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Language Arts, Reading

The GED Language Arts, Reading Test is a passage-based, multiple-choice test that measures a candidate’s ability to comprehend and interpret workplace and academic reading selections and to apply those interpretations to new contexts.

Content

The content of the GED Language Arts, Reading Test reflects the variety of texts that a high school student would encounter. On each test, 75 percent of the passages are literary texts, and 25 percent are nonfiction texts. Texts and authors that could be expected to appear on a high school examination or be used for a critical review in a high school classroom appear on the GED Language Arts, Reading Test. Sources for the literary text of the GED Language Arts, Reading Test reflect a commitment to quality writing from writers of recognized stature.

Context

The subject matter chosen for the GED Language Arts, Reading Test reflects the multicultural backgrounds and diverse age groups of the GED candidates. Texts are examined carefully to ensure that no particular group is presented in a discriminatory manner. However, texts are also chosen to reflect the variety of experiences of the general population without giving undue attention to any particular group’s experiences.

Each test is constructed with this diversity in mind so that no one candidate feels excluded or advantaged by the set of texts within any given reading test.

Format

The selections in the GED Language Arts, Reading Test are coherent excerpts of works with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Excerpts range from 200 to 400 words, with poetry running from eight to 25 lines. Each selection is followed by four to eight questions that test reading comprehension on several cognitive levels.

Each selection is preceded by a purpose question. This question is designed to focus the candidate and provide a purpose for reading the text. In such an unnatural reading situation as a comprehension test, the focus question efficiently provides the candidate with an orientation to the text that in a natural setting would spring from the reader’s ability to survey a selection before reading.

Cognitive Levels

The multiple-choice questions on the GED Language Arts, Reading Test are constructed on four of the cognitive levels based on Bloom’s taxonomy.¹ Higher cognitive levels receive more emphasis, as would be expected in high school instruction:

• Comprehension: 20 percent.

• Application: 15 percent.

• Analysis: 30 percent to 35 percent.

• Synthesis: 30 percent to 35 percent.

Comprehension
Comprehension questions (20 percent) measure the candidate’s ability to extract basic meaning and the intent of the writing. This question type can refer to specific parts of the text or to the text as a whole.

Comprehension questions measure the ability to:

• Restate or paraphrase information.

• Summarize main ideas.

• Explain the thought or clear implications of the text.

Application
Application questions (15 percent) measure the candidate’s ability to use information and ideas from a text in a situation different from that described. This type of question measures the ability to transfer concepts and principles from the reading text to a new context.

Analysis
Analysis questions (30 percent to 35 percent) measure the candidate’s ability to break down information into basic elements and can require multiple or complex references. Analysis questions generally refer to specific parts of a passage.

Analysis questions measure the candidate’s ability to:

• Draw conclusions, understand consequences, and make inferences.

• Identify elements of style and structure (by concept, not by literary term) and identify the use of different techniques, e.g., tone, word usage, characterization, use of detail and example, and figurative language.

• Identify cause and effect relationships.

• Distinguish conclusions from supporting statements and recognize unstated assumptions.

Synthesis
Synthesis questions (30 percent to 35 percent) measure the candidate’s ability to put elements together to form a whole. Synthesis questions require multiple inferences that draw on many parts of the text. Although synthesis often implies the integration of information from multiple sources into a new whole, synthesis, for the purpose of the GED Language Arts, Reading Test, also refers to integrating information from many parts of a single selection.

Synthesis questions measure the candidate’s ability to:

• Interpret the organizational structure or pattern of a text.

• Interpret the overall tone, point of view, style, or purpose of a work.

• Make connections among parts of the text.

• Compare and contrast.

• Integrate information from outside the passage with elements within the passage.

The last synthesis skill listed above appears on the test as a multiple-choice question in which additional information about the text or author is given in the text of the question. The question then asks the candidate to synthesize this new information with information obtained from the selection itself to form a new understanding of the text. For example, a reading selection may be provided from a piece of fiction, such as a Chekhov short story. A synthesis question of the last type might include in the question a quote from the author about the human struggle. The question then might ask the candidate to identify an element in the reading passage that illustrates the author’s stated philosophy.

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This page last updated on 11/19/2008