ESL Certification Exam Questions With
100% Verified Answers.
Affective Filter - answer✔the filter through which ELLs receive language input, which is
impacted by how the student feels about him/herself and the situation.
Assimilation - answer✔the blending of cultural minorities into the dominant cultural group
where cultural differences are not maintained; full assimilation occurs when new members of a
society become indistinguishable from older members.
Acculturation - answer✔the exchange of cultural features that results when groups come into
continuous first-hand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups may be
altered, but the groups remain distinct.
Additive Bilingualism - answer✔the current philosophy where the second language is acquired
without detriment to the first; students are encouraged to maintain their native language.
BICS: Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills - answer✔social language that is necessary for
basic, everyday conversation; conversational language.
CALLA: Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach - answer✔an approach that
capitalizes on the knowledge and skills that learners already posses, while encouraging the
learners to develop new and more effective strategies for learning.
CALP: Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency - answer✔a highly developed level of
proficiency that allows a person to use abstract, decontextualized language competently and
confidently to perform challenging academic work; academic language.
Chunking - answer✔putting words together into meaningful phrases
Cloze Notes - answer✔a reading or listening technique that leaves a blank (usually about every
10th word) in a passage to test mastery of comprehension of written or spoken language;
students fill in the blanks with or without a word bank.
Comprehensible Input - answer✔refers to meaningful, context-supported language that is clearly
understood by the learner.
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Discourse - answer✔linguistic term referring to language longer than a single sentence.
EAP: English for Academic Purposes - answer✔focusing on advanced reading, technical writing,
and comprehending college lectures.
EFL: English as a Foreign Language - answer✔occurs in a country in which English is not the
primary language.
ELL - answer✔English Language Learner
ESL: English as a Second Language - answer✔occurs in a country in which English is the
primary language.
ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages - answer✔the preferred term for ESL; this is
the title of the only state-recognized high school courses for ELLs.
Ethnocentrism - answer✔the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally
important and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own.
Etymology - answer✔the study of word origins; the study of the historical development of
languages.
Graphophonics - answer✔phonics; the linguistic term referring to the system of sound-letter
relationships in a language.
HLS: Home Language Survey - answer✔a survey conducted (only once) in English and the
native language to determine the language normally used in the home and the language used by
the student.
Idiom - answer✔a figurative phrase that is culturally bound and must be understood as a
meaningful chunk; i.e., It's raining cats and dogs.
Interference - answer✔also known as negative transfer, which occurs when the speakers and
writers must transfer items and structures that are not the same in both languages.
L1 - answer✔the learner's first or native language.
L2 - answer✔the learner's second language.
LEP: Limited English Proficient - answer✔the term used in elementary and secondary education
for students whose English language skills are insufficient for success in the regular curriculum.
This classification is based on a combination of criteria including a Home Language Survey,
language proficiency and/or dominance test scores, and English achievement test scores.
Lexicon - answer✔a list of the vocabulary of a language or domain.