English as a Second Language Supplemental (154)
A group of ESL students generally reads with good comprehension during reading lessons in English. However, the students often experience reading comprehension difficulties during content-area lessons. Which of the following approaches is most likely to be effective in helping these students?
Explicitly teach the students about the parts and format of various nonfiction texts and the specialized terminology and language the texts use.
Which of the following correctly identifies the main contribution of the historical court case of Plyler v. Doe?
It resulted in the guarantee of the rights of undocumented immigrants to free public education.
How are first- and second- languages interrelated?
First and second languages are interrelated in many ways including grammar and pronunciation.
A new student who recently moved to the United States speaks both Spanish and German at home. How is this dual-language background likely to affect his acquisition of English?
He will acquire English skills rapidly because he is already familiar with the concept of structural variations between languages.
Which of the following best describes an effective application of research on factors that influence ESL students' learning outcomes and success in school?
A teacher adapts instructional practices to respond to students' characteristics of learning.
Which of the following best describes a design and implementation of effective instruction in response to research on factors that influence ESL students' learning outcomes and success in school?
A teacher designs instruction that encourages multicultural viewpoints.
Which ESL lesson introduction uses categorization the best?
A teacher explains and models the sounds of every letter in a word.
Which ESL lesson introduction uses memorization the best?
A teacher shows a picture and plays an audio file that characterizes a foreign word.
Which ESL lesson introduction uses metacognition the best?
A teacher tells the class they will be learning some new words that she will be writing on the board and pronouncing for them.
A teacher works with English language learners at various levels of language proficiency. Which of the following strategies provides language support for ELLs during classroom instruction? Select all that apply.
A. Visuals which illustrate complex concepts B. Access to content word lists C. Cooperative learning activities D. Sentence stems
Roberto is a limited English proficient (LEP) student who receives special education services. A representative from the language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC) is attending Roberto's annual ARD. The role of the LPAC representative is to:I. assist with decisions regarding the selection of assessments and appropriate accommodations for LEP students who receive special education services.II. to supervise the provision of specially designed instruction delivered to an eligible child.III. interpret the results of the speech and language assessments used to identify speech impairments.IV. coordinate the transition of extended year services.
A.I only
Which of the following is not a technological tool used in an ESL classroom?
An English textbook
State and Title III federal laws require the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee to conduct annual reviews of English language learners as they attain language and academic proficiency. Which of the following is not a true statement with regards to compliance to those mandates by the committee?
Annual review will be conducted only for students with parental approval for placement.
A seventh-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a unit on poetry. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level for students, the teacher adapted content for all students, and the teacher planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.Which of the following strategies would mostly likely help ELLs become active participants in learning? Select all that apply.
B. The teacher should provide adequate wait time for student responses. C. The teacher should provide frequent opportunities for interaction. D. The teacher should use group configurations.
The Language Proficiency Assessment Committee coordinates efforts with the Special Education Program when making special education placement decisions for English language learners. Which of the following processes and measures are most likely associated with LPAC committee decisions?I. Program PlacementII. Instructional LevelsIII. Member must serve on the ARD committeeIV. Individualized Education ProgramV. Admission, Review and DismissalVI. Duration of Services
C.I, II and III
Job interviews and writing scholarship essays require the use of what type of language acquisition?
CALP
An ESL teacher is planning instruction for a group of English language learners who are beginning to read in English. The teacher should be aware that these students are likely to find which of the following phonological tasks most difficult?
Discriminating between different English sounds when those distinctions do not exist in their primary language.
Mrs. Kelly conducts daily read-alouds in her fourth grade classroom which includes a high number of ELLs. She engages her students throughout a book by asking questions and discussing events. Which of the following teacher questions is least likely to promote oral language?
Do you like the story?
Which of the following is not a true statement according to principles of effective second language learning?
ESL students who show ability to converse comfortably in English demonstrate proficiency and are achieving academically.
Which of the following statements best describes the structured English immersion model?
English language learners are taught both English language skills and grade-level subject-area content by content-area teachers who have been trained in ESL techniques.
A sixth-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a lesson on the human body. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level for students, the teacher adapted content for all students, and the teacher planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.If the content objective for lesson was to analyze the functions of the organs in the digestive system, which of the following might be an appropriate language objective
Explain the digestive system to a partner, naming/pointing at the relevant organs.
A sixth-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a lesson on the human body. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level for students, the teacher adapted content for all students, and the teacher planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.If the content objective for lesson was to analyze the functions of the organs in the digestive system, which of the following might be an appropriate language objective?
Explain the digestive system to a partner, naming/pointing at the relevant organs.
A seventh-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a unit on poetry. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level of students, adapted content for all students, and planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.The unit on poetry included opportunities for students to draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry. Which of the following classroom activities might scaffold oral language development for all students?
Explain the elements of poetry to a partner using a provided poem as a guide.
Mrs. Coronado teaches fifth-grade ESL at Reginald Elementary School. Her students have a wide array of English language proficiency but recently she discovered that most of her students were having difficulty understanding multisyllabic words with prefixes and suffixes. Mrs. Coronado would like to plan an activity that leads to the purposeful use of morphemic analysis as a word learning strategy. Which of the following activities is best suited to achieve this purpose?
Given a specific root, students work with a partner to create a list of words with the root and then write definitions for the words on their list.
Which of the following sentences contains an error?
He knows that each of the students need a book, pencil and paper.
Roberto is a limited English proficient (LEP) student who receives special education services. A representative from the language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC) is attending Roberto's annual ARD. The role of the LPAC representative is to:I. assist with decisions regarding the selection of assessments and appropriate accommodations for LEP students who receive special education services.II. to supervise the provision of specially designed instruction delivered to an eligible child.III. interpret the results of the speech and language assessments used to identify speech impairments.IV. coordinate the transition of extended year services.
I only
The Language Proficiency Assessment Committee coordinates efforts with the Special Education Program when making special education placement decisions for English language learners. Which of the following processes and measures are most likely associated with LPAC committee decisions?I. Program PlacementII. Instructional LevelsIII. Member must serve on the ARD committeeIV. Individualized Education ProgramV. Admission, Review and DismissalVI. Duration of Services
I, II and III
A seventh grade ESL teacher notices that an English language learner, who is a good student and speaks English well, always appears reluctant to engage in class activities that involve directly challenging the views and ideas of others. Very often, others in the class are waving their hands wanting to participate in the debate. In this situation, it would be most important for the teacher to consider which of the following?
In some cultures, it is considered inappropriate to openly challenge another's point of view.
Ms. Pate is an eighth-grade ESL teacher who is planning a teacher-parent conference with the parents of a student. She wants to make sure the conference goes well and opens up a an effective communication with the student's parents. Ms. Pate has arranged the room so the parents are facing her with no physical barriers between them, prepared all reports and information in both languages, and scheduled extended time for the conference. What other consideration should Ms. Pate address to ensure a successful conference?
Include an adult translator to attend the conference.
A high school teacher regularly identifies the cultures in the classroom represented by his ESL students in instructional practices . This factor is most likely to lead to which of the following outcomes for English language learners in his class?
It will tend to raise ESL students' self-esteem and thus facilitate their acquisition of English.
Which statement is least true regarding L1 acquisition and L2 learning?
L2 learning can be as rapid as L1 acquisition.
Which of the following court decisions ruled that providing the same access to curriculum, instruction, and materials for students of limited English proficiency as is provided to English dominant students is not in effect equitable?
Lau v. Nichols
Which statement is most true according to the ELPS (English Language Proficiency Standards)?
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are interrelated.
A student who has had five years of previous schooling in his home country has been placed in the fourth grade in a Texas school. A week later, an immigrant student from the same country as this student is placed in a different fourth-grade classroom in the same school. After several weeks, it becomes clear that the student who enrolled last is struggling considerably while his counterpart is making successful gains on the acquisition of English as a second language. Which of the following explains the most plausible reason this is happening?
Literacy gaps in the first language is part of the experience of the second student.
Mr. Stinson is helping students in his Content Mastery class with their science assignment. They are required to read a chapter in their fourth-grade science book and answer questions about it. All of these students have difficulty with reading. Which of the following approaches would be most effective in helping them with their assignment?
Mr. Stinson goes over vocabulary words they will encounter in their reading and they discuss the meaning of those words.
Which of the following sentences contains an error in punctuation?
My mother is a terrible listener, she always interrupts when I am talking.
Mario is an immigrant from Central America who enrolled in school in mid-October. Mario's language test scores placed him in a fourth-grade Sheltered English immersion program. On the first few days, Mario was a very quiet but an attentive student. He seemed to listen carefully to his teacher and watched his fellow classmates participating in discussions. In group work, he sat quietly, observing the other students. His teacher thought this was fine; Mario needed time to adjust to the classroom. But after a few weeks, it was clear that Mario didn't understand the textbook, the lessons. He began to seem less attentive, isolated, withdrawn, distracted and somewhat depressed. His homework assignments were either incomplete or seemed to have been completed by someone else.Which of the following special language programs offers the best fit to ensure Mario's accademic success?
Newcomer Program
The list below describes some of the key features found in which of the following special language programs?I . Students participate in special classes and extracurricular activities designed to familiarize them with the school, society, and their own communities.II. Curriculum emphasizes rapid English language acquisition and academic content instruction.III. Places a high premium on encouraging students to take pride in their native language and culture.
Newcomer Program
An ESL teacher integrates both language arts and content-area objectives in her social studies lessons. Which of the following would be the most effective way for her to assess whether students have mastered the social studies content covered in a lesson?
Observe the students as they answer content questions in small groups.
The Home Language Survey of a new third grader indicates that her first language is not English. The next step in the identification process will be to initiate testing to determine English proficiency of the student. Which of the following is true as far as the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee screening process is concerned? Select the best answer.
Parental permission for proceeding with this test is not required.
The school counselor at a middle school is concerned about the low parent attendance rate at the Annual Review and Dismissal Committee meetings, primarily among African-American, Hispanic, American Indian and ELL parents. The following reasons may help explain the lack of attendance except:
Parents from culturally diverse backgrounds usually have lower expectations for their children regarding education.
The boy went to school yesterday.He surprised his wife and bought flowers for her birthday.The football game went into overtime.Everyone dislikes Monday mornings.The words underlined in the sentences above are shown boxed below. Click and drag each boxed word and drop it in the area of the diagram below that correctly identifies the part of speech the word represents.
Preposition-for Noun-Monday Adjective-football Adverb-yesterday
Which activity allows students to best practice receptive, written, and oral language skills?
Reader's Theatre
A seventh-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a unit on poetry. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level of students, adapted content for all students, and planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.As the teacher shares new terminology related to types of poetry, which of the following strategies will best support the English language learners' understanding of the new words?
Share examples of the types of poetry
Which of the following best describes the instructional framework in Structured Immersion that is used for teaching English to English Language Learners?
Students are taught all subjects in a simplified form of English, which the teacher tries to adjust to their level of proficiency. They are provided little or no support in the native language. Academic content plays a supporting, but subordinate, role.
Which statement is most true provided that the native (L1) and target language (L2) definitions of literacy are similar?
Students with high literacy skills in their L1 are more likely to develop high literacy skills in their L2.
Mario is an immigrant from Central America who enrolled in school in mid-October. Mario's language test scores placed him in a fourth-grade Sheltered English immersion program. On the first few days, Mario was a very quiet but an attentive student. He seemed to listen carefully to his teacher and watched his fellow classmates participating in discussions. In group work, he sat quietly, observing the other students. His teacher thought this was fine; Mario needed time to adjust to the classroom. But after a few weeks, it was clear that Mario didn't understand the textbook, the lessons. He began to seem less attentive, isolated, withdrawn, distracted and somewhat depressed. His homework assignments were either incomplete or seemed to have been completed by someone else.Which of the following interventions should the teacher use that will best assist Mario in this situation?
Teach him school survival, provide adaptation assistance, and cross-cultural communication strategies.
Teachers must provide a learning environment that promotes the lifelong pursuit of learning and encourages cooperation and mutual respect. Which of the following would be most effective in maintaining an environment that is culturally responsive to students with diverse backgrounds?
Teachers observe and assess students to identify different learning needs and to improve teaching and learning.
Which of the following correctly identifies the main contribution of the historical court case of Lau v. Nichols?
The Supreme Court ruled that identical education does not constitute equal education under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Which of the following correctly identifies the main contribution of the historical court case of Castañeda v. Pickard?
The court ruled that implementation of bilingual education programs must be based on sound research, with adequate resources and opportunities for students to have access to the full curriculum.
The Language Proficiency Assessment committee of an elementary school has reviewed the test results of a new immigrant student, a fourth grader, and determined the LEP status for the student. It has also recommended the appropriate educational program for the student, notified the parents about the classification and requested permission for program entry. In the meantime, while awaiting for permission from parents, where should the student be placed?
The student should be placed in the recommended program in the meantime, even without parental consent.
A sixth-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a lesson on the human body. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level for students, the teacher adapted content for all students, and the teacher planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.Which of the following practices might a teacher employ when a student is visibly struggling during classroom conversations?
The teacher might speak slower and use other verbal cues.
A teacher assesses students' knowledge about the lives of Native Americans. Which of the following strategies would the teacher use to adapt an assignment for students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in reading and writing where they have to provide written answers to questions about the lives of Native Americans?
The teacher should provide sentence stems for students to use when answering questions.
A sixth-grade teacher with students at the beginning and intermediate level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking plans a lesson on the human body. In order to provide targeted instruction for all students, the teacher chose content concepts appropriate for the age and educational background level for students, the teacher adapted content for all students, and the teacher planned meaningful activities to integrate lesson concepts.Which of the following strategies would the teacher least likely use to help ELLs become active participants in learning?
The teacher should share jargon and slang to clarify concepts.
An English teacher notices her English language learners lack comprehension of the stories used in class. Which of the following statements best reflects ways a teacher may scaffold comprehension?
The teacher should use stories with predictable story lines and familiar topics.
Mr. Samuels teaches a Language Arts class where he has several students who are English language learners. Presently, the class is studying a famous play, which has a number of characters and a somewhat complicated plot. Which of the following strategies can Mr. Samuels use to help his students do well in the class?
Use a graphic organizer when lecturing and teach all students how to use one.
Which of the following is not a technological tool used in an ESL classroom?
Writing a short story using pen and paper
The difference between academic and conversational language is —
academic language is formal and requires the use of higher level vocabulary and explanation, whereas conversational language is more casual and may not require higher level vocabulary and explanation.
In an optimal English-language learning environment, most students take an average of five to seven years to develop —
academic language proficiency
Can participate in most writing activities, with second language acquisition support Uses predominately grade-appropriate English to write, using some detail. With support from the teacher, has an emerging ability to express herself using self-generated, connected text Occasionally exhibits second language acquisition errors. Which of the following levels of proficiency best describes the student?
advanced
Which of the following factors is likely to have a negative impact on a beginning English language learner's acquisition of English?
being encouraged by teachers and parents to decelerate native language development in favor of increasing acquisition effort of English
Diagraph is a strategy teachers use to help ELLs address phonetic issues. Which of the following is an example of a consonant digraph?
ck as in back
Mrs. Trinh is the chair of the Bilingual/ESL program in her school located in a largely Asian community located in Southeast Texas. For the past twenty years, she has been the administrator in charge of conducting tests to determine LEP status of Vietnamese-speaking students. After administering the oral language proficiency test on a fifth grader who just enrolled in the school, the OLPT score indicates limited English proficiency. In a collaborative effort, Mrs. Trinh communicates the Bilingual/ESL and content area teachers about the new placement in their classrooms so they can plan accordingly. What one aspect of this process did Mrs. Trinh overlook that can help speed up the admission of this student into his language instruction program?
classification of the student by the LPAC committee
Students in Mrs. Thomas' ESL class frequently make mistakes in their writing similar to the one shown above. Mrs. Thomas wants to address this problem to help her students become effective writers. Students making this type of mistake are most likely having difficulty with —
coordinating conjunctions.
A fourth-grade ESL teacher expects students to use a dictionary to complete part of the week's spelling homework. Which of the following answers would be the most appropriate assignment for learning the spelling words?
divide the word into syllables
Mrs. Firebaugh, a fourth grade teacher, notices that one of her ELL students is reading well overall but still struggles with words such as "though" and "been". Which of the following instructional strategies would benefit this student the most?
high-frequency words with irregular spellings
"A little bird told me" is what type of expression in English? Is this type of expression difficult or easy for English Language Learners to understand?
idiomatic; difficult
The proficiency levels of beginning, intermediate, advanced, and advanced-high are —
inclusive of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Which of the following models of language acquisition is based on the belief that a child's language development depends primarily on the relationship between the child's environment, perceptions, and linguistic experience?
interactionist
The writing sample above was composed in a language arts class by a fifth grade English language learner (ELL). The student describes how she goes about getting ready for school. Based on this information you can conclude this fifth grader is performing at what level of language proficiency?
intermediate
A teacher provides students with comprehensible input in English and finds ways to lower their affective filters. These are both essential strategies for developing beginning English language learners' —
listening and speaking skills.
Mrs. Batista teaches English in the eighth grade and is concluding a unit on subordinating conjunctions. Her classroom includes a combination of ELLs and native English speakers. During class, she can alleviate potential comprehension problems faced by her ELL students by slowing down her speech, writing critical vocabulary on the board, avoiding the use of slang, and sometimes allowing her ELL students to use their L1 language. Based on this information alone, Mrs. Batista is most likely an educator in a —
mainstream classroom.
A new immigrant student has enrolled the week before testing. Due to time constraints, the school has not been able to officially designate the student as limited English proficient or obtain all the necessary information related to the student's schooling outside the United States. How should the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee proceed to make an appropriate testing decision for this student?
make a decision based solely on the information gathered
A fourth grade teacher wants to ensure that the classroom reading environment supports content-area learning for the English language learners in class. Which of the following strategies is likely to be most effective in addressing this objective?
making available in the classroom library texts at various levels that supplement and reinforce the information presented in students' textbooks
ESL students in a middle-school class frequently use Venn diagrams to clarify their understanding of expository texts. To assess a student's comprehension of a passage about comets and meteoroids, the teacher asks the student to use facts from the text to complete a Venn diagram.This strategy is likely to be particularly useful in helping the teacher evaluate the student's ability to —
organize textual information by analyzing similarities and differences.
Being able to connect speech sounds with the printed letters they represent is a description of —
phonics
A teacher is planning an activity in which his ESL students will attempt to spell various words given to them orally. At the end of the exercise, they will turn in their spellings to the teacher. The teacher then analyzes the spelling results of each student.Which end-result will this activity most likely assist the teacher measure?
phonics skills
A middle school science classroom has several English language learners at the beginning level of English language acquisition. Which of the following instructional strategies best supports beginning level English language learners in a middle school science classroom as students develop English speaking skills?
providing native language translations of academic vocabulary
As part of a mathematics unit on standard units of measure, an ESL teacher copies sentences like the following onto sentence strips, cuts them into parts, and asks students to reassemble the sentences correctly.
reinforcing their knowledge of English sentence construction that features comparatives.
Strategies to promote the development of English language proficiency and the use of academic language include all of the following except —
rely on a textbook as your only visual aid
A middle school ESL teacher is working with a class of advanced-level English language learners. The cloze technique is an especially useful method for assessing students' understanding of English language structures because it requires students to —
select appropriate words based on their grammatical function as well as on their meaning.
A person says, "I like to play floor." The problem with this sentence could best be described using which of the following areas of linguistics?
semantics
In an ESL class, which of the following should be the primary focus of content-area instruction delivered to English language learners?
simultaneous development of second-language skills and content-area knowledge
Some of Mr. Simmons' students are English language learners. This visual representation will help all of Mr. Simmons' students, but especially the English language learners most likely because —
students who are English Language Learners have a hard time understanding new concepts.
Use the graphic organizer below that Mr. Simmons, a middle school teacher, has used in his physical education class in the unit on baseball, to answer the two questions that follow.Some of Mr. Simmons' students are English language learners. This visual representation will help all of Mr. Simmons' students, but especially the English language learners most likely because —
students who are English Language Learners have a hard time understanding new concepts.
An ESL teacher makes a point of including the following types of print materials in literacy activities with her students. These types of materials are effective in promoting reading comprehension and overall literacy development primarily because —
the language in such materials tends to be well contextualized and learner-centered.
An ESL teacher is trying to determine whether a group of students is ready to begin receiving instruction in English in a particular content area. A bilingual teacher has assessed the students' levels of primary-language proficiency and now the ESL teacher carefully considers the students' levels of proficiency in English. Which of the following factors would be most important for the teacher to consider next?
the linguistic challenge posed by the content area
Some ESL students have a primary language that is alphabetical but more phonetically regular than English. When beginning English reading instruction with these students, the teacher should be aware that —
the phonetic irregularities of English are likely to be confusing to the students when they try to decode unfamiliar English words.
A sixth grade teacher wants to promote active learning through class discussions. The English language learners in class tend to be quiet and hesitant to share in class. Which of the following grouping configurations might engage ELLs in conversation?
think-pair-share strategies where students have an opportunity to engage in language prior to whole-class sharing
Books, magazines, and videos related to students' home cultures would be most effective to use as resources for which of the following purposes?
to integrate cultural content into language arts and content-area instruction throughout the curriculum
A teacher introduces new vocabulary to a class containing some English language learners at the intermediate and advanced levels of reading and writing proficiency. In order to promote an understanding of the new words, the teacher should —
use synonyms to help students make connections from prior knowledge to the new word.
Mr. Simmons' graphic organizer would be particularly useful in —
writing an essay describing the game of baseball.
