Praxis (Praxis Core and Praxis Subject Assessments) Praxis Subject Assessment: English Language Arts: Content Knowledge (5039) Syllabus

Praxis Subject Assessment: English Language Arts: Content Knowledge (5039) syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Praxis Subject Assessment: English Language Arts: Content Knowledge (5039) in Praxis (Praxis Core and Praxis Subject Assessments), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Reading and Literary Analysis

   4 topics

   • Literary Genres and Forms
     • Poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction
   • Literary Elements and Devices
     • Theme, characterization, and point of view
     • Figurative language and sound devices
   • Major Literary Movements and Periods
     • American, British, and world literature
   • Interpreting and Analyzing Texts
2. 2

   Language Use and Vocabulary

   4 topics

   • English Grammar and Syntax
   • History and Development of the English Language
   • Vocabulary, Morphology, and Etymology
   • Conventions of Standard Written English
3. 3

   Writing, Speaking, and Listening

   4 topics

   • The Writing Process and Genres
     • Argumentative, informative, and narrative writing
   • Rhetoric and Composition
     • Audience, purpose, and rhetorical appeals
   • Research and Source Evaluation
   • Oral Communication and Media Literacy
4. 4

   Instruction and Assessment in ELA

   4 topics

   • Teaching Reading and Literature
   • Teaching Writing and Language
   • Assessment Strategies in ELA
   • Supporting Diverse Learners in ELA

Praxis Subject Assessment: English Language Arts: Content Knowledge (5039) flashcards for Praxis (Praxis Core and Praxis Subject Assessments)

18 of 61 cards from the Praxis Subject Assessment: English Language Arts: Content Knowledge (5039) deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What distinguishes a novel from a novella and a short story?

   All three are prose fiction; they differ by length: a short story is brief (under ~20,000 words, one effect), a novella is intermediate (~20,000-50,000 words), and a novel is long (50,000+ words) with multiple plots and developed characters.

2. What are the three major genres of literature, and how is drama distinguished from the other two?

   Poetry, prose, and drama. Drama is distinguished as literature written to be performed by actors on stage, told through dialogue and action rather than narration.

3. Define an epic and name two classic examples.

   An epic is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a heroic figure central to a culture. Examples: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, Beowulf.

4. What is the difference between a Shakespearean (English) sonnet and a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet?

   Both have 14 lines. The Shakespearean has three quatrains and a closing couplet (rhyme ababcdcdefefgg); the Petrarchan has an octave plus a sestet (abbaabba + cdecde/cdcdcd) with a volta after line 8.

5. What defines a tragedy versus a comedy in dramatic form?

   A tragedy depicts the downfall of a protagonist, often through a fatal flaw, ending in catastrophe; a comedy is lighter, often satirical, with a happy resolution (frequently marriage or reconciliation).

6. What is the difference between a metaphor and a simile?

   Both compare two unlike things. A simile uses 'like' or 'as' (e.g., 'brave as a lion'); a metaphor states the comparison directly without those words (e.g., 'he is a lion').

7. Define personification and give an example.

   Personification gives human qualities or actions to non-human things or abstractions. Example: 'The wind whispered through the trees.'

8. What is the difference between connotation and denotation?

   Denotation is a word's literal, dictionary definition; connotation is the emotional, cultural, or implied associations a word carries (e.g., 'home' denotes a residence but connotes warmth and belonging).

9. Define dramatic irony.

   Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader knows something that a character does not, creating tension or suspense from the gap in awareness.

10. What is an extended metaphor (conceit)?

    An extended metaphor, or conceit, is a comparison sustained and developed over several lines, a stanza, or an entire work, often elaborating multiple points of similarity.

11. Distinguish between alliteration, assonance, and consonance.

    Alliteration repeats initial consonant sounds ('wild and woolly'); assonance repeats vowel sounds within words ('hear the mellow wedding bells'); consonance repeats consonant sounds, often at the ends ('pitter patter').

12. What is the difference between a flat character and a round character?

    A flat character is one-dimensional, defined by a single trait and not developed; a round character is complex, fully developed, and capable of change and surprising the reader.

13. Define the literary term 'foil.'

    A foil is a character who contrasts with another (usually the protagonist) to highlight particular qualities of that other character.

14. What is metonymy, and how does it differ from synecdoche?

    Metonymy substitutes a related word for the thing meant ('the crown' for the monarchy); synecdoche uses a part to stand for the whole or vice versa ('all hands on deck' for sailors). Synecdoche is a specific type of metonymy.

15. What were the defining characteristics of the Romantic literary movement?

    Romanticism (late 18th-mid 19th c.) emphasized emotion, imagination, individualism, the sublime in nature, and a reaction against Enlightenment rationalism and industrialization. Key figures: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley.

16. What characterizes literary Modernism, and roughly when did it occur?

    Modernism (c. 1900-1945) broke with tradition through experimental form, stream of consciousness, fragmentation, unreliable narration, and disillusionment after WWI. Key figures: Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, Faulkner.

17. What distinguished the Realism movement in literature?

    Realism (mid-late 19th c.) aimed to depict everyday life and ordinary people truthfully and objectively, without idealization, focusing on plausible characters and social conditions.

18. What were the main features of the Harlem Renaissance?

    The Harlem Renaissance (1920s) was a flourishing of African American literature, art, and music in Harlem, celebrating Black culture and identity. Key writers: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen.

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