Questões de Língua Inglesa da Fundação Euclides da Cunha (FEC)

Read the following passage and choose the option that best answers the questions 01 to 05.

  

 

 

"The concept of 'readiness to learn'" (line 5) implies that:

 

• A.

  teachers can expect learners to acquire a certain grammatical structure after being led through a developmental sequence;

• B.

  teachers cannot expect learners to acquire a certain grammatical structure which is too complex;

• C.

  learners need a particular amount of time to internalize a certain grammatical structure;

• D.

  as the learner's interlanguage develops, he will master structures in sequence;

• E.

  learners go through a complex process of developing a certain grammatical structure.

Jeremy Harmer in his book The Practice of English Language Teaching says:
"Developmental errors: for a long time now researchers in child language development have been aware of the phenomenon of 'over-generalisation'. This is best described as a situation where a child who starts by saying Daddy went, They came, etc. perfectly correctly suddenly starts saying *Daddy goed and *They comed. (...) Foreign language students make the same kind of 'developmental' errors as well". (p. 100). We can infer that:

• A. such errors as "she is more nicer than him" are part of a natural acquisition process among foreign learners;
• B.

  mistakes are subconsciously learnt and it is very difficult for a teacher to correct them;

• C.

  when responding to errors, teachers should be seen as telling students off because they are wrong;

• D.

  when second language learners make errors, they are demonstrating their difficulty in acquiring that language;

• E.

  adults acquire a second language more easily than children because they are aware of grammar rules.

As far as motivation is concerned, Jeremy Harmer says that:
        "At its most basic level, motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something. As H Douglas Brown points out, a cognitive view of motivation includes factors such as the need for exploration, activity, stimulation, new knowledge, and ego enhancement (Brown 2000: 160-166). (...)
        Marion Williams and Richard Burden suggest that motivation is a 'state of cognitive arousal' which provokes a 'decision to act' as a result of which there is 'sustained intellectual and/or physical effort' so that the person can achieve some 'previously set goal' (Williams and Burden 1997: 120). They go on to point out that the strength of that motivation will depend on how much value the individual places on the outcome he or she wishes to achieve". We can infer that:

• A.

  motivation is caused not only by a number of internal factors, such as the desire of feeling better but also by amorphous powerless goals;

• B.

  most researchers have come to view that motivation is ultimately the reason why learners hardly ever come to master a foreign language;

• C.

  the adult who starts going to a gym may hope that a new body image will aid ego enhancement and be stimulated by the active nature of this new undertaking;

• D.

  in discussion of motivation an accepted distinction is made between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation, that is motivation which comes respectively from inside and from outside;

• E.

  at the beginning of any course, with students at whatever level and whatever age, the teacher is faced with students who have all a strong motivation.

Douglas Brown in his book Principles of Language Learning and Teaching says that: " The Input Hypothesis, a major offshoot of Krashen's Monitor Model, claims that an important "condition for language acquisition to occur is that the acquirer understand (via hearing or reading) input language that contains structure 'a bit beyond' his or her current level of competence (1981a:100). (...) An important part of the Input Hypothesis is Krashen's recommendation that speaking not be taught directly or very soon in the language classroom. Speech will "emerge" once the acquirer has built up enough comprehensible input. Krashen further claims that the best acquisition will occur in environments where anxiety is low and defensiveness is absent". (p.280) We can infer that:

• A.

  adults learn faster than children because they "affective filter" is lower than the children's one;

• B.

  second language learning clearly is a process in which speaking is the ultimate goal since the very beginning of the process;

• C.

  Krashen's theories have been criticized because they have little to do with the Monitor Model;

• D.

  if an acquirer is at stage or level i, the input he or she understands should contain i + 1;

• E.

  Krashen believes that input should be so far beyond the acquirer's reach that he or she is overwhelmed.

Jeremy Harmer says that: " 
         The use of videotapes has been a common feature in language teaching for many years(...). To some people videotape is merely a glorified version of audiotape (...). But there are many reasons why video can add a special, extra dimension to the learning experience (...). One of the main advantages of video is that students do not just hear language, they see it too. Thus we can observe how intonation can match facial expression (...). Video uniquely allows students a look at situations far beyond their classrooms. This is especially useful if they want to see, for example, typical British 'body language' when inviting someone out (...)". (p.282). The best alternative is:

• A.

  Videos are not essential in the classroom as they are "merely a glorified version of audiotape, and the use of video in class is just listening 'with pictures'.

• B.

  Paralinguistic features, such as intonation, make it difficult for the learner to deeply interpret texts.

• C.

  The use of video activities has just been implemented in the classroom.

• D.

  When showing a video, it is not important to call the student's attention to cultural behaviour.

• E.

  Showing videos in class is particularly important if the teacher wants to raise his/her students' cross-cultural awareness to things such as 'the body language' used by native speakers.

When considering learner autonomy and teacher development, Jeremy Harmer says that:

 "However good a teacher may be, students will never learn a language or anything else unless they aim to learn outside as well as during class time. This is because language is too complex and varied for there to be enough time for students to learn all they need to in a classroom. (...) As David Nunan suggests, not everything can be taught in class (Nunan 1988a:3), but even if it could a teacher will not always be around if and when students wish to use the language in real life (Cotterall 1995:220).

To compensate for the limits of classroom time and to counter the passivity that is an enemy of true learning, students need to develop their own learning strategies, so that as far as possible they become autonomous learners. This does not always happen automatically. Attitudes to self-directed learning are frequently conditioned by the educational culture in which students have studied or are studying (...)" (p.335). We can infer that:

• A.

  teachers will always encounter passive resistance if they attempt to impose self-directed learning inappropriately;

• B.

  depending on the cultural context the student finds himself/herself in, autonomy of action is not always considered a desirable characteristic;

• C.

  students will be equally successful as autonomous learners because learning styles do not vary;

• D.

  even the less enthusiastic learner is likely to continue studying on his/her own after the course has finished;

• E.

  if a student signs a 'learner contract' with his / her teacher, he / she will learn everything during class time.

Read the following passage and choose the option that best answers the questions 01 to 05.

"The amount of time it takes" (line 12) to master a new structure is related to:

• A. the learner's previous exposure to that structure;
• B. the teacher's ability to link forms to their stylistic use;
• C. the teacher's ability to expose structures as a progressive process;
• D. the learner's accuracy in formulating hypotheses;
• E. the learner's ability to link forms to functions.

Read the following passage and choose the option that best answers the questions 01 to 05.

"The experienced teacher" (lines 23-24):

• A. will not be too worried if a pupil starts to make errors in a previously taught grammar item;
• B. understands that the learning process is predictable;
• C. will wait for their pupils to master a certain structure if it has been accurately exposed;
• D. will induce their students to provide information about the communicative use of language structures;
• E. disregards contextualization of grammar structures.

Read the following passage and choose the option that best answers the questions 01 to 05.

"Learners" (line 20):

• A. must refer to their mother tongue when testing hypotheses;
• B. acquire grammatical knowledge little by little;
• C. learn better if they learn inductively;
• D. only master a structure if they have an insight about it;
• E. contextualize structures when they write stylistic texts.

Read the following passage and choose the option that best answers the questions 01 to 05.

One of the aims of teaching grammar:

• A. seems to be making learners stop making errors;
• B. has to do with the speed of the learning process
• C. seems to be informing the learners about the communicative use of language structures;
• D. has to do with sociolinguistics;
• E. has been in question for the past few years.