Questões de Concurso Comentadas para if-mt

“Communicative activities are classroom activities designed to get learners to speak and listen to one another. We normally communicate when one of us has information (facts, opinions, ideas, etc.) that another does not have. This is known as an ‘information gap’. The aim of a communicative activity in class is to get learners to use the language they are learning to interact in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanges of information”. 
(SCRIVINER, 2003, p. 62)

Consider the definition above, choose the item that is a proposal for a communicative activity.

Read the quote about error to get familiarized with the topic.
“Mistakes are often divided into errors and slips. Errors happen when learners try to say something that is beyond their current level of language processing. Usually, learners cannot correct errors themselves because they don’t understand what is wrong. Errors play a necessary and important part in language learning. Slips are the result of tiredness, worry or other temporary emotions or circumstances. These kinds of mistakes can be corrected by learners once they realize they have made them.”
(SPRATT; PULLVERNESS; WILLIAMS, 2005, p. 44)
Judge the items below as (T) True or (F) False.
1. There are two main reasons why learners make errors. The first reason is influence from the learner’s first language (L1) on the second language. This is called interference or transfer. Learners may use sound patterns, lexis or grammatical structures from their own language in English. The second reason is because they are unconsciously working out or organizing language, but this process is not yet complete. This kind of error is called a developmental error.
2. Errors in which learners wrongly apply a rule for one item of the language to another item are known as overgeneralization, and as a second language learners’ language ability increases, these kinds of errors also reduce.
3. Errors are part of learner’s interlanguage, which develops and progresses as they learn more. Experts think that interlanguage is an essential and unavoidable stage in language learning. In other words, interlanguage and errors are necessary to language learning.
4. Errors are a natural part of learning. They usually show that learners are learning and that their internal mental processes are working on experimenting with language.
5. Sometimes errors do not disappear, but get fossilized. These fossilized errors may be the result of lack of exposure to the second language and/or of a learner’s lack of motivation to improve their level of accuracy.
Choose the CORRECT sequence.

Read the following exchange between two people having breakfast together.

A – Coffee?

B – Please.

A – Milk? Sugar?

B – No milk. One sugar, thanks.

A – Toast?

B – No thanks.

A – Juice?

B – Mmm.

(Thornbury, 2005, p. 3) 

After reading the dialogue, choose the item that DOES NOT describe a correct reflection about grammar.

Applied linguists for a long time have been publishing many books and materials on teaching and learning English as a second and a foreign language. So, in this question, we provoke some reflections about these studies and how they could affect practice in our English classes.
Considering language and background to language learning and teaching, match the topic to its definition. 
( 1 ) Grammar ( 2 ) Lexis ( 3 ) Phonology ( 4 ) Function 
( ) is the study of the sound features used in a language to communicate meaning. ( ) is a reason why we communicate. ( ) describes how we combine, organize and change words and parts of words to make meaning. ( ) is individual words or sets of words that have a specific meaning.
Choose the item with the CORRECT sequence.

“In recent years Content-Based Instruction (CBI) has become increasingly popular as a means of developing linguistic ability. It has strong connections to project work, task-based learning and a holistic approach to language instruction and has become particularly popular within the state school secondary (11 - 16 years old) education sector. It is a kind of approach in which lesson focuses on the topic or subject matter. During the lesson students are focused on learning about something that interests them, from a serious science subject to their favorite pop star or even a topical news story or film”. 
Peachey, N. (2021), disponível em: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/content-based-instruction, accessed on 15h December 2022.

According to Peachey, judge the items as (T) True or (F) False concerning CBI ADVANTAGES.
I. It can make learning a language more interesting and motivating. Students can use the language to fulfill a real purpose, which can make them both more independent and confident.
II. Taking information from different sources, re-evaluating and restructuring that information can help students to develop very valuable thinking skills that can then be transferred to other subjects. So students can also develop a much wider knowledge of the world through CBI, which can feed back into improving and supporting their general educational needs.
III. CBI is very popular among EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers as it helps students to develop valuable study skills such as note taking, summarizing and extracting key information from texts.
IV. The inclusion of a group work element within the framework given can also help students to develop their collaborative skills, which can have great social value. V. Particularly in monolingual classes, the overuse of the students' native language during parts of the lesson can be a problem. Because the lesson isn't explicitly focused on language practice, students find it much easier and quicker to use their mother tongue.
VI. It can be hard to find information sources and texts that lower levels can understand. Also the sharing of information in the target language may cause great difficulties.
Choose the CORRECT sequence.