BEA - Bilingual Education Assessment Second Language Acquisition Theories Questions and Answers

Question 1

An English Language Learner in a bilingual classroom is highly motivated, has strong self-confidence, and displays low anxiety when trying to communicate in English.
According to Stephen Krashen's hypotheses of second language acquisition, this student's situation is most conducive to language acquisition because of which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A low affective filter

Answer

The monitor hypothesis

Answer

The natural order hypothesis

Answer

The acquisition-learning hypothesis

Question 2

A high school student, who recently arrived from another country, is able to converse fluently with peers in the hallway and during lunch about social topics. However, the student struggles to understand academic texts and participate in classroom discussions about abstract concepts. This discrepancy is best explained by which of Jim Cummins's concepts?

Accepted Answer

Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

Answer

Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP)

Answer

The Thresholds Theory

Answer

The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis

Question 3

Which of the following classroom activities best aligns with Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of language acquisition?

Accepted Answer

Students working in small, mixed-proficiency groups to co-construct a story.

Answer

Students independently completing a grammar worksheet.

Answer

The teacher providing explicit grammar instruction to the whole class.

Answer

Students memorizing vocabulary lists with flashcards.

Question 4

According to Krashen's Input Hypothesis (i+1), how does a second language learner acquire new language structures?

Accepted Answer

By understanding messages containing language slightly beyond their current level of competence.

Answer

By consciously studying and memorizing grammatical rules.

Answer

By producing output and receiving corrective feedback.

Answer

By interacting with native speakers regardless of the input's complexity.

Question 5

A teacher notices that her Spanish-speaking students are learning English grammatical morphemes in a predictable sequence, such as acquiring the '-ing' progressive and plural '-s' before the third-person singular '-s'. This phenomenon is best described by which of Krashen's hypotheses?

Accepted Answer

The Natural Order Hypothesis

Answer

The Monitor Hypothesis

Answer

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

Answer

The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Question 6

The concept of the 'Zone of Proximal Development' (ZPD) is central to sociocultural theories of language acquisition. How does the ZPD apply to a bilingual education classroom?

Accepted Answer

It is the difference between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a teacher or more capable peer.

Answer

It describes the innate linguistic knowledge all learners possess.

Answer

It refers to the silent period some learners experience before they begin speaking.

Answer

It is the emotional barrier that can prevent language input from being processed.