Chapter 2 Test Bank
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The knowledge and implicit awareness that speakers of language possess and utilize to
communicate effectively in language is called:
a. lexical competence
b. phonological competence
c. communicative competence
d. sociolinguistic competence
2. The ability to recognize and produce the conventional words used by speakers of a language
is called: a. lexical competence
b. phonological competence
c. discourse competence
d. sociolinguistic competence
3. Infants' ability to distinguish phonemic contrasts in other language besides their native
language:
a. Diminishes
b. Increases in a linear pattern throughout life
c. Diminishes while they are learning their native language, and then the ability returns
to them
d. Increases until puberty and then planes off
4. Competence in producing individual phonemes depends upon:
a. Gaining content knowledge first
b. Development of the articulators
c. The number of languages the individual is exposed to at birth
d. How strong receptive phonological competence is
5. Infants' vocal tracts closely resemble:
a. Adults' vocal tracts, just smaller versions
b. Their own parents' vocal tracts only
c. Non-human primates' vocal tracts
d. None of the above
6. Individuals with ____________ competence understand that Bob is the recipient of Jim's
actions in the sentence "Jim is hitting Bob."
a. phonological
b. interactional
c. morphology
d. grammatical
7. The statement "comprehension precedes production" holds true for which of these aspects of
linguistic competence? a. Phonological
b. Grammatical
c. Lexical
d. All of the above
8. In terms of lexical competence, what is usually the first word that infants understand, at or
around 4.5 months of age?
a. Doggie
b. Their own name
c. Daddy
d. Love
9. What is the unit of analysis for discourse competence?
a. speech event
b. mean length utterance (MLU)
c. phoneme
d. vocabulary word
10. Which is NOT a pragmatic aspect of communicative competence?
a. Functional
b. Discourse
c. Cultural
d. Interactional
11. The variety of speech appropriate to a particular speech situation is called:
a. speech discourse
b. speech lexicon
c. speech content
d. speech register
12. In comparison to the United Sates, the accepted standard for eye contact in Japan is:
a. more eye contact
b. less eye contact
c. only children to have less eye contact
d. only adults to have less eye contact
13. When an infant uses ritualized gestures, like pointing, it is most likely an indicator of:
a. metacognitive skills
b. intentionality
c. pre-intentionality
d. intersubjective awareness
14. For optimal caregiver responsiveness, parents should:
a. sit on the floor with their child
b. kneel on the floor so that there is still some amount of authority
c. lean away from their child so as to teach appropriate physical proximity during
communication
d. lay on the floor so that the child is higher than the parent
15. Burping and coughing by infant are examples of:
a. verbalization
b. canonical babbling
c. sounds of distress
d. reflexive sounds
16. When a child flaps his or her arms to comment on a bird in the sky, this is an example of:
a. non-symbolic gesture of play
b. deictic gesture
c. symbolic gesture
d. referential gesture
17. On average, infants tend to utter their first "true" word at what age?
a. 6 month
b. 12 months
c. 18 month
d. 24 months
18. Which of these mispronunciations for "doggie," if used consistently and meaningfully, is an
example of a phonetically consistent form?
a. Oo-na
b. doggie
c. doddie
d. dottie
19. Calculation of the MLU is a very common way to evaluate children's language skills. What
does MLU stand for?
a. morpheme language unit
b. morpho-lexical unit
c. mean length of utterance
d. mean length utterance
20. Which statement is generally true of receptive and expressive lexicons at 18 months of age?
a. males have larger receptive and expressive lexicons
b. females have larger receptive and expressive lexicons
c. males have larger receptive lexicons, but smaller expressive lexicons
d. females have larger receptive lexicons, but smaller expressive lexicons
21. What is one area in which great improvement occurs during toddlerhood?
a.
recognizing the sounds of one's native language
b.
learning one's first 50 words
c.
initiating and maintaining a conversation
d.
writing effective persuasive essays
22. Which of the following phonemes is most likely the last to be acquired?
a. /m/ as in mop
b. /o/ as in shop
c. /n/ as in not
d. /p/ as in pot
23. When a child says "tum" when trying to produce "thumb," this is an example of a/an:
a. underextension
b. overextension
c. articulation disorder
d. phonological process
24. What is one of the major developments in the preschool years related to decontextualized
language?
a. participation in organizing functions
b. conversational turn-taking
c. narrative skills
d. mastery of nearly all phonemes
25. Which of these is an example of content development during the school-age years?
understanding lexical ambiguity
a. Understanding lexical ambiguity
b. persuasive writing
c. complex syntax
d. functional flexibility
26. This describes children’s knowledge of the letters of the alphabet.
a. letter knowledge
b. alphabet knowledge
c. literacy knowledge
d. phonemic knowledge
27. Discourse development lies along a continuum, with ____________ language on one end
and ____________ language on the other.
a. oral, literate
b. oral, written
c. decontextualized, contextualized
d. receptive, expressive
True/False Questions
1. If changing a consonant sound in the context of other sounds produces a change in meaning
in one language of the world, then the same holds true for all languages.
2. One aspect of communicative competence is never using grammatically incorrect sentences.
3. When infants are first born, they have the capability to distinguish between the sounds of all
the world's languages.
4. Recognizing expressions of emotion is an indicator of cultural competence.
5. Some humans are born with communicative competence, while others develop
communicative competence by exposure to environmental influences.
6. Joint attention is crucial for both verbal and nonverbal communication.
7. Children around the world achieve language milestones at roughly the same age but not in
the same order.
8. Deaf babies and hearing babies born to profoundly deaf parents babble silently with their
hands.
9. The first word that an infant utters that approximates an adult word is called the infant's first
"true" word.
10. The entrance into first grade coincides with the development of emergent literacy.
Short Answer Questions
1. Briefly describe some patterns of language acquisition and communicative development
across the cultures of the world.
2. Describe the difference between the linguistic and pragmatic aspects of communicative
competence (without detailing each individual aspect, e.g. phonological, sociolinguistic).
3. Discuss the difference between a phonological process and an articulation disorder.
4. How do rituals of infancy relate to joint attention?
5. Discuss the role of the narrative in preschool language.
6. Distinguish between "learning to read" and "reading to learn."
Essay Questions
1. Discuss at least two innate aspects of language and how these either diminish or increase
with experience over time.
2. Many features of communication follow the rule that comprehension precedes production.
Discuss this point as it relates to at least three aspects of communicative competence (e.g.,
phonological, lexical, grammatical).
3. Infants' language development can be influenced by many environmental factors, including
those within their own home. Discuss caregiver responsiveness and give a few "tips" to
parents to best promote their child’s communicative competence.
4. Discuss the intentionality of communication, how it develops, and its importance to
communicative competence.
5. Discuss decontextualized language, its functions, and its importance to success in the
classroom.
Chapter 2 Answer Key
Multiple Choice Questions
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27. A
True/False Questions
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