Preparation Manual

Instructional Practices

Competency 001—The LOTE teacher knows and understands language-learning theories and theories of second-language acquisition and their application to LOTE instruction and assessment to promote the learning goals defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for LOTE and promote all students' success as language learners.

1. A foreign-language teacher divides students into groups of four and does the following: In each group of four, the teacher gives three of the students different pictures. Then, the teacher gives the fourth person a picture that is identical to one of the other three pictures already distributed. Nobody sees the other students' pictures. The teacher then tells the students that the fourth person has a picture identical to one of the other three, and that the fourth person's task is to engage in an interaction in the target language with the other three students, which will help him/her determine which of the other three students has the identical picture. Only the target language is used during the lesson. Which of the following best describes the teacher's approach?

1. Audio-lingual method
2. Communicative language teaching
3. Lexical approach
4. Community language learning

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because the activity is an example of functional communication which involves sharing information with restricted cooperation, a key component of communicative language teaching. Option A is incorrect because the audio-lingual method is implemented by means of performing dialogues and repeating pattern drills. Option C is incorrect because the lexical approach is implemented by focusing on fixed expressions, or lexical units, and noting language patterns. Option D is incorrect because in community language learning, the students form a circle and collaborate to communicate in the target language, with the teacher serving as guide and interpreter.

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2. While planning a unit on past-tense morphemes, a ninth-grade foreign-language teacher makes sure to bear in mind Krashen's hypotheses. Which of the following actions does the teacher take?

1. The teacher employs reinforcement as a vital element in the learning process.
2. The teacher utilizes dialogues and emphasizes correct pronunciation.
3. The teacher ensures that the lesson content contains comprehensible input.
4. The teacher focuses on language patterns, vocabulary and collocations.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because comprehensible input constitutes Krashen's input hypothesis, i.e., that students experience the greatest increase in foreign language proficiency when they participate in activities that are slightly more advanced than activities at their current proficiency level. Option A is incorrect because the use of reinforcement as a vital element in the learning process is a tenet of the behaviorist theory. Option B is incorrect because using dialogues and emphasizing correct pronunciation are characteristic of the audio-lingual method. Option D is incorrect because language patterns and collocations are the focus of the lexical approach.

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3. During a parent-teacher meeting, a principal explains that a school's new foreign-language program will focus on teaching reading, writing, listening, and improving conversational skills among students who already speak, or at least understand, the target language to some degree because of their ancestry. Based on the principal's description, the new program is

1. a heritage program
2. an Advanced Placement® program
3. an immersion program
4. a bilingual-education program

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because heritage programs are designed for students, known as heritage speakers, who come from homes where the target language is spoken and who can already speak, or at least understand, the target language to some degree. Heritage programs focus on teaching reading, writing, and listening, as well as improving conversational skills. Option B is incorrect because Advanced Placement® programs are not created for heritage speakers but rather for high school students who have reached an intermediate-high proficiency level in the target language through foreign language study and who wish to earn college credit while still attending high school. Option C is incorrect because immersion programs use only the target language and do not focus on students who have experience with the language because of their family ancestry. Option D is incorrect because bilingual-education programs use two languages to teach content.

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Competency 002—The LOTE teacher understands and applies theories, strategies and practices of second-language instruction and assessment to promote students' progress in all areas of language learning as defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for LOTE.

4. In order to promote the development of listening skills from authentic sources, a foreign-language teacher of an intermediate-level class wants to assign students listening logs during each grading period. Students will document listening to the target language outside of class. Which activity would the teacher most likely approve?

1. Sampling cuisine at a local restaurant that serves food from the target culture
2. Reading movie listings from the target culture in a local newspaper printed in the target language
3. Practicing speaking the foreign language with a classmate outside of the school setting
4. Listening to a Skype conversation between a parent who is a native speaker and a family member who lives in the target country

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because the activity meets the description of the assignment in that students listen to an authentic interaction. Option A is incorrect because it describes an experience limited to tasting food. Option B is incorrect because it focuses on reading, not listening, although students could possibly attend one of the movies listed in the newspaper. Option C is incorrect because although it describes an activity that promotes practice, students do not necessarily replicate an authentic experience.

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Competency 003—The LOTE teacher understands and applies strategies and approaches for implementing the TEKS for LOTE to promote students' ability to communicate in the target language, gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, connect with other disciplines and acquire information, make comparisons that develop insight into the nature of language and culture and participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.

5. After finding a reading passage at the intermediate-level of a foreign-language class, a teacher deletes words in a pattern for students to fill in the blanks. This reading and writing activity is an example of which of the following?

1. A story-sequencing activity
2. A jigsaw activity
3. A memory game
4. A cloze exercise

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because it identifies the procedure described in the question scenario. Options A and B are incorrect because the described activities focus on arranging chunks of material into a coherent reading. Option C is incorrect because the described activity is a game designed to lower the affective filter. It is not a reading or writing activity.

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6. A teacher wants to select the best activities to help students attain advanced-level speaking fluency as outlined by the Proficiency Guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Which of the following activities would best suit the objective?

1. Each student chats online with a student from a target-language partner school.
2. Each student presents a coherent hypothesis of how life would be different today if the Internet had not been developed.
3. Each student receives a list of questions to be used for interviewing classmates.
4. Each student shares a memorable childhood experience with the class, providing as many details as possible.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because sharing a childhood experience involves narration and description in the past tense, an appropriate task for measuring advanced-level speaking proficiency. Option A is incorrect because when chatting online, the student is not obligated to speak at an advanced level. Option B is incorrect because hypothesizing how life would be different in an alternate reality requires a level of speaking proficiency that is beyond the advanced level. Option C is incorrect because asking classmates questions that are provided does not require students to formulate the questions on their own, a task that advanced-level students should already have mastered.

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7. A first-year foreign-language teacher has a classroom composed of diverse learners, including heritage speakers, gifted and talented students, and special needs students. What is the best teaching approach to take in order to enhance language acquisition for all the students?

1. Create a detailed learning plan for the whole class that includes doing multiple activities simultaneously with all students.
2. Establish learning centers in different areas of the classroom where students can review and learn difficult concepts on their own.
3. Divide the class into learning groups based on their abilities and develop specific learning strategies for each group of students.
4. Teach to the middle and review lessons after class for those students who do not understand the lesson.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because the described approach includes developing learning activities tailored to the needs of the diverse student population. Option A is incorrect because creating a single learning plan for the entire class does not address the multiple needs and learning styles of all the students. Option B is incorrect because learning centers are appropriate for gifted and heritage learners who are motivated to learn a foreign language, but they do not provide opportunities for special needs students. This strategy does not address the needs of all the students in the classroom. Option D is incorrect because teaching to the middle will always leave a portion of the class either bored or not comprehending the lesson.

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Competency 003—The LOTE teacher understands and applies strategies and approaches for implementing the TEKS for LOTE to promote students' ability to communicate in the target language, gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, connect with other disciplines and acquire information, make comparisons that develop insight into the nature of language and culture and participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world.

8. Mr. Gouret wants to organize an activity that fulfills the Communities standard in his school's foreign-language program. Which of the following activities is best suited to help him achieve this goal?

1. Reviewing a magazine feature on different target-language communities with the students
2. Taking students on a study-abroad program trip to a target country over the summer
3. Having students compose a list of communities where the target language is spoken natively
4. Taking students to another school to attend a seminar in English on cultural awareness

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because taking students on a study-abroad program trip meets Communities Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. Options A and C are incorrect because when reviewing a magazine feature and making a list, students are not using the target language beyond the school setting. Option D is incorrect because students who are listening to a seminar in English are not using the target language.

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9. When playing a game as part of a lesson on cardinal and ordinal numbers, students in a second-year foreign-language class use a simple sports analogy from their own native language. Which of the following standards is best addressed in this classroom activity?

1. Interpretive Communication, Standard 1.2
2. Products of Cultures, Standard 2.2
3. Language Comparisons, Standard 4.1
4. School and Community, Standard 5.1

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because students show evidence of understanding the nature of language by comparing the target language with their own language during the described activity. Option A is incorrect because the activity does not include interpretive communication. Option B is incorrect because the activity does not require students to understand a cultural product and its relationship to a perspective of the target culture. Option D is incorrect because the activity is not being performed beyond the classroom setting.

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10. The teacher of an intermediate foreign-language class sets as an objective for students to gain an understanding of ways to express respect toward elders or strangers and to communicate status differences in the target language. Which of the following standards best corresponds to the learning objective?

1. Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
2. Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.
3. Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
4. Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming lifelong learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because by developing an awareness of how to convey respect and status distinctions, students are learning about the way in which the target language communicates important cultural perspectives. Option A is incorrect because the learning objective does not focus on presentational speaking. Option C is incorrect because the learning objective does not focus on content from another discipline. Option D is incorrect because the learning objective does not focus on use of the target language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

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11. Members of a language club at an international charter school have arranged for a local artist from the target culture to visit the school and make a presentation on art to the student body. Which of the following standards is most fully addressed by the activity?

1. Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
2. Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.
3. Standard 3.1: Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
4. Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming lifelong learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because attending a presentation by a local artist from the target culture gives students the opportunity to further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language. Option A is incorrect because the students are attending a presentation rather than engaging in presentational speaking themselves. Option B is incorrect because the students are not making comparisons between the target culture and their own. Option D is incorrect because the artist's visit is a school-sponsored activity, so there is no evidence that the activity is being pursued purely for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

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12. In a twelfth-grade foreign-language class, students use videoconferencing to work on a joint project with students in a sister school in a target-culture country. Which of the following standards is best addressed in this classroom activity?

1. Communication
2. Cultures
3. Comparisons
4. Communities

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because the described activity involves communicating in the target-language. Options B, C and D are incorrect because Cultures, Comparisons and Communities are not specifically targeted as part of the activity.

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Competency 002—The LOTE teacher understands and applies theories, strategies and practices of second-language instruction and assessment to promote students' progress in all areas of language learning as defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for LOTE.

13. Which of the following activities is the best way to assess if students have an understanding of the customs of a target culture?

1. Showing students a video depicting the favorite sports in the target country
2. Taking students to a restaurant that serves the food of the target country and having them order in the target language
3. Inviting a speaker to address the class about how hard it is to assimilate into a foreign culture
4. Having students research and write about how difficult it is to learn a foreign language

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because it describes the only activity during which students will need to demonstrate that they can apply the patterns of behavior and interactions in a real-life setting of the target culture. Options A, C and D are incorrect because the described activities do not require students to show that they understand the behavioral practices of the target culture that they are studying.

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14. In order to ensure that foreign-language students have achieved the superior level in reading proficiency, what is the best way for a teacher to assess reading comprehension skills?

1. Students read an argumentative text and write short answers to questions about author-intended inferences.
2. Students complete a cloze passage of a literary text containing low-frequency vocabulary and complex stylistic syntactical elements.
3. Students read a short noncomplex text and demonstrate literal comprehension of basic information in a multiple-choice assessment.
4. Students read a newspaper article about a current event and write short answers to questions about the purpose and point of view.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because students need to have a deep understanding of the content, and of the language, in order to recognize inferences in an argumentative text. Option B is incorrect because students may be able to complete a cloze passage using contextual clues without necessarily understanding the nuances of the text. Options C and D are incorrect because demonstrating literal comprehension of basic information and understanding purpose and point of view of a newspaper article about a current event do not provide sufficient evidence of superior-level reading comprehension.

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15. Which of the following is an example of an assessment activity that measures what a student knows about the language, rather than what a student is able to do with the language?

1. A student identifies the best adjective from a list to insert in an incomplete sentence.
2. A student discusses issues affecting the historical evolution of the target language with the instructor.
3. A student responds spontaneously and fully to several threads of a simulated conversation.
4. A student uses self-correction to answer a question in the presentational mode referring to a given stimulus.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because the student is able to demonstrate understanding of issues affecting the target language rather than the ability to communicate effectively in the target language. Options A, C and D are incorrect because completing language tasks assesses a student's proficiency in using a language and not necessarily knowledge of the cultural realities that the language conveys.

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16. Mr. Conger is constructing a rubric that assesses a student's ability to identify key words, main ideas, and supporting details from an oral or printed text in the target language. Which of the following language features best describes the skills that Mr. Conger will assess?

1. Understanding inferences
2. Critical analysis
3. Identifying perspective
4. Literal comprehension

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because identifying key words, main ideas, and supporting details in a text are all literal comprehension skills. Options A, B and C are incorrect because understanding inferences, critical analysis, and identifying perspective are all skills that go beyond the basic literal comprehension necessary to identify key words, main ideas, and supporting details.

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17. Which of the following are characteristics of formative assessments? Select all that apply.

1. They take place on an ongoing basis, such as with daily pairing and sharing activities.
2. They help students recognize ways of improving by using a rubric developed by the class.
3. They take on the form of alternative assessments, such as performing communicative tasks.
4. They document how many right answers are given, such as on a unit grammar and vocabulary test.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Options A, B and C are correct because they all describe activities that are characteristic of formative assessments. Option D is incorrect because it describes a characteristic of a test given at the end of a unit, otherwise known as a summative assessment.

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