60 Multiple-Choice Questions for Chapter 2: Goals and Assessment
I. Proficiency, Performance, and Levels (Questions 1–15)
1. Proficiency refers to a person's ability to use language in what kind of
context?
a) A scripted or rehearsed classroom activity
b) A simulated, practiced environment
c) A spontaneous, real-world situation
d) An exam focused on grammar rules
2. Performance describes what a learner can do after:
a) Achieving fluency without practice
b) Having the chance to practice similar communication activities
c) Memorizing long vocabulary lists
d) Speaking with native speakers abroad
3. Themain purpose of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines is to help
teachers:
a) Design discrete-point grammar tests
b) Focus exclusively on mechanical drills
c) Set realistic, reachable goals
d) Evaluate students' cultural knowledge
4. A
speaker who primarily uses memorized chunks and struggles to ask
questions is typically at which proficiency level?
a) Intermediate
b) Novice
c) Advanced
d) Superior
5. At the Intermediate level, a speaker can typically:
a) Narrate in the past, present, and future tenses
b) Understand and produce sentences
c) Support opinions and hypothesize
d) Produce connected paragraphs
6. Which proficiency level is characterized by the ability to narrate and
describe using past, present, and future tenses?
a) Intermediate
b) Novice
c) Advanced
d) Superior
7. A
speaker who can support opinions, hypothesize, and discuss abstract
concepts is operating at the:
a) Intermediate-High level
b) Superior level
c) Advanced-Low level
d) Novice-Mid level
8. The Novice speaker is generally comprehensible only to:
a) Just about anyone
b) Only native speakers
c) Language teachers (though sometimes difficult)
d) Other Novice speakers
9. A speaker at the Advanced level can generally be understood by:
a) Only trained ACTFL raters
b) Other Advanced speakers
c) Only language teachers
d) Just about anyone
10. Alearner who can barely sustain a proficiency level and never functions
at the next level is performing at which sublevel?
a) Mid
b) Low
c) High
d) Superior
11. A
learner who frequently exhibits characteristics of the next level but
cannot sustain it is operating at which sublevel?
a) Low
b) High
c) Mid
d) Advanced-Low
12. The proficiency level most focused on topics of direct personal relevance
is:
a) Novice
b) Intermediate
c) Advanced
d) Superior
13. Which of the following tenses is used mostly or all at the Intermediate
level?
a) Past tense
b) Future tense
c) Conditional tense
d) Present tense
14. What are the four major proficiency levels outlined by ACTFL?
a) Beginning, Progressing, Accomplished, Fluent
b) Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior
c) Low, Mid, High, Superior
d) Communicative, Functional, Professional, Native
15. Why is the distinction between proficiency and performance important?
a) To justify mechanical practice over communication
b) To show that performance is superior to proficiency
c) To prove that learners only need to memorize vocabulary
d) They work together, with performance leading to proficiency
II. Assessment, Planning, and IPAs (Questions 16–35)
16. The world language adaptation of backward design involves starting
with:
a) The grammar structures to be taught
b) The textbook chapter
c) Establishing the proficiency target
d) Creating the final exam
17. Courseand Unit Goals should be defined by what learners will be able to
do with the language, which aligns with the:
a) Grammar checklist
b) Performance Indicators in the Can-Do Statements
c) ACTFL Sublevels
d) Memorized vocabulary list
18. In
backward design, which step immediately follows establishing the
proficiency target?
a) Planning daily lessons
b) Determining final grades
c) Setting course and unit goals
d) Choosing thematic units
19. When planning daily lessons, instruction should focus on providing
relevant input to facilitate:
a) Rote memorization of verb forms
b) Language acquisition (making form-meaning connections)
c) Filling in blanks in workbook exercises
d) Avoiding the target language
20. Whichof the following is NOT a necessary quality for "evidence"
(assessment)?
a) Measurable (using action verbs)
b) Appropriate for the level
c) Reliable (dependent on language ability)
d) Completed only on the final exam
21. Whatis a common pitfall of misalignment between instruction and
assessment?
a) Using IPAs too frequently
b) Testing memorization and grammar rules after teaching communicatively
c) Giving grades based only on communicative tasks
d) Providing too much formative feedback
22. A
key aspect of successful assessment is that it shouldinform instruction,
meaning:
a) Assessment is only done at the end of a unit
b) Instructional tasks should mirror assessment tasks
c) Teachers only grade the final output
d) Students should never know the assessment criteria
23. Formative assessment is crucial because it helps instructors:
a) Justify final grades to parents
b) Adjust instructional support based on student progress
c) Identify students who should drop the course
d) Rely solely on the final exam score
24. TheIntegrated Performance Assessment (IPA) consists of three
interconnected tasks. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
a) Interpretive
b) Interpersonal
c) Presentational
d) Mechanical
25. Inthe typical flow of an IPA, which communication modeusually comes
first?
a) Interpersonal
b) Presentational
c) Interpretive
d) Mechanical
26. A hallmark of IPAs is that they include embedded feedback that is often:
a) Provided only at the end of the entire assessment
b) Used to justify a low grade
c) Co-constructed by the instructor and students
d) Focused primarily on error correction
27. IPAs are said to shift assessment focus from:
a) Memorization to communicative ability
b) Accuracy to fluency
c) Formative to summative assessment
d) Group work to individual work
28. A challenge in using IPAs with Novice learners is:
a) They are too good at Presentational tasks
b) Difficulty finding multiple authentic, unmodified, and age-appropriate resources
c) They refuse to participate in Interpersonal tasks
d) They demand technical grammar explanations
29. The
challenge of creating Interpersonal tasks that are both real-world
appropriate and relatable to all students is known as the:
a) Authentic Task Problem
b) Novice Interpersonal Paradox
c) Relatability/Authenticity Paradox
d) Task Development Imbalance
30. ForNovice learners in an IPA, the Interpersonal task often requires more
structure or engagement with the instructor because:
a) They are generally rude to their peers
b) They are exclusively Advanced
c) They are reactive and struggle to carry the conversation
d) They are too accurate in their language use
31. If
an interpretive task is well-designed, feedback on it is necessary and
helpful before students engage in:
a) Writing their final paper
b) Taking a grammar quiz
c) An interpersonal discussion on the content
d) Learning new vocabulary
32. The
overall context for an IPA, which helps learners understand the
"why" and "what" of the three tasks, is called the:
a) Essential Question
b) Can-Do Statement
c) Task Overview
d) Unit Goal
33. Which component of the IPA is often criticized for being less developed
or specific than the Interpretive portion?
a) The Task Overview
b) The Interpersonal and Presentational portions
c) The feedback rubric
d) The essential question
34. Whenassessing performance, which of the following should take
precedence for Novice learners if resources are scarce?
a) Authenticity of materials
b) Complexity of grammar
c) Comprehensibility of materials
d) The length of the text
35. The purpose of the feedback given throughout an IPA is to help learners:
a) Justify their final grade
b) Understand their performance and improve
c) Memorize more vocabulary
d) Compare themselves to native speakers
III. Rubrics and Grading (Questions 36–45)
36. A
rubric that evaluates performance overall with a single, general
description per level is a:
a) Weighted rubric
b) Holistic rubric
c) Analytic rubric
d) Square rubric
37. The advantage of an Analytic Rubric is that it provides:
a) A simpler, single score
b) Less time-consuming grading
c) A more fine-grained evaluation by breaking down various aspects
d) A way to avoid using action verbs
38. A potential pitfall of using a Holistic Rubric is:
a) Not focusing on discrete grammar points
b) Lumping too many descriptors together
c) Penalizing students twice for the same error
d) Providing too much detail
39. For rubrics to be useful, descriptors should be:
a) Technical and complex
b) Concise, clear, and accessible to all stakeholders
c) Vague and overlapping
d) Focused on exceeding expectations
40. When grading, the highest score/full credit should be awarded for:
a) Performance that uses Advanced-level structures
b) Strong performance at the targeted level
c) Flawless native-like communication
d) Memorizing all vocabulary
41. Whichof the following is considered a better alternative phrase for a
grading rubric than "Exceeds Expectations"?
a) Exemplary
b) Fully sustained performance at level
c) Needs improvement
d) Unsatisfactory
42. What should educators avoid when wording performance levels on a
rubric?
a) Using action verbs
b) Rewarding full credit
c) Using discouraging language like "unsatisfactory"
d) Including both positive and negative feedback
43. If
an analytic rubric is designed so that a student is penalized twice for
the same error (e.g., in both "Clarity" and "Accuracy" criteria), it violates
the principle of:
a) Conciseness
b) Separate criteria evaluation
c) Holistic scoring
d) Weighted criteria
44. Which statement about the criteria in a rubric is true according to the
text?
a) All criteria must be worth the same number of points.
b) Criteria can be weighted differently to reflect their importance to the task.
c) Rubrics must always be "square."
d) Text type should always be the most important criterion.
45. Theprovided text recommends using action verbs in rubrics to ensure
the evidence is:
a) Reliable
b) Appropriate
c) Measurable
d) Holistic
IV. Intercultural Communication (Questions 46–60)
46. Intercultural
Communication Goals involve knowledge of the three Ps:
Products, Practices, and:
a) People
b) Plans
c) Politics
d) Perspectives
47. Cultural Products refer to:
a) Behaviors like greetings
b) Views and values
c) Tangible or intangible creations
d) Critical-thinking skills
48. Cultural Practices refer to:
a) Views and values
b) Behaviors
c) Musical instruments and clothes
d) Abstract concepts
49. Cultural Perspectives refer to: 102
a) Tangible creations
b) Behaviors
c) Views and values
d) Memorized facts
50. Intercultural
Competence involves cultural knowledge, but more
importantly, attitudes like:
a) Memorization and testing
b) Curiosity and respect
c) Aggression and judgment
d) Nationalism and pride
51. To
avoid reinforcing negative stereotypes, educators should guide
students to connect practices to:
a) Their own cultural products
b) The underlying cultural perspectives
c) A list of new vocabulary words
d) The nearest embassy
52. The suggested approach to cultural learning is to avoid depicting culture
as:
a) A superficial list of observations made by a tourist
b) Something that requires critical reflection
c) Intertwined with language
d) Developing over time
53. Interculturalcommunication is multidirectional, meaning students
should critically reflect on:
a) Only the target culture
b) Both their own culture and the target culture
c) Only the products and practices
d) Only the Novice level
54. The text recommends the use of structured reflections because they:
a) Require no grading
b) Focus only on grammar
c) Help students make connections between assumptions, concepts, and
experiences
d) Are only appropriate for Superior learners
55. Tocombat stereotypes, it is important to include individual voices and
stories alongside:
a) Textbook grammar explanations
b) Final exams
c) Collective cultural aspects
d) Memorized dialogues
56. Which practice should be avoided when teaching culture?
a) Integrating language and culture
b) Using authentic resources
c) Depicting culture as a side note
d) Focusing on cohesive thematic units
57. Expectinglearners to develop intercultural competence by watching
publisher-provided cultural videos or learning fun facts is comparable to
expecting them to:
a) Achieve fluency through spontaneous communication
b) Develop language proficiency by watching grammar tutorials
c) Successfully complete an IPA
d) Use weighted rubrics effectively
58. What is a key attitude effective communicators must adopt regarding
cultural differences?
a) Immediately classifying them as "weird"
b) Noticing them without judging
c) Explaining why their own culture is superior
d) Ignoring them entirely
59. Acquiring a language is not synonymous with:
a) Improving comprehension
b) Developing intercultural communication skills
c) Increasing vocabulary
d) Using the present tense
60. Teachers must link language instruction with culture to achieve both
linguistic goals and:
a) Human connection goals
b) High standardized test scores
c) Perfect grammatical accuracy
d) Complete memorization of facts