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

CALP proficiency enables the academic register, discourse organization, and evidence integration required to produce high-scoring open-ended responses.

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

Citing textual evidence requires CALP-level skills in selecting relevant evidence, integrating it grammatically, and using academic language to connect it to the argument.

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

'Evaluate' is a CALP-level direction word because it signals a Bloom's higher-order cognitive task requiring judgment, criteria, and academic justification.

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

Identifying a central claim requires CALP-level academic literacy to differentiate primary argumentative positions from supporting or tangential details.

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

Extended response tasks directly assess CALP-level writing by requiring sustained academic language production with organized argument, integrated evidence, and formal register.

CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency Practice Test

CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency Practice Test

CALP CALP Test-Taking Language Strategies 3