ENTRANCE EXAM:

PROGRAM IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TEFL)

Name:
Surname(s):
Date:

Before starting the exam, please read the following notes:

This exam is an important tool for us to determine your writing competence level in
English. Note that since this is not an academic activity, no further feedback will be
provided to applicants.

Bear in mind the following:

 This is an open-answer test: questions have been designed in order to assess

reading comprehension and writing production.
 The use of correct grammar and vocabulary is essential in this test. Reread your
answers until you feel comfortable with the result.
 Pay attention to the content in your answers and make sure that you address the
proposed questions.
 This exam has 6 pages and four exercises; exercises 1 and 2 consist of short
questions about a text and a quotation, respectively; in both exercises 3 and 4, you
are asked to write a short essay. You need to answer all four questions.

With regard to format:

 No handwritten answers will be accepted. Type all your answers by using a

computer.
 The test must be submitted in Word format (.doc extension file).
 Please use a different font than the one used for the question (i.e. do not use Arial).

These are mandatory format conditions. Submissions which fail to follow these instructions
will not be assessed.

The exam is going to be evaluated as follows:

APTO: The applicant may directly register for the program to which he/she is applying.

NO APTO: The applicant does not have the required language competence to follow the
program, so he/she cannot register for the program.

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APTO CONDICIONADO: The applicant has enough language competence in order to
register for the program, but must improve his/her writing competence, so he/she must
complete a FUNIBER course on academic writing in order to register for the program.

1. Read the following text and answer the questions below:

Behaviourism: Say what I say

Behaviourism is a psychological theory of learning which was very influential in the
1940s and 1950s, especially in the United States. Traditional behaviourists believed
that language learning is the result of imitation, sounds and patterns which they hear
around them and receive positive reinforcement (which could take the form of praise
or just successful communication) for doing so. Thus encouraged by their
environment, they continue to imitate and practice these sounds and patterns until
they form ‘habits’ of correct language use. According to this view, the quality and
quantity of the language which the child hears, as well as the consistency of the
reinforcement offered by others in the environment, should have an effect on the
child’s success in language learning.

The behaviourist view of how language is learned has an intuitive appeal. And there
is no doubt that it can offer partial explanation of some aspects of children’s early
language learning. However, it is useful to examine actual language data to see how
well this view accounts for the development of some more complex aspects of their
language.

The behaviourists view imitation and practice as primary processes in language

development. To clarify what is meant by these two terms, consider the following
examples.

Transcription conventions:

XXX = incomprehensible speech

… = pause
Parentheses = description of non-verbal events

Peter (24 moths)

(Peter is playing with a dump truck while two adults, Patsy and Lois, look on.)
Peter Get more
Lois You’re gonna put more wheels in the dump truck?
Peter Dump truck. Wheels. Dump truck.
(Later)
Patsy What happened to it (the truck)?
Peter (looking under chair for it) Lose it. Dump truck! Dump truck! Fall! Fall!

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 Lois Yes, the dump truck fell down.
Peter Dump truck fell down. Dump truck.

Taken from: How Languages Are Learned, P. M. Lightbown, Revised Edition 2000,
Oxford, Oxford University Press

i. Explain in your own words what behaviourism is.

ii. Briefly explain if you agree or not with behaviourism.

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2. Critical reading. Read the extract in the box and answer the following questions.

“The most striking aspect of linguistic competence is what we may call the 'creativity of
language,' that is, the speaker's ability to produce new sentences, sentences that are
immediately understood by other speakers although they bear no physical resemblance to
sentences which are 'familiar.'”

Noam Chomsky, Topics in the Theory of Generative Grammar, 1966

i. Summarize in your own words what the author (Noam Chomsky) is saying.

ii. Do you think that Noam Chomsky agrees with behaviourism?

iii. In the light of your own experience, state if you agree or not with the extract
observation.

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3. In a well-organised essay, describe why first language acquisition might be useful
or not in language teaching. (150 words)

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4. In a well-organised essay, describe what impact you hope your enrolment in
this program will have on your professional development. (What is your
motivation for enrolling at this program? How do you think you may contribute
to the program? What do you expect to take from it?) Provide specific
examples. (150 words)