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Further Recommendations on Preparing for the Literary and Rhetorical Content of the Secondary English TExES
As you know, most of the secondary English TExES involves classroom teaching, but you will also need to have some familiarity with standard literary and rhetorical terms, as well as the major movements, genres, and periods of American, British, and world literature. This happens to be one of the components of the exam that you can study for during the week before the exam. Just to give you an idea of what you need to know, below is a collection of terms that appear in the ExCET/TExES preparation materials, competencies, and practice materials.
setting, tragic flaw,
classical allusion, dramatic irony, extended metaphor, character, stage
direction, dialogue, plot, voice, sonnet, Petrarch, personification, chivalric
romance, gothic novel, sentimental comedy, picaresque novel, tone,
point-of-view, mood, theme, imagery, tone, dialogue, characterization, irony,
figurative language, narration, hyperbole, syllabication, literary criticism
(definition of), critical method, stanza, stanza structure, meter, tone, text,
literary text, narrative structure (of a novel), subplot, literary allusions,
rhyme, meter, scanning, onomatopoeia, protagonist
Of course, that’s not to say that this is an inclusive list, but it does give you an idea of what might appear on the real test. Some of these terms are incidental—embedded in the question somehow—and some of them ARE the question—you have to know them to get it right. Anyway, it gives you a good idea of what you are going to see on the exam (though, again, it’s not as important as the pedagogy). After compiling this list, I matched it against the online site I have been recommending (the first one in the list below). I discovered that the site was excellent in some ways but skimpy in others (especially rhetorical terms). With this in mind, I went looking for other sites to recommend to you. What I discovered is that there is no “one-size-fits-all” site. If you are going to do any further study in this area, I would suggest you read the descriptions below and decide—based on your self-assessment of your knowledge of these subjects—which of these sites would be the best for you to visit as you prepare for Saturday’s exam.
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/Terms/Temp/
A little quirky and confusing to navigate, but good, brief-but-sophisticated definitions. Not enough literary and rhetorical terms, but excellent coverage of literary movements, genres, and periods. Also a very good section on history and development of the English language.
http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/glossary/index.htm
The Gale Research online site. Very comprehensive, with excellent definitions and cross-links. Comprehensive in literary and rhetorical terms, and really excellent on literary movements, genres, and periods. (In fact, if you are weak in genres and literary movements, this is the best site for you.) The problem (or maybe not a problem) is that this is practically a handbook on line. Every term you could possibly need is here, but if you don’t have a good sense of what you’re looking for, there’s too much. (There are 43 entries under the letter “A” alone.) This is the best of these sites, but you shouldn’t use it unless you already have a feel for what you need to look for.
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/resources/shakespeare/Literary.Terms.Menu.html
This site was put together by a high school teacher. The definitions are not overly complex, and they are useful and clear, if a little unsophisticated. The site has 112 terms with a good balance of literary and rhetorical (a little heavier on the literary) Also some (very brief and possibly not adequate) definitions of literary movements, genres, and periods. No history/development of English langugage.
http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/vclass/terms.htm
This site was constructed by the
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