Study Guide

Field 250: English as a New Language 
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Each multiple-choice question has four answer choices. Read each question and its answer choices carefully and choose the ONE best answer.

During the test you should try to answer all questions. Even if you are unsure of an answer, it is better to guess than not to answer a question at all. You will NOT be penalized for choosing an incorrect response.

Objective 0001 
Understand language as an integrative system.

1. Use the sentence below to answer the question that follows.

Maria says that Begin underline she End underline does not have time to come to the party, Begin underline but End underline Begin underline her End underline brother Begin underline does End underline.

In this sentence, the underlined words are discourse features that function as:

  1. correlative conjunctions.
  2. cohesive devices.
  3. intensive pronouns.
  4. noun adjuncts.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
The underlined words represent various parts of speech. As a group, they function as cohesive devices that clarify relationships among various parts of the sentence. The pronoun "she" and the verb "does" refer back to a previously introduced noun (Maria) and a previously introduced concept (having time to attend the party). The possessive adjective "her" also refers to "Maria" and contextualizes the use of the noun "brother" in the sentence (whose brother). The conjunction "but" signals a contrast between what Maria is able to do and what her brother is able to do.

Objective 0002 
Understand language acquisition and development, including variables that may affect the process of learning a new language.

2. In which of the following scenarios would it be most appropriate for an ENL teacher to focus on building background knowledge as well as academic language knowledge as a means of preparing English Learners for a content-area unit?

  1. A large portion of the new English vocabulary from the unit has different meanings depending on the context in which it is used.
  2. Students lack access to a method of translating new English vocabulary from the unit to the home/native language.
  3. A large portion of the new English vocabulary from the unit is concrete and can be demonstrated through gestures and visuals.
  4. Students lack a conceptual framework about key topics from the unit in addition to the new English vocabulary.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Prior knowledge related to a content-area unit can be leveraged to help students make connections to new concepts. In such cases, instruction may consist mainly of helping students acquire the language they need to express prior knowledge and connect it to the new concepts in English. However, when students have no background knowledge related to a given concept, focusing instruction on the English language related to the concept does not go far enough to facilitate learning. In these cases, ENL teachers must provide instruction that builds both background knowledge and related English vocabulary in order to effect successful outcomes.

Objective 0003 
Understand culture as it relates to language acquisition and content learning.

3. A new student in a sixth-grade ENL class recently arrived in the United States. The student is generally outgoing outside of class, has studied some English previously, and is making rapid progress in developing social-communicative, reading, and writing skills in English. The ENL teacher has noticed, however, that despite these many strengths, the student seems very reluctant to speak in class. For example, the student never participates in class discussions and declines to offer opinions on the discussion topics even when prompted to do so. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for this behavior?

  1. The student has attained language knowledge but not linguistic competence in English, making spontaneous oral communication in English difficult.
  2. The student is struggling with an undiagnosed hearing- or speech-related disability that adversely affects the student's ability to understand and/or produce spoken language.
  3. The student is unaccustomed to a collaborative educational system, and is therefore uncomfortable speaking up in class.
  4. The student has a predominantly visual learning style, making situations that require auditory processing of language challenging.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
When a student who can comprehend and produce both social and academic language and is exhibiting normal progress in English language development does not contribute verbally to class discussions, the likely explanation lies in cultural variation. U.S. educational culture values learning that results from students working together to solve problems. Within this context, each student is expected to offer ideas and opinions as a means of helping the group gain understanding of the content being studied. An English Learner who comes from a culture that values different modes of learning will need time to adapt to a collaborative educational system, regardless of English proficiency level.

Objective 0003 
Understand culture as it relates to language acquisition and content learning.

4. A secondary-level ENL teacher asks content-area teachers to allow English Learners who are new to U.S. classrooms to observe native-English-speaking classmates working in collaborative groups before requiring the English Learners to participate more actively in the groups. The primary benefit of this approach for the English Learners is that:

  1. it encourages them to view their native-English-speaking peers as leaders in a group learning environment.
  2. it raises their awareness of culturally influenced norms of interaction in a group learning environment.
  3. it increases their knowledge in a given content area before they have to apply it in a group learning environment.
  4. it prompts them to determine whether or not they want to participate in a group learning environment.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
English Learners in U.S. schools receive instruction in the English language as a tool for participating in the educational experience. However, the explicit and implicit cultural norms that dictate the extra-linguistic features of communication in U.S. learning environments may also be new to English Learners. The implementation of an observation period for these students serves as a scaffold, allowing them to process how their new peers interact before attempting to employ the same behaviors during their own participation in group learning.

Objective 0004 
Understand approaches to learning that address the diversity of the ENL student population and meet varied student needs.

5. An ENL teacher is teaching a sheltered math class that includes a diverse group of English Learners. Early in the school year, the teacher observes that the students from one cultural group respond well to lessons that involve group work and manipulation of concrete representations of math problems. Students from another cultural group prefer to learn through lectures and assignments that focus on traditional symbolic representations of math problems and repetitive applications of formulas. How can the teacher most effectively use these observations to meet the learning needs of this culturally diverse group of students?

  1. by separating the two groups of students and giving each group a different lesson that matches the students' respective learning preferences
  2. by ensuring that a balance of learning activities is included in each lesson plan and giving students a choice of options for demonstrating content mastery
  3. by ensuring that all students are given regular practice in applying the symbolic representations and formulas traditionally emphasized in math classes
  4. by using manipulatives and group work to teach each lesson, then having students complete a worksheet independently that uses symbolic representations and formulas
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Differentiation of content learning according to culturally influenced learning approaches, just like differentiation based on English language proficiency levels, fosters the academic success of English Learners. Instead of isolating cultural groups from one another or emphasizing one type of learning over others, providing the whole class with a range of activities and assessment options establishes a learning community based on respect for diversity. Students can be exposed to new ways of engaging in content learning while still having access to the familiarity of their former learning and assessment modes.

Objective 0005 
Understand instructional planning appropriate to English Learners.

6. Which of the following best describes the role of the Illinois Learning Standards with regard to the ENL curriculum?

  1. ENL teachers should use the Illinois Learning Standards as a tool in developing the ENL curriculum in their schools, to ensure that it is aligned with statewide learning goals.
  2. The Illinois Learning Standards describe the state-approved pedagogical methods that ENL teachers may use to teach various parts of the ENL curriculum.
  3. ENL teachers can use the Illinois Learning Standards to help them identify specific instructional materials and strategies to use when teaching the ENL curriculum.
  4. The Illinois Learning Standards provide ENL teachers with a detailed description of the state-mandated curriculum that must be followed in ENL classes at each grade level.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
The English language instruction that ENL teachers provide to their students is grounded within the context of the K–12 educational system. The Illinois Learning Standards outline the content that all students within this system are expected to master at a given grade level. The standards do not define the methods or curricular materials teachers must use in order to facilitate student mastery of this content. The Illinois Learning Standards serve as a guiding framework for ENL teachers when making decisions about how to link English language instruction to established statewide content learning goals.

Objective 0005 
Understand instructional planning appropriate to English Learners.

7. Which of the following aspects of the state-adopted content-area learning standards for a given grade level should an ENL teacher emphasize most when planning instruction for English Learners?

  1. topics that provide the broadest overview of the content-area standards and related academic language at the current grade level
  2. topics that lend themselves best to simplification in terms of content and related academic language
  3. concepts that form the strongest foundations for content-area standards and related academic language at subsequent grade levels
  4. concepts that typically take the longest amount of time to grasp in terms of content and related academic language
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
All students are expected to engage meaningfully and rigorously with the grade-level content outlined in the Illinois Learning Standards. Teachers plan instruction of the standards in response to their students' needs. Because English Learners require instructional time and resources for language development as well as content learning, ENL teachers may need to make strategic decisions about which standards to emphasize over others. Research has shown that deep learning of key concepts benefits learners more than superficial exposure to the greatest possible number of concepts. Providing English Learners with foundational academic concepts and language best prepares them for the refinement of knowledge and skills that occurs through further education.

Objective 0006 
Understand strategies for implementing and managing instruction that facilitate English Learners' language development and content learning.

8. A secondary-level ENL teacher occasionally provides students with a variety of options for demonstrating understanding of a content-area unit (e.g., giving an oral presentation, writing a newspaper article, developing a video presentation) instead of requiring the whole class to complete the same assignment. Which of the following statements describes the primary rationale for using this approach?

  1. Independent assignments challenge students to meet content-area learning objectives without access to peer collaboration.
  2. Being able to select their medium for an assignment allows students to focus primarily on the aspects of the content-area unit that they comprehend best.
  3. Independent assignments use content learning as a motivational tool for increasing students' English proficiency across all domains.
  4. Being able to select their medium for an assignment lowers students' anxiety about using academic English without lowering expectations for their content learning.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
English Learners are required to master the same content as their English-proficient peers. Simultaneously, they are learning the abstract and complex language they need to participate in academic discourse in English. When English Learners are allowed to choose how they demonstrate their understanding of content material, they are able to use the expressive language modalities in which they feel most capable. This type of approach removes some of the barriers English Learners face when communicating their content knowledge, while still providing them with practice using academic language.

Objective 0007 
Understand how to establish an inclusive, safe, and linguistically and culturally rich ENL learning environment.

9. An ENL teacher often uses expressions of greeting, congratulations, and encouragement in English Learners' home/native languages. This practice is likely to benefit students most by:

  1. helping them feel welcome and respected in the ENL classroom.
  2. ensuring that the input they receive is comprehensible and unambiguous.
  3. providing them with an opportunity to practice their home/native language.
  4. providing them with relief from the stress of having to communicate in a new language.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
English Learners in U.S. schools face many challenges. Among them are the constant navigation of differences between home and school cultures and the experience of English acquisition as a seemingly endless process. An ENL teacher's use of a few expressions in students' home/native languages may not serve the purposes of bilingual instruction or necessarily reduce the anxiety that comes with learning a new language. However, a teacher's use of students' home/native languages in the classroom acknowledges the bilingual and bicultural nature of English Learners' lives and communicates that the teacher values English Learners as individuals and as scholars.

Objective 0008 
Understand the selection, adaptation, and use of ENL instructional resources for various purposes.

10. A middle school ENL teacher is selecting reading materials to use for promoting developing-level English Learners' English literacy skills. Which of the following is the most important guideline for the teacher to follow in making these selections?

  1. ensuring that selections collectively represent the major genres of U.S. literature
  2. avoiding selections that touch on social issues or emotional content
  3. ensuring that the selections are written at students' instructional reading levels
  4. including selections that reflect students' personal experiences
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Content, genre, and relatability of reading materials certainly benefit English Learners' reading development in many ways. However, the relationship between the difficulty of a written text and the degree to which an English Learner can access its content plays the most influential role in developing the student's literacy skills. At the instructional reading level, students are able to read 90% or more of the words and comprehend around 75% of the content in a text, allowing them to use background knowledge to make meaning of much, but not all of it. In a way that is motivating rather than overwhelming, students therefore extend themselves to build greater knowledge about the English language and how to use strategies to overcome gaps in comprehension.

Objective 0009 
Understand the use of effective communication techniques in the ENL classroom.

11. An ENL teacher performs a think-aloud for English Learners, modeling how to use academic language to question, clarify, summarize, and predict information in the first paragraph of a content-area informational text. The teacher then asks the English Learners to go through the same process in pairs for the remainder of the text before the class ultimately comes together for a shared comprehension check. Which of the following statements best describes the primary benefit of this activity for the English Learners?

  1. It encourages them to view the teacher as an authority figure on whom they can rely to lead them to the solutions to problems.
  2. It supplies them with linguistic tools for informal interpersonal communication when engaging with peers in the school setting.
  3. It shows them the importance of gaining superficial comprehension or the gist of future informational texts as quickly as possible.
  4. It provides them with both content knowledge and linguistic tools that can help them in comprehending future informational texts.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Using think-alouds as a means of facilitating English Learners' comprehension of written texts makes a normally internal, invisible process external and explicit. The teacher models reading comprehension strategies in addition to providing students with contextualized examples of English language related to the functions of questioning, clarifying, etc. The strategies and associated academic language are then reinforced through active student application. This activity therefore helps students acquire subject matter knowledge at the same time that they are building academic language proficiency.

Objective 0010 
Understand formal and informal assessment in order to support English Learners' language development and achievement of learning standards.

12. An elementary-level ENL teacher periodically transcribes and evaluates students' oral retellings of stories they have read as one way of assessing English Learners' oral language development. The primary benefit of using this approach is that it enables the teacher to:

  1. measure students' development of higher-order thinking skills and ability to think critically about texts.
  2. assess students using a performance-based measure that allows for results to be calculated objectively.
  3. analyze students' performance with respect to both English language arts and language development standards.
  4. use one protocol for assessing students' development in both listening comprehension and reading comprehension.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Using a transcript of an oral language sample enables an ENL teacher to analyze features of an English Learner's speech and consult the descriptive statements in language development standards to measure the student's progress toward the next level of English proficiency. The teacher can also compare the student's retelling to the original story and refer to the English language arts standards to determine the student's level of skill in reading comprehension. A single assessment therefore provides valuable information about the student's content learning and English language acquisition.

Objective 0011 
Understand how to promote English Learners' vocabulary development and their knowledge of and ability to use conventions of Standard English when listening, speaking, reading, and writing for social and academic purposes.

13. Students in a middle school ENL class are studying the meanings of various idioms that they have encountered or are likely to encounter in their general education classes. While the students perform well on structured exercises using the idioms, they still have difficulty understanding them in authentic situations (e.g., conversations, lectures, discussions). Which of the following strategies would be most effective for the ENL teacher to use to address the students' needs?

  1. providing opportunities for the students to be exposed to and use the idioms on a regular basis in the ENL classroom, and checking frequently for comprehension
  2. meeting with general education teachers and recommending that they avoid using idioms until the English Learners have mastered them
  3. encouraging the English Learners to listen in on native English speakers' discussions and conversations to see how often they can identify these idioms in authentic contexts
  4. helping the students write and perform original dialogues or skits that include and highlight each of the target idioms
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Research indicates that English Learners require multiple exposures to new vocabulary before it becomes part of their active repertoire. When English Learners have already demonstrated their comprehension of vocabulary in targeted scenarios specifically related to an ENL lesson, the next step is for the teacher to engineer and monitor situations in which students engage repeatedly with the vocabulary in meaningful contexts. This strategy increases the likelihood that English Learners will comprehend the vocabulary when they encounter it in situations where there is little or no additional language support.

Objective 0011 
Understand how to promote English Learners' vocabulary development and their knowledge of and ability to use conventions of Standard English when listening, speaking, reading, and writing for social and academic purposes.

14. A middle school ENL teacher would like to support English Learners' successful participation in academic tasks in their content-area classes that require the use of academic language (e.g., analyzing and discussing information, writing essays, conducting research, responding to assessment questions). Which of the following strategies for building students' vocabulary in an ENL class would be most effective in supporting their successful participation in these tasks across the curriculum?

  1. teaching lists of Tier One words that appear in content-area texts but are not commonly taught in classes because native-English-speaking students already know them
  2. gathering print and online dictionaries, glossaries, and other resources and promoting the use of these references for looking up Tier Three words in each discipline
  3. teaching important Tier Two information-processing words (e.g., analyze, justify, confirm, evidence) and their nuances in various disciplines to promote precise communication
  4. gathering the Tier Three words that students will be studying in each of their content-area classes and creating flash cards for pairs of students to use for drill and practice
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Tier Two vocabulary is also known as general academic vocabulary and appears with high frequency in academic texts and discourse. This type of vocabulary is used across content areas and often helps explain high-level concepts and define important academic processes and thinking. Providing English Learners with in-depth instruction of these types of words supports their academic success because it equips them with universal tools for gaining access to specialized knowledge and enables them to engage in tasks that will deepen their understanding of content.

Objective 0012 
Understand how to promote English Learners' oral language development in English for social and academic purposes.

15. An ENL teacher drafts a letter for the parents/guardians of kindergarten and first-grade English Learners and has it translated into their home/native languages. The letter explains that an important way for them to support their child's emerging reading development is to play with the sounds of their home/native language (e.g., through rhymes or wordplay). Which of the following statements best explains the scientifically based rationale for the teacher's recommendation?

  1. A child's phonemic awareness skills can transfer from one language to another.
  2. Learning to read contributes to a child's awareness of the sounds of language.
  3. Sound play contributes to a child's development of oral vocabulary knowledge.
  4. Cognitive and linguistic factors can put a child at risk for reading difficulties.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
A necessary precursor to learning how to read an alphabetic language such as English is developing awareness of the specific ways the spoken language we use to communicate breaks down into small units of sound and how those sounds map to print. Even though the combinations of articulations used to produce meaning in one language are different from those in another language, the concept of language being composed of individual sounds that can be manipulated and mapped to print is transferable among languages. A developmentally appropriate way for children in kindergarten and first grade to begin to develop phonemic awareness is to engage in play related to sounds in the language most familiar to them.

Objective 0013 
Understand how to promote English Learners' literacy development in English for social and academic purposes.

16. Initial screenings indicate that the entering-level English Learners in a middle school ENL class lack basic phonological and phonemic awareness skills. Which of the following instructional sequences for these students best demonstrates the ENL teacher's awareness of the developmental process of learning to read an alphabetic language, including knowledge of the phonological and phonemic awareness continuum?

  1. segmenting and blending sounds in spoken words, segmenting and blending onset-rimes in spoken words, segmenting and blending syllables in spoken words, identifying initial and final sounds in spoken words
  2. counting the number of syllables in a spoken word, identifying the initial sound in an onset-rime, matching spoken words that have the same final sound, substituting sounds in spoken words
  3. matching initial sounds in spoken words, aural/oral sorting of words that rhyme, segmenting spoken words into onset-rime, counting syllables in spoken words
  4. matching pictures of words that have the same initial sound, counting words in sentences, manipulating sounds in spoken words, matching rhyming words
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Before English Learners can begin to understand how individual sounds map to letters and combinations of letters, they need to develop consciousness of the sounds that comprise the pronunciation of English words. Acquiring phonological and phonemic awareness is a complex process that unfolds systematically. Effective instruction geared toward fostering this awareness in English Learners follows a specific sequence, or continuum, that moves from perception of broad collections of sounds to the discreteness of individual sounds within those collections. As learners acquire the basic concept of words, they become aware of how larger groups of sounds form syllables before focusing in on the specific sounds contained in words at more internal levels. They are also able to progress from relatively passive engagement with sounds and patterns such as identification to more active engagement such as manipulation.

Objective 0014 
Understand the professional role of the ENL teacher in the school and community and methods and techniques that promote reflective practice for the ENL teacher.

17. Two or three times a year, two teachers in a school's ENL department observe one another's classes. Before the observations, each teacher identifies an area of concern for which he or she would like specific feedback. Afterward, the teachers meet to exchange observations and ideas. This practice is most beneficial to the participating teachers in that it:

  1. provides them with a regular structure in which to reflect on and improve their own teaching practices.
  2. helps them demonstrate to school officials that the ENL department can supervise itself effectively.
  3. provides them with a means of determining which of the two is best suited to teach particular students.
  4. helps them develop a list over time of their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Determining specific focal points for each instance of observation and discussion provides teachers with more meaningful information about their instructional practices than does an open-ended protocol that may elicit more wide-ranging feedback. The requirement in this practice that teachers identify areas of concern for observations promotes the habit of regular self-reflection on one's performance as a teacher. The repetitive nature of this observational system, the procedural consistency, and the parameters within which the mutual observations are conducted provide the participants with effective tools for professional growth over the course of the year.

Objective 0015 
Understand the ENL teacher's role as an advocate for the education of English Learners.

18. An ENL teacher has learned that one of the history teachers at the school uses different sets of criteria for assessing English Learners and students whose home/native language is English. When the ENL teacher asks the history teacher about this, the history teacher explains that grading English Learners primarily on their classroom participation rather than on written assignments or test results is more equitable because "otherwise they would always end up with lower grades, even though they may try just as hard." Which of the following would be the most appropriate response for the ENL teacher to make in this situation?

  1. meeting with the English Learners to encourage them to work harder to achieve parity with their classmates whose home/native language is English
  2. exploring with school officials the possibility of providing additional services to English Learners to help them meet the same standards as their classmates
  3. urging the history teacher to use the same assessment tools, measurement criteria, and passing standards for all students
  4. encouraging the history teacher to make available to all students a range of acceptable ways to demonstrate mastery of the history objectives
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Exempting English Learners from the requirement to demonstrate their comprehension of content-area material establishes lower expectations for English Learners than for their English-proficient classmates and prevents them from becoming full-fledged members of a learning community. The more equitable practice would be for the teacher to maximize the ability for all students to demonstrate content knowledge in the way they feel most confident. Providing a variety of possibilities targeted toward different learning styles and language modalities mediates the influence of factors external to content learning objectives on the grading process.

Objective 0015 
Understand the ENL teacher's role as an advocate for the education of English Learners.

19. A high school ENL teacher prepares and provides new English Learners with a "welcome handbook" in their home/native language. The handbook contains information on topics such as school rules, library use, extracurricular activities, and student organizations. This type of handbook benefits English Learners primarily by:

  1. protecting their right to equitable use of school resources.
  2. reducing barriers to their participation in the school community.
  3. enabling them to evaluate the quality of school services.
  4. facilitating their communication with school administrators.
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
English Learners benefit from participation in school life both in terms of learning about the new culture and acquiring English language skills. Often, new English Learners find it difficult to navigate their new environment, and they miss out on social and educational opportunities. ENL teachers can facilitate this participation by using a variety of resources, including the students' home/native languages, to provide them with the information they need to ensure they are well served in their educational community.

Objective 0016 
Understand the role of and strategies for working with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community in supporting the learning and well-being of English Learners.

20. An elementary-level ENL teacher would like to learn more about and establish connections with a new group of English Learners who are from a culture with which the teacher is unfamiliar. Which of the following strategies is likely to be most effective for this purpose?

  1. asking the new students to write descriptions of specific features of their home culture (e.g., food, holidays, customs) as their first homework assignment
  2. interviewing teachers, counselors, and other school personnel who have had some experience working with students from this culture
  3. searching for individuals who have traveled to or lived in the students' home country, and asking them about cultural, religious, and educational differences they observed
  4. seeking opportunities to attend local cultural events, performances, and celebrations that take place in the students' cultural community
Answer and Rationale. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Respectfully seeking out opportunities to explore English Learners' home communities allows ENL teachers to experience an unfamiliar culture firsthand rather than as mediated through the experiences and interpretations of others. It provides teachers with greater insight into the perspectives their students bring to the school experience without placing the onus of "explaining" one's culture on the students themselves. It also helps English Learners see their teacher as a fellow learner who is interested in all spheres of their lives, not solely as an omniscient provider of knowledge who exists solely within the school context.