NYSTCE - Teachers of Early Childhood
(Part I) 211 Exam Actual Questions
and Answers 2026
Stages of Language Acquisition -
correct answer ✅1. occurs around 2 months old; speech-like
sounds (e.g., goo, ga, ooo, ahh)
2. occurs around 6-7 months old; babbling of repetitive syllables
(e.g., bababa) that include phonemes from baby's native language
3. occurs around 12 months old; holophrastic or one-word
utterance stage; babies understand approximately 30-40 spoken
words, and produce 3-4 words
4. occurs around 18 months old; babies recognize and point to
objects when these objects are named, follow simple directions,
and can speak in simple 2-word sentences (e.g., dog brown)
5. occurs at about 25 months and older; toddlers utter complex
sentences containing 3 or more words
- by a child's 3rd birthday, they possess a vocabulary of about 450
words
- by 5 years old, children possess a vocabulary of 10K+ words
Language Acquisition -
correct answer ✅learning to speak and understand without direct
instruction
, NYSTCE - Teachers of Early Childhood
(Part I) 211 Exam Actual Questions
and Answers 2026
- connections to Noam Chomsky's universal grammar (grammatical
features are hard-wired into the brain)
- Broca's area: involved in language production
- Wernicke's area: involved in understanding language
Phonemes -
correct answer ✅smallest unit of sound
- vowel and consonant sounds, not all of which exist in English
- regardless of place of birth, infants are able to distinguish
between all possible phonemes until about 12 months old
- at about 12 months old, babies start imitating language
Morphemes -
correct answer ✅the smallest units of meaning in a language
- free morpheme: can stand alone with a specific meaning (eat,
date, weak)
- bound morpheme: cannot stand alone with meaning
Base Morpheme -
correct answer ✅gives the word its essential meaning
(Part I) 211 Exam Actual Questions
and Answers 2026
Stages of Language Acquisition -
correct answer ✅1. occurs around 2 months old; speech-like
sounds (e.g., goo, ga, ooo, ahh)
2. occurs around 6-7 months old; babbling of repetitive syllables
(e.g., bababa) that include phonemes from baby's native language
3. occurs around 12 months old; holophrastic or one-word
utterance stage; babies understand approximately 30-40 spoken
words, and produce 3-4 words
4. occurs around 18 months old; babies recognize and point to
objects when these objects are named, follow simple directions,
and can speak in simple 2-word sentences (e.g., dog brown)
5. occurs at about 25 months and older; toddlers utter complex
sentences containing 3 or more words
- by a child's 3rd birthday, they possess a vocabulary of about 450
words
- by 5 years old, children possess a vocabulary of 10K+ words
Language Acquisition -
correct answer ✅learning to speak and understand without direct
instruction
, NYSTCE - Teachers of Early Childhood
(Part I) 211 Exam Actual Questions
and Answers 2026
- connections to Noam Chomsky's universal grammar (grammatical
features are hard-wired into the brain)
- Broca's area: involved in language production
- Wernicke's area: involved in understanding language
Phonemes -
correct answer ✅smallest unit of sound
- vowel and consonant sounds, not all of which exist in English
- regardless of place of birth, infants are able to distinguish
between all possible phonemes until about 12 months old
- at about 12 months old, babies start imitating language
Morphemes -
correct answer ✅the smallest units of meaning in a language
- free morpheme: can stand alone with a specific meaning (eat,
date, weak)
- bound morpheme: cannot stand alone with meaning
Base Morpheme -
correct answer ✅gives the word its essential meaning
