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

Craft and Structure (L, E, M, D, A)

Percentage of Test Level Specifically Assessing These Skills (— = Assumed)

L	E	M	D	A
16%	32%	42%	38%	42%

An author’s craft and structure refers to how an author expresses their ideas, organizes those ideas for the reader, and the language they select to express their thoughts. When analyzing craft and structure, the focus is on the text’s overall organization and development (the structure) and the way the author uses words, language, and sentence structure to deliver their message (the craft).

Vocabulary

Context clues are extremely helpful in identifying meaning. A context clue is a hint or suggestion in the text as to what a word or concept might mean. It is usually found close to or surrounding the word or concept in question.

To identify context clues, first identify the word or concept in need of further expounding or definition. Next, look at the words and sentences surrounding the word. You may need to go back or forward a few sentences. What is the attitude of the surrounding words? What is the tone? Given the context of the word or phrase, what is the most likely meaning for that word or phrase? Answering this question will result in effectively using context clues.

Words and Phrases

While vocabulary tends to refer to specific words, it’s also important to know general phrases and idioms that might throw you off when you encounter them in a text. Use context clues to help you figure out a word or phrase’s potential meaning, but also consider honing your skills by signing up for a word-a-day app or visiting websites that outline some commonly used words and phrases.

General Vocabulary

General vocabulary refers to the words that have passed into general public usage. Some may have started with more specific applications or come from law, politics, science, or technology, but today are part of the general lexicon. Words like analyze, justify, or theory may be used by people in day-to-day conversations, but many do not know what they actually mean, or what actions they actually require. But the more you encounter these words in your daily routines, the more likely you’ll be to incorporate them into your speech and writing with full and accurate understanding.

Academic Terms

Some vocabulary is very specific or technical. Academic language, technical terms, or domain-specific language can be confusing for people who don’t work within a particular field. For example, if you’re not a scientist or a chemist, you may not be familiar with a term like allotrope. If you’re not a sociologist, you may not know what stratification is referring to. This is where context clues come in really handy when you’re reading a text.

Just know that you may not be familiar with academic terms you encounter in a text. Do your best to break the word down into word parts (prefix, root, suffix) to see if you can gather any meaning from recognizable or familiar word parts, consider words you know that are similar, and use the text around the unfamiliar word to help you make meaning.

Text Features

The content of a text is important, but so too is its structure. When reading unfamiliar texts for the first time, consider taking a minute to do a quick skim of the text as a whole before diving in. How is it laid out on the page? Are there any identifying features like section headings, bolded or italicized text, or graphics? How long is it? How many paragraphs does it have? Read the first sentence of the first paragraph. Read the first sentence of a paragraph in the middle. Read the first sentence of the last paragraph. Can you get a sense of what the text is about from these three sentences?

Textual features will vary depending on the type of text you are reading. The features of a narrative text are different from those of an informational text, for example. But scanning for these features can help you identify from the start what kind of text you are about to tackle and give you a sense of the skills you’ll need to make meaning of it.

Captions, Headings, Subheadings, and Icons

In many expository and informational texts, authors will help organize their ideas for the reader by arranging the text into different and distinct sections. These sections are often identifiable by headings or subheadings that give the reader a sense of the focus or main idea for that portion of the text.

For tables, charts, images, or other graphics, including icons or symbols, the captions below the image will help to explain its purpose in being included in the text. Some readers skip over these captions as unimportant, but they can actually be valuable in discerning meaning from the text.

The Table of Contents, the Glossary, and the Index

When reading longer texts, it can be overwhelming to know where to find specific information. This is where using the table of contents and/or the index can be helpful.

The table of contents is located at the beginning of a text and usually lists the chapter or section names or titles and the page number where each one begins.

The index (usually found at the end of a book) lists important ideas, concepts, terms, and key words and identifies which page(s) each of those can be found on within the text.

For example, a writing textbook might have a table of contents that lists the chapters (Grammar and Usage; Phrases, Clauses, and Sentence; Mechanics) while the index identifies that information on “Topic sentences” can be found on page 42 and “Verb tense shifts” are on pages 98-99.

The glossary is a short dictionary or list of uncommon or domain-specific terms usually located at the end of the text, before the index. Just like in a dictionary, glossaries are organized as an alphabetical list of words or phrases and brief definitions are provided.

Electronic Menus, Sidebars, and Links

With more reading shifting to online sources, text features change somewhat, but are still helpful to navigate through a reading. Many websites have the same or similar features as print text, with menus at the top or along the side (sidebar) serving like a table of contents to help readers navigate through different pages. Links to other pages or helpful resources may also be included and will often appear as a different color font to help readers distinguish them from the rest of the text on the page.

Print Differences

As you read, be on the lookout for differences in the print. Use of font size and style, underlining, bolding, and italicizing are never done accidentally. They serve a purpose, usually to draw the reader’s attention to certain ideas or aspects of the text. When something is written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, it gets “loud” and grabs your attention. Italics are a quiet whisper or point of emphasis. Highlighting or changing the font color can draw the reader’s attention to a particular word, phrase, sentence, or section with brightness and the contrast from the rest of the text.

The Author’s Craft

Ask any writer and they’ll tell you, they pour blood, sweat, and tears into their writing, dedicating time and passion to produce texts to entice their readers. Authors rely on a wide variety of techniques and tools to effectively tell a story or impart information in an engaging and meaningful way.

Author’s Purpose

The author’s purpose is not usually explicitly stated in a piece. Instead, it must be inferred by the reader. Author’s purpose varies, but is typically either to persuade, inform, entertain, express feelings or emotions, or to simply describe.

To determine the author’s purpose, first look at the tone of a piece. Is it academic, sarcastic, casual, descriptive, or formal? Next, look at the intended audience. Is information being related simplistically? Is an event being described in great detail? Finally, look at the work as a whole. What is the topic? What is the support being used?

Another way to find the author’s purpose is to see which of these categories the piece falls in:

• A narrative passage is one that tells a story. The story needs not be long and complicated, but it must be the purpose and focus of the piece.

• An expository passage is one in which a given concept or idea is explained or expounded upon. These types of passages are typically used to inform a previously uninformed audience.

• Technical writing is usually quite dry in nature, providing readers with facts, figures, or information regarding a specific field. Technical writing is often found in the arenas of computers, engineering, chemistry, business, and finance. Depending on the target audience, technical writing is not usually outsider-friendly because it may use technical jargon that is difficult to recognize outside of the given field.

• Persuasive pieces are designed to sway the audience to the author’s way of thinking. How this is done varies from person to person, but the technique often involves arguments with details supporting the author’s ideas and appeals to emotion.

A persuasive essay might use emotional arguments to sway the reader. An informative essay likely delivers facts and figures. An entertaining piece uses descriptive language and usually tells a story. A work expressing feelings or emotions may also use descriptive language, but tends to have a more intimate tone, like the author is speaking to the reader directly to share their thoughts. Finally, a descriptive essay focuses on using expressive words and providing users with a detailed idea or image.

The Author’s Point of View

Point of view (often abbreviated POV) is the lens through which a story is told. First-person point of view utilizes I or we while narrating. Second-person point of view, though rare, speaks directly to the audience by using you. Third-person limited tells the story from an outside perspective (using he and she), but is limited to knowing only the narrator or protagonist’s thoughts. Third-person omniscient peeks into the thoughts and motivation of all characters.

Another definition of point of view relates to the opinion held by the author about a particular issue. For instance, a child might have a different point of view with regard to eating candy than a dentist would.

Depending on the author’s purpose, they may choose a more formal or informal tone. Their diction, or word choice, may change. Considering their intended audience, writers will tailor how they describe things, the amount of background information they provide, or the structure with which they present their ideas.

The TABE Reading test may ask questions requiring readers to compare two authors’ versions of the same topic and note the similarities and differences of each writer’s point of view. It is important in identifying the author’s point of view to keep your own perspective out of the analysis.

Identifying Factors

To determine an author’s point of view or purpose, readers must examine the writer’s language and content. What words do they use to describe or explain a topic? How would the meaning change if they used other words instead? What evidence or details do they include and what do they leave out? Answering these questions will help identify the writer’s stance on a particular topic and address their purpose in writing the text.

Author’s Tone

The author’s tone is typically described by one of three words: positive, neutral, or negative.

A positive tone portrays the subject matter in a supportive, positive light.

A neutral tone is usually more dry and academic in nature, presenting facts and figures with little personal evaluation or opinion inserted.

Finally, a negative tone portrays the subject matter negatively, providing arguments or facts to go against the subject.

Authors may also alter their tone in terms of its formality. When talking about a serious topic or presenting an academic presentation, the tone is more likely to be formal and elevated. A more casual or informal tone is likely to be found in texts that try to engage or persuade the reader to take a particular action or those that discuss a less serious topic. Tone can establish a sense of time and place for a piece of writing; if there’s a casual tone with some slang included, then the setting is different from a text that relies on multisyllabic academic words presented in a rigid structure.

Arguments and Claims

In their writing, authors present arguments and claims to their readers. Some of these are expressed directly and some must be inferred based on what the author says and how they say it. The author presents a claim, an idea, or a position with regard to a topic.

They must then offer arguments, or pieces of evidence, that will support that claim so the reader will understand it in the same way. Claims are developed by using reasonable, reliable, relevant evidence to support the author’s idea. These arguments may be examples that others will disagree with or interpret differently, so it’s important that the author explain how each argument supports their position and not just stick them into the writing without support.

Figurative Language

Good writers are wordsmiths who can paint detailed pictures with the words they select and the way they put those words together. Figurative language compares or describes something unfamiliar to the reader with something they know or have experience with already. It is used widely in fictional writing but is also used in nonfiction texts to help the reader make connections and understand an author’s intended message.

Metaphors

One of the most effective ways to make comparisons that help readers make connections is to use metaphors and similes. A metaphor is a type of figurative language that compares two seemingly different things to show what they actually have in common. The comparison is not to be taken literally, but to help the reader understand the similar feature(s). For example:

Logan is a night owl and will regularly stay up until 2 a.m.

This statement is not to say that Logan is a bird, an owl, but to make the connection to his nocturnal tendency of staying up late into the night, like an owl. The comparison is direct, without the use of comparison words like like or as. Those are used in similes.

Similes

Similar to a metaphor, a simile is also a type of figurative language used to compare the familiar with the unfamiliar. However, whereas a metaphor says one thing is something else (Logan is a night owl), similes say one thing is like something else. For example, “Mandy swims like a dolphin and would spend all day in the pool if you let her.” Here the statement is that Mandy is a dolphin—not literally, but to make the connection and show how much she likes to swim and be in the water.

Analogy

An analogy is a device used to illustrate an idea using another idea to create a parallel. Among the most famous of analogies is, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.”

Satire

Writers may use satire to help support their claim or persuade their audience. Satire uses humor to show a flaw in humanity in order to expose it and get people talking about it (hopefully in an effort to change it for the better). Satire may come across as mean or insulting if the ridicule is sharp. But understanding its purpose—to expose a flaw, an immorality, or a wrong—can help the reader identify it for what it is and better understand the author’s message.

Irony

Irony is the use of language in an unexpected or seemingly opposite way of what is intended. It is intended to bring a certain level of humor to the situation, but sometimes irony can be dry and seem sarcastic. Irony can be verbal (saying something unexpected in a particular situation), situational (when something unexpected happens in a particular situation), or dramatic (when the audience knows something the actors don’t know about what is going to happen).

When the weather forecaster is broadcasting from the edge of the hurricane and says, “It’s a little breezy now,” in 30 mph winds, that’s verbal irony. A dog groomer with a fear of dogs is ironic because you wouldn’t expect someone with that fear to go into that line of work; it’s situational irony. When the reader knows the killer is in the crowd stalking his next victim but the crowd has no idea, that’s dramatic irony.

Understatement

Exaggeration or hyperbole is taking something over the top and blowing it excessively out of proportion. Understatement is the opposite of that. When something is presented as being less important or less intense than it actually is, it is an understatement.

Using understatement actually draws more attention to the idea because most readers identify that it deserves more weight or importance than it’s been given. As a reporter covers the story of roads flooding in a neighborhood after a recent storm with cars submerged to their door handles and she says, “The neighborhood saw some rain last night,” that’s an understatement, and it can also be seen as verbal irony.

Sarcasm

While it can bring some humor and laughs, sarcasm is actually intended to ridicule or mock. It can be harsh and offensive, so authors must be careful when using sarcasm and consider their audience and purpose before committing to it.

Structure

An author writes with the idea that there is a message to deliver to the audience. With that in mind, authors work to structure their writing in a way that will make their ideas easy for the reader to follow and help the audience connect the dots to see things from the same perspective.

On the TABE Reading test, you may be asked to compare the structure of two or more texts. This means you’ll need to determine which organizational structure an author chose for a particular text and be able to identify its unique characteristics. Depending on the purpose and the audience, an author may choose to structure a text in a number of different ways. These are the five most common.

Chronology

To use a structure of chronology means to develop the text based on time. Events that happen earlier come at the beginning of the text and things that happen later come at the end. Chronological organization means following the timeline of events as they took place. Sometimes a narrative will start in the middle of the action (this is known as “in medias res”), but then it often goes back and fills in the gaps before moving forward with the action of the plot.

Comparison

Expository and non-fiction writers often use comparison structure in their writing. In comparison organization, the author is setting up an illustration of the similarities and differences between two or more things. This structure is also called compare/contrast and identifies the similarities between objects or ideas and the differences between objects or ideas. This can be done either by a block or a point-by-point approach. In a block comparison, all of the information about one idea or opinion is given first in a block of text, then all of the information about the second idea or opinion is given in a second block of text. In a point-by-point comparison, the similarities and differences are explained one by one so the reader is taken on a kind of back and forth comparison between idea A and idea B.

Cause and Effect

As the name suggests, the cause-and-effect organizational pattern presents an idea or action (the reason or cause) and then explains the resulting consequences of that idea or action (the effects).This is a structure used to illustrate a causative relationship. Cause and effect demonstrates the first action or thing (cause) and its corresponding consequences (effect). Cause and effect does not offer solutions or answers to the cause or issue presented at the beginning, it just outlines the consequences that happen as a result.

Problem and Solution

Similar to cause and effect, a text that is organized as a problem and solution presents a problem or issue the author feels needs to be addressed and then outlines potential solutions to address that problem. Problem-and-solution organization can look very similar to cause and effect, so it’s important to be on the lookout for language that suggests solutions to the identified problem. If no answers or solutions are offered, it may be a cause-and-effect text.

Sequence Emphasizing

This is a method used to illustrate which idea in a list of ideas is most significant. Typically, the most important item in a list is identified first, and the least important is listed last. Items can also be ordered chronologically, listing from beginning to end.

The Purpose of Text Parts

Understanding text parts and how they fit into the overall structure can help a reader navigate through a text and better understand its intended message. This means being able to identify a sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza and being able to analyze how it fits into the overall structure and contributes to the author’s message. A particular section of the text may help develop a certain character, present a potential solution to a problem, or provide an example, improving the overall effectiveness of the text.

Word Choice

Language is constantly evolving and changing and authors have a huge number of words to select from as they write. They carefully consider their word choice or diction and select the words that will be most effective in delivering their message to the reader. Authors may use words that appeal to an audience’s emotions or they may purposefully repeat a word throughout a text to draw attention to a particular idea. Word choice helps set the mood of the text and the tone the author is taking with regard to the subject.

Connotative vs. Denotative Meaning

Words have different levels and kinds of meanings. There is a word’s denotation or what it actually means if you look it up in a dictionary, and there’s a word’s connotation or the emotional effect it is likely to have on a reader. For example:

Todd and Mary were fired from their jobs last Friday.

The word fired has a negative connotation—it makes most people cringe and wonder what terrible thing they did to deserve to be fired. However, if the wording changes and the company let them go, then the tone changes and the reader might feel sorry for Todd and Mary for losing their jobs. This is why words matter, because they have meaning and that meaning can affect how they are received by an audience or reader.

Word Choice and Tone

An author’s word choice, or the vocabulary they choose to use in their writing, affects the tone of a text. Tone refers to the author’s attitude toward a particular topic and their word choice will reflect whether they are serious about it or think it’s a joke or have questions themselves. An author’s word choice can make the reader feel angry or attacked or make them feel hopeful and part of a larger movement, so authors are careful to select the words that will most effectively set the desired tone and elicit the desired response from the reader.

Transition Words

Transition words include words such as and, but, and or, but also include more complex words such as therefore, consequently, and heretofore. These words are used to connect two sentences or two ideas and move the reader through the text. A transition may demonstrate the passage of time, or simply a commonality between ideas. Transitions are important because they help the author guide the reader through the text without losing them along the way. Texts that don’t effectively use transitions can be difficult to understand and follow.

Comparing Texts

Often, readers compare texts on the same topic. They read what one author thinks and then read the ideas of someone else writing about the same topic. Sometimes the thoughts, opinions, and ideas of these authors align, but other times they may not. Comparing texts allows the reader to evaluate the arguments and structure of different texts to determine which author more effectively made their point.

Conflicting Viewpoints

Everyone has an opinion. Sometimes those opinions align, but often they do not. These conflicting viewpoints find their way into texts and readers look to see how the authors handle multiple perspectives. Authors anticipate that not everyone may agree with them and so work to address conflicting viewpoints, or counterarguments, to make their point and explain why their point of view is valid and should be considered or accepted by the reader. An author may acknowledge a counterargument, but will then explain how that viewpoint is flawed in some way and offer a perspective the other side might not have considered.

When readers compare texts that have conflicting viewpoints, they are evaluating the effectiveness of each author’s arguments, not necessarily to agree or disagree with the claim, but to examine how the author deals with differing perspectives and how effectively they support their own position.

Cultural Experience

Comparing texts can also move beyond viewpoints and consider cultural experiences. An American reader reading a text by a Nigerian author is going to have a different experience and understanding of the text than a Nigerian reader. A Jewish reader reading a text by a Muslim author will come to it with a different perspective than a Muslim reader. Authors must take the cultural experience and potential bias of their audience into consideration as they construct their texts to make them applicable to a wide variety of readers.

Literary Terms

When analyzing literature, certain terms are bound to come up. including the following: narrator, character, character development, plot, dialect, action, stage direction, asides, and soliloquies.

The narrator is the person (or thing) describing or telling the story. The narrator may be a first-person narrator (I saw, he said to me, etc.) or may be more difficult to determine, as with third-person omniscient narration. Narrators do not necessarily have to be people: animals are the narrators in many texts, telling the story from their perspective. There are stories told from the perspective of everything from a #2 pencil to a hippo in the zoo to a tree in the middle of the forest.

A character is a person or thing in a novel, play, TV show, or movie that does things or takes actions that keep the plot of the story moving along. Although characters are usually people, characters may become more convoluted in children’s stories and fantasy/science fiction pieces. Characters may be inanimate objects or concepts, such as death, or a child’s stuffed animal.

Character development is the process of a character changing throughout a text. A character without development (or growth) is called a static character; just as people in real life change and shift, characters in fiction must change and shift. Those that change as a result of an experience during the story are called dynamic characters and are generally more interesting to the reader than the static characters.

Plot is the term used to describe the events that make up a story. The plot in a mystery novel might be summed up as, “A child is kidnapped in a small town. A local sheriff, haunted by the loss of her own child, stops at nothing to find the culprit.” To be effective and engaging, the plot must be a series of connected events, usually presented to the reader in chronological order.

Dialect is simply the manner in which a character talks. Dialect might be as simple as the character speaking with a Southern accent, or as complicated as a character speaking with a made-up accent. Dialect affects the tone and mood of a text and can be confusing for readers who are not familiar with a particular dialect.

Action indicates what is happening to the characters at any given moment in a narrative. It is going to be what the characters are doing, feeling, saying, or thinking. Often, action involves points in a story where there is tension or conflict. In a dramatic narrative, for instance, action might consist of a character expressing their love for another character who doesn’t anticipate it. In a science fiction work, action might be demonstrated in a starship fight.

Stage direction is found in dramatic works, such as plays and screenplays. Unlike a novel, a play does not have a large portion of exposition to detail the background of the play and the actions of the characters. Consequently, stage directions are inserted to guide the actors (or readers) and include actions such as “move to the left and grasp actor’s arm.” Stage directions help the reader envision what the playwright had in mind for an audience to see on stage.

An aside is also usually found in plays. Asides allow the actor (or author) to relate something directly to the audience without the other characters hearing. In an aside, a character breaks character, turns to the audience, and delivers a line.

A soliloquy may be found in a novel, but is more often seen in plays. During a soliloquy, a character speaks their thoughts aloud, providing the audience with a peek into that character’s inner workings, emotions, or motivation.