Subarea 2/Objective 7: Second-Language and Content Learning Flashcards
Apply knowledge of reading instruction and assessment for English language Learners.
An ESL teacher wants to support expanding-level English language learners’ development of reading fluency and comprehension. Which of the following types of reading activities would be most appropriate and effective for this purpose?
A. Language Experience Approach activities in which students dictate a story to the teacher and
then they read the story together.
B. Readers theatre activities in which students work together to practice reading and dramatizing
a script of a folktale.
C. Word sort activities in which students read target vocabulary words and then create a
semantic map of the words.
D. Choral reading activities in which students participate in a group reading of a pattern book or
poem.
B. Readers theatre promotes reading fluency and comprehension by providing meaningful opportunities to reread a text multiple times with particular attention to reading with appropriate expression. Expanding-level English language learners have enough academic language that this task would be appropriate and beneficial for them.
A is incorrect because Language Experience Approach activities are more appropriate for entering- and emerging-level English language learners. C is incorrect because word sort and semantic mapping activities help students build vocabulary but do not directly promote development of fluency and comprehension. D is incorrect choral reading activities can promote prosody but do not directly help students improve comprehension skills. Also, pattern books, and often poetry, contain repeated lines that students can memorize and repeat without actually having to read those parts of the text.
A high school emerging-level English language learner is just beginning to develop literacy skills
in English. An ESL teacher could best promote this student’s English reading development by first developing the student’s:
A. Decoding skills using meaningful texts that primarily contain phonetically regular words and
sight words.
B. Comprehension of academic language structures using audio recordings of a variety of texts.
C. Background knowledge about high-priority concepts using grade-level content-area texts.
D. Vocabulary knowledge and skills using lists of high-frequency Tier Two words.
A. Reading research indicates that there are stages to reading development. The student in this scenario is just beginning to develop literacy skills in English, resulting in the teacher’s need to promote skills associated with the earliest stages of reading development. Decoding skills are essential skills that beginning readers need in order to build a solid foundation for reading. In addition, using meaningful texts that primarily contain phonetically regular words and sight words is a best practice that reinforces students’ developing phonics skills and fluency. B, C, and D are incorrect because these focus on academic language and concept development rather than on development of foundational reading skills, which should be the top priority for this student.
An English language learner who is literate in a language that follows highly consistent letter sound correspondence patterns is likely to have the most difficulty decoding which of the following English words?
A. begin
B. declare
C. someone
D. explain
C. Both syllables of the word someone contain irregular vowel sounds. The English silent e syllable pattern (–VCe) regularly indicates a long vowel sound for the first vowel. The student in this scenario is literate in a language that follows highly consistent letter-sound correspondence patterns, so the student, having learned basic phonics patterns in English, would expect the word someone to follow the silent e pattern and be pronounced as [sōm ōn].
A, B, and D are incorrect because these words all follow regular English phonics patterns.
Which of the following factors is likely to have the most significant impact on a bridging-level English language learner’s ability to comprehend a chapter from a grade-level content-area textbook?
A. The amount of prior knowledge the student has about the topic of the text.
B. The extent to which the student applies cognitive strategies while reading the text.
C. The degree to which the student attends to discourse markers in the text.
D. The rate at which the student reads the text.
A. Research indicates that prior knowledge plays an important role in providing a reader with the necessary contextual schema to comprehend a text. An English language learner who is at the bridging level has developed good foundational reading skills, but without any prior knowledge related to the content of a chapter in a content-area textbook, the student is likely to experience difficulty understanding the chapter.
B is incorrect because cognitive strategies (e.g., taking notes about a text, summarizing a text, using visual aids or graphic organizers to support recall of information in a
text) are not going to be effective if the student does not have sufficient prior knowledge to support
comprehension of the text when he/she reads it. C is incorrect because knowledge of discourse markers (e.g., transition words and phrases such as consequently or on the other hand) would not
support comprehension of the chapter as much as prior knowledge of the chapter’s topic would. Also, a
bridging-level English language learner most likely already attends to discourse markers as he/she
reads. D is incorrect because an English language learner whose reading is at the bridging level most
likely reads at a rate that is appropriate to support comprehension, as long as the student has sufficient
background knowledge to support the conceptual demands of the text.
Which of the following is an accurate statement regarding English language learners’ development of phonemic awareness in English?
A. English language learners must have a high level of oral language proficiency in English
before they can develop phonemic awareness.
B. English language learners whose first language uses a phonetically regular, alphabetic script
may have particular difficulty acquiring phonemic awareness in English.
C. English language learners must have strong literacy skills in the first language in order to
develop phonemic awareness in English.
D. English language learners may have particular difficulty acquiring phonemic awareness of
English phonemes that do not exist in their first language
D. Phonemic awareness involves the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words. An English language learner who is not familiar with a particular English sound, because the sound does not exist in his/her first language, is likely to have difficulty perceiving and/or discriminating the sound aurally, and may also have difficulty pronouncing the sound.
A is incorrect because English language learners can begin to develop phonemic awareness in English
as soon as they have developed some oral language skills in English. They do not need to have a high
level of oral language proficiency in English to be able to develop awareness of the concept of phonemes. B is incorrect because phonemic awareness is an oral not a written language skill. Also, astudent whose first language is alphabetic (as opposed to a nonalphabetic language) will be at an
advantage, not a disadvantage, in developing phonemic awareness in English, regardless of the level of phonetic regularity of the first language, because the student may have already developed phonemic awareness in the first language. C is incorrect because, while having phonological skills in the first language would be beneficial to the student, it is not mandatory for the student to have prior literacy skills in the first language to be able to develop phonemic awareness skills in English.
An ESL teacher who works with a group of second-grade expanding-level English language learners wants to use a particular book with students because of its engaging content and useful vocabulary. However, the book is written above most students’ instructional reading level.
Which of the following strategies for using the book would be most appropriate in this situation?
A. Organizing a jigsaw reading in which students read different parts of the book and discuss
each part of the book in small groups.
B. Adapting the book by condensing the content and simplifying the language and then having
students read the book independently.
C. Conducting an interactive read-aloud of the book in which students listen to the book and
participate in discussions related to the content of the book.
D. Presenting a book walk of the book and then making the book available in the classroom
library for students to check out.
C. Interactive read-alouds provide opportunities for students to access texts abovetheir instructional reading level because the teacher scaffolds students’ development of new vocabulary, language structures, and content through guided discussion. Students are responsible for actively listening as they are expected to participate in discussions related to the content of the text.
A is incorrect because a jigsaw reading involves students independently reading assigned portions of a text and then sharing their understanding with peers who are assigned a different portion. This strategy would be ineffective for the students in this class because the teacher plans to use a book that is too challenging for most students to read even with teacher support, let alone independently. B is incorrect because adapting complex texts by simplifying the language and watering down the content limits students’ engagement with complex text, which is a critical component of developing English language learners’ academic language development. D is incorrect because a book walk may spark students’ interest in the book but would not comprehend the text on their own.
An elementary school ESL teacher asks an emerging-level English language learner to describe a personal experience. As the student speaks, the teacher records the student’s words verbatim on a sheet of paper. Then the teacher guides the student in various reading exercises using the dictated text. This strategy promotes the student’s reading development primarily because it helps the student:
A. Make connections between spoken and written English.
B. Transfer his or her first-language literacy skills to English.
C. Develop an awareness of basic sentence structure in English.
D. Expand his or her expressive oral vocabulary in English.
A. The strategy described in the scenario directly promotes the student’s awareness of the connections between spoken and written English because the teacher transcribes the student’s own words into print.
B is incorrect because the activity described in the scenario does not involve the student’s use of first-language literacy skills. C is incorrect because the teacher writes the student’s words verbatim on a sheet of paper. An emerging-level English language learner typically makes many syntactic errors, so this type of activity is not likely to promote the student’s awareness of sentence structures that he/she would encounter in English texts. D is incorrect because the text the teacher transcribes is limited to vocabulary that is already part of the student’s expressive oral
vocabulary in English.
An ESL teacher regularly reads aloud a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts to developing-level
English language learners. Which of the following best describes why this practice is especially
beneficial for English language learners’ reading development?
A. Students are provided with carefully modified comprehensible input in English.
B. Students are introduced to the alphabetic principle and letter-sound correspondences in English.
C. Students are encouraged to use visualization as a reading comprehension strategy.
D. Students are exposed to the natural rhythm of English and to a range of English vocabulary
D. Read-alouds are beneficial for English language learners at all levels. Frequent read-alouds provide opportunities for the teacher to model fluent reading in English and to expose students to a wide range of literary genres, language structures, and vocabulary.
A, B, and C are incorrect because the scenario does not suggest that the teacher modifies the vocabulary or grammar the texts (A) or provides instruction in the alphabetic principle and letter-sound correspondence (B) or in visualization as a reading comprehension strategy as part of the read-aloud activities (C)
An ESL teacher assesses English language learners’ reading rate by having students complete a weekly oral reading of a 100-word passage and monitoring the amount of time it takes each student to complete the reading. Which of the following additional assessment tasks would best help the teacher obtain an accurate measure of students’ reading fluency?
A. Students list unknown words from the passage in a personal glossary.
B. The teacher dictates sentences from the passage and the students write them down.
C. Students record a personal reflection about the passage in a journal.
D. The teacher keeps a running record as individual students read the passage aloud.
D. Reading fluency involves the ability to read a text accurately and at an appropriate rate. A running record is an assessment that allows the teacher to monitor the rate at which an individual student reads a passage aloud while also making a written record of the types of errors (e.g., misreading words, omitting words) the student makes. Monitoring accuracy in addition to rate provides a better measure of reading fluency than monitoring rate alone.
A is incorrect because having students list unknown words from the passage in a personal glossary would be more appropriate for monitoring the students’ vocabulary knowledge than their reading fluency. B is incorrect because dictation is more appropriate for assessing skills such as auditory discrimination and/or knowledge of English writing conventions (e.g., spelling, punctuation, grammar). C is incorrect because having students write personal reflections about a text would be more appropriate for assessing their comprehension and literary response skills.
An ESL teacher administers an informal reading inventory (IRI) to a sixth grade expanding-level English language learner. The student is able to answer comprehension questions related to a fifth-grade narrative passage with 95 percent accuracy but struggles to read and answer comprehension questions related to a fourth-grade expository passage.
Which of the following is
the best interpretation of these assessment results?
A. The student is progressing normally in reading development but lacks experience and
practice with the language of informational texts.
B. The student is performing below expectations in reading development and should receive
focused English language development instruction.
C. The student is progressing normally in reading development but fails to use metacognitive
and cognitive strategies to aid comprehension.
D. The student is performing below expectations in reading development and is in need of
intensive reading remediation.
A. The student in the scenario can read and comprehend a narrative text that is just one year below the student’s grade level with 95 percent accuracy, which represents normal to above-average progress in reading for an expanding-level English language learner. The student’s performance on the fourth-grade expository (nonfiction) text is also typical for a student at this language proficiency level because expanding-level English language learners have not yet achieved grade-level competence in academic language and may also lack the back-ground knowledge required to support their comprehension of nonfiction texts. Thus, the student in this scenario demonstrates normal reading development but would benefit from additional experience and practice with the content, technical vocabulary, and language structures associated with nonfiction texts.
B and D are incorrect because the student is progressing as expected for an expanding-level English language learner in reading. C is incorrect because the scenario provides no information about the comprehension strategies the student did or did not use. Also, the student can comprehend a fifth-grade narrative text with 95 percent accuracy, which suggests that the student may be able to apply comprehension strategies when
reading.
Use the information below to answer the two questions that follow.
An ESL teacher is designing a cloze assessment to help measure the academic reading skills of
a group of fourth-grade, bridging-level English language learners. The teacher selects a 250-
word passage and omits every fifth word from the passage. Students will complete the assessment by supplying a word for each omitted word in the passage.
The ESL teacher could best use the cloze assessment to obtain information about students’
reading proficiency in which of the following areas?
A. word recognition skills and reading fluency
B. knowledge of syntax and vocabulary
C. decoding and spelling skills
D. metacognitive reading strategies
B. Cloze activities require students to complete sentences with words that are syntactically appropriate for their placement in the sentence and semantically appropriate for the sentence’s meaning. A is incorrect because word recognition skills and reading fluency are typically assessed through an oral reading assessment, whereas a cloze activity typically involves silent reading and a written response.
C is incorrect because, like word recognition skills, decoding skills are better assessed through an oral reading assessment. In addition, unless the teacher carefully planned that every fifth word in the passage represented specific spelling patterns or orthographic guidelines, the teacher would not necessarily gain much insight into the student’s range of spelling skills simply by reviewing the student’s spelling on the cloze assessment. D is incorrect because metacognitive strategies encourage students to think about their own thinking as they read. In the cloze activity described in this scenario, students are not necessarily given opportunities to reflect on their thinking. Sometimes teachers ask students to justify their answers in a cloze activity, which would promote
metacognition, but the students in this scenario were not asked to do so.
Which of the following reading passages would be most appropriate for the ESL teacher to use for the cloze assessment with these students?
A. A portion of an Internet news article on an interesting topic.
B. A selection of song lyrics from a popular song.
C. An excerpt from a children’s storybook.
D. A section of a grade-level content-area text.
D. Bridging-level English language learners are approaching grade-level proficiency in literacy and content-area learning. Therefore, a section of a grade-level textbook would be most appropriate for this group of students, and would provide the teacher with the most accurate information about the students’ reading proficiency regarding a grade-level text.
A is incorrect because a portion of an Internet news article would not likely be written at the fourth-grade level, which would make it inappropriate for the teacher to use to determine the students’ reading proficiency. B and C are also incorrect because these selections may be far below or above grade level, thus impeding the teacher’s ability to accurately interpret the results of the assessment.
