Explanation for correct answer: ______
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5. Correct Answer: ______
Explanation for correct answer: ______
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Open Ended Questions for the Persuasive Reading Section
Open-ended questions on the Persuasive Reading section differ from those on the narrative in that you are dealing with non-fiction pieces. This means that you must concern yourself with matters such as fact vs. opinion, speculation, and other persuasive techniques. You do not have a plot to rely on, but rather must determine the author’s reason for writing and the means they use to back up their point.
· Be sure to look at the introduction to the piece. Do you get any information right off the bat from it about the author’s position/ beliefs?
· Remember the author wants to influence the way you feel about a particular topic. Pay attention to how s/he goes about getting you to “be on his/her side.” Always ask yourself, “Do I agree or disagree with these statements?”
· Does the author use visualization and comparison to make a point? What effect does this have on his/her effectiveness as a persuasive writer?
· Open-ended questions need not be lengthy; two to three strong paragraphs will suffice depending on the question. But accuracy and comprehension are weighed heavily on these questions, so be sure to take your time and plan your answer.
The following is an example of an open-ended question for the story you just read. We will do this example together. Be sure to write down the class’s answers in the space provided:
In paragraph 7 of this passage, the author writes, “Space can be mapped and crossed and occupied without definable limit; but it can never be conquered.”
· Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
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· Provide ONE example from the story that helps you to agree/disagree.
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Use information from the story to support your response.
Now it’s your turn. Write a complete and well-developed response to the following open-ended question based on Clarke’s “We’ll Never Conquer Space.” Don’t forget to reference the “Writer’s Checklist” and the 0-4 Rubric to assist you in your writing:
1. Throughout the passage, the author uses figurative language such as similes and metaphors to illustrate his point.
· Does the author effectively use such figurative language to make make his point?
· Give a specific example of ONE time when the author uses figurative language effectively to prove his point. Explain why it is effective.
Use information from the story to support your response.
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End of Persuasive Reading Section