Test Information Guide

Field 79: Bilingual Education
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Language, Linguistics, and Comparisons

Objective 0001
Understand major concepts and principles related to the nature of language and language systems.

1. Within a bilingual education setting, which of the following instructional strategies is most reflective of Jim Cummins' theory that learning a target language involves the use of a Common Underlying Proficiency ( C U P ) connected to the knowledge of the primary language?

  1. developing students' academic vocabulary in the target language while maintaining interpersonal skills in the primary language
  2. teaching initial literacy skills in the target language of instruction to avoid confusion with students' primary language
  3. developing students' oral language skills in the target language before teaching literacy skills in the target language
  4. teaching initial literacy skills in students' primary language to encourage the transfer of these skills to the target language
Answer
Correct Response: D.

Correct Response: D.

Culture

Objective 0006
Understand how to create a culturally inclusive learning environment that supports individual students' language development and academic achievement.

2. In a bilingual education setting, which of the following strategies would be most effective in preventing students from feeling a sense of conflict between their home and school cultures?

  1. starting each day with a game in which students pretend to "take off" their home selves and "put on" their school selves
  2. encouraging students to bring in items from home that they can keep at their desks as reminders of their home cultures
  3. maintaining strong communication with families and inviting family and community members to participate in classroom activities
  4. decorating classrooms with pictures representing people and places from students' home cultures and changing the pictures frequently
Answer
Correct Response: C.

Correct Response: C.

 second language  Acquisition and Instructional Practices

Objective 0009
Understand  research based  best practices related to planning and implementing bilingual education instruction, including how to select, adapt, and use instructional resources.

3. A group of bilingual education teachers in a culturally and linguistically diverse school is reviewing a series of folktale books in the primary and target languages for use in the school's bilingual education classrooms. Which of the following cultural aspects should be a main concern for the teachers because it often constitutes a bias issue in folktales?

  1. the use of a variety of dialects by different characters
  2. the variations in characters' level of education
  3. the representation of characters' gender roles
  4. the composition of characters' families
Answer
Correct Response: C.

Correct Response: C.

Integration of Standards into Curriculum and Instruction

Objective 0010
Understand the  W I D A  English Language Development ( E L D ) Standards and the state English language arts ( E L A ) standards related to listening and strategies for teaching bilingual education students to acquire and use listening skills in English and the target  non English  language of instruction.

4. A bilingual education teacher wants to help students achieve the state standards goal of understanding the relationships between central ideas and details in a presentation. The students will listen to a  primary language  presentation about different uses of computer science. The teacher can best accomplish the goal by guiding students through which of the following activities?

  1. completing a Venn diagram for each section of the presentation after they have heard the whole presentation
  2. taking detailed notes of any concepts they do not understand as they listen to the presentation
  3. checking off vocabulary words on a list as they hear them in the presentation
  4. making a concept map based on the presentation after they have heard the whole presentation
Answer
Correct Response: D.

Correct Response: D.

Objective 0012
Understand the  W I D A  English Language Development ( E L D ) Standards and the state English language arts ( E L A ) standards related to reading and strategies for teaching bilingual education students to acquire and use reading skills in English and the target  non English  language of instruction.

5. Which of the following strategies would be the most effective way to encourage middle school bilingual education students to apply metacognitive strategies while reading a social studies text in either the primary or target language?

  1. reminding students to highlight important content in the text as they read
  2. providing students with an outline that links the information in the text to future instruction
  3. modeling for students how to create questions from chapter headings and subheadings
  4. activating students' prior knowledge about the subject before the students begin reading
Answer
Correct Response: C.

Correct Response: C.

Objective 0013
Understand the  W I D A  English Language Development ( E L D ) Standards and the state English language arts ( E L A ) standards related to writing and strategies for teaching bilingual education students to acquire and use writing skills in English and the target  non English  language of instruction.

6. Which of the following writing techniques would be most helpful for bilingual education students who are learning to organize information for reports about specific research topics in either English or the primary language?

  1. using  color coded  note cards to record data and source citations for their reports
  2. constructing graphic organizers that correspond to the structural patterns their reports will take
  3. filling in blank outline forms with the information they will use in their reports
  4. developing a list of possible topic sentences for each paragraph of their reports
Answer
Correct Response: B.

Correct Response: B.

Objective 0014
Understand how to support bilingual education students' access to the core curriculum as outlined in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks as they learn language and academic content.

7. Students in a bilingual education class will be studying the characteristics and uses of different types of tools used for measurement (e.g., rulers, scales, measuring cups). During a brainstorming activity conducted in the primary language before the lesson begins, the teacher notices that many students seem to lack background knowledge about these tools. Which of the following primary-language activities would be most effective for the teacher to use first to support students'  content area  learning?

  1. providing students with supplemental reading materials that explain the basic properties of measurement tools in clear, concise language
  2. giving students a list of words related to measurement tools and guiding them to use reference materials to learn the meanings of the words
  3. having students use measurement tools to measure classroom objects and label the objects with their measurements
  4. providing students with opportunities to handle and examine a wide variety of measurement tools and discuss their observations about the tools
Answer
Correct Response: D.

Correct Response: D.

Assessment

Objective 0017
Understand how to select, develop, adapt, and use various classroom assessment tools and techniques; analyze assessment results; and adjust instruction for bilingual education students based on assessment results.

8. Which of the following student activities would be most appropriate for assessing  intermediate level  bilingual education students' proficiency in listening for specific information in the target language?

  1. describing what to wear for an outdoor field trip based on a radio weather report
  2. creating a drawing expressing the mood conveyed by the words used in a poem read by the teacher
  3. evaluating a radio commercial for phrases and words used to sell a particular product
  4. performing a science experiment according to a sequence of steps described by the teacher
Answer
Correct Response: A.

Correct Response: A.

Professionalism

Objective 0019
Understand the bilingual education teacher's role as a professional within a discipline.

9. A bilingual education teacher's primary consideration when selecting professional development opportunities should be:

  1. finding opportunities to do original research.
  2. networking and improving skills.
  3. purchasing new curriculum materials for the district.
  4. discovering new areas of interest.
Answer
Correct Response: B.

Correct Response: B.

Objective 0020
Understand how to serve as a resource and advocate for bilingual education students and how to build effective partnerships with bilingual education students' families and communities to support students' language development and academic achievement.

10. Which of the following best describes the primary reason for developing a network of literate  bilingual and primary language speaking  community members who serve as successful reading role models for adolescent students?

  1. recruiting volunteers to provide tutoring assistance
  2. fostering students' self-concept as lifelong readers
  3. encouraging public support for the school reading program
  4. showing students that reading is required at every stage of life
Answer
Correct Response: B.

Correct Response: B.