American Sign Language Comes Out of the Closet Adapted from Felicia Mode Alexander and Jack. R. Gannon, Deaf Heritage: A Student Text and Workbook (1984): National Association of the Deaf, p. 52.
FCE Practice Tests
Part 1
Dr. William C. Stokoe, Jr., was hired by Gallaudet University in the mid-1950s. He became the chairman of the English Department. After he was at Gallaudet and saw the way deaf people communicated, Dr. Stokoe became interested in sign language. Sign language was the way most students at Gallaudet communicated, and Dr. Stokoe was _____1_____. He was a hearing person, and signs were new to him.
Dr. Stokoe decided to propose a study of sign language. Many other teachers were not interested, though, and thought Dr. Stokoe was ____2______ to think about studying sign language. Even deaf teachers were not very interested in the project. Dr. Stokoe did not give up when other people were indifferent. Instead, he _____3_____ the Linguistics Research Program in 1957. Stokoe and two assistants worked on this project during the summer and after school.
Carl Croneberg and Dorothy Casterline, both deaf, were Dr. Stokoe's assistants. The three researchers made films of deaf people signing. The deaf people in the films did not understand what the research was about and were just trying to be nice to Dr. Stokoe. Many people thought the whole project was _____4_____, but humored Dr. Stokoe anyway.
Stokoe and his team studied the films of signing. They analyzed the films and tried to see patterns in the signs. The results of the research were ____5______. They found that the signs followed specific rules. They found that the rules were used by all of the signers and were linguistic rules.
Dr. Stokoe was the first linguist to test American Sign Language as a real language. It passed all of the tests! Dr. Stokoe published the results in 1960, but not many people paid attention to the study. Dr. Stokoe was still _____6_____-he was the only linguist who _____7_____ that sign language was more than gestures. He knew it was a language of its own and not just another form of English.
Choose the correct answer for each blank line.
American Sign Language Comes Out of the Closet Cloze Exercise - Level 60
1
Sign language was the way most students at Gallaudet communicated, and Dr. Stokoe was ___________.
experienced
fascinated
upset
afraid
bored
2
Many other teachers were not interested, though, and thought Dr. Stokoe was _________ to think about studying sign language.
right
unable
crazy
smart
lazy
3
Dr. Stokoe did not give up when other people were indifferent. Instead, he ________the Linguistics Research Program in 1957.
left
angered
avoided
started
blamed
4
Many people thought the whole project was __________, but humored Dr. Stokoe anyway.
enjoyable
serious
dangerous
silly
important
5
The results of the research were __________.
confusing
secret
disappointing
costly
surprising
6
Dr. Stokoe published the results in 1960, but not many people paid attention to the study. Dr. Stokoe was still __________ ---
alone
unsure
pretending
mistaken
silent
7
Dr. Stokoe was the only linguist who __________ that sign language was more than gestures.
