Language across the Curriculum — Important Questions Solved
Crisp, structured model answers to the most frequently-asked short-answer questions — a mix of 2-mark definitions and 5-mark short notes, grouped unit by unit. Every theorist, report and stage below is exam-accurate; learn the underlined key terms and quote the right name to score full marks.
5 Units2-mark + 5-markDefinitions & short notes
Answer length guide: a 2-mark answer = one sharp definition + one supporting line; a 5-mark short note = definition + 4–5 points, quoting the exact theorist, report or stage. In this paper the marks come from the right names and terms — Sapir's definition, Halliday's 7 functions, Chomsky's LAD, Cummins' BICS/CALP, the Bullock Report 1975, the IRF pattern, schema theory and the writing process — so memorise the labels.
Language = a systematic, arbitrary system of vocal symbols (sounds) and written signs used by a community to communicate thoughts, feelings and ideas.
Sapir: "language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols."
2.Distinguish language acquisition from language learning.
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Acquisition = a subconscious, natural process (like a child's mother tongue / L1).
Learning = the conscious, formal study of rules — Krashen's Acquisition–Learning hypothesis.
3.What is Chomsky's Language Acquisition Device (LAD)?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Noam Chomsky proposed an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD) — a mental capacity children are born with that enables them to acquire language.
It underlies his Universal Grammar (nativist view), opposing Skinner's behaviourist view of imitation and reinforcement.
CALP = Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency — the formal academic language needed to learn subjects; it takes longer to develop.
5.Distinguish home language from school language.
2 MARKS
Home language = the mother tongue (L1) learned naturally at home.
School language = the formal, standard, academic language of instruction; the mismatch between the two can hinder learning, so teachers should bridge them.
5-Mark Short Notes
6.Nature and characteristics of language.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Language is systematic (rule-governed), symbolic and arbitrary — there is no natural link between a word and its meaning.
It is primarily vocal (speech), social and human & species-specific.
It is creative / productive — infinite sentences from finite rules — and dynamic & ever-changing.
It is learned / acquired and culturally transmitted.
It is structured at four levels — phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
7.Functions of language (Halliday's functions).
5 MARKS★ ASKED
General functions: communication, expression of thought & feeling, acquisition of knowledge, transmission of culture, social bonding and a tool for thinking & reasoning.
Halliday's 7 functions of language:
Instrumental (to get things) · Regulatory (to control others) · Interactional (to relate to others).
Representational / Informative — to convey facts and information.
8.Language and culture.
5 MARKS
Language and culture are closely interwoven — language both reflects and transmits the culture of a community.
It carries the group's values, beliefs, customs and worldview from one generation to the next.
It shapes identity — a person's language marks their social and cultural belonging.
Variation appears as register (formality) and dialect (regional / social variety).
Implication: the learner's language background must be understood and respected in the classroom.
UNIT 2
Language across the Curriculum & Multilingualism
2-Mark Definitions
1.What is Language across the Curriculum (LAC)?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Language across the Curriculum = the principle that language is central to learning in every subject, not only in language classes.
Its core idea: every teacher is a teacher of language — reading, writing, speaking and listening are used to learn Maths, Science and Social Science.
2.What is the Bullock Report (1975)?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
The Bullock Report, 1975 — titled "A Language for Life" (UK) — popularised the phrase "language across the curriculum."
It stressed that every subject teacher shares responsibility for developing pupils' language.
3.What is multilingualism?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Multilingualism = the ability to use, or the presence of, more than two languages in an individual or community.
India is a multilingual country; multilingualism is an asset, not a problem.
4.What is the language of the discipline?
2 MARKS
The language of the discipline = the subject-specific vocabulary, text types and ways of expression particular to each subject.
Under LAC, teachers must make this special language explicit so learners can access the content.
5-Mark Short Notes
5.Principles of Language across the Curriculum.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Language is the medium of learning in all subjects; every teacher is a language teacher.
Build on the learner's existing language and use the mother tongue as a resource.
Integrate the four skills (LSRW) across every subject.
Make the subject language explicit — teach the special vocabulary and text of each discipline.
Encourage talk, reading and writing to learn — using language to construct understanding.
Add for full marksNote the significance: LAC improves comprehension of content, develops thinking, reduces the language barrier to learning and links home & school language.
6.Multilingualism as a resource.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Multilingualism should be treated as a resource and strategy, not a burden, in the classroom.
Teachers can use pupils' home languages to explain difficult concepts.
Strategies: translanguaging and code-switching between languages.
It enables peer support and the use of bilingual materials.
It respects diversity, boosts confidence and deepens understanding — an asset, not a problem.
7.Position of English as a second language in India.
5 MARKS
In India, English is an associate official language and the main link / library language.
It is taught as a second language (L2), not as a mother tongue.
It is the medium of much higher education and professional life.
It raises issues of access & equity between advantaged and disadvantaged learners.
It must therefore be taught with sensitivity to the learners' first-language background.
8.The three-language formula.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
The three-language formula is India's scheme for language education in schools.
First language — the mother tongue / regional language.
Second language — Hindi (or another Indian language).
Third language — English.
It promotes national integration and language diversity; the mother tongue is stressed at the primary stage (Article 350A).
UNIT 3
Classroom Discourse
2-Mark Definitions
1.What is classroom discourse?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Classroom discourse = the language and patterns of talk used by teachers and students in the classroom.
The aim is to shift the balance from teacher talk towards meaningful student talk.
2.What is the IRF / IRE pattern?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
IRF / IRE (Sinclair & Coulthard) = Initiation–Response–Feedback / Evaluation — the dominant three-part exchange in classrooms.
The teacher initiates (asks), the pupil responds, and the teacher gives feedback / evaluation.
3.What is the communication process?
2 MARKS
The communication process = sender → message → channel → receiver → feedback.
It may be verbal or non-verbal and can be blocked by barriers to communication.
5-Mark Short Notes
4.Oral language in the classroom.
5 MARKS
Oral language (talk) is the foundation of learning — thinking is developed through speech.
Exploratory talk lets learners think aloud, question and reason together.
"Using talk to learn" makes speaking a tool for constructing knowledge, not just reporting it.
It develops the speaking & listening skills of learners.
The teacher's role is to plan opportunities for purposeful, structured talk.
5.Discussion as a tool for learning.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
In discussion, pupils construct understanding through dialogue rather than passively receiving it.
Types: whole-class, small-group, panel, debate and brainstorming.
Benefits: active participation, higher-order thinking and exposure to multiple viewpoints.
It develops communication skills and confidence.
The teacher's role is that of a facilitator, guiding rather than dominating.
6.Questioning — types of questions.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Purposes of questioning: to diagnose, stimulate thinking, focus attention and review.
Higher-order questions — open / divergent, demanding thinking.
By type: factual, comprehension, application, analysis and evaluation questions.
A good balance of both develops recall as well as reasoning.
7.Wait-time and teacher control.
5 MARKS
Wait-time = the pause a teacher allows after asking a question before expecting a response.
Adequate wait-time produces longer, more thoughtful answers and wider participation.
Techniques of control: distribution of questions, probing and prompting.
Too much teacher control limits student talk and thinking.
The aim is to reduce teacher talk and give learners space to reason and respond.
UNIT 4
Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas
2-Mark Definitions
1.What is reading comprehension?
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Reading = an active, meaning-making process of decoding print and constructing meaning.
Reading comprehension in the content areas = understanding subject-specific texts whose vocabulary and structure differ from everyday language.
2.Distinguish skimming from scanning.
2 MARKS★ ASKED
Skimming = fast reading for the gist / main idea of a text.
Scanning = fast reading to locate specific information (a date, name or figure).
3.Distinguish intensive from extensive reading.
2 MARKS
Intensive reading = close, detailed reading of a short text for full understanding.
Extensive reading = wide reading of longer texts for pleasure and fluency.
5-Mark Short Notes
4.Schema theory.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Schema theory holds that readers understand new text by relating it to schemata — prior knowledge structures in the mind.
Comprehension is an interaction of the text and the reader's background knowledge.
Where the right schema is missing or not activated, understanding breaks down.
Activating prior knowledge before reading aids comprehension.
Implication: teachers should link new content to what learners already know.
5.SQ3R method.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
SQ3R is a five-step study-reading strategy for content texts.
Survey — skim the whole text to get an overview.
Question — turn headings into questions to set a purpose.
Read — read actively to answer those questions.
Recite — recall the answers in one's own words; Review — go over the whole to fix it in memory.
6.Levels of comprehension.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Literal — understanding the facts stated directly in the text.
Interpretive / inferential — reading between the lines to grasp implied meaning.
Critical / evaluative — judging, questioning and assessing the text.
Creative — going beyond the text to generate new ideas and applications.
Good teaching moves learners from literal recall up to critical and creative thinking.
Add for full marksMention strategies to develop comprehension: predicting, questioning, visualising, summarising, using context clues, graphic organisers and reciprocal teaching.
UNIT 5
Developing Writing Skills in the Content Areas
2-Mark Definitions
1.Distinguish receptive from productive skills (LSRW).
2 MARKS★ ASKED
The four language skills are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (LSRW).
Note-making = recording the main ideas and key points of a text or talk in a brief, organised form.
It aids comprehension, summarising and later revision.
3.What is expository writing?
2 MARKS
Expository writing = informative / explanatory writing that explains, describes or presents facts and ideas.
It is the dominant form in content-area and academic writing.
5-Mark Short Notes
4.Process approach to writing (stages).
5 MARKS★ ASKED
The process approach treats writing as a recursive process, not a one-shot product.
Pre-writing (planning) — generating and organising ideas.
Drafting — putting ideas into a first draft.
Revising — reworking content and organisation; Editing — correcting grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Publishing — presenting the final piece to readers.
5.Writing in the content areas.
5 MARKS★ ASKED
Writing is a productive skill — encoding thought into symbols to communicate and to learn ("writing to learn").
Each subject has its own forms: lab reports & observations in Science.
Problem solutions in Maths.
Essays & source analysis in Social Science.
Every teacher must teach the conventions of writing in their own discipline, providing models and feedback.
Add for full marksMention the sub-skills / mechanics of writing — handwriting, spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, and coherence & cohesion — and note that integrating LSRW develops overall proficiency.