Question 1

When the words subway and submarine appeared in a text, the teacher helped the children break the words apart. They then examined other words that began with sub. These children participated in a:

Accepted Answer

The activity described involves breaking words apart and examining their components, which aligns with the concept of a word chain, where students explore word parts and their meanings.

Question 2

Students who are English learners may have difficulty with idioms because they lack the necessary:

Accepted Answer

Idioms are idiomatic expressions, which convey a figurative meaning that cannot be deduced from their literal meaning. To understand idioms, learners must have cultural background knowledge since most idioms are culture-specific. Therefore, the best choice is C, background knowledge. The other choices (phonemic awareness, phonics generalizations, and automaticity) are irrelevant to the concept of understanding idioms.

Question 3

Teachers explicitly teach the most common affixes because such knowledge helps students:

Accepted Answer

Understanding affixes can help students determine the meanings of unfamiliar words by breaking them down into their root words and the affixes attached to them.

Question 4

Because a group of third grade students have difficulty using dictionaries to find the definitions they need, their teacher should:

Accepted Answer

The best choice is D because modeling techniques for reading and using dictionary entries will provide the students with a concrete example of how to use a dictionary effectively. Developing a word wall (A) may be helpful for increasing vocabulary, but it does not directly address the issue of dictionary use. Encouraging invented spelling (B) may lead to confusion and inaccurate definitions, as well as not developing the skill of using a dictionary. Teaching students to use spell check (C) is also not a direct solution to their difficulty in using dictionaries.

Question 5

Effective teachers use minilessons to teach students about specific words. These minilessons:

Accepted Answer

Minilessons can be provided before or after students read the text depending on the teacher's preference and the needs of the students. Providing them before reading can help students understand and learn new words before encountering them in the text, while providing them after reading can enhance students' comprehension of the text and help them understand how words contribute to meaning. Both options can be effective and should be used based on instructional goals and student needs.

Question 6

When eight-year-old Kelly encountered a word that she didn't know, she used the surrounding words and sentences to determine its meaning. In that situation, Kelly used:

Accepted Answer

Kelly used context clues, which are the words and sentences around an unfamiliar word that can provide clues about its meaning.

Question 7

Nine-year-old Polina is an English learner who has enrolled in a third grade class in New York City. To help Polina acquire academic vocabulary, her teacher should provide:

Accepted Answer

Explicit instruction would be the most effective way to help Polina acquire academic vocabulary. This could include intentional teaching of new vocabulary words, modeling the appropriate use of the vocabulary in context, and providing opportunities for Polina to practice using the vocabulary herself. After school activities or worksheets as homework practice may be beneficial, but they are not specifically targeted toward academic vocabulary acquisition. Materials in Polina's native language may be helpful for overall comprehension, but may not necessarily improve her acquisition of English academic vocabulary.

Question 8

Research suggests that:

Accepted Answer

Research has consistently shown that there is a positive correlation between vocabulary size and reading comprehension. Students with larger vocabularies tend to have better reading skills and comprehension.

Question 9

Words that express opposite meanings are known as:

Accepted Answer

Antonyms are words that express opposite meanings, such as hot and cold, good and bad, or big and small. Synonyms are words that have similar meanings, homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, and morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language.

Question 10

A teacher is encouraging her students to enliven their writing by using words that have nearly the same meaning as the tired words they have been using. This teacher should give a lesson in using:

Accepted Answer

The teacher is encouraging the use of words that have nearly the same meaning, which are synonyms. Antonyms have opposite meanings, homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings, and graphemes are individual letters or groups of letters that represent a single sound.

Question 11

The term which refers to the history of a word is:

Accepted Answer

Etymology is the study of the origin and history of words, including their meanings and changes in form and usage over time. Orthography refers to the correct spelling of words, calligraphy refers to the art of beautiful handwriting and phonology deals with the sounds of language.

Question 12

Fourth grade teacher Grace Scott was frustrated. The poorest readers in her class read very few books while the most capable readers read many books and enlarged their vocabularies. Another teacher wisely suggested that the best way to encourage everyone to read more would be to:

Accepted Answer

Instituting periods of Sustained Silent Reading would create a culture of reading where everyone would have uninterrupted time to read books of their choice. This would encourage even the poorest readers to read more and also give an opportunity for the capable readers to continue their reading habit.

Question 13

To use classroom word walls most effectively, teachers should:

Accepted Answer

By adding new words regularly to the classroom word wall, teachers can ensure that the words reflect the students' current needs and interests. This keeps the word wall relevant and engaging for students. Posting only words contained on a school's approved list may not provide enough variety or relevance for students. Using the words in daily spelling drills is a good practice, but it is not necessary for using the word wall effectively. Writing each word phonetically may be helpful for students who are learning English or struggling with spelling, but it may not be necessary for all students.

Question 14

In the word rewrite, re is an example of a:

Accepted Answer

"re" is a bound morpheme, meaning it cannot stand alone as a word and must be attached to another morpheme (in this case, "write").

Question 15

Research suggests that for students, especially those in grades three and up, the activity which leads to the greatest growth in vocabulary is:

Accepted Answer

Research shows that reading is the most effective way to expand one's vocabulary, especially for students in grades three and up. Through reading, students encounter new words in context and can develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of language. While conversations and writing can also contribute to vocabulary growth, they are not as effective as reading.

Question 16

When introducing new words, sixth grade teacher Terri Crowley alerts her students if the new words were derived from the Spanish, French, or Latin languages. Effective teachers have found that knowing a word's history helps students to:

Accepted Answer

Knowing a word's history can help students to understand its spelling and origin, thus improving their ability to spell the word correctly.

Question 17

The best way to teach students to use context clues is to use:

Accepted Answer

Modeling is the best way to teach students to use context clues because it involves the teacher showing students how to use the words and sentences surrounding an unknown word to figure out its meaning. Phonics drills and round-robin reading are not effective methods for teaching context clues, and while word walls can be helpful for building vocabulary, they do not specifically teach context clues.

Question 18

While reading about the Olympic Games, a fourth grade class made a list of sports related words and then made a grid to classify the words according to their distinguishing characteristics. Those students participated in a(n):

Accepted Answer

The activity described in the question, where students make a grid to classify words based on their distinguishing characteristics, is an example of a semantic feature analysis. This type of activity helps students to understand the meaning of words and how they are related to each other based on shared characteristics. Phonics analysis and Elkonin Boxes are used more for decoding and spelling practice, while context clues involve using surrounding text to infer the meaning of an unknown word.

Question 19

Expressions which must be translated figuratively such as "raining cats and dogs", "chip off the old block," and "skeleton in the closet" are known as:

Accepted Answer

The given expressions are idioms, which means they have a figurative meaning different from their literal interpretation. Metaphors and similes compare two things directly or indirectly, but idioms use a combination of words whose meaning cannot be inferred from the literal definitions of individual words. Refrains are repeated words or phrases used in poems and songs.

Question 20

The primary reason why teachers should devote instructional time to the study of similes and metaphors is to help students:

Accepted Answer

The study of similes and metaphors can help students make their writing more vivid by using descriptive language that compares two things. This technique can help students become more skilled and creative writers.

Quiz 7: Expanding Academic Vocabulary