TExES Core Subjects EC-6 (391)

Subtest 901 measures what an early childhood through grade 6 teacher needs to know about how children learn to listen, speak, read, and write, and how to teach and assess each of those skills. Questions often describe a student or a classroom activity and ask you to name the skill involved or choose the most effective next instructional step.

Literacy development begins at birth and progresses through predictable stages. Understanding these stages is essential for matching instruction to what each child is ready to learn.

Emergent Literacy

Emergent literacy encompasses the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that precede conventional reading and writing. Children develop emergent literacy through exposure to print, oral language experiences, and interactions with literate adults.

Understanding that print carries meaning, books are read from

Sensitivity to the sound structure of spoken language: words,

front to back, and English text is read left to right and top to

syllables, rhymes, and individual sounds (see 1.2).

bottom. Children show it when they recognize environmental print, tell pictures from text, and hold a book properly.

Ages 0–5: pictures, pretend

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K–1: letter-sound

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Grades 1–2: growing fluency,

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Grades 2–3 and beyond:

reading, listening to stories; first

correspondences, simple

multisyllabic words, reading for

automaticity, complex texts,

letter-sound links

decoding, predictable texts; rely

meaning, larger sight vocabulary

varied purposes, self-monitoring

on pictures and context

Oral Language Development

Oral language provides the foundation for literacy. Children acquire language through natural exposure and interaction, and receptive language (understanding) typically develops before expressive language (production). Teachers support oral language through rich conversations, read-alouds, vocabulary instruction, and opportunities for meaningful talk such as dramatic play and show-and-tell.

Thefivecomponentsoforallanguage(Continued)

Component	WhatItGoverns	Example
Syntax	Sentencestructure	Wordorderin"Thedogchasedtheball"
Semantics	Meaning	Knowingthathugeandenormousmeannearlythesamething
Pragmatics	Socialuseoflanguage	Takingturnsandadjustingspeechforateacherversusafriend

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures of spoken language. It is an auditory skill that does not involve print, and it develops along a continuum from larger units of sound to smaller ones.

Thephonologicalawarenesscontinuum(Largertosmallerunits)

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Counting words in a spoken

Clapping, sorting, blending, and

cat = onset /k/ + rime /at/;

Individual phonemes, the

sentence; noticing a missing

segmenting syllables

supports rhyming

smallest units of sound

word

Phonemic awareness is the most refined level. English has approximately 44 phonemes. The skills below are listed roughly from simpler to more complex; substitution and deletion are the most advanced.

Skill	WhattheStudentDoes	Example
Isolation	Identifiesasoundinaspecificposition	Firstsoundinmatis/m/;middle/a/;final/t/
Identity	Recognizesthesamesoundindifferentwords	ball boy bigallbeginwith/b/ , ,
Categorization	Identifiesthewordthatdoesnotbelong	cat car dog:dogdoesnotbeginwith/k/ , ,
Blending	Combinesphonemesintoaword	/s/ /u/ /n/ → sun
Segmentation	Breaksawordintoitsphonemes	ship /sh/ /i/ /p/ →
Addition	Addsaphonemetomakeanewword	Add /s/ to top stop →
Deletion	Removesaphonemeandsayswhatremains	stop without /s/ top →
Substitution	Replacesonephonemewithanother	Change /k/ in cat to /b/ bat →

If an activity uses letters or print, it is not a phonological awareness activity; it is phonics. Tasks done with eyes closed, by ear alone, are the phonological awareness tasks.

Instructional Implications

Phonological awareness instruction should be explicit, systematic, and sequential. Begin with larger units (words, syllables) before progressing to phonemes, use auditory activities before connecting sounds to print, provide many practice opportunities with corrective feedback, and integrate phonological awareness with phonics as students develop.