CALP CALP Test-Taking Language Strategies 3

Question 1

How does CALP proficiency affect a student's ability to respond to open-ended test questions?

Accepted Answer

It enables students to produce well-organized academic written responses using appropriate register and discourse structure

Answer

It has no effect on open-ended responses

Answer

It only helps with grammar conventions

Answer

Open-ended questions do not require academic language

Question 2

What does the test direction 'cite evidence from the text' require at a CALP level?

Accepted Answer

Selecting and integrating textually-based evidence using academic citation language to support an argument

Answer

Copying any sentence from the passage

Answer

Paraphrasing the entire passage

Answer

Using evidence from personal experience only

Question 3

What makes the word 'evaluate' a CALP-level test direction word rather than a BICS word?

Accepted Answer

It signals a higher-order task requiring critical judgment and academic justification, not just description or recall

Answer

It is a long word with many syllables

Answer

It only appears in science tests

Answer

It has an unusual spelling that makes it difficult

Question 4

On a CALP reading test, a question asks: 'What is the central claim of the passage?' How does academic language knowledge help?

Accepted Answer

It enables students to distinguish between main claims, supporting details, and peripheral information at an academic level

Answer

It helps students read faster

Answer

It only helps students spell correctly

Answer

Central claim identification requires only basic literacy

Question 5

What CALP skill does 'extended response' writing on US standardized tests most directly assess?

Accepted Answer

Sustained academic language production including argument development, evidence use, and formal register

Answer

Handwriting neatness

Answer

Social communication fluency

Answer

Basic sentence construction

Question 6

A student prepares for CALP-level standardized tests by practicing with past academic prompts and studying direction words. Why is this specifically a CALP strategy?

Accepted Answer

It develops familiarity with academic task language and discourse patterns that define CALP-level assessment demands

Answer

It builds social conversational skills needed for tests

Answer

It only improves content knowledge, not language

Answer

Direction word study is useful only for lower-level tests