CLAD Structure and Linguistics 5

Question 1

Which sociolinguistic concept explains why African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is considered a rule-governed dialect rather than an error-filled form of English?

Accepted Answer

All natural language varieties have systematic grammatical rules

Answer

Linguists recognize that all natural language varieties, including AAVE, follow consistent internal grammatical rules, making them linguistically equal to standard dialects.

Question 2

The Silent Period in second language acquisition refers to:

Accepted Answer

A period when learners absorb language input before producing output

Answer

During the Silent Period, learners build comprehension and internal language representations before they feel ready to produce spoken output.

Question 3

What does the term 'lexical density' measure in a text?

Accepted Answer

Ratio of content words to total words

Answer

Lexical density measures the proportion of content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) relative to total words, with higher density indicating more academic or complex text.

Question 4

In which way does Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) apply to language instruction?

Accepted Answer

Language tasks should be slightly beyond current ability with scaffolded support

Answer

The ZPD represents what learners can achieve with appropriate support, so instruction should target language slightly beyond independent ability with scaffolding.

Question 5

Which phonological process causes the /n/ in 'input' to be pronounced as /m/ by many English speakers?

Accepted Answer

Assimilation

Answer

Assimilation is the process by which a sound takes on features of an adjacent sound; /n/ becomes /m/ before the bilabial /p/ to match its place of articulation.

CLAD Practice Test

CLAD Practice Test

CLAD Structure and Linguistics 5