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MAHA TET Paper 1 study materials
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MAHA TET Paper 1 practice questions

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Question 1Child Development and Pedagogy

According to Piaget, a child who recognizes that the quantity of water stays the same when it is poured from a tall narrow glass into a short wide glass has developed:

  1. conservation Correct answer.
  2. egocentrism
  3. object permanence
  4. centration

Explanation

Conservation is the understanding that a quantity remains unchanged despite changes in its appearance or container. Piaget placed this achievement in the concrete operational stage, when children begin to use logical operations on tangible problems. Object permanence belongs to infancy, while centration is the tendency to focus on one feature and is overcome with conservation.

Question 2Child Development and Pedagogy

In Vygotsky's theory, the temporary support a teacher provides and then gradually withdraws as the learner becomes competent is called:

  1. scaffolding Correct answer.
  2. assimilation
  3. habituation
  4. conservation

Explanation

Scaffolding is adjustable support that lets a learner complete a task within the zone of proximal development and is faded as competence grows. It is not the same as the zone itself, which is the gap between independent and assisted performance. Assimilation and conservation are Piagetian terms, and habituation is a learning process in which a response declines after repeated stimulation.

Question 3Child Development and Pedagogy

A child avoids hitting a classmate mainly because punishment will follow. In Kohlberg's theory, this reasoning is at the:

  1. formal operational level
  2. post-conventional level
  3. conventional level
  4. pre-conventional level Correct answer.

Explanation

Kohlberg's pre-conventional level is based on avoiding punishment and seeking rewards, so obeying to escape punishment fits it. The conventional level focuses on social approval and rules, and the post-conventional level appeals to universal ethical principles. Formal operational level is a Piagetian cognitive stage, not a Kohlberg moral level.

Question 4Child Development and Pedagogy

A parent's workplace introduces flexible hours that let the parent attend school meetings. The child never visits the workplace, but it affects the child's daily life. In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this workplace belongs to the:

  1. mesosystem
  2. chronosystem
  3. exosystem Correct answer.
  4. microsystem

Explanation

The exosystem consists of settings that do not directly contain the child but influence the child through effects on parents, caregivers, or community resources. A workplace policy is a classic exosystem influence because the child is not present there, yet family routines change. The microsystem contains direct settings, the mesosystem links two microsystems, and the chronosystem refers to time-related change.

Question 5Child Development and Pedagogy

Children learning very different languages often pass through similar early grammar sequences without formal grammar instruction. Which explanation is most consistent with this observation?

  1. cognitive equilibration through play
  2. operant conditioning through imitation
  3. social learning from older siblings
  4. an innate language acquisition device Correct answer.

Explanation

Chomsky proposed an innate language acquisition device, a biologically based capacity that guides children to extract grammatical patterns from the speech they hear. Similar sequences across languages suggest a species-typical readiness rather than pure imitation or reinforcement. Social learning and equilibration can support language, but they do not best explain the cross-linguistic regularity described.

Question 6Child Development and Pedagogy

Which classroom practice best reflects inclusive education in the context of child development?

  1. Adapting tasks and assessment so diverse learners can participate Correct answer.
  2. Requiring every child to complete identical tasks at identical times
  3. Removing children with disabilities from the regular classroom
  4. Delaying all classroom changes until a specialist visits

Explanation

Inclusive education means adapting the learning environment, tasks, and assessment so that children with diverse needs can take part alongside peers. It is not merely physical placement; it requires teachers to plan for differences and remove barriers. Identical tasks, segregation, and waiting for a specialist all conflict with the principle of inclusion.

Question 7Child Development and Pedagogy

A teacher ends each lesson with a short oral quiz and uses the results to decide what to reteach the next day. This assessment is best described as:

  1. summative assessment
  2. norm-referenced assessment
  3. formative assessment Correct answer.
  4. placement assessment

Explanation

Formative assessment is used during instruction to gather evidence about learning and adjust teaching. Because the teacher uses the quiz to plan the next lesson, the purpose is formative even though the quiz is short. Summative assessment judges achievement at the end, norm-referenced assessment compares students with a group, and placement assessment decides initial grouping or level.

Question 8Child Development and Pedagogy

A child of average intelligence reads words slowly and inaccurately and has persistent difficulty decoding unfamiliar words despite adequate instruction. The most likely specific learning disability is:

  1. dyscalculia
  2. dyslexia Correct answer.
  3. dysgraphia
  4. dyspraxia

Explanation

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that primarily affects accurate and fluent word reading and decoding. Average intelligence with persistent decoding difficulty despite adequate instruction is a key indicator. Dyscalculia affects mathematics, dysgraphia affects writing, and dyspraxia affects motor coordination.

Question 9Child Development and Pedagogy

A 7-year-old repeatedly says, 'I can do it myself' and seeks approval for completing homework and chores. According to Erikson, the psychosocial task central to this period is:

  1. trust versus mistrust
  2. initiative versus guilt
  3. industry versus inferiority Correct answer.
  4. identity versus role confusion

Explanation

Erikson's industry versus inferiority stage roughly covers the primary school years, when children seek competence through work, chores, and school tasks. Approval for completed work supports industry, while repeated failure or criticism can foster inferiority. Initiative versus guilt belongs to the preschool years, identity versus role confusion to adolescence, and trust versus mistrust to infancy.

Question 10Child Development and Pedagogy

A learner solves a pendulum problem by systematically testing one variable at a time while holding the others constant. According to Piaget, this performance indicates:

  1. object permanence
  2. transductive reasoning
  3. formal operational thought Correct answer.
  4. egocentric speech

Explanation

Formal operational thought includes hypothetical-deductive reasoning and the ability to isolate and test variables systematically. The pendulum task is a classic measure of this stage because it requires controlling variables rather than relying on appearances. Transductive reasoning links two particulars without logic, egocentric speech is self-directed talk, and object permanence is an infant achievement.

Question 11Child Development and Pedagogy

A six-month-old infant watches a ball being covered with a cloth and then makes no attempt to look for it. In Piaget's theory, this behaviour is most directly explained by the absence of

  1. conservation of substance
  2. egocentric speech
  3. object permanence Correct answer.
  4. reversible thinking

Explanation

In the sensorimotor stage (birth to about two years), infants gradually construct object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight. A six-month-old typically does not yet search for hidden objects, which is why the ball is treated as though it has ceased to exist. Conservation and reversibility are achievements of the later concrete operational stage, not of infancy.

Question 12Child Development and Pedagogy

During free play, a four-year-old sits beside two classmates and builds with blocks of her own, occasionally glancing at them but not speaking or sharing materials. In Parten's classification of play, this is

  1. cooperative play
  2. onlooker behaviour
  3. parallel play Correct answer.
  4. solitary play

Explanation

Parallel play is defined as children playing side by side with similar materials but without genuine interaction, and it is very common in the preschool years. The child here is absorbed in her own construction while remaining physically close to peers, which is the defining pattern. Solitary play occurs alone, onlooker behaviour involves watching without joining, and cooperative play involves organised shared activity with roles and rules.

Question 13Child Development and Pedagogy

A mother sets clear rules about homework and bedtime, explains the reasons for them, and listens to her daughter's views before deciding. Baumrind would classify this parenting style as

  1. authoritarian
  2. authoritative Correct answer.
  3. permissive
  4. uninvolved

Explanation

Baumrind's authoritative style combines high demandingness with high responsiveness: rules are firm, but reasons are given and the child's views are heard. The mother in the stem shows exactly this combination of control and warmth. Authoritarian parents impose rules without explanation, permissive parents make few demands, and uninvolved parents provide little of either control or warmth.

Question 14Child Development and Pedagogy

A six-year-old whispers instructions to herself while assembling a puzzle; by eight she completes the same task silently. Vygotsky's interpretation is that

  1. private speech is a self-regulatory tool that is internalised as inner speech Correct answer.
  2. the child is simply imitating adults and will stop once imitation is no longer reinforced
  3. the speech shows the child is still in Piaget's egocentric stage and cannot take another's viewpoint
  4. the whispered speech is a sign of cognitive immaturity that should be discouraged by the teacher

Explanation

Vygotsky viewed private speech as a tool children use to plan, monitor and guide their own actions, arising first in social dialogue with more competent others. As the function becomes automatic, the audible speech is shortened and goes underground as inner speech, which explains the shift from whispering to silence. It is therefore a sign of developing self-regulation rather than a defect to be eliminated.

Question 15Child Development and Pedagogy

A three-year-old who regularly hears the word 'went' says 'goed' and 'foots'. This error most strongly supports the view that language acquisition involves

  1. direct imitation of the adult forms heard in the environment
  2. a critical period for grammar that closes at about age three
  3. reinforcement of correct forms by parents and caregivers
  4. active construction of rules that are later refined Correct answer.

Explanation

Forms such as 'goed' and 'foots' are never heard from adults, so the child cannot be copying them. Instead the child has extracted a regular past-tense or plural rule and applies it uniformly, which is evidence of rule-governed construction rather than imitation or reinforcement. Later exposure to irregular forms leads the child to restrict the rule to its proper domain.

Question 16Child Development and Pedagogy

A primary teacher introduces fractions by first letting children cut real chapattis, then showing pictures of cut chapattis, and finally writing 1/2 and 1/4. Bruner would describe this sequence as moving through

  1. pre-operational, concrete and formal stages
  2. enactive, iconic and symbolic representation Correct answer.
  3. sensory, motor and verbal stages
  4. acquisition, fluency and generalisation phases

Explanation

Bruner proposed three modes of representation: enactive, knowing through action on objects; iconic, knowing through images; and symbolic, knowing through abstract symbols such as numerals. Handling real chapattis, then pictures, then written fractions follows exactly this order. The sequence reflects the idea that instruction should move from concrete action to abstract notation.

Question 17Child Development and Pedagogy

In a strange-situation procedure, a toddler shows little distress when the mother leaves and turns away or ignores her when she returns. Ainsworth would classify this pattern as

  1. insecure-avoidant attachment Correct answer.
  2. insecure-resistant attachment
  3. disorganised attachment
  4. secure attachment

Explanation

Ainsworth's strange situation classifies attachment by separation and reunion behaviour. Minimal distress on separation combined with avoidance or ignoring at reunion is the hallmark of insecure-avoidant attachment, in which the infant has learned to suppress attachment behaviour. Secure infants seek contact on reunion, resistant infants are distressed and ambivalent, and disorganised infants show contradictory, frozen or fearful responses.

Question 18Child Development and Pedagogy

A chimpanzee first jumps unsuccessfully towards a bunch of bananas, then pauses, looks at the boxes in the corner, suddenly stacks them and reaches the fruit. Kohler's explanation of this episode is

  1. trial-and-error learning strengthened by reinforcement of each small step
  2. classical conditioning of a reaching response to a box
  3. insight learning, in which the situation is restructured perceptually Correct answer.
  4. observational learning of a model's solution

Explanation

Kohler's work on chimpanzees led him to describe insight learning as a sudden restructuring of the perceptual field, in which the relationship between means and goal becomes clear after a pause. The animal does not gradually shape the solution through rewarded approximations but reorganises the situation and then acts smoothly. The suddenness and the pause before stacking the boxes are the key indicators.

Question 19Child Development and Pedagogy

Gilligan's main criticism of Kohlberg's theory of moral development is that it

  1. rests on a male sample and treats justice as superior to an ethic of care Correct answer.
  2. describes a sequence of stages that cannot be observed in any real children
  3. ignores the role of reward and punishment in shaping moral learning in the early years
  4. places too much emphasis on cultural universals and too little on individual differences in judgement

Explanation

Gilligan argued that Kohlberg's stages were derived largely from interviews with boys and men and that the highest stage reflected a justice-and-rights orientation. She proposed that a care-and-responsibility orientation, more often voiced by girls in her work, was not a lower stage but a different moral voice. Her critique is thus about the sampling bias and the ranking of moral orientations, not about the existence of stages.

Question 20Child Development and Pedagogy

A class begins earning a sticker for every drawing completed. After several weeks, many children who earlier drew during free time stop drawing when stickers are withdrawn. The most likely explanation is that

  1. peer pressure has replaced teacher approval as a motive
  2. the children have forgotten the drawing skills learned in art lessons
  3. expected tangible rewards have undermined intrinsic motivation Correct answer.
  4. the drawing tasks had become too difficult for the children

Explanation

This is the overjustification effect: when an activity that was initially enjoyed for its own sake is linked to an expected external reward, children may reinterpret their reason for doing it as the reward. Once the reward is removed, the perceived reason disappears and the activity declines. The drop after withdrawal, rather than during the reward period, is what points to this shift in attribution.

Question 21Child Development and Pedagogy

A four-year-old seated in front of a three-mountain model describes what a doll seated opposite her can see by reporting her own view. In Piaget's theory, this response best illustrates

  1. egocentrism Correct answer.
  2. object permanence
  3. conservation
  4. reversibility

Explanation

In Piaget's preoperational stage, the child has difficulty taking another person's spatial perspective and therefore reports her own view as if it were the doll's. This inability to decentre is called egocentrism. Conservation and reversibility belong to the concrete operational stage, while object permanence is achieved in the sensorimotor stage.

Question 22Child Development and Pedagogy

During free play, a five-year-old and two friends decide together to build a hospital and assign each other the roles of doctor, nurse, and patient. According to Parten's categories of play, this behaviour is best described as

  1. parallel play
  2. solitary play
  3. cooperative play Correct answer.
  4. onlooker play

Explanation

Cooperative play involves children organising a shared activity, assigning roles, and working towards a common goal, as seen in the hospital game. Parten distinguished it from less socially integrated forms such as parallel and solitary play. The presence of joint planning and role division is the key marker here.

Question 23Child Development and Pedagogy

A teacher notices that infants typically gain control over their head and neck before their arms and legs. This sequence best illustrates which principle of development?

  1. Cephalocaudal direction Correct answer.
  2. Proximodistal direction
  3. Discontinuity
  4. Individual difference

Explanation

The cephalocaudal principle states that development proceeds from the head downward, so head and neck control precede control of the trunk and limbs. The proximodistal principle, by contrast, describes development from the centre of the body outward to the extremities. The observed sequence therefore illustrates the head-to-tail direction.

Question 24Child Development and Pedagogy

A child who has learned the schema for 'dog' sees a zebra for the first time and calls it a 'big dog with stripes.' In Piaget's theory, this response is an example of

  1. object permanence
  2. accommodation
  3. equilibration
  4. assimilation Correct answer.

Explanation

Assimilation occurs when a new experience is interpreted using an existing schema without changing that schema, as when the zebra is fitted into the child's 'dog' category. Accommodation would require modifying the schema to create a separate category for zebras. Equilibration is the broader process of balancing assimilation and accommodation.

Question 25Child Development and Pedagogy

According to Vygotsky, make-believe play is important in early childhood mainly because it

  1. reinforces correct behaviour through immediate rewards given by adults during play
  2. creates a zone of proximal development where children follow imaginary rules Correct answer.
  3. helps children practise only the skills they have already fully mastered
  4. allows children to release unconscious aggressive impulses that would otherwise remain hidden

Explanation

Vygotsky argued that in make-believe play children subordinate their immediate impulses to imaginary rules, which creates a zone of proximal development and fosters self-regulation. The child behaves beyond current real-life capability and later internalises this rule-governed control. This makes play a leading activity in early childhood.

Question 26Child Development and Pedagogy

A student returns a lost wallet because she wants classmates to see her as honest and helpful. In Kohlberg's theory, this reasoning belongs to which orientation?

  1. Universal ethical principle orientation
  2. Social contract orientation
  3. Punishment and obedience orientation
  4. Good girl/nice girl orientation Correct answer.

Explanation

The good girl/nice girl orientation is part of Kohlberg's conventional level, where moral decisions are guided by gaining approval and maintaining social expectations. Returning the wallet to appear honest and helpful reflects this desire for social approval. Social contract and universal ethical principles are post-conventional orientations.

Question 27Child Development and Pedagogy

A change in national law raises the minimum school-leaving age. In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this law is part of the

  1. mesosystem
  2. macrosystem Correct answer.
  3. chronosystem
  4. microsystem

Explanation

The macrosystem consists of the broader cultural, legal, and economic blueprints that shape the other systems, so a national school-leaving law belongs here. It influences children indirectly by setting conditions for schools and families. The chronosystem refers to change over time rather than the law itself.

Question 28Child Development and Pedagogy

In Ainsworth's strange situation, a toddler plays happily while the caregiver is present, shows distress when she leaves, and is quickly comforted when she returns. This pattern is classified as

  1. disorganized attachment
  2. ambivalent/resistant attachment
  3. secure attachment Correct answer.
  4. avoidant attachment

Explanation

Secure attachment is characterised by using the caregiver as a safe base for exploration, distress at separation, and rapid comfort on reunion. The toddler's willingness to explore and quick soothing fit this pattern closely. Avoidant and ambivalent patterns show different reunion responses.

Question 29Child Development and Pedagogy

A two-year-old says 'I goed to the park' even though no adult in the home uses 'goed'. A nativist theorist such as Chomsky would explain this error as evidence that

  1. language develops mainly through conditioning and imitation of adult speech
  2. children extract a past-tense rule and overgeneralise it, suggesting an innate capacity Correct answer.
  3. children learn grammar mainly by correcting their own errors after explicit feedback
  4. children imitate only the exact sentences that adults have reinforced with praise

Explanation

The child has never heard 'goed', so the error cannot be simple imitation; it shows that she has extracted a regular past-tense rule and applied it too broadly. Chomsky used such overregularisations to argue that children are innately prepared to discover grammatical rules. This supports the nativist position rather than a conditioning account.

Question 30Child Development and Pedagogy

Which classroom statement best reflects Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?

  1. Intelligences develop only through formal instruction in eight separate school subjects
  2. Intelligence should be measured by a standard IQ score, and teaching should target that score alone
  3. All students should follow one uniform method because intelligences are fixed at birth and cannot change
  4. Teachers should offer varied entry points so different strengths can be used to learn the same concept Correct answer.

Explanation

Gardner proposed several relatively independent intelligences and argued that instruction should allow students to approach content through different strengths, such as linguistic, logical, musical, or bodily-kinaesthetic pathways. Using varied entry points to teach the same concept is a direct classroom application of this view. It does not require separate subjects for each intelligence.

Question 31Child Development and Pedagogy

A Class 1 teacher observes that a child can hop on one foot and throw a ball overhand, but struggles to button a shirt and hold a crayon with a steady grip. The child's difficulty is most specifically in

  1. gross motor coordination
  2. fine motor coordination Correct answer.
  3. conservation of mass
  4. perceptual constancy

Explanation

Fine motor coordination involves small, precise movements of the fingers and hands, such as buttoning and crayon grip. Hopping, throwing and walking depend on large muscle groups and are gross motor skills. A child may be age-appropriate in gross motor skills while still developing fine motor control.

Question 32Child Development and Pedagogy

A two-year-old insists on putting on her shoes without help and becomes upset when an adult takes over. Her teacher offers two pairs of shoes to choose from and lets the child try. Which Erikson stage is the teacher most directly supporting?

  1. autonomy vs. shame/doubt Correct answer.
  2. initiative vs. guilt
  3. trust vs. mistrust
  4. industry vs. inferiority

Explanation

Erikson's autonomy versus shame and doubt stage centres on toddlers asserting self-control and making simple choices. Offering acceptable choices while allowing the child to try supports autonomy without turning the situation into a struggle. Shame and doubt can develop when adults override or ridicule the child's attempts at independence.

Question 33Child Development and Pedagogy

A teacher plans tasks that children cannot yet complete alone but can finish with hints, peer support or a teacher's model. This planning is based most directly on

  1. Kohlberg's preconventional level of moral reasoning
  2. Piaget's concept of schema assimilation and accommodation
  3. the zone of proximal development Correct answer.
  4. Pavlov's classical conditioning of involuntary responses

Explanation

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development is the gap between what a learner can do independently and what the learner can do with guidance from a more capable person. Planning slightly challenging tasks with hints, modelling or peer support targets that zone. The support is gradually withdrawn as the child becomes independent.

Question 34Child Development and Pedagogy

A Class 2 child reads words accurately and answers orally with confidence, but written work is slow, letter formation is inconsistent and the child avoids writing tasks. What is the most appropriate first step for the teacher?

  1. Conclude that the child is lazy and needs stricter discipline at home
  2. Replace all written work with oral answers for the rest of the year
  3. Document the writing errors and seek special educator assessment Correct answer.
  4. Require three extra copies of every paragraph to build speed and neatness

Explanation

A marked gap between strong oral performance and persistent difficulty with handwriting suggests a specific writing difficulty, possibly dysgraphia. The teacher should first record concrete evidence, such as letter formation, speed and avoidance behaviour, and seek specialist assessment. Until assessment, oral participation should continue so the child is not excluded from learning.

Question 35Child Development and Pedagogy

A teacher wants a task that matches Piaget's concrete operational stage. Which task is most appropriate?

  1. Solving equations with two unknown variables using formal algebraic rules
  2. Using a wooden block as a pretend mobile phone during role play
  3. Sorting leaves by colour and shape, then arranging them by length Correct answer.
  4. Predicting which pendulum will swing fastest without testing it

Explanation

Concrete operational children can classify objects by more than one attribute and seriate them by a dimension such as length when they work with real materials. These skills fit the stage because reasoning is logical but tied to concrete objects. Formal algebra and hypothesis testing without materials require formal operational reasoning.

Question 36Child Development and Pedagogy

A teacher keeps a term-long collection of each child's drawings, story drafts and recordings of oral reading, and discusses the collection with the child. This practice is most consistent with

  1. marks awarded only for correct final answers, ignoring the working process
  2. a single end-of-term written test used only to rank children according to marks
  3. collecting drawings, story drafts and oral reading recordings across the term Correct answer.
  4. a surprise test administered without telling children its purpose

Explanation

A portfolio gathers multiple samples of a child's work over time and supports formative assessment, self-reflection and comprehensive evaluation. It gives evidence of progress in different areas rather than a single score. This matches the spirit of continuous and comprehensive assessment.

Question 37Child Development and Pedagogy

A child whose family speaks a different dialect at home rarely speaks in class and hesitates when asked to answer in the school language. What is the most appropriate teacher response?

  1. Use pair work, accept the home dialect and gradually introduce school language Correct answer.
  2. Lower the child's marks in oral work to reflect the language difference
  3. Insist that the child speak only the school language in class and at home
  4. Ignore the child's silence and wait until the child volunteers to speak

Explanation

Children learn best when the school respects their home language and gives them safe, low-pressure opportunities to participate. Pair work reduces anxiety, and accepting the home dialect while gradually building school-language competence supports both identity and learning. The goal is to add the school language, not to punish the child for the home variety.

Question 38Child Development and Pedagogy

After watching a popular cartoon in which a character uses a rude nickname and is applauded by friends, several children begin using the same nickname for a classmate. This is best explained by

  1. Bandura's observational learning through vicarious reinforcement Correct answer.
  2. Skinner's operant conditioning through direct reinforcement of the child
  3. Pavlov's classical conditioning of a reflex response
  4. Piaget's assimilation of a new experience into an existing schema

Explanation

Bandura showed that children can learn behaviour by observing models, especially when the model is seen being rewarded. Here the cartoon character is praised for using the nickname, so the children imitate it without being directly reinforced themselves. This is vicarious reinforcement within observational learning.

Question 39Child Development and Pedagogy

A girl in Class 5 refuses to attempt a science puzzle, saying that girls are not good at science. Which teacher response is best supported by research on gender and achievement?

  1. Ignore the comment because beliefs about gender do not affect performance
  2. Agree that girls often find science difficult and give an easier puzzle
  3. Challenge the stereotype and give mastery experiences in science Correct answer.
  4. Tell the class that boys are naturally better at science but girls may try

Explanation

Gender stereotypes can lower confidence and performance, so teachers should challenge the belief and provide genuine mastery experiences in science. Success on appropriately challenging tasks helps the child attribute achievement to effort and strategy rather than to gender. Avoiding gender-based comparisons and grouping also reduces stereotype pressure.

Question 40Child Development and Pedagogy

A child obtains a high score on an intelligence test but often gives up when group tasks become difficult and has few friends. Which conclusion is most defensible?

  1. A high intelligence score does not by itself describe social-emotional or collaborative competence Correct answer.
  2. The test score proves that the child is gifted in every area of development
  3. The test must be invalid because intelligent children do not give up on tasks
  4. The child should be moved to a higher class without further observation

Explanation

An intelligence test samples particular cognitive abilities; it does not measure all aspects of development, such as persistence, emotional regulation or peer relationships. A high score therefore cannot by itself establish competence in every domain. The teacher should observe the child's social-emotional and collaborative needs separately.

Question 41Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

In the word 'through', how many distinct phonemes are produced when it is spoken?

  1. Three Correct answer.
  2. Five
  3. Two
  4. Four

Explanation

The word 'through' is pronounced /θruː/: the digraph 'gh' is silent and 'ou' represents a single long vowel sound. Its phonemes are therefore the voiceless dental fricative /θ/, the approximant /r/ and the vowel /uː/, giving three phonemes in all. Counting letters or letter-pairs instead of sounds is the usual source of error here.

Question 42Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

A Language I teacher explains English grammar rules in the learners' mother tongue and sets translation passages as the main classroom exercise. Which method of language teaching is being followed?

  1. Grammar-Translation Method Correct answer.
  2. Communicative Language Teaching
  3. Audio-Lingual Method
  4. Direct Method

Explanation

Explaining grammar in the mother tongue and using translation as the chief exercise are the defining features of the Grammar-Translation Method, which treats language as a body of rules to be memorised. The other methods rely mainly on the target language in the classroom and on oral practice rather than on translation of written texts.

Question 43Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

Choose the correct indirect form of: Sunita said to me, "Please close the window."

  1. Sunita said me to please close the window.
  2. Sunita told that I please close the window.
  3. Sunita requested me to close the window. Correct answer.
  4. Sunita asked me that please close the window.

Explanation

A polite imperative beginning with 'please' is reported with a reporting verb such as 'requested' or 'asked' followed by the object and a to-infinitive; the word 'please' is dropped and the verb inside the infinitive does not change tense. 'Said to me' must become 'requested me', never 'said me', and 'that' is not used after a request verb.

Question 44Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

Fill in the blank with the correct verb form: Neither the teacher nor the students ______ present at the assembly.

  1. was
  2. is
  3. were Correct answer.
  4. has been

Explanation

With the correlative 'neither ... nor', the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it, which here is the plural 'students', so the plural 'were' is required. 'Was' and 'is' would be correct only if the nearer subject were singular, and 'has been' is singular as well as inappropriate in aspect for a past event.

Question 45Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

In the sentence 'During the surgery he had to bite the bullet', the idiom 'bite the bullet' most nearly means:

  1. to make a quick escape
  2. to refuse medical treatment
  3. to endure a painful situation with courage Correct answer.
  4. to speak angrily to someone

Explanation

To 'bite the bullet' means to face something painful or unpleasant bravely instead of avoiding it, an image that comes from soldiers biting on a bullet during surgery given without anaesthetic. The expression carries no idea of anger, of running away, or of rejecting treatment.

Question 46Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

Choose the correct passive transformation of: 'The committee will announce the results tomorrow.'

  1. The results will be announced by the committee tomorrow. Correct answer.
  2. The results are announced by the committee tomorrow.
  3. The results would be announced by the committee tomorrow.
  4. The results will announce by the committee tomorrow.

Explanation

In the passive, the object 'the results' becomes the subject, the modal 'will' is kept unchanged, and the main verb becomes 'be + past participle', giving 'will be announced'; the doer is introduced with 'by'. Changing 'will' to 'would' would alter the meaning, and keeping 'announce' leaves the verb active.

Question 47Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

In the sentence 'Although it was raining heavily, the children continued to play outside', the clause beginning with 'Although' is:

  1. a noun clause
  2. an adjective clause
  3. an adverb clause of concession Correct answer.
  4. an adverb clause of condition

Explanation

'Although' introduces a clause that concedes or contrasts something with the main statement, so the clause is an adverb clause of concession. It is not a noun clause because it does not act as subject or object, not an adjective clause because it does not modify a noun, and not conditional because condition would require 'if' or 'unless'.

Question 48Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

Fill in the blanks: She has been suffering ______ malaria ______ last Monday.

  1. with / for
  2. from / for
  3. from / since Correct answer.
  4. of / from

Explanation

The verb 'suffer' is followed by the preposition 'from', and 'since' is used with a definite point of time such as 'last Monday' in the present perfect continuous. 'For' would need a length of time such as 'three days', and 'with' and 'of' do not collocate with 'suffer' in this sense.

Question 49Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

A teacher gives learners a newspaper page and asks them to find only the date of publication and the price, as fast as they can. The reading sub-skill being practised is:

  1. extensive reading
  2. intensive reading
  3. scanning Correct answer.
  4. skimming

Explanation

Scanning is reading rapidly through a text in search of one specific detail, such as a date, a price or a name, without reading everything. Skimming gives the overall gist, intensive reading studies a short text closely for detail and language, and extensive reading involves large amounts of text read mainly for pleasure or fluency.

Question 50Language I (first language opted by the candidate)

Morphologically, the word 'unhappiness' consists of:

  1. one free morpheme and one bound morpheme
  2. three free morphemes
  3. two free morphemes
  4. one free morpheme and two bound morphemes Correct answer.

Explanation

'Unhappiness' can be analysed as un- + happy + -ness. 'Happy' is a free morpheme because it can stand alone as a word, while 'un-' and '-ness' are bound derivational morphemes that cannot occur on their own, so the word contains one free and two bound morphemes.