Visual and performing arts practice items

These items will help you practice for the real LAST. They have the same form and test the same material as the LAST items. The items you encounter on the real LAST may have a different emphasis and may be more complete. See APPENDIX G.

11	EXTENDED SUBJECT REVIEW. COMMUNICATION SKILLS

DISCUSSION

In groups of two or three discuss the following points and report back to the class on your major conclusions.

1. Can you demonstrate knowledge of techniques of literary analysis to works of fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction?

2. What elements of poetic text should you know to analyze their relationship to the meaning of the text?

3. What types of nonfiction do you know?

LITERATURE AND COMMUNICATION

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES

Vocabulary enrichment

Literature and Communication Terms Review

Literature

ballade

elegy

epic

haiku

lyrics

novel

ode

open verses

poetry

ridicule

romance

sarcasm

satire

short story

allegorical

notable

to emancipat

e

Interpretation

argument

bias

common sense

circular logic

fact

fallacy

faulty analogy

hasty generalization

name calling

opinion

purpose

red herring

stereotyping

valid

to narrate

Communication

argumentation

browser

exposition

literary imagery

modem

narration

print information

reflection

tactile

literal

moderate

solid

READING ACTIVITIES

Use the review material to prepare for the Literature and Communication items on the LAST. A comprehensive subject review of the topics included on the LAST along with a review of Language and Language Development will help you prepare to analyze or critique literature or to identify faulty logic in a passage. You may also be asked to identify an author’s purpose and tone or to identify the meaning of figurative language or figures of speech. There are about 16 literature and communication items on the LAST.

I. Literature Review

Children’s literature, as we know it, did not exist until the late 1700s. Jean Rousseau, in his influential Emile, was among the first writers to popularize the view that children were not just small adults. A collection of age-old fairy tales, The Tales of Mother Goose, was published in France about 1700. The first illustrated book was probably The Visible World in Pictures, which was written in Latin about 1760 by John Comenius.

Before this time, most children’s literature conveyed a religious or moral message or was designed for instruction. A few adult books appealed to children including Robinson Crusoe and the satirical Gulliver’s Travels.

In the United States during the 1800s, James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohi­cans, Washington Irving wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls. Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women and Samuel Clemens, writing as Mark Twain, wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Horatio Alger wrote a series of “rags to riches” books at the end of the century.

On the European continent, the Brothers Grimm published Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which included “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Hans Christian Anderson published a number of stories including “The Ugly Duckling. ” Heidi and the Adventures of Pinocchio were also published about this time. In England, Charles Dodgson, writing as Lewis Carroll, penned Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. John Tenniel provided the illustrations for this famous work. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book, and Edward Lear wrote the Nonsense Book.

At the beginning of this century, Frank Baum wrote the first Wizard of Oz book and Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables. Also in this century, Hugh Loftig penned the famous Dr. Doolittle books, A. A, Milne published a series of Winnie-the-Pooh books and P. L Travers wrote the Mary Poppins books. Albert Payson Terhune wrote a series of dog stories, most notably Lad a Dog.

The Little Prince and Charlotte’s Web were published in the mid 1900s. About this time, Theodore Geisel, writing as Dr. Seuss, began to write a popular series of books, including Green Eggs and Ham. Notable books of the past twenty years include The Snowy Day, and Where the Wild Things Are.

The Newbery Award and Caldecott Medal are given annually to the most notable American children’s books. The Newbery Award is named after publisher John Newbery and is awarded to the best American children’s book. The Caldecott Medal is named after illustrator Randolph Caldecott and is given to the best picture book.

Poetry usually communicates through linguistic imagery, sounds of words, and a rhythmic quality. Poetry and poems are among the oldest forms of literature and date to ancient Greece. Ancient poems were originally sung, and poetry has been slowly emancipated from this reliance on music, replacing it with a linguistic cadence.

Poetry is often associated with rhyming. However, many poems do not rhyme. Some poems rely on their rhythmic patterns alone; others are composed of open verses, while still others, such as Japanese haiku, rely on special features such as the number of syllables in a line. The epic, the lyric, and some romances are examples of early poetry.

The epic is a very long narrative poem, usually about a single heroic person. Epics have a monumental sweep, embrace the essence of an entire nation, and frequently include mythical forces that influence the inevitable battles and conflicts. Epics include the Odyssey and the Iliad, which were written by Homer and embrace Greek national themes, as well as the Scandinavian Beowulf.

The lyric is related to the epic, but it is shorter and presents profound feelings or ideas. The terms elegy and ode both refer to lyric poems. Lyric poems were called rondeaus when sung by French troubadours and madrigals when sung by English balladeers. During the 1800s both Robert Browning and Tennyson wrote lyrics. Modern lyrics are still written but no longer occupy a central place in culture.

The romance and the epic are similar. However, the romance is concerned with love and chivalry and, originally, was written in one of the romance languages. This genre of literature dates from the 1100s and was most popular during the 1200s. Stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are romances.

Satire exposes the frailty of the human condition through wit, irony, mockery, sarcasm, or ridicule. For example, the sentence, “The doctor looked down at the man sneaking away from the impending flu shot and said, “At least he knows to avoid sharp objects,” is an example of satire. Occasionally, entire works such as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels are satirical.

The short story is a short fictional piece, usually with a single theme. The first short stories date from ancient Egypt. O. Henry and Mark Twain were famous writers who penned short stories in the early 1900s. Hemingway and Faulkner wrote short stories before mid-century with John Cheever and Eudora Welty noted as prominent short story writers in the latter half of the century.

The novel is a fictional story that depicts characters in a plot. The novel builds on the epic and the romance. The first novels were written during the Renaissance (1300—1600) and were devel­oped more fully during the 1700s and 1800s in England. The modern novel developed in the 1800s. Novels with strong historical and social themes, including dialogue, were written by the English authors Dickens, Thackeray, and Eliot. American novels written during this time tended to be allegorical.

American novels in the early 1900s focused on social ills. These novels include The Jungle by Sinclair Lewis, Studs Lonigan by James Farrell, and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. In the late 1900s American novels of great strength appeared including The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

APPROACHES TO READING AND INTERPRETING LITERATURE

The author’s primary purpose explains why the author wrote the passage. The purpose is closely related to the main idea. You might think. “Fine, I know the main idea. But why did the author take the time to write about that main idea?” “What is the author trying to make me know or feel?” The author’s purpose will be in one of the following five categories:

Describe. Present an image of physical reality or a mental image;

Entertain. Amuse, Perform;

Inform. Clarify, Explain, State;

Narrate. Relate, Tell a story;

Persuade. Argue, Convince, Prove.

There is no hard and fast rule for identifying the author’s purpose. Rely on your informed impression of the passage. Once in a while a passage may overtly state the author’s purpose. But you must usually figure it out on your own. Remember, one of the answer choices will be correct. Your job is to decide which one it is.

Facts can be proven true or false by some objective means or method. A fact refers to persons, things, or events that exist now or existed at some time in the past. Note that a fact does not have to be true. For example, the statement “The tallest human being alive today is 86 inches tall” is false. This statement is a fact because it can be proven false.

Opinions, however, cannot be proved or disproved by some objective means or method. Opinions are subjective and include attitudes and probabilities. Some statements, which seem true, may still be opinions. For example, the statement “A car is easier to park than a bus”, seems true. However, this statement is an opinion. There is no way to objectively prove this statement true or false. Examples:

Fact: Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States during the Civil War. We can check historical records and find out if the state­ment is true. This statement of fact is true.

Fact: Robert E. Lee went into exile in Canada after the Civil War. We can check historical records. This factual statement is true. Lee later became president of Washington College, now called Washington ‘ and Lee University:

Fact: It is more than 90°F. outside. We can use a thermometer to prove or disprove this statement.

Fact: More people were born in November than in any other month. We can check statistical records to prove or disprove this statement.

Opinion: If Lincoln had lived. Reconstruction would have been better. This sounds true, but there is no way to prove or disprove this statement.

Opinion: Lee was the Civil War’s most brilliant general. Sounds true, but there is no way to prove it.

Opinion: It will always be colder in November than in July. Sounds true! But we can’t prove or disprove future events.

A statement or passage reveals bias if the author has prejudged or has a predisposition to a doctrine, idea, or practice. Bias means the author is trying to convince or influence the reader through some emotional appeal or slanted writing. Bias can be positive or negative. Positive Bias: She is so lovely, she deserves the very best. Negative Bias: She is so horrible, I hope she gets what’s coming to her. Biased writing can often be identified by the presence of one or more of the following forms of bias:

1. Emotional Language. Language that appeals to the reader’s emotions, and not to common sense or logic.

Positive: If I am elected, I will help your family get jobs.

Negative: If my opponent is elected, your family will lose their jobs.

2. Inaccurate Information. Language that presents false, inaccurate, or unproved information as though it were factual.

Positive: My polls indicate that I am very popular.

Negative: My polls indicate that a lot of people disagree with my opponent.

3. Name Calling. Language that uses negative, disapproving terms without any factual basis.

Negative: I’ll tell you, my opponent is a real jerk.

4. Slanted Language. Language that slants the facts or evidence toward the writer’s point of view.

Positive: I am a positive person, looking for the good side of people.

Negative: My opponent finds fault with everyone and everything.

5. Stereotyping. Language that indicates that a person is like all the members of a particular group.

Positive: I belong to the Krepenkle party, the party known for its honesty.

Negative: My opponent belongs to the Perplenkle party, the party of increased taxes.

The author’s tone is the author’s attitude as reflected in the passage. Answering this question means choosing the correct tone word. How do you think the author would sound while speaking? What impression would you form about the speaker’s attitude or feeling? The answer to the latter question will usually lead you to the author’s tone.

Valid arguments are reasonable. Valid arguments are objective and supported by evidence. Invalid arguments are not reasonable. They are not objective. Invalid arguments usually reflect one of the following fallacies:

1. Ad hominem. Arguing against a person to discredit their position, rather than an argument against the position itself.

2. Ad populum. An argument that appeals to the emotions of the person.

3. Bandwagon. Arguing for position because of its popularity.

4. Begging the question. Assuming that an argument, or part of an argument, is true without providing proof.

5. Circular logic. Using a statement of a position to argue in favor of that position.

6. Either/or. Stating that the conclusion falls into one of two extremes, when there are more intermediate choices.

7. Faulty analogy. Using an analogy as an argument when the analogy does not match the situation under discussion.

8. Hasty generalization. Reaching a conclusion too quickly, before all the information is known.

9. Non sequitur. A conclusion that does not logically follow from the facts.

10. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc — Falsely stating that one event following another is caused by the first event (faulty cause and effect).

11. Red herring — An irrelevant point, diverting attention from the position under discussion.