CLAD V4.0 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A CLAD-certified teacher wants to assess whether an ELL student's academic difficulties stem from a language difference or a learning disability. The most appropriate first step is to:
- Immediately refer the student for special education evaluation
- Compare the student's performance in both English and the home language across contexts (Correct answer)
- Wait one full year before taking any action
- Administer an IQ test in English
Correct answer: Compare the student's performance in both English and the home language across contexts
Comparing performance across languages and contexts helps distinguish language acquisition issues from learning disabilities that would manifest in both languages.
Question 2: In designing a culturally inclusive classroom, a teacher should consider all of the following EXCEPT:
- Representing diverse cultural perspectives in reading materials
- Connecting learning objectives to students' lived experiences
- Assuming all students from the same country share identical cultural values (Correct answer)
- Using cooperative learning structures that value group contribution
Correct answer: Assuming all students from the same country share identical cultural values
Assuming cultural uniformity among students from the same country ignores within-group diversity and can lead to stereotyping.
Question 3: The practice of allowing ELL students to demonstrate content knowledge through drawing, graphs, or native-language responses during formative assessment is an example of:
- Lowering academic standards
- Providing linguistic accommodations while assessing content knowledge (Correct answer)
- Avoiding assessment of language skills
- Misalignment with state standards
Correct answer: Providing linguistic accommodations while assessing content knowledge
Linguistic accommodations allow ELL students to show what they know about content without being penalized solely for limited English proficiency.
Question 4: Which of the following best illustrates the concept of 'additive bilingualism'?
- A student stops using Spanish at home to focus on learning English
- A student develops strong proficiency in both Spanish and English (Correct answer)
- A student's home language declines as English proficiency increases
- A student is taught exclusively in English from the first day of school
Correct answer: A student develops strong proficiency in both Spanish and English
Additive bilingualism occurs when a second language is added to a learner's repertoire without displacing or diminishing the first language.
Question 5: A student's parents prefer to communicate with the school in their home language. Under federal law, the school is required to:
- Ask the parents to find their own interpreter
- Provide a qualified interpreter or translated documents at no cost to the family (Correct answer)
- Communicate only in English to encourage the family's language development
- Limit communication to written notes in English only
Correct answer: Provide a qualified interpreter or translated documents at no cost to the family
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, schools must provide meaningful access to information for parents with limited English proficiency, including interpretation and translation services.
Question 6: Which of the following classroom scenarios best exemplifies Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) applied to ELL instruction?
- Assigning independent reading passages well above the student's current level
- Pairing an ELL student with a more proficient peer to complete a language task the ELL couldn't do alone (Correct answer)
- Having ELL students practice language skills they have already mastered
- Removing all language supports so students develop independence quickly
Correct answer: Pairing an ELL student with a more proficient peer to complete a language task the ELL couldn't do alone
The ZPD is the space between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with support, such as assistance from a more capable peer.
Question 7: A teacher uses sentence frames like 'I think __ because __' to support ELL participation in academic discussions. This is an example of:
- Over-scaffolding that reduces authentic communication
- Discourse scaffolding that supports academic language production (Correct answer)
- A strategy only appropriate for beginning-level ELL students
- A form of translation support
Correct answer: Discourse scaffolding that supports academic language production
Sentence frames provide structured linguistic support that helps ELL students practice academic discourse patterns they are still developing.
CLAD V4.0 5
A CLAD-certified teacher wants to assess whether an ELL student's academic difficulties stem from a language difference or a learning disability.
The most appropriate first step is to: