MTEL: ESL (54) Practice Test questions and
answers 2024\2025 GradeA+
Which of the following examples provides the strongest support for the nativist notion that all children
are born with an innate sense of universal language principles that can be applied to the acquisition of
any language?
- correct answer A child can produce structurally complex novel utterances at a very young age.
An ESL teacher is designing a listening lesson for 6th grade intermediate-level English language learners.
Which of the following guidelines should the teacher follow in order to align the lesson with the
comprehensible input hypothesis?
- correct answer Choose an aural selection that is slightly above the students' comprehension level.
Which of the following situations best illustrates James Cummin's theory of Common Underlying
Proficiency (CUP)?
- correct answer An English language learner who has knowledge of an academic concept in the 1st
language quickly introduced in English.
Which of the following types of instructional activities would be most appropriate for ELLs at advanced
stages of English language development?
- correct answer Frequent opportunities for the student to use English in challenging, authentic
situations.
Which of the following utterances would be most typical of an ELL who is in the early production stage
of language acquisition?
- correct answer Want crayon.
,Which of the following vocabulary-learning activities most clearly involves metacognition?
- correct answer Identifying unfamiliar words in a reading passage.
Student: (pointing to word in a book) What does it mean invisible?
Teacher: Look at the parts of the word.
Student: I know in- means "not" and vis is like "visual," something you see with the eyes. I remember -
ible is like -able, right?
Teacher: Right. Now look at the sentence.
Student: (reading) "The creature was practically invisible, hidden in the dense foliage." "Hidden" is like
to hide. I guess if it is invisible, it means you're not able to see it because it is hiding.
This student's performance most clearly demonstrates which of the following cognitive processes
involved in language acquisition?
- correct answer Elaboration and inference
An ELL overgenerates the regular past tense -ed to irregular verbs, such as holded or held. This student
is most likely demonstrating:
- correct answer The process of internalizing a grammatical rule.
An ELL is extroverted and enjoys interacting with others. He is not afraid to try to communicate even
when he is uncertain of the accuracy of his speech. These personality traits are likely to affect this
student's English language acquisition in which of the following ways?
- correct answer Facilitating language acquisition by promoting his willingness to take risks and his
motivation to integrate into the new culture.
Which of the following factors is likely to have the most significant impact on the degree to which an ELL
is able to acquire native-like pronunciation in English?
- correct answer The age at which the student begins learning English.
, An ESL teacher asks an ELL, "Where is your pencil?" The student replies, "He is on my desk."
Which of the following best explains this error in the student's use of the personal pronoun he to refer
to an object?
- correct answer The student speaks a 1st language in which inanimate objects are marked for gender.
An ELL is at an advanced stage of English language acquisition. However, the student continues to make
certain consistent syntactic errors despite a general level of proficiency. This phenomenon can best be
explained as:
- correct answer Fossilization of interlanguage structures.
Which of the following English words is most commonly pronounced with the vowel sound /e(upside-
down)/ (i.e., schwa)?
- correct answer What
An ELL has difficulty distinguishing between the sounds /b/ and /v/ in English words (e.g., bet/vet,
boat/vote) because in the student's first language the sounds /b/ and /v/ are spoken interchangeably in
words.
Which of the following provides the most accurate explanation of this linguistic phenomenon?
- correct answer The sounds /b/ and /v/ are distinct phonemes in English, while they are allophones of
the same phoneme in the student's 1st language.
"This remarkable species of lichen makes its home in the inhospitable terrain of the Atacama Desert."
(remarkable/inhospitable)
Knowing the usage of the suffix -able in the words remarkable and inhospitable would best help a
student identify:
- correct answer The grammatical function of the words.
Which of the following words consists of a root word and inflectional suffix?
- correct answer Hopping. (-ing, -s, -ed, -en, -est, -n't)
Which of the following sentences contains errors in syntax?
- correct answer Every day my brother older eats at home lunch. (simple)
"As soon as they got to school," the students fed the fish in the classroom's aquarium.
answers 2024\2025 GradeA+
Which of the following examples provides the strongest support for the nativist notion that all children
are born with an innate sense of universal language principles that can be applied to the acquisition of
any language?
- correct answer A child can produce structurally complex novel utterances at a very young age.
An ESL teacher is designing a listening lesson for 6th grade intermediate-level English language learners.
Which of the following guidelines should the teacher follow in order to align the lesson with the
comprehensible input hypothesis?
- correct answer Choose an aural selection that is slightly above the students' comprehension level.
Which of the following situations best illustrates James Cummin's theory of Common Underlying
Proficiency (CUP)?
- correct answer An English language learner who has knowledge of an academic concept in the 1st
language quickly introduced in English.
Which of the following types of instructional activities would be most appropriate for ELLs at advanced
stages of English language development?
- correct answer Frequent opportunities for the student to use English in challenging, authentic
situations.
Which of the following utterances would be most typical of an ELL who is in the early production stage
of language acquisition?
- correct answer Want crayon.
,Which of the following vocabulary-learning activities most clearly involves metacognition?
- correct answer Identifying unfamiliar words in a reading passage.
Student: (pointing to word in a book) What does it mean invisible?
Teacher: Look at the parts of the word.
Student: I know in- means "not" and vis is like "visual," something you see with the eyes. I remember -
ible is like -able, right?
Teacher: Right. Now look at the sentence.
Student: (reading) "The creature was practically invisible, hidden in the dense foliage." "Hidden" is like
to hide. I guess if it is invisible, it means you're not able to see it because it is hiding.
This student's performance most clearly demonstrates which of the following cognitive processes
involved in language acquisition?
- correct answer Elaboration and inference
An ELL overgenerates the regular past tense -ed to irregular verbs, such as holded or held. This student
is most likely demonstrating:
- correct answer The process of internalizing a grammatical rule.
An ELL is extroverted and enjoys interacting with others. He is not afraid to try to communicate even
when he is uncertain of the accuracy of his speech. These personality traits are likely to affect this
student's English language acquisition in which of the following ways?
- correct answer Facilitating language acquisition by promoting his willingness to take risks and his
motivation to integrate into the new culture.
Which of the following factors is likely to have the most significant impact on the degree to which an ELL
is able to acquire native-like pronunciation in English?
- correct answer The age at which the student begins learning English.
, An ESL teacher asks an ELL, "Where is your pencil?" The student replies, "He is on my desk."
Which of the following best explains this error in the student's use of the personal pronoun he to refer
to an object?
- correct answer The student speaks a 1st language in which inanimate objects are marked for gender.
An ELL is at an advanced stage of English language acquisition. However, the student continues to make
certain consistent syntactic errors despite a general level of proficiency. This phenomenon can best be
explained as:
- correct answer Fossilization of interlanguage structures.
Which of the following English words is most commonly pronounced with the vowel sound /e(upside-
down)/ (i.e., schwa)?
- correct answer What
An ELL has difficulty distinguishing between the sounds /b/ and /v/ in English words (e.g., bet/vet,
boat/vote) because in the student's first language the sounds /b/ and /v/ are spoken interchangeably in
words.
Which of the following provides the most accurate explanation of this linguistic phenomenon?
- correct answer The sounds /b/ and /v/ are distinct phonemes in English, while they are allophones of
the same phoneme in the student's 1st language.
"This remarkable species of lichen makes its home in the inhospitable terrain of the Atacama Desert."
(remarkable/inhospitable)
Knowing the usage of the suffix -able in the words remarkable and inhospitable would best help a
student identify:
- correct answer The grammatical function of the words.
Which of the following words consists of a root word and inflectional suffix?
- correct answer Hopping. (-ing, -s, -ed, -en, -est, -n't)
Which of the following sentences contains errors in syntax?
- correct answer Every day my brother older eats at home lunch. (simple)
"As soon as they got to school," the students fed the fish in the classroom's aquarium.
