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Teaching English Language Learners Flashcards

7 cards from real ALT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Teaching English Language Learners flashcards as text
  1. Which instructional model places ELL students in mainstream classrooms for most of the day while receiving pull-out ESL support?

    Answer: Sheltered instruction with pull-out ESL

    Sheltered instruction with pull-out ESL integrates ELLs in mainstream classes and provides additional language support outside the general classroom.

  2. Cummins' distinction between BICS and CALP is important for ELL instruction because:

    Answer: Students may appear conversationally fluent yet still need support for academic language tasks

    BICS (social language) develops faster than CALP (academic language), so conversational fluency can mask gaps in academic proficiency.

  3. A teacher uses Total Physical Response (TPR) with beginning ELLs. What is the primary benefit of this approach?

    Answer: It connects language to physical movement, reducing anxiety and building meaning

    TPR links verbal commands to physical actions, making meaning concrete and lowering the affective filter for beginning language learners.

  4. An ELL student who arrived two years ago scores proficient on oral fluency but below grade level on reading comprehension tests. The BEST explanation is:

    Answer: Academic literacy (CALP) takes 5–7 years to develop to grade-level proficiency

    Research shows academic language proficiency typically takes 5–7 years to develop, even after social language appears fluent.

  5. Which of the following is a key principle of sheltered instruction (SIOP)?

    Answer: Posting and addressing both content and language objectives in every lesson

    SIOP requires dual objectives—content and language—to be explicitly stated and addressed so ELLs understand both what they are learning and how language is used.

  6. A student consistently uses correct grammar in structured exercises but reverts to errors in spontaneous conversation. This pattern best illustrates:

    Answer: The monitor hypothesis — conscious rules are hard to apply under real-time pressure

    Krashen's Monitor Hypothesis explains that consciously learned rules are difficult to apply when speaking spontaneously because monitoring requires time and focus.

  7. Under Title III of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools are primarily accountable for:

    Answer: Annual English proficiency assessment and progress toward reclassification

    Title III requires states to assess ELL English proficiency annually and hold schools accountable for students' progress toward proficiency and reclassification.