CLAD Foundations of ELD Instruction 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal legislation most directly mandated that schools identify and provide services for English language learners?
- No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Correct answer)
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
Correct answer: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on national origin, which was interpreted through Lau v. Nichols to require meaningful language support for ELLs.
Question 2: The landmark Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols (1974) established that schools must:
- Offer bilingual education in all languages
- Provide equal educational opportunity for ELLs, including language support (Correct answer)
- Test all students in their home language
- Hire only bilingual teachers
Correct answer: Provide equal educational opportunity for ELLs, including language support
Lau v. Nichols ruled that identical education does not constitute equal education when students cannot access instruction due to language barriers.
Question 3: Which assessment type is used to monitor the ongoing language development of ELLs throughout instruction?
- Summative assessment
- Formative assessment (Correct answer)
- Norm-referenced assessment
- Diagnostic placement test
Correct answer: Formative assessment
Formative assessments are ongoing, embedded in instruction, and used to monitor ELL progress and adjust teaching strategies accordingly.
Question 4: A teacher uses 'think-alouds' while reading a complex text to model comprehension strategies. For ELLs, this technique primarily helps by:
- Increasing reading speed
- Making invisible cognitive processes visible and accessible (Correct answer)
- Replacing the need for vocabulary instruction
- Simplifying the text content
Correct answer: Making invisible cognitive processes visible and accessible
Think-alouds make expert reading processes explicit, giving ELLs access to the cognitive strategies needed to comprehend complex academic texts.
Question 5: When teachers plan ELD instruction, they should align language objectives to:
- Only the student's social interests
- The linguistic demands of the content standards being taught (Correct answer)
- Random vocabulary from the dictionary
- Grammar sequences from textbooks only
Correct answer: The linguistic demands of the content standards being taught
Effective ELD instruction requires language objectives aligned to the specific linguistic demands of the content standards so students develop the language needed for academic success.
Question 6: Which term describes the phenomenon where an ELL's incorrect language form becomes fixed and resistant to change despite continued instruction?
- Interlanguage
- Fossilization (Correct answer)
- Code-switching
- Overgeneralization
Correct answer: Fossilization
Fossilization occurs when certain non-target language forms become permanently embedded in a learner's interlanguage and stop developing toward native-like accuracy.
Question 7: Which instructional approach is most aligned with a sociocultural view of language learning?
- Isolated grammar drills with no peer interaction
- Collaborative tasks that require meaningful communication (Correct answer)
- Silent reading with no discussion
- Teacher-only lectures with no student output
Correct answer: Collaborative tasks that require meaningful communication
Sociocultural theory emphasizes that language is learned through meaningful social interaction; collaborative tasks provide the authentic communicative context that drives acquisition.
CLAD Foundations of ELD Instruction 4
Which federal legislation most directly mandated that schools identify and provide services for English language learners?