ELL ELL Listening and Speaking Skills 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the 'silent period' in second language acquisition?
- A time when ELL students are prohibited from speaking in class
- A phase in which learners absorb input before producing language (Correct answer)
- A classroom management technique to reduce noise
- A period dedicated exclusively to silent reading activities
Correct answer: A phase in which learners absorb input before producing language
The silent period refers to the natural phase when new language learners listen and absorb input before they feel ready to produce spoken language.
Question 2: According to Stephen Krashen, what is 'comprehensible input' in language learning?
- Written material that students can read silently without assistance
- Language delivered slightly above the learner's current proficiency level (Correct answer)
- Grammar drills that are easy enough for all students to complete
- Audio recordings that are slowed down for better clarity
Correct answer: Language delivered slightly above the learner's current proficiency level
Krashen's i+1 hypothesis states that comprehensible input is language just one level above what learners already know, pushing them to acquire new language naturally.
Question 3: Which listening strategy involves predicting what will be heard before a listening task?
- Selective listening
- Extensive listening
- Pre-listening activation (Correct answer)
- Intensive transcription
Correct answer: Pre-listening activation
Pre-listening activation engages prior knowledge and sets a purpose, helping ELL students anticipate content and improve comprehension.
Question 4: What does 'scaffolded speaking' mean in ELL instruction?
- Requiring students to memorize and recite scripted dialogues
- Providing structured supports that are gradually removed as students gain proficiency (Correct answer)
- Restricting speaking to formal presentations only
- Using physical scaffolding models to teach spatial vocabulary
Correct answer: Providing structured supports that are gradually removed as students gain proficiency
Scaffolded speaking means offering temporary supports such as sentence frames or graphic organizers, which are progressively withdrawn as learners become more independent.
Question 5: Which classroom activity is MOST effective for developing ELL students' conversational fluency?
- Silent journaling with vocabulary lists
- Paired or small-group communicative tasks (Correct answer)
- Teacher-led whole-class grammar lectures
- Independent worksheet completion
Correct answer: Paired or small-group communicative tasks
Paired and small-group communicative tasks give ELL students frequent, low-stakes opportunities to practice real conversation, which builds fluency most effectively.
Question 6: What is 'recasting' as a corrective feedback strategy in ELL speaking instruction?
- Asking the student to repeat the error louder
- Restating the student's utterance correctly without interrupting communication (Correct answer)
- Pausing the lesson to explicitly teach the grammar rule
- Having peers correct each other's errors publicly
Correct answer: Restating the student's utterance correctly without interrupting communication
Recasting involves the teacher reformulating a student's incorrect utterance in the correct form while keeping the conversation flowing naturally.
Question 7: Which type of listening is characterized by listening to large amounts of material for general meaning and enjoyment?
- Intensive listening
- Discriminative listening
- Extensive listening (Correct answer)
- Evaluative listening
Correct answer: Extensive listening
Extensive listening involves exposure to large amounts of audio for overall comprehension and pleasure, building fluency and vocabulary incidentally over time.
ELL ELL Listening and Speaking Skills 1
What is the 'silent period' in second language acquisition?