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Study Guide

Field 126: English as a Second Language
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Subarea 1—Language, Linguistics, and Comparisons

Objective 001—Understand major concepts and principles related to the nature of language and language systems.

1. At recess, an elementary school ESL teacher overhears students alternating between English and their primary language as they converse. The students' language use primarily exemplifies which of the following concepts related to multilingualism?

  1. code-switching
  2. language transfer
  3. bilingual diglossia
  4. language interference
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 003—Understand fundamentals of sociolinguistics and how to apply this understanding to promote language and literacy development in English.

2. Third-grade English learners are about to engage in a small-group discussion about a text they read. In preparation for the discussion, the ESL teacher models the following sentence starters.

Accountable Talk

To agree, say:
I agree with blank because …

To disagree, say:
I disagree with blank because …
I'm not sure I agree with blank because …

To clarify, say:
Could you repeat that, please?
Could you explain that more?

When you do not understand, say:
I don't understand …
What did you mean when you said blank?

The teacher's instructional strategy promotes English learners' meaningful participation in the small-group discussion primarily by:

  1. fostering students' high-order thinking skills.
  2. reinforcing students' knowledge of grammar.
  3. giving students opportunities for creative expression.
  4. facilitating students' pragmatic skills in academic settings.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Subarea 2—Culture

Objective 004—Understand major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to the nature of culture.

3. A fourth-grade English learner who recently arrived in the United States demonstrates withdrawn and passive behavior. The ESL teacher believes that the student's behavior may be a result of culture shock. Which of the following teacher strategies would most appropriately support the student's social-emotional well-being during the acculturation process?

  1. providing the student with opportunities to share personal cultural experiences
  2. having the student read about people who immigrated to the United States
  3. decorating the classroom with images familiar to the student's culture
  4. teaching cultural norms of the United States explicitly to the student
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 005—Understand the role of culture in language development and academic achievement.

4. A ninth-grade science teacher meets with an ESL teacher to discuss an English learner's progress. The teacher reports that the student is making good progress toward the learning standards but is reluctant to participate in whole-class and small-group discussions. Before making any recommendations, the ESL teacher should primarily consider which of the following student factors?

  1. willingness to socially engage in structured conversations
  2. cultural discourse expectations with peers and adults
  3. comprehension of content-specific vocabulary terms
  4. engagement with the learning content of the lesson
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 006—Understand how to create a culturally inclusive learning environment that supports individual students' language development and academic achievement.

5. A fifth-grade ESL class is composed of English learners with diverse cultural backgrounds. The ESL teacher facilitates a classroom discussion on the differences in cultural norms related to nonverbal communication. This activity is most effective in accomplishing which of the following goals?

  1. reducing cultural fatigue
  2. encouraging cultural assimilation
  3. promoting intercultural understanding
  4. supporting cultural variations in learning approaches
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 3—Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Practices

Objective 007—Understand second language acquisition theories and research and how to apply this understanding to facilitate English learners' language and literacy development.

6. A fourth-grade teacher and an ESL teacher co-plan a lesson with the following learning objective.

Students will describe a character in a story, citing specific details in the text.

During the lesson, students will complete a character map in which they identify several important traits of a character and provide text evidence supporting their characterizations. Which of the following scaffolding strategies would most effectively support developing-level English learners' ability to achieve the learning objective?

  1. allowing students to use an English dictionary
  2. giving students a list of comparative adjectives
  3. teaching students a mini-lesson on descriptive vocabulary
  4. partnering students with classmates who are proficient speakers of English
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 4—Application of Standards-Based Curriculum and Instruction

Objective 010—Understand the W I D A English Language Development (E L D) Standards and the Michigan K–12 Standards for English Language Arts (E L A) related to listening and strategies for teaching English learners how to acquire and use listening skills for academic and social purposes in English.

7. An ESL teacher and a first-grade teacher co-plan an English language arts lesson in which students will listen to a grade-level narrative read aloud and then answer questions about key details in the text. Which of the following language objectives would most effectively support English learners at the developing level of oral language proficiency?

  1. Students will point to illustrations in the text in response to simple questions.
  2. Students will respond to yes/no questions about the text in one or two words.
  3. Students will retell details from the text utilizing a variety of sentence lengths.
  4. Students will answer wh- questions about the text using phrases/short sentences.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 012—Understand the W I D A E L D Standards and the Michigan K–12 Standards for E L A related to reading and strategies for teaching English learners how to acquire and use reading skills for academic and social purposes in English.

8. A fifth-grade social studies teacher co-plans a lesson with an ESL teacher on the American Revolution during which students will read a primary source document. Which of the following strategies should the teachers use to most effectively facilitate expanding-level English learners' overall comprehension of the document?

  1. having students work with assigned reading partners
  2. rewriting the document using more contemporary language
  3. building students' background knowledge about the document
  4. providing an audio recording of an actor reading the document
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 5—Assessment

Objective 016—Understand various assessment issues and factors related to the assessment of English learners.

9. When assessing English learners, a teacher must use norm-referenced tests with caution primarily because:

  1. scores typically inflate students' abilities resulting in over-identification of student strengths.
  2. scores provide mainly qualitative information regarding the students' abilities in the areas assessed.
  3. scores are highly predictive of students' academic performance, which are likely to inappropriately influence placement.
  4. scores are compared to monolingual peers' scores, which could result in misidentification of students' educational needs.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Subarea 6—Professionalism

Objective 018—Understand the legal and historical foundations of English as a second language (E S L) programs.

10. A school district has a large student population that shares a common linguistic background. The level of English language proficiency varies considerably among the students. Which of the following program models would most appropriately address the strengths and needs of this student population?

  1. one-way dual language immersion
  2. transitional bilingual education
  3. Structured English Immersion
  4. sheltered English instruction
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 019—Understand the E S L teacher's role as a professional within a discipline.

11. An ESL teacher hosts a professional development workshop for teachers as part of a district initiative to develop classroom assessment practices that accurately measure English learners' progress toward learning standards. Which of the following strategies used by the ESL teacher would most effectively engage teachers in the content of the workshop?

  1. providing teachers with a list of assessment practices and asking teachers which practices they are currently using
  2. encouraging teachers to engage in a group discussion about effective and ineffective assessment practices they have used
  3. distributing research-based articles to teachers before the workshop so that they have knowledge of the content beforehand
  4. preparing a formal lecture in which teachers are expected to demonstrate their mastery of the content by passing a test directly after the lecture
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 020—Understand how to serve as a resource and advocate for English learners and how to build effective partnerships with English learners' families and communities to support students' language development and academic achievement.

12. As part of a committee fostering school and community partnerships, an ESL teacher organizes weekly English language classes for English learners' family members. Classes are offered in the evening at several district schools and are well attended. The ESL teacher's initiative primarily promotes the educational outcomes of English learners by:

  1. increasing the engagement of families in learning opportunities.
  2. supporting families' ability to communicate with classroom teachers.
  3. improving the likelihood that families can assist students with homework.
  4. providing families with information regarding language learning standards.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Multiple-Subarea Passages

Use the information provided to answer the two questions that follow.

As part of a lesson promoting study skills, an ESL teacher models how to use a comparison matrix while reading an informational text to seventh-grade students who are at a bridging level of oral language and literacy proficiency. Following is an excerpt of the matrix completed by the class.

Seventh-Grade Ancient Civilizations
Society Sumerians Egyptians
  • Social classes determined by your job
  • Upper class: king, priests, and landowners
  • Middle class: farmers and artisans
  • Lower class: slaves
  • Social classes determined by your job
  • Upper class: Pharaoh, priests, and nobles
  • Middle class: merchants, scribes, and crafts people
  • Lower class: farmers and slaves
Technology
  • Wheel, plow, and pottery wheel
  • Used bronze which was stronger than copper and tin
  • Arithmetic to keep records of crops and trade
  • First practical calendar
  • Geometry
  • Medicine
  • Papyrus (paper)
  • Ramp and lever
  • Mill for grinding grain
Writing
  • Cuneiform
  • Hieroglyphs
Objective 009—Understand research-based best practices related to planning, managing, and implementing English as a second language (E S L) instruction, including how to select, adapt, and use instructional resources.

13. In addition to fostering students' study skills, the ESL teacher can most effectively use the comparison matrix as a scaffold for which of the following student activities?

  1. creating a semantic map of content-related academic vocabulary
  2. paraphrasing the main idea of the text to summarize orally to a peer
  3. preparing short-answer responses using supporting details from the text
  4. drafting a five-paragraph narrative essay focusing on descriptive language
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 014—Understand the W I D A E L D Standards and the Michigan Academic Standards and strategies for promoting English learners' successful access to grade-level academic language and content.

14. The matrix most effectively promotes which of the following cognitive-learning skills?

  1. increasing task awareness so that students focus their attention on important facts
  2. outlining the text information in detail so that students can recall the concepts precisely
  3. maintaining sustained attention so that students are more engaged with the text while reading
  4. summarizing information so that students can analyze similarities and differences in concepts
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Use the information provided to answer the two questions that follow.

A fifth-grade teacher and an ESL teacher use a rating scale to analyze a written language sample from a fifth-grade student who is at the expanding level of literacy. Following are the student's writing sample and rating scale results.

Opinion Writing–fifth Grade
Writing Prompt: Think about something you would like to change about your school. Write to explain what you would change and why.
I want to change school lunch and I want to have more art. I like my food at home. The food my family cooks is delicious. The food at school taste like nothing. It taste like paper with salt on it. The pizza and grilled cheese is ok. Art is the best. I wish we have art every day. I want to paint a picture of my cat Tomas. He is orange and a white with stripes. I think I write the prinicpal and say this is the new lunch menu. I will have my family write a new menu with the food I like. I will write the prinicipal to say we need more art for kids.
Narrative Rating Below Expectations Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations
Focus–Details related to the topic blank
check
 blank
Organization–Logical flow of ideas, introduction and concluding sentences
check
 blank blank
Word Choice–Descriptive language and variety of sentence structure blank
check
 blank
Conventions–Spelling, punctuation, and subject-verb agreement blank
check
 blank
Objective 013—Understand the W I D A E L D Standards and the Michigan K–12 Standards for E L A related to writing and how to teach English learners to acquire and use writing skills for academic and social purposes in English.

15. Which of the following instructional approaches recommended by the ESL teacher would most effectively foster the student's writing proficiency?

  1. providing the student with explicit instruction and opportunities to practice syntax
  2. making a topic-specific word bank to encourage the student's use of adjectives
  3. modifying the written language prompt to promote the student's understanding
  4. creating an outline that provides text structure support for the student
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 017—Understand reflective assessment practices, including how to select, develop, adapt, and use various classroom assessment tools and techniques; analyze assessment results; and adjust instruction for English learners based on assessment results.

16. Which of the following strengths is most evident in the student's written language sample?

  1. complex sentence construction
  2. encoding and punctuation
  3. subject-verb agreement
  4. logical sentence order
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Use the information provided to answer the two questions that follow.

As part of a whole-group read-aloud activity, an ESL teacher plans to assess the listening skills of a first-grade student who is at the expanding level of oral language proficiency. After the read aloud, the teacher engages the student in a story retell and takes the following notes.

Story Retell: First Grade
Book: Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Learning Objective The student will use illustrations to retell details from a text read aloud.
Teacher Prompt: What is happening is this part of the story? Student Response: The dog … Harry. He runned out! Bath time Harry. He play in dirt and mud.
Target Content: When Harry hears the water running for a bath, he runs out the door.
Teacher Prompt: Why did Harry bury the scrubbing brush? Student Response: He dirty. No wanna bath. Look here! He dig dirt.
Target Content: Harry the dog did not want to take a bath, so he hid the scrubbing brush.
Teacher Prompt: Why didn't Harry's family recognize him? Student Response: He dirty. They no see his fur. Have black fur now.
Target Content: Harry was so dirty his family didn't recognize him.
Teacher Prompt: I wonder why Harry wanted to take a bath. Student Response: He miss everyone. He miss family. Like the two kid.
Target Content: Harry wanted a bath because he wanted to be recognized by his family.
Objective 002—Understand fundamentals of linguistics and comparative linguistics and how to apply this understanding to promote language and literacy development (i.e., the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills) in English.

17. Which of the following oral narrative language strengths is most evident in the student's responses to the teacher prompts?

  1. identifying the characters' intended plan
  2. using cognitive verbs to generate inferences
  3. connecting character motivation with actions
  4. describing story events using temporal phrases
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 015—Understand major concepts and principles related to standards-based assessment of English learners.

18. The student's assessment data is most useful for which of the following purposes?

  1. identifying the student's areas for growth in listening proficiency
  2. providing quantitative information about the student's listening skills
  3. comparing the student's listening performance to peers' performance levels
  4. measuring the student's cumulative progress toward state standards for listening
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Use the information provided to answer the two questions that follow.

During a group-work English language arts activity, an ESL teacher observes a fourth-grade student interact with peers. The student is at the beginning level of oral language proficiency. The following inventory details the results of the teacher's observations.

Group-Work Social Language Skills Present Not Present
1. Student takes turns in social interactions.
check
 blank
2. Student acknowledges the questions/comments of peers (e.g., looks towards the speaker, asks "what").
check
 blank
3. Student provides nonverbal feedback while peers are speaking (e.g., head nods, smiles, attention).
check
 blank
4. Student initiates social interactions.
check
 blank
5. Student requests assistance, information, or permission (e.g., "Help me.", "Who's that?"). blank
check
6. Student responds to the questions and comments of peers. blank
check
Objective 008—Understand individual learner variables in the second language acquisition process and how to apply this understanding to facilitate English learners' language and literacy development.

19. Which of the following language objectives would most effectively promote the student's facility to actively engage in collaborative discussions?

  1. The student will respond to questions by providing evidence that supports the answer.
  2. The student will ask simple wh- questions while referencing images, illustrations, or objects.
  3. The student will distinguish between rhetorical questions and questions that ask for information.
  4. The student will ask questions to gather specific information related to the topic of the conversation.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 011—Understand the W I D A E L D Standards and the Michigan K–12 Standards for E L A related to speaking and strategies for teaching English learners how to acquire and use speaking skills for academic and social purposes in English.

20. Which of the following instructional strategies would most effectively promote the student's ability to engage meaningfully with peers during collaborative discussions?

  1. having a pre-discussion to support the student's oral interactions during the academic discussions
  2. assigning the student a role in the discussion group that limits the need for reciprocal communication with peers
  3. providing the student with one-to-one instruction on social discourse expectations during group-work discussions
  4. including the student in a small-group discussion about using appropriate body language when conversing with peers
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.