Your first language isn't English, but that shouldn't be problematic for you on RICA provided you answer questions completely and correctly. Your answers here suggest that you've got some work to do, however. Um. You've defined accuracy by using the word "accurate". That's circular reasoning, and it won't make the scorers happy. "Fast", for the record, is covered under the rate component of fluency. Accuracy itself has to do with the student's ability to identify words correctly when reading. The student who reads a text at an appropriate speed but makes numerous mistakes in word identification is not a fluent reader because that student is not reading accurately. What might accuracy look like in a first-grade reader? What about a seventh-grade reader? (It won't be the same, and you'll need to bring in some words from other parts of reading to discuss this successfully.) A successful answer to a RICA question that asks for a definition will give the correct definition and will also give an example to illustrate it. If the definition is a little bit off but the example is apt for the question, the scorers may well go a little bit easier on the grading. Defining prosody as "pronunciation" makes it seem that prosody is about how individual words are pronounced. It isn't. Prosody has to do with intonation and intonation contours - if you will, it's about the melody of language. For instance, even when one can't make out the words, one can distinguish a yes/no question in English ("Am I answering this right?") from a wh-question ("What didn't I answer right?"). I'll guess that you first learned English in Europe, which means you learned Standard British English, and you've probably noticed that a sentence like "I'm going outside" sounds different in British English than in Standard American English: that's partly a matter of different vowel pronunciations (which has to do with phonetics, not prosody), but it's also a matter of British English having a wider intonational range than does American English, and that difference is a difference in prosody. Recognizing punctuation is important to prosody, of course.
What can you suggest about Domain IV? For what aspects I need to pay more attention? How to improve it? How many pluses is maximum for each domain? I am wondering if there is more than 3 +?
You're welcome for the clarification about the components of fluency. I also intended to point out and demonstrate some things about how constructed responses work. As for the scoring, maximum is ++++ (four pluses). That is, three pluses is "all right, but room for improvement". As for domain IV, it has three parts. Tell me what each is called. How might they differ?
Academic language is the language used in textbooks, in classrooms and on tests. Academic language is very different from every day language on the structure and vocabulary. Academic language have many terms that we do not use in every day life.
Academic language is the language that is not in use in everyday life. When we talk about definition of the subject matter content, subject core standards, etc. Vocabulary is the set of words in each area, for example: science, density, gravity, shape, weight, mass, length, compatible, comparable, etc. Prior knowledge is the set of skills that students already have about the topic that teacher is going to teach. Sometimes students have some skills, then they will learn new materials on the base of they already know, new knowledge and understanding will be added to they already know and understand.
Another way to look at academic language and how it differs from vocabulary is that academic language includes words that exist in everyday life but that are used differently in an academic discipline. The most common examples are drawn from science, but my favorite example isn't scientific: it's the use of the word "illustrate", in the humanities and the human sciences, to mean not 'draw pictures for a book' but 'give an example that shows the point'. In addition, academic language includes the text structures that are characteristic of a discipline: the use of passive voice ("The sample was inoculated with the test solution") is actively discouraged in creative writing and grudgingly allowed when necessary in literature studies, and always flagged by Microsoft Word's hyperactive and sometimes witless grammar checker, but passive voice is accepted and even preferred in lab reports, whose results ought to be replicable by anyone, anywhere, who follows the research protocol. You'll notice I've, um, illustrated my points with fairly specific examples in each case. These examples help me show not only that I know what academic language is and isn't but that I have some grasp of technical terms that relate to it.
I have failed the RICA four times now. The third time I missed by 3 points. Now I am back to my first failed score of 196...I really need help, I can't afford to fail again.
Hello, I failed the RICA by 1 point and I'm so bummed. I've already taken it 4 times. So, I feel horrid!! I've taken online course like: teacher solutions, teachers test prep and even a RICA Workshop. I've purchased every book that you can think of...the list goes on and on. I love working with students with special needs and I cannot believe that I am not passing. So, I have finally decided to do something that I have never done before. Which is..take the RICA Workshop and a few days later take the exam. In essence, all is fresh in my memory. If anyone has any advice please send it my way...Will GREATLY appreciate it... BLessings your way..
TeacherL, We are in the same boat. Have you re-taken the exam since this post? if so, how did you do?
I failed the RICA 3 times (207, 211, 213) and finally passed the on the fourth try. I will share what I think finally worked. I watched all of Chris Boosalis videos and I attended a teachers test prep workshop on a Saturday. I tested on Monday. I spent most of Sunday studying for the test. I passed with mostly +++ and ++++ . I would really suggest taking a workshop/prep and then taking the test a day or two after.
