FOREIGN LANGUAGES COLLEGE-DNU Name:
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Class :
MID- TERM TEST ON LANGUAGE & CULTURE
Time limit: 40 minutes
Score Examiner 1 Examiner 2 Invigilator 1 Invigilator 2
1. Language can mean in two fundamental ways:
A. through an encoded sign (semantics)
B. through an action in context (pragmatics)
C. both a and b
D. none of the above
2. Every meaning- making practice makes use of two elements:
A. a signifier
B. a signified
C. a and b
D. register and footing
3. Language is
A. arbitrary
B. non-arbitrary
C. asymmetrical
D. all of the above
4. The entity in the external world referred to by a word or phrase is termed as
A. the referent
B. register
C. footing
D. role
5. Since meaning is encoded in language with a purpose, meaning as sign is dependent on the
A. other signs
B. context in which signs are used to regulate human action.
C. a and b
D. none of the above
6. Stress and intonation could be regarded as
A. the symbolic signs
B. the non-verbal signs
C. a and b
D. paraverbal signs
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7. In Vietnamese culture, the junior and inferior have to show respect for the senior and
superior because
A. hierarchy is strictly observed as a social norm
B. equality is given a great value
C. Vietnam is a democratic country
D. b and c
8. In English, the addressing term “First Name” could be used between
A. close friends
B. strangers
C. none of the above
D. businessmen at the first meeting
9. According to Goffman E., changes in intonation and pronunciation could
A. indicate changes in our perception of our role as a participant in an interaction and in
our alignment to others
B. show that the interlocutors share the frames of interpretation
C. reveal that the interlocutors belong to different cultures
D. none of the above
10. People from different cultures could be distinguished through
A. the development of their country
B. their skin color
C. their different ways in using their orate and literate discourse styles in various speech
genres for various social purposes
D. none of the above
11. How can culture liberate people?
A. By investing the randomness of nature with meaning, order and rationality
B. By providing safeguard against chaos
C. By imposing a structure on nature
D. Both A & B
12. By using interchangeably the pronouns Vous – tu (French); sie - due (German); tôi - tớ
(Vietnamese) the communicative members wish to
A. define themselves jointly as insiders against others as outsiders
B. index the speaker’s social status and status given to addressee
C. identify themselves as members of a social group
D. prove that they are using standard language
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13. When 2 Danes were asked “What’s your nationality?” they actually answered: “We speak
Danish and came from Denmark”.
According to these Danes their European identity is built
A. much more around the color of their skin
B. much more around their race and ethnic group
C. much more about their physical appearance
D. much more around language and national citizenship
14. Some immigrants use code-switching in their conversations to
A. to signal the solidarity ( sự thống nhất, đoàn kết)
B. to signal the distance
C. to identify themselves as members of a social group
D. both A & B
15. Which of the following is not a case of expecting a certain behaviour of another in a
communicative situation?
A. French speakers may expect to be greeted with a handshake
B. American speakers may expect to be greeted with a smile
C. Vietnamese speakers may expected to be greeted with a nod
D. English speakers may expected to be greeted with a bow
16. Speech is “rhapsodic” or
A. the message conveyed is hierarchically ordered within the clause structure
B. in spoken language, people link together elements from previous turns - at - talk
and add language as they go along.
C. a and b
D. none of the above
17. Which of the following is not considered as the contextualized cue for a situated
inference?
A. the speaker’s verbal signs such as personal pronouns such as “I”, “you”
B. the speaker’s paraverbal signs such as voice, intonation & outward appearance
C. the speaker’s physical appearance (well-built or well-proportioned)
D. the non-verbal signs such as gaze direction, gesture, body posture
18. Which of the following is not correct?
Pragmatic coherence
A. relates word to word as in what semantics does in a sentence
B. are established through efforts to make the words uttered meaningful within the
situational and cultural context of exchange
C. relates speaker to speaker within the larger cultural context of communication
D. can be established through the use of contextualiation cues
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19. Which of the following is the tenet of the weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
A. Language limits culture
B. Language dictates thought
C. Lexicons will reflect aspects of the culture
D. All concepts are culturally bound
20. Which of the following is not one of the characteristics of orality?
A. additive
B. aggregative
C. tends to avoid redundancy
D. loosely structured grammatically
21. Which of the following terms match the description below?
Members of a cultural group need to feel respected and not impinged upon in their autonomy,
pride and self-sufficiency
A. Positive face
B. Face threatening
C. Negative face
D. Face maintaining
22. Oral tradition was transformed into textual tradition by
A. story telling
B. bardic epics
C. mythical re-enactment
D. the invention of writing around 3000 BC
23. Which of the following is not correct?
Traditional academic practice
A. emphasized form over meaning
B. had students interpret texts as autonomous units
C. had students interpret texts as highly dependent on reader’s response
D. implicitly imposed its own context of interpretation on all readers
24. Which of the following is not among the common ways to help define the identity?
A. language and nationality
B. ethnicity and race
C. food and drink
D. regional identity
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25. Which of the following is a case of diffusing in cultural stereotypes in the Vietnamese
cultural setting in 1980s?
A. that man can be identified as a Cuban because he has dark complexion
B. that man can be identified as a Russian because he has fair complexion
C. that man can be identified as a Japanese because he has one-eyed lid pattern
D. that man can be identified as a Vietnamese because he looks like me
26. The English word “bird” described in the dictionary as a two-legged, winged, egg-laying,
warm-blooded creature with a beak indicates
A. the iconic meaning
B. the connotative meaning
C. the denotative meaning
D. another type of meaning
27. Language as the principal means for people to conduct their social lives could
A. express cultural reality
B. embody cultural reality
C. symbolize cultural reality
D. all of the above
28. The two essential types of meaning of a lexical item are
A. denotative meaning and literal meaning
B. connotative meaning and figurative meaning
C. denotative meaning and connotative meaning
D. all of the above
29. The meaning of facial expressions is determined by
A. Relationships
B. Situational contexts
C. Feelings
D. Both a and b
30. Which of the following is a case of focusing in cultural stereotypes in the Vietnamese
cultural setting in 1980s?
A. a dark-skinned foreign person might be identified as a Cuban
B. a light-skinned foreign person might be identified as a member of upper class
C. a light-skinned foreign person might be identified as a Russian
D. both A & C
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FOREIGN LANGUAGES COLLEGE-DNU Name:
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Class :
MID- TERM TEST ON LANGUAGE & CULTURE
Time limit: 40 minutes
Score Examiner 1 Examiner 2 Invigilator 1 Invigilator 2
Please put a CROSS ( x ) on the space for the letter you have chosen
A B C D A B C D
1. x 21. x
2. x 22. x
3. x 23. x
4. x 24. x
5. x 25. x
6. x 26. x
7. x 27. x
8. x 28. x
9. x 29. x
10 x 30. x
11 x
12 x
13 x
14 x
15 x
16 x
17 x
18 x
19 x
20 x
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. FOREIGN LANGUAGES COLLEGE-DNU Name:
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Class :
MID- TERM TEST ON LANGUAGE & CULTURE
Time limit: 40 minutes
Score. hypothesis?
A. Language limits culture
B. Language dictates thought
C. Lexicons will reflect aspects of the culture
D. All concepts are culturally bound
20.