CTEL CTEL English Literacy Development 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which literacy approach emphasizes the relationship between spoken language and print by teaching students to map phonemes onto graphemes systematically?
- Whole language instruction
- Systematic phonics instruction (Correct answer)
- Language experience approach
- Sustained silent reading
Correct answer: Systematic phonics instruction
Systematic phonics instruction explicitly teaches the correspondence between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) in a structured sequence.
Question 2: A teacher notices that an EL student writes 'He go to school yesterday.' This error most likely reflects:
- A random spelling error
- Transfer of L1 grammar lacking past-tense morphology (Correct answer)
- Lack of vocabulary knowledge
- A phonological processing deficit
Correct answer: Transfer of L1 grammar lacking past-tense morphology
Omitting past-tense inflection (-ed) often reflects negative transfer from languages that do not mark tense morphologically.
Question 3: The 'Simple View of Reading' framework identifies which TWO components as necessary and sufficient for reading comprehension?
- Fluency and vocabulary
- Phonics and phonemic awareness
- Decoding and linguistic comprehension (Correct answer)
- Spelling and writing
Correct answer: Decoding and linguistic comprehension
Gough and Tunmer's Simple View of Reading states that Reading Comprehension = Decoding × Linguistic Comprehension.
Question 4: When selecting texts for English learners at the early intermediate proficiency level, a teacher should prioritize:
- Grade-level texts with no modifications
- Texts with high vocabulary density and complex syntax
- Texts with predictable patterns, repetition, and visual support (Correct answer)
- Only texts written in the student's native language
Correct answer: Texts with predictable patterns, repetition, and visual support
Predictable patterns, repetition, and visuals provide comprehensible input that scaffolds early intermediate EL readers.
Question 5: Which strategy best supports English learners in developing academic vocabulary during content reading?
- Asking students to look up every unknown word in a dictionary
- Using context clues instruction combined with explicit vocabulary pre-teaching (Correct answer)
- Skipping unfamiliar words to maintain reading pace
- Reading aloud only and avoiding independent reading
Correct answer: Using context clues instruction combined with explicit vocabulary pre-teaching
Explicit pre-teaching of key academic vocabulary combined with context-clue strategies builds both word knowledge and reading independence.
Question 6: A student can decode words fluently but cannot summarize a passage. According to the Simple View of Reading, this student's gap is in:
- Phonemic awareness
- Linguistic comprehension (Correct answer)
- Decoding automaticity
- Orthographic mapping
Correct answer: Linguistic comprehension
Fluent decoding without comprehension points to a weakness in linguistic comprehension (vocabulary and language understanding), not decoding.
Question 7: Which writing scaffold is most appropriate for English learners who are transitioning from oral language to written expression?
- Requiring five-paragraph essays immediately
- Using sentence frames and paragraph frames to structure writing (Correct answer)
- Assigning only journal writing with no feedback
- Having students copy text from textbooks
Correct answer: Using sentence frames and paragraph frames to structure writing
Sentence and paragraph frames provide structural support that bridges oral language competence and written academic expression for ELs.
CTEL CTEL English Literacy Development 2
Which literacy approach emphasizes the relationship between spoken language and print by teaching students to map phonemes onto graphemes systematically?