Standard #: LA.8.2.1.7 (Archived Standard)


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The student will locate and analyze an author's use of allusions and descriptive, idiomatic, and figurative language in a variety of literary text, identifying how word choice is used to appeal to the reader's senses and emotions, providing evidence from text to support the analysis;


General Information

Subject Area: X-Reading/Language Arts (former standards - 2008)
Grade: 8
Strand: Literary Analysis
Standard: Fiction - The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of the elements of a variety of fiction and literary texts to develop a thoughtful response to a literary selection.
Date Adopted or Revised: 01/07
Status: State Board Approved - Archived
Assessed: Yes

Test Item Specifications

    Item Type(s): This benchmark may be assessed using: MC item(s)
    N/A

    Clarification :
    The student will identify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the author’s use of descriptive and/or figurative language and will determine how the author’s use of language impacts meaning in a variety of grade-level appropriate texts.
    Content Limits :
    Grade-level appropriate texts should contain clear examples of descriptive language (e.g., tone, irony, mood, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia) and figurative language (e.g., symbolism, metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole). 

    Idioms and allusions should not be assessed.

    Content Focus :
    Descriptive Language (e.g., tone, mood, irony, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia)
    Figurative Language (e.g., hyperbole, symbolism, simile, metaphor, personification)
    Text Attributes :
    Text should be literary and may include, but are not limited to, fiction, nonfiction (e.g., biographies, autobiographies, personal and historical essays, diary entries, speeches, editorials, memoirs), poetry, and drama.

    Other stimuli may include, but are not limited to, illustrations with captions, graphics, and charts.
    Distractor Attributes :
    Distractor Attributes 
    • examples of descriptive language or figurative language drawn from the text but unrelated to the test item; 
    • inaccurate interpretations of descriptive language or figurative language; and 
    • plausible but incorrect distractors based on the text. 

    Note: If two descriptive language distractors are used, they must be balanced with two figurative language distractors. The correct answer determines the content focus for the item. 

    Note: Distractors may also include all descriptive language examples or all figurative language examples. 

    Note: When assessing author’s tone (e.g., melancholic, nostalgic, forlorn) and mood (e.g., sorrowful, gloomy, optimistic) in a text, distractors should not be a list of words but should include specific examples related to the text.



Sample Test Items (1)

Test Item # Question Difficulty Type
Sample Item 1 The sample item below is based on “Shackleton’s Epic Voyage” on page H–15.

Read these sentences from the passage.

The James Caird was the biggest of the ship’s boats. Even so she looked pitifully small to face the great grey seas of the southern ocean.

Which literary device is used in the sentences above?

N/A MC: Multiple Choice


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