Section 3: Overview and Exam Framework
Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Spanish (613)

Exam Overview

Table outlining the test format, number of questions, time, and passing score.
Exam Name Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Spanish
Exam Code 613
Time 5 hours
Number of Questions 120 selected-response questions and 8 constructed-response assignments
Format Computer-administered test (CAT)

The TExES Languages Other Than English (LOTE) Spanish (613) exam is designed to assess whether an examinee has the requisite knowledge and skills that an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools must possess. The 120 selected-responce questions and 8 constructed-response assignments are based on the LOTE Spanish exam framework. The exam may contain questions that do not count toward the score. Your final scaled score will be based only on scored questions.

The Standards

Standard I

The LOTE teacher understands language learning theories and principles of second-language acquisition and uses this knowledge to plan instruction and assessment that promotes success for all students in all areas of language learning as defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Standard II

The LOTE teacher understands assessment and instruction and applies this knowledge to monitor and promote student progress in all areas of language learning as defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Standard III

The LOTE teacher implements the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), enabling students to communicate in the target language, through which they gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, connect with other disciplines and acquire information, make comparisons that develop insight into the nature of language and culture and participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.
Standard IV

The LOTE teacher understands the nature of culture and the connections between language and culture, and understands the practices, products and perspectives of the culture(s) in which the target language is used.
Standard V

As a demonstration of listening proficiency, the LOTE teacher is able to derive essential information, interpret meaning and evaluate oral communications in the target language (as applicable to the target language).
Standard VI

As a demonstration of reading proficiency, the LOTE teacher is able to derive essential information, interpret meaning and evaluate a variety of authentic materials written in the target language (as applicable to the target language).
Standard VII

As a demonstration of speaking proficiency, the LOTE teacher is able to construct effective interpersonal and presentational oral discourse in the target language (as applicable to the target language).
Standard VIII

As a demonstration of writing proficiency, the LOTE teacher is able to write effective interpersonal and presentational discourse in the target language (as applicable to the target language).

Domains and Competencies

Table outlining test content subject weighting by domain.
Domain Domain Title Approx. Percentage of Exam Standards Assessed
I Instruction and Assessment 34.6% LOTE Spanish: I–III
II Cultural Understanding 8% LOTE Spanish: IV
III Interpretive Listening 16.7% LOTE Spanish: IV and V
IV Interpretive Reading 16.7% LOTE Spanish: IV and VI
V Written Expression 12% LOTE Spanish: VIII
VI Oral Expression 12% LOTE Spanish: VII

Pie chart of approximate test weighting outlined in the table above.

The content covered by this exam is organized into broad areas of content called domains. Each domain covers one or more of the educator standards for this field. Within each domain, the content is further defined by a set of competencies. Each competency is composed of two major parts:

  • The competency statement, which broadly defines what an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools should know and be able to do.
  • The descriptive statements, which describe in greater detail the knowledge and skills eligible for testing.

Domain I—Instruction and Assessment

Competency 001—The LOTE teacher knows and understands language-learning theories and theories of second-language acquisition and their application to LOTE instruction and assessment to promote the learning goals defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for LOTE and promote all students' success as language learners.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Understands theories and processes of interlanguage development, including predictable patterns in second-language development and factors affecting the time required to learn a language.
  2. Understands the theories of cognitive processing that underlie first- and second-language acquisition.
  3. Understands general learning theories and processes relevant to language acquisition, including theories and processes of second-language instruction and assessment (e.g., communicative approaches, content-based approaches).
  4. Understands the roles of various learning styles (e.g., visual, tactile, aural) in second-language acquisition and plans, selects and creates a variety of instructional and assessment materials that are responsive to various language-learning styles and that raise students' awareness of their own language-learning styles.
  5. Understands the roles of individual students' characteristics (e.g., motivation, first-language background), social processes and linguistic factors (e.g., language transfer, overgeneralization) and other factors (e.g., family attitudes and behaviors) in second-language acquisition.
  6. Applies theories and processes that guide work with particular student populations in the LOTE classroom (e.g., heritage learners, gifted and talented, special needs) to plan, select and create instructional and assessment strategies that enhance language acquisition and success for all students.
  7. Applies theories and processes of second-language learning, instruction and assessment in planning, selecting and creating a variety of instructional and assessment practices and sequences that are based on the learning goals defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for LOTE.
  8. Knows how to expand and enrich existing home background of heritage language/dialect of native speakers of the language.
Competency 002—The LOTE teacher understands and applies theories, strategies and practices of second-language instruction and assessment to promote students' progress in all areas of language learning as defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for LOTE.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Understands and applies knowledge of instructional strategies, materials, technologies and activities to plan instruction that is appropriate for students' varied interests, needs, learning styles, motivations and backgrounds and for fostering students' progress in all areas of language learning.
  2. Knows and understands a variety of informal and formal assessment methods for identifying and interpreting students' affective and cognitive needs (e.g., attitudes about language learning, language strengths and weaknesses, cultural understandings); for determining students' proficiency levels; for monitoring students' progress; for reflecting on, adjusting and improving teaching practice; and for guiding students' learning.
  3. Plans, selects and implements a variety of informal and formal assessment methods, tools and rubrics for evaluating and promoting students' interpersonal, interpretive and presentational communication skills in all modalities.
  4. Applies knowledge of instructional strategies to encourage students' self-evaluation and self-monitoring, including self-selection of personal learning strategies relevant to second-language acquisition.
  5. Understands strategies for selecting, adapting and developing instructional strategies and informal and formal assessments for evaluating students' language acquisition as reflected in state and national guidelines (e.g., TEKS for LOTE, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages [ACTFL] Performance Guidelines for K–12 Learners).
  6. Selects, creates, adapts and promotes age-appropriate and language-proficiency-level-appropriate materials, strategies and applications of various media to foster language learning and promote cultural understanding.
  7. Understands strategies for promoting meaningful, proficiency-level-appropriate discourse in the target language by providing comprehensible input and opportunities to interact, negotiate meaning, speak extemporaneously, make cultural connections and participate in extended conversational interactions.
Competency 003—The LOTE teacher understands and applies strategies and approaches for implementing the TEKS for LOTE to promote students' ability to communicate in the target language, gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, connect with other disciplines and acquire information, make comparisons that develop insight into the nature of language and culture and participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Applies knowledge of instructional and assessment strategies, practices and sequences to facilitate the development of interpersonal communication in the target language.
  2. Applies knowledge of instructional and assessment strategies, practices and sequences to facilitate the development of interpretive communication in the target language, including strategies for guiding students in the selection of materials for independent reading, listening and viewing in the target language.
  3. Applies knowledge of instructional and assessment strategies, practices and sequences to facilitate effective communication in the target language, including strategies for making speech comprehensible.
  4. Understands the use of instructional and assessment activities, materials and practices that integrate culturally significant practices, products and perspectives into the language-learning environment.
  5. Understands and applies strategies for guiding students in their comprehension of the nature of language and culture through comparisons between the target cultures and the students' own language(s) and culture(s), including strategies for helping students understand the influence of one language or culture on another.
  6. Understands and applies strategies for creating interdisciplinary learning experiences to help students explore connections among disciplines; integrate knowledge, skills and methods of inquiry from different subject areas; build vocabulary in other disciplines; explore connections between the target language and their own career goals; and make personal connections across disciplines through the use of the target language.
  7. Understands and applies strategies for connecting what is taught in the classroom to what is experienced in everyday life and can make cultural connections across disciplines.
  8. Knows how to identify, plan and promote opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities (e.g., contests, field trips) and local ethnic organizations and events, including opportunities to work with individuals from a variety of backgrounds and cultures to establish community learning activities, and opportunities to study, travel and work abroad and at home.

 

Domain II—Cultural Understanding

Competency 004—The LOTE teacher understands the connections between language and culture, including the interactions among cultural products, practices and perspectives within the target language cultures.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Understands and analyzes connections among cultural products, practices and perspectives in the target cultures.
  2. Knows and understands that there are multiple perspectives within the target language cultures and can analyze and interpret ideas from diverse perspectives within these cultures.
  3. Understands and analyzes important similarities and differences among products, practices and perspectives of target cultures and of multiple cultures within the United States.
  4. Understands and analyzes the factors within the target cultures that influence language.

 

Domain III—Interpretive Listening

Competency 005—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to understand the literal content of oral communications in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Derives essential information (main ideas and details) from oral discourse in the target language on a variety of topics involving description and/or narration in different time frames (e.g., present, past, future) and in a variety of contexts (e.g., lecture, conversation, telephone message, public address announcement, news item, oral instructions).
  2. Understands discourse in the target language likely to be encountered in social and professional situations within the target language cultures and communities, including discourse about cultural topics, connections to and comparisons with other disciplines and connections to and comparisons with what is experienced outside the classroom.
  3. Understands the meaning of idiomatic words and expressions frequently used in oral discourse in the target language in a variety of culturally specific settings.
Competency 006—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to infer, interpret and evaluate meaning from oral communications in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Interprets and evaluates oral messages in the target language in order to make inferences (e.g., characterizing the tone, mood or point of view of one or more speakers; identifying a cause-and-effect relationship implied but not stated in an oral communication; analyzing the sociocultural context of an oral exchange; paraphrasing an oral message).

 

Domain IV—Interpretive Reading

Competency 007—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to understand the literal content of authentic materials written in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Understands the literal content of a variety of authentic materials (e.g., determining the stated main idea of a passage; identifying an accurate summary of passage content; identifying the sequence of events in a passage; discerning details regarding character, setting or events described in a passage).
  2. Understands various types of authentic target language texts and realia (e.g., literary works, personal letters, newspaper and magazine articles, informational texts, websites, forms, menus, posters) that represent a variety of cultural, community and cross-disciplinary perspectives, including materials that connect with what is experienced outside the classroom.
  3. Understands frequently used idiomatic words and expressions in a variety of culturally specific authentic materials.
Competency 008—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to infer, interpret and evaluate meaning from a variety of authentic materials written in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Applies critical-reading skills (e.g., making inferences about setting or character from information provided in a passage; discerning implied cause-and-effect relationships in a passage; inferring an author's assumptions, purpose or point of view in a passage; interpreting figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, in a literary passage) to a variety of authentic materials.

 

Domain V—Written Expression

Competency 009—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to use a broad range of simple and complex language structures in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Uses simple and complex language structures and conventions of the written language (e.g., accent marks, spelling, punctuation) in interpersonal and presentational writing.
  2. Demonstrates a broad range of vocabulary, often-used idiomatic expressions and culturally appropriate usage in interpersonal and presentational writing.
Competency 010—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to prepare effective interpersonal and presentational written discourse in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Demonstrates the ability to construct informal and formal written discourse concerning a variety of practical, social and professional topics (e.g., writing a letter, writing about a literary passage; expressing views on a current issue; responding to an opinion or viewpoint; describing the reasoning behind a decision) and reflecting different cultural, community and cross-disciplinary perspectives.
  2. Describes, narrates and explains in written discourse using tenses appropriate to the task and registers appropriate to the audience (e.g., informal, formal).
  3. Uses appropriate vocabulary to write about topics of personal and public interest, including cultural perspectives, community events, comparisons between cultures, connections between the study of the target language and other academic disciplines and connections between what is taught in the classroom and real-life experiences.
  4. Exhibits an appropriate level of cultural knowledge and sensitivity while writing cohesive summaries, essays, narratives, explanations and descriptions.

 

Domain VI—Oral Expression

Competency 011—The LOTE teacher demonstrates the ability to construct effective interpersonal and presentational oral discourse in the target language.

The beginning teacher:

  1. Demonstrates the ability to initiate communication and respond orally in the target language in a variety of social and professional situations (e.g., describing events or circumstances, explaining a problem, discussing advantages and disadvantages of an idea or proposed course of action).
  2. Describes, narrates and explains in oral discourse in the target language using tenses and moods appropriate to the task and the audience.
  3. Uses appropriate vocabulary to present information about topics of personal and public interest, including cultural perspectives, community events, comparisons between cultures, connections between the study of the target language and other academic disciplines and connections between what is taught in the classroom and real-life experiences.
  4. Demonstrates the ability to use spoken language in culturally appropriate ways, including the use of different registers (e.g., informal, formal) to satisfy the requirements of educational, professional and social situations.
  5. Demonstrates a broad range of vocabulary, often-used idiomatic expressions, clearly comprehensible pronunciation and intonation and simple and complex language structures in oral discourse.
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