Q: In preparing to read a text about France, which background knowledge areas are MOST important?
(Select all that apply.)
✔ The culture of France • Where France is located and its relationship to surrounding countries
Rationale: Geographic context and cultural understanding provide the foundational schema that helps students make
sense of information about France. Purely economic or unrelated facts are less critical for initial text comprehension.
Q: When preparing students to listen to or read a text, it is important to: (Select all that apply.)
✔ Establish a purpose for reading • Preview key vocabulary words • Evoke or impart background knowledge
Rationale: Focusing ONLY on literal meaning is too narrow. Pre-reading preparation includes purpose-setting, vocabulary
preview, and background knowledge activation — all three together maximize comprehension readiness.
Section 4: Mental Model Construction
Q: The text base refers to the literal meanings in a given text.
✘ FALSE
Rationale: The TEXT BASE refers to the propositional content of a text (the ideas as stated). The SITUATION MODEL
(mental model) goes further — integrating text information with background knowledge to create a coherent representation
of meaning.
Q: The best time for teachers to guide students' thinking as they construct a mental model is:
✔ Before reading, during reading, AND after reading
Rationale: Effective comprehension instruction supports students at all three stages: Pre-reading (build background, set
purpose), During reading (monitor understanding, make inferences), and After reading (consolidate and summarize).
Q: Which of the following statements best describes an effective way to prepare students to listen to or
read a text?
✔ Establish the purpose for reading the text and impart background knowledge
Rationale: Purpose-setting and background knowledge are the two most critical pre-reading activities. They allow students
to connect the text with prior knowledge and stay focused on meaning.
Q: According to research, which practice is essential for building an enduring mental model of a text?
✔ Reading the text multiple times with varied purposes
Rationale: Multiple readings with different purposes (first for gist, second for details, third for author's craft) deepen the
mental model and strengthen long-term retention.
Q: According to research, what macroprocesses help students 'own' the information from a text?
✔ Selecting, ordering, and transforming the main ideas
Rationale: These macroprocesses move students beyond passive reception to active ownership of content — requiring
them to synthesize, reorganize, and apply what they have read.
Section 5: Comprehension Assessment & Formal Testing
Q: Which statement explains the MOST important reason why formal (standardized) tests of reading
comprehension may be of limited value to teachers?
✔ They typically do not indicate where instruction should focus (OR: Not all tests of reading comprehension
measure the same things)
Rationale: Standardized tests vary widely in what they measure (literal vs. inferential, vocabulary vs. syntax) and rarely
provide actionable instructional guidance. They cannot capture all comprehension subskills.
