Praxis II Middle School English Language Arts Exam
This exam is designed for individuals who would like to teach English language arts at the middle school level. You will be given two hours to complete 90 multiple-choice questions and two short essay questions. The multiple-choice questions comprise 75% of the final grade, and, the short answer questions comprise 25% of the final grade for this exam. The two short essay questions will cover literary and rhetorical analysis. The multiple choice questions will be divided as follows: 37 questions regarding rhetoric and composition, 16 questions regarding linguistics and language, and 37 questions regarding literature and reading.
Short Essay Questions
For the rhetorical analysis short essay question you will be provided with a selection of prose and asked to do the following: discuss the degree to which the rhetorical elements are effective in conveying the author's point of view, and how they contribute to the overall meaning of the text. You also be asked to describe and identify the usage of rhetorical elements in the text, (such as informal, persuasive, or narrative). For the literary analysis question a selection of prose or poetry will be utilized. You will be asked to discuss the author’s usage of literary elements, and how it contributes to the overall meaning of the text. You will also be required to describe and give examples of the usage of one or more specific literary elements such as: foreshadowing, personification, analogy, clichés, irony, hyperbole, alliteration, allusions, mood, dictation, style, tone, setting, metaphor, voice, simile, or narrative point of view, that are present in the text.
Comprehension and Rhetoric
In this section of the exam your knowledge of theories and teaching strategies for writing will be analyzed. You will be required to recognize and evaluate the rhetorical aspects of writing such as: organizational strategy, purpose, narrative discourse, persuasive discourse and informational discourse. Your knowledge of student writing assessment techniques such as: conferencing, self assessment, scoring rubics, holistic scoring, peer review, and portfolios will be assessed. Your understanding of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, evaluating, publishing, and writing instruction methodologies will also be covered in this section of the exam.
Language and Linguistics
In this section of the exam your knowledge of the analysis and history of English, and semantic elements and elements of traditional grammar will be assessed. Questions regarding the analysis and history of English will cover dialect formation, prefixes, suffixes, roots, morphemes, and etymology. Questions regarding the elements of semantics will cover jargon, connotation, euphemism, idiom, and denotation. Questions regarding the elements of grammar will cover punctuation, capitalization, phrases, clauses, sentence types, sentence structure, modifiers, and the parts of speech.
Reading and Literature
In the section of the exam your knowledge of various reading instructional methods, the interpretation and comparison of fiction, essays, poetry, nonfiction, and other texts will be assessed. You also be asked to identify and analyze foreshadowing, personification, clichés, irony, analogy, hyperbole, alliteration, allusions, dictation, mood, style, setting, tone, voice, metaphor, simile and the narrative point of view of various literary works. Your knowledge of the elements of fiction, rhyme schemes, and metrical patterns of poetry and prose will also be assessed.
