TEFL Language Skills: Reading and Writing 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'scanning' as a reading strategy?
- Reading every word carefully for full comprehension
- Moving the eyes quickly over a text to locate specific information such as a name, date, or keyword (Correct answer)
- Reading to understand the main idea of a passage
- Reading aloud to the class
Correct answer: Moving the eyes quickly over a text to locate specific information such as a name, date, or keyword
Scanning is a fast, targeted strategy used to find specific details without reading the entire text.
Question 2: What is 'skimming' as a reading strategy?
- Reading with a dictionary to check every unknown word
- Reading quickly to get the gist or main idea without attending to every word (Correct answer)
- Reading a text backwards to check for errors
- Reading only topic sentences in each paragraph
Correct answer: Reading quickly to get the gist or main idea without attending to every word
Skimming involves rapid reading to grasp the overall meaning or structure of a text, rather than understanding every detail.
Question 3: What is 'intensive reading' in TEFL?
- Reading a very long novel extensively
- Careful, close reading of a short text to understand language, meaning, and details fully (Correct answer)
- Silent reading for homework
- Reading without a comprehension task
Correct answer: Careful, close reading of a short text to understand language, meaning, and details fully
Intensive reading involves detailed attention to a text's language and meaning, often with tasks that require precise comprehension.
Question 4: In writing instruction, what is 'process writing'?
- Writing that follows a strict five-paragraph format
- An approach that focuses on stages: brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing rather than just the final product (Correct answer)
- Writing grammar exercises step by step
- Writing a response immediately without planning
Correct answer: An approach that focuses on stages: brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing rather than just the final product
Process writing treats writing as recursive — planning, drafting, peer feedback, revising, and editing — mirroring how skilled writers actually work.
Question 5: What is a 'genre approach' to writing in TEFL?
- Teaching creative fiction writing only
- Teaching students to understand and reproduce the conventions, structure, and language of specific text types (Correct answer)
- Assigning different writing topics each week
- Focusing only on grammatical accuracy in writing
Correct answer: Teaching students to understand and reproduce the conventions, structure, and language of specific text types
The genre approach teaches the social purpose and typical features of text types (e.g., formal email, report, narrative) so students can write appropriately in context.
Question 6: What does 'cohesion' refer to in a written text?
- The overall argument of an essay
- The linguistic links between sentences and paragraphs, such as pronouns, conjunctions, and reference devices (Correct answer)
- Correct spelling throughout a text
- The length and structure of paragraphs
Correct answer: The linguistic links between sentences and paragraphs, such as pronouns, conjunctions, and reference devices
Cohesion is the 'glue' of a text — devices like 'however', 'this', 'the former' that connect ideas and create a smooth, unified text.
