Narrator Reliability Test

This reading analysis worksheet helps students develop critical reading skills by examining whether a narrator can be trusted. Students read several short passages and decide if each narrator is reliable or unreliable, then cite specific textual evidence to justify their choice. The activity trains students to look beyond surface details and analyze how bias, exaggeration, omissions, or self-interest can shape a story.

By pairing judgment with evidence, students learn that reliability is not about opinion-it is about what the text reveals.

Learning Goals

• Evaluating Narrator Reliability
  Distinguish between reliable and unreliable narrators based on textual clues.
• Text Evidence & Justification
  Support claims with clear, relevant evidence from the passage.
• Critical Reading & Interpretation
  Analyze tone, word choice, and inconsistencies in narration.
• Understanding Bias in Narration
  Recognize how motivation, perspective, and exaggeration influence storytelling.

Instructional Benefits

• Builds Higher-Order Thinking
  Encourages inference, reasoning, and evaluation rather than recall.
• Strengthens Evidence-Based Responses
  Reinforces the habit of backing up opinions with text support.
• Supports Literary Analysis Skills
  Prepares students for deeper study of fiction, memoir, and informational texts.
• Flexible Classroom Use
  Ideal for reading workshops, literature units, small-group discussion, assessment, or test prep.

The Narrator Reliability Test worksheet helps students become thoughtful, skeptical readers who question how stories are told and why. By analyzing trustworthiness and citing evidence, learners gain essential skills for literary analysis, critical thinking, and academic writing across grade levels.

This worksheet is part of our Writing By Point of View (First, Second, Third Person) Worksheets collection.