NES ESOL Exam Questions and Answers Already Graded A

NES ESOL Exam Questions and Answers Already Graded A Morpheme - in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix) Acculturation - Borrowing culture traits from another group. Incorporating new traits WITHOUT altering its own culture. Register - The form of a language that is appropriate to a given situation. Varies depending on setting, relationships, linguistic interaction. Often students learn classroom langauge and are unable to speak in informal settings. Slang - Any nonstandard form of a language. Derogative sense (words & phrases not proper for social interaction). Gives sense of community. Phonology - SOUNDS of a langauge. The smallest unit of sound that can hold meaning is a (phoneme). Phonemic Awareness vs. Phonics - Phonemic awareness precedes phonics instruction. Phonics = direct correspondence between letters & sounds (require presence of print). Alphabetic principle. Both needed as child prepares to read. Phonemes & Graphemes - Phonetic alphabet /k/. Alphabetic symbols used to describe phoneme. Graphemes - an illustrative series of lettesr to describe sounds (phonemes). C in cold. K in kilogram. Long "i" as in "fly" or "igh" in sigh. Morphology - the study of the structure of words. Words are constructed out of letters. The smallest meaningful unit of a morphological system is a (morpheme). EX: Boy can stand alone or boys with other letters. (Many English exceptions: man --- men). Syntax - Basic structure of a sentence. Order of words to make sense. Phonetics - The study of the sounds of language. Phones have distinct properties with respect to production. Real measureable sounds rather than sound unites (phonemes). Minimal Pairs - A pair of words that differ by only a single sound and are recognized by speakers as different words. i.e. bat/cat or hare/dare Onset & Rime - The sound that initiates a syllable while the vowel & any consonants after the vowel are called the rime. i.e. "Boy" - "B" is onset, "oy" is rime. Intra-language - Concerns the differences within a language, such as over-generalizations about plurals, tenses, etc. Inter-language - transitional system in which a person uses rules from two or more languages simultaneously a jumble of rules from both languages Sociolect - a social dialect or variety of speech used by a particular group, such as working-class or upper-class speech. Idiolect - an individual's accent and dialect features, as a result of their personal upbringing and experiences. Be careful not to pre-judge a student due to a dialect. Semantics - Meanings of the words. Denotations (primary meaning) & Connotations (personal feelings) of words. Consonant diagraph - Diagraphs are "voiceless" combinations of two consonants. Following are examples: st, ch, sh, th, wh. Pragmatics - The appropriate use of language in different contexts. Intuitive understanding of different meanings "Will you go out with me?" Dialect - A form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group. Zone of Proximal Development - Describes the difference between what a person knows & what he would know if given assistance. Vygotsky. The process of giving temporary aid to facilitate language learning (Scaffolding). Modeling, cues, encouragement. Affective Filter - Krashen-mental block can be produced by negative factors such as anxiety, low motivation, self confidence. Goal is to lower affective filtures. Cannot incorporate comprehensible input w/ anxiety & lack of motivation. Establishing welcoming environment helps. Aspiration - Pronunciation accompanied by breathing out. Consonant voicing - -consonants use voice when sounded -Touch vocal cords- hear vibration: B-D-TH (then)-V-L-R-Z-J (jane) Nasalization - Sounds produced by allowing some of the sound to go through the nose; m, n and ng sounds in English Homophones - sound exactly alike, but have different spellings and meanings Allophone - Changes in pronunciation depending upon phoneme position in a word. Phones that make up one phoneme ("All the phones"). EX: Keep /k/ = farther forward; /iy/ is a high front. Cool /k/ = farther back; /uw/ is a high back. Ethnocentrism - tendency to view one's own culture and group as superior to all other cultures and groups Assimilation - Individuals are absorbed into the new society after being the member of a different one. Voluntary or forced. Learning new language, values, and norms. Easier for the young. Code-switching - Changing from one mode of speech to another as the situation demands, whether from one language to another or from one dialect of a language to another. Psycholinguistics - the branch of cognitive psychology that studies the psychological basis of linguistic competence and performance Proxemics - study of personal space Circumlocution - an indirect way of expressing something. Using too many words to express a simple idea. Phonemic Awareness - The understanding that words are made up of individual speech sounds. It does not require written language because it is based on speech.