ELL Education Pre-Assessment

Which of the following is most important for effective second-language acquisition?

• Engaging in social activities and meaningful interactions

• Memorizing and practicing frequently used words and phrases

• Interacting primarily with the teacher and other adults

• Learning with various structured and rote activities

Which of the following statements is primarily true about the relationship between a student’s first- and second-language acquisition?

• Cognitive development in L1 should be discontinued through the elementary years in order to achieve cognitive and academic success in L2.

• Cognitive development in L1 should be limited through the elementary years in order to achieve cognitive and academic success in L2.

• Students who receive formal schooling in L1 do better at acquiring L2 than students with no schooling in L1.

• Students who receive formal schooling in L1 do worse at acquiring L2 than students with no schooling in L1.

Mark is an ELL who is literate in his native language and speaks English well, but struggles with reading informative texts in English. After assigning a research project, the teacher wants to find a way to support Marcos’ English literacy development as he completes the assignment. Which of the following is the best way to accomplish the teacher’s goal?

• Providing Marcos with research in English presented in an audio format that he can listen to and then present his findings to the class

• Supplementing English texts with research in Marcos’ native language and having him present his findings in English

• Translating informative texts to Marcos’ native language and having him conduct his research using the translated texts

• Pairing Marcos with a native English speaking peer who can help to explain the research they find in English

A high school ESL teacher wants the class to understand the differences between informal language used with friends and formal language used in the classroom. Which of the following strategies will best help ELLs understand the differences?

• Asking the ELLs to keep a journal of conversations with friends to be discussed in class

• Having the ELLs listen to audio recordings in different registers of English

• Pairing the ELLs and having them role-play a variety of scenarios in the different registers

• Reminding the ELLs to use academic language in classroom discussions and informal language in conversations

Mr. Saul a middle school science teacher, sees that the ELLs in his class are having difficulty understanding a new unit about volcanoes. Which TWO of the following will be the most effective strategies to help his students understand the content.

• Asking the students to write down what they know about the day's topic at the beginning of the class

• Giving students an English dictionary so they can write definitions of key vocabulary before each lesson

• Pairing an ELL with a native English speaker so students can read the text together

• Having students preread selections at home prior to each lesson or activity

• Showing a short video clip about the day's topic at the start of the class

Which of the following activities will best help develop the oral language proficiency of ESL students?

• Providing wordless picture books for the students to narrate

• Having students chant a poem after teacher modeling

• Preparing a listening center for students to listen to audio books

• Encouraging students to record themselves reading a story

A fifth-grade teacher is using the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model in a science class with both ELLs and native English speakers. Which THREE of the following practices should the teacher incorporate to be consistent with the SIOP Model for instruction?

• Using explicit instruction in vocabulary

• Requiring that most classwork be done independently

• Providing clarification in the first language

• Intertwining content and language goals in lessons

Which of the following strategies will best help the ELLs increase their comprehension of a text?

• Asking the ELLs to write notes as they read a new passage

• Building ELLs’ background knowledge before presenting a new passage

• Assigning ELLs reading passages for homework as additional practice

• Having the ELLs answer multiple-choice questions after reading a new passage

An ESL teacher wants to use graphic organizers to help ELLs understand expository texts. Which FOUR of the following graphic organizers are best to use for this purpose?

• Venn diagram

• Timeline

• Thinking map

• Story map

• Word web

A teacher has several ELLs at the beginning level of English-language proficiency in the class. The teacher is beginning a unit on natural selection. The most effective strategy for the teacher to use to make the content comprehensible for the ELLs is to...

• read the unit to the students as they follow along silently.

• preteach the unit vocabulary using visuals.

• place the ELLs in a group to read and discuss the textbook information together.

• have the ELLs take a multiple-choice pretest about natural selection.