Language: Levels E, M, D, and A Study Guide for the TABE Test

Knowledge of Language and Vocabulary

Percentage of Test Level Specifically Assessing These Skills

E	M	D	A
33.3%	33.3%	33.3%	33.3%

The TABE Language tests assess increasing levels of language competence as the levels progress from L to A. While this is not necessarily the level of language you were taught in these grades, be prepared to function at these levels in language to do well on each of these tests. If you have trouble at any level of testing, we suggest seeking other resources at these levels to be sure you have no gaps in your language application skills. These gaps can happen to anyone, but they especially occur if you change schools frequently or at all.

As you move through the TABE test levels, you will be exposed to increasingly difficult vocabulary. There are three main levels (tiers) of difficulty:

Tier 1—These are the most basic and most used words in print (e.g., is, run, have, etc.). They are the first words you learn to read.
Tier 2—These words are used frequently in academic texts and usually require explicit vocabulary teaching. Examples include analysis, summary, and prescribe.
Tier 3—Tier 3 words are rarely used outside of specific fields of study and include such words as anarchy, photosynthesis, and divisor.

Some of the concepts below may seem more like reading skills than language or writing skills . To be able to revise written passages, however, you will need to be able to read them accurately, so reading skills are important and contribute significantly to your ability to review and revise material.

Grade Level Language Proficiency Needed for Test Levels

L	E	M	D	A
Grade 1	Grade 2	Grades 3–4	Grade 6	Grades 11–12 (college and career readiness level)

Vocabulary and Meaning

English is an ever-evolving and changing language. Words are being added all the time as culture, science, and technology drive the creation of new terms for new things. This means that vocabulary, or the body of words used by the language, is constantly expanding. It is impossible to know all of the words in the English language. Scholars can’t even agree on how many there actually are!

The best advice to build your vocabulary is to read so that you are exposed to a lot of words and, when you come across unfamiliar words, to sound them out and use context clues or word part recognition to determine meaning. Remember that words may have multiple meanings and that misspelled or misused words may change the entire meaning of a sentence. While you could look up every unfamiliar word or phrase in a dictionary, that’s time-consuming and often impractical in many reading situations, like during tests. Instead, knowing some of these vocabulary strategies should help.

Strategies for Unknown Words

There are several strategies readers can use when they encounter an unfamiliar word in a text. Unfortunately, there is no one strategy that works every time, so knowing several approaches may help in case one strategy isn’t as helpful as another one in a given situation.

Phonics

It’s always a good idea to figure out the pronunciation of an unknown word first. Many times, that will give you a clue to its meaning. Rely on your knowledge of phonics, sounding out the word just like you were taught in early elementary school. Sometimes, just the process of doing this will reveal a word you know but maybe have not seen in print before.

Context Clues

You can infer the definition of certain words based on the words or context around them. More often than not, the answer to a question referring to a paragraph or sentence can be found right there in the written words. It is a good idea to begin training yourself to pay attention to the details of what you are reading because those details will provide the context clues you need to answer comprehension questions. Take a look at these examples:

“The exam was only a week away, and Lisa had been studying for over a month. Her classmates, however, were choosing to wait until the last minute before they looked at their class notes. Lisa knew this was an unwise choice, but she decided to focus on her own work and let her friends take responsibility for themselves. She was getting quite sick of everyone procrastinating and then asking her to help them study the day before an important exam.”

Based on the paragraph, we can infer several different things:

Lisa is a good student. Although this paragraph is only referring to one incident, we can infer that she is always well prepared. The sentence that refers to her classmates asking her to “help them study” shows that she is known to be intelligent.
Lisa’s classmates usually wait until the last minute. It may be easy to think that the classmates procrastinated this one time, but pay close attention to the sentence that states “She was getting quite sick” of their behavior. This shows that this isn’t the first time they have waited too late.
Lisa has tried to help her classmates in the past. Again, the sentence about Lisa getting “sick of everyone procrastinating” means they have needed help before, and her decision to let them “take responsibility for themselves” is a great clue showing that in the past she has tried to be responsible for her friends.

This is just a small example of how you can look past the obvious details and glean more information, allowing you to better answer follow-up questions. You can also infer the definition of certain words based on the context around them. For example:

The hotel room was absolutely frigid. I put on several sweaters and wrapped my toes in the blanket before falling asleep.

A reader may not immediately know the definition of the word frigid, but the context of the sentences can make it clear. The author states that they had to wear extra layers and use a blanket, so the reader can infer that frigid means cold.

You can also use the part of speech to determine what type of word to look for. Consider this sentence:

The student was asked to critique the magazine article.

The word critique is obviously a verb, so you can rule out any other part of speech when trying to decode the word.

Word Analysis

Many English words are put together from word parts borrowed from other languages. A Greek or Latin root word with an affix (a prefix or suffix) tacked on creates words we recognize and sometimes ones we don’t. Using word analysis means breaking the unfamiliar word down into parts or pieces that you do recognize and can make meaning from. There are three word parts that can help you:

Root Words

Root words are the most basic, central word parts that carry meaning. Some root words are free, meaning they can stand alone and demonstrate core meaning themselves; other root words are bound and require prefixes and/or suffixes to be added to form a recognizable, meaningful word. Here are some examples of root words—see if you can identify whether they are free or bound and what affixes you could add to make a familiar word.

friend (free)

gram (bound)

help (free)

hydr (bound)

light (free)

move (free)

photo (bound)

therm (bound)

Prefixes

A prefix is a letter or group of letters that carries meaning added to the beginning of a root word. When a prefix is added to the beginning of a root word, it affects the meaning of the word. For example, the prefix dis means not, or the opposite of. If added to the root word cover, meaning some sort of protection or concealment, the word would be discover, meaning to expose, make known, or locate something. There are many prefixes in the English language, so find some lists online and see how many you recognize. Here are some:

anti (against)

inter (among; between)

mid (middle)

non (not)

post (after)

pre (before)

sub (under)

un (opposite of; not)

Suffixes

A suffix is a letter or group of letters that carries meaning added to the end of a root word. As with a prefix, when a suffix is added to the end of the root word, the meaning of the word changes. Here are some common suffixes:

able (able to)

est (the most)

ful (full of)

ic (having characteristics of)

less (without)

logy (study of)

ment (act of; state of being)

y (characterized by)

The above concepts are a good start, but sometimes, things become a little more complicated. For example, you may know that auto means self and recognize that something automatic is something that is done by itself (the automatic dishwasher washes the dishes independently). But when you see autonomous, you may have no idea what you’re looking at. Consider this sentence:

While the United States of America is technically one unified nation, each state has some level of autonomous control and can pass laws and regulations to govern its own citizens as long as that legislation doesn’t override the guarantees of the Constitution.

Breaking the word apart and looking for recognizable parts may help. There’s that auto again, so it will have something to do with self. If you know nomos relates to law or custom, you’re in good shape. But what if you have no idea about that? That’s where looking at context clues and the information in the sentences surrounding the unfamiliar word can help. The word autonomous refers to “independent self-governing”.

Using Vocabulary Knowledge

Sometimes words will remind you of other words. They may look or sound similar or have recognizable word parts that are the same. Use your vocabulary knowledge to try to make connections with and figure out unfamiliar words. If you can recognize parts, you may be able to figure out the whole.

Vocabulary Sources

While you will not be able to utilize reference sources during the TABE tests, they can be useful in building your vocabulary before the tests. Be sure to understand the function of each of these:

glossary—a section usually appearing at the end of a text that includes an alphabetically organized list of words and their definitions. Glossaries usually include academic, technical, or specialized terms related to a specific topic.
dictionary—a self-contained general collection of words and definitions for an entire language. It is more extensive than a glossary and includes pronunciation guides, etymology (word origins), and usage examples.
thesaurus—a self-contained collection of synonyms and antonyms for words in a particular language. Using a thesaurus can help a writer find alternative words to express the same ideas without repeating the same term. Be careful when using a thesaurus, however, as not all synonyms or antonyms work to offer the same meaning in every context.

Word Relationships

Different words can also have relationships to one another. Some of the most common word relationships you might see and use to help discern meaning are synonyms (words that are the same or similar in meaning), antonyms (words that are opposite in meaning to each other), and homonyms (words that sound like another word but have a different meaning and/or spelling).

synonyms for nice—pleasant, enjoyable, delightful, agreeable, satisfying

antonyms for nice—unpleasant, mean, disagreeable, unlikable, unfriendly

Some commonly confused homonyms: accept/except, led/lead, vary/very

You will need to understand the relationship between different words and be able to demonstrate an understanding of which is the correct word to use in a particular situation. Check online for lists of commonly confused words to start learning how to tell the difference between them.

Nuances in Word Meanings

A nuance refers to a small difference or distinction between two or more things. Nuances in word meanings relate to the shades of meaning words have, their connotation, or how they make the reader feel. The denotation or actual dictionary definition is usually quite similar between nuanced words, but the subtle difference can make a big impact on tone and can sometimes affect the intended meaning of a sentence. This is why it is important to use precise, specific language and to choose your words carefully. The meaning is different when you say “Sarah glided across the dance floor” as opposed to “Sarah slid across the dance floor,” even though the two words are similar in meaning.

Multiple Meaning Words

Words can also have multiple meanings depending on how they are used in context. For example:

“Lawrence was the star of the school play” uses play as a noun meaning a dramatic performance.

But “Lawrence likes to play basketball” uses play as a verb denoting action.

It’s important to be able to determine how a word is being used to ensure that it is being used clearly and correctly.

Describing Words

Not all words are created equal. Different words, used as different parts of speech, are responsible for different roles in a sentence. For example, a noun is likely to be the subject of a sentence; a verb will indicate action, feeling, or state of being. But it is describing words like adjectives and adverbs that really help language come alive because they provide details that help the reader “see” what is being described.

When you read or listen to a story, you are usually more engaged if there are a lot of specific details that help you envision the action of the story. These adjectives and adverbs provide information about actions, emotions, and states of being that just can’t be captured any other way.

Words about Time and Space

Effective communication requires structure and organization. This includes using words and phrases that convey a sense of time (temporal words) and space (spatial words), as in where and when things happened. Being able to identify keywords that indicate these spatial and temporal relationships is also important. Many of these words are prepositions and they show the relationship between things in a sentence. Here are some words and phrases that might be used to indicate time or space:

Place the fork to the left of the plate when you set the table.

The home office was adjacent to the kitchen.

Before they went out to play in the snow, they put on their boots and gloves.

We will play in the tournament next Saturday.

Domain-Specific Words

Academic words are those generally used in the educational environment that can be applied to any subject, words like analyze, compare, or explain. But some words are very specific to a particular field of study and might not be as widely used. For example, you may need to know what photosynthesis means if you’re studying science, or know what is being referred to as the variable in math. Be aware of these domain-specific words and consider looking online for some examples to test your knowledge of some of the more common ones you might encounter.

Transition Words

Transition words link ideas in a passage, and they help the reader follow the logical progression of what is written. There are many different types of transition words, including but not limited to:

agreement (also, additionally, likewise, as well as, and, etc.)
contradiction (although, yet, but, however, etc.)
results (thus, therefore, consequently, etc.)
time (previously, next, prior to, afterward, etc.)

Complete lists of transition words can be found online, along with many more examples. Study these words and familiarize yourself with the categories. When used appropriately, transition words go a long way in making your written work flow smoothly and logically.

Figurative Language

Sometimes, just knowing the literal definitions of words is not enough. Figurative language uses words in different ways to create different meanings. You will not need to know the names of the following types of figurative language, but it would help to understand how they function in language.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a comparison between two seemingly unlike things suggesting that one thing is the other. Metaphors allow for deeper understanding of the main idea of a text and can help abstract ideas become more concrete for the reader. To say a student faces a “mountain of homework” or an athlete “is a beast” creates metaphorical comparisons. There is no literal mountain and the athlete is not an animal, but these comparisons give the reader a sense of the figurative nature of the amount of homework and the dedication and focus of the athlete.

Simile

Like a metaphor, a simile also compares two seemingly different things, but it uses comparing words such as “like” or “as” to make the comparison. Again, the comparison is not literal, but figurative and suggests a certain connection for the reader. Similes are helpful when trying to emphasize a particular quality about someone or something. For example, “She sings like a bird” or “He’s as quiet as a mouse” doesn’t mean these people are animals, but that they have qualities that remind us of happily singing birds or quiet little mice.

Personification

When you give human qualities to nonhuman things, that is personification. This type of figurative language helps the reader relate to nonhuman things. Personification is commonly used in children’s stories where the animal characters “talk,” “play,” and “feel” certain ways that we recognize as human actions or qualities. When “the wind whistles through the trees,” the “old house groans with age,” or the “smiling sun” shines down from the sky, these are all examples of personification.

Hyperbole

If you examine this word closely, you might recognize the prefix “hyper,” meaning “over” or “beyond.” This will help remind you that a hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration or exaggeration beyond what is necessary. A hyperbole is used to create emphasis and indicate strong emotion. These wildly outrageous statements or descriptions are not meant to be taken literally but are intended to draw the reader’s attention.

I’ve told you a million times that I hate the color orange!

It may have been many times, but probably not a million.

This rock in my shoe is killing me.

It may be uncomfortable, but is it really deadly?

My backpack weighs a ton.

It may be heavy, but it is not likely to weigh a full 2,000 pounds.

Idiom

An idiom is an expression or phrase with a meaning beyond the actual definitions of the words used. Idioms are often culturally or regionally unique and don’t translate from language to language. Some examples of idioms include:

hit the ground running (be ready to work on an activity immediately)

cut corners (take shortcuts to save time or money; to do something cheaply)

eyes on me (give your full attention to someone speaking)

cold feet (to feel hesitation or uncertainty about doing something as a result of fear or doubt)

don’t have a cow (don’t overreact or become unnecessarily excited or agitated over something)

Allusion

To help the reader make a connection between what they know and what is new, an author might use an allusion, a reference to someone or something well known, to help the reader make the connection. These references are commonly made to literature, history, mythology, or culture and are intended to deepen the reader’s understanding and connection to an idea presented in the text. For example, if a writer is focusing on someone’s arduous journey, they might allude to Odysseus, the main character of Homer’s epic poem. To describe a difficult choice that must be made, the writer might refer to being in a “Catch-22,” from Joseph Heller’s novel of the same name. References to someone being a “snake” create Biblical allusions to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Allusions only work when the audience can recognize them, however, so writers must take care to select appropriate allusions to use with a particular audience.

Onomatopoeia

When you read a comic book, have you ever noticed some of the “dialogue” is just noises, like crash, boom, or pow? Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound like what they mean or describe. Commonly associated with comic books and animal noises, here are some examples of onomatopoeia:

crack

wham

woof

zoom

boing

clang

chirp

moo

zip

crunch