TKT Module 1 Exam Flashcards

Q: What are the three parts of TKT Module 1 and how many questions does each have?

Part 1, Describing language and language skills, is 6 tasks and 40 questions - half the paper. Part 2, Background to language learning, is 3 tasks and 15 questions. Part 3, Background to language teaching, is 4 tasks and 25 questions. That is 13 tasks and 80 marks in 80 minutes.

Q: Is there a pass mark for TKT Module 1?

No. TKT is not pass or fail. Your 80 marks are converted into one of four bands, and you receive a certificate for the module whatever band you get. Cambridge publishes what each band means but never publishes the mark boundaries, so any specific 'you need X out of 80 for Band 4' figure you find online is unofficial.

Q: Can I sit TKT Module 1 again if I want a higher band?

Yes. Because there is no fail, Cambridge publishes no waiting period and no limit on attempts for TKT Modules 1-3, so nothing in the exam rules stops you re-entering. In practice your next sitting depends on your authorised centre's test dates, and paper-based entries must be made at least six weeks before the test date.

Q: How much English do I need to take TKT Module 1?

The handbook states there are no formal English language requirements for Modules 1, 2 and 3, and Cambridge describes TKT as being for teachers with English at CEFR B1 or above. The module tests your knowledge of teaching concepts, not your own English proficiency, so terminology matters far more than advanced grammar.

Q: Which part of TKT Module 1 should I study first?

Part 1. Describing language and language skills is 40 of the 80 marks, and it is the most terminology-dense part: parts of speech, word formation, collocation, phonemes, word and sentence stress, connected speech, functions and their exponents, and the subskills of reading, listening, speaking and writing.

Q: Do I have to take Modules 1, 2 and 3 in order?

No. TKT is modular. You can take the modules in any order or take only the ones you need, and you receive a separate certificate for each module you complete. The specialist modules, TKT: CLIL and TKT: Young Learners, can also be taken on their own or added to the core modules.

Question 1

Which word classes are 'open' and which are 'closed', and why does the distinction matter?

Accepted Answer

Open classes accept new members as the language grows: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs. Closed classes almost never gain new members: determiners, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs. TKT tasks often ask you to name the class of a word in a sentence, so decide by the job the word is doing, not by its ending.

Question 2

In 'She has been waiting since nine', which part is tense and which part is aspect?

Accepted Answer

Tense locates the event in time - here the present. Aspect shows how the speaker views the event - here perfect continuous, an action that started earlier and is still going on. Note that English marks future time with modals ('will'), semi-modals ('be going to') or present forms rather than with a verb ending.

Question 3

'That could be Sara at the door' and 'You could ask your tutor' both use 'could'. What does each one express?

Accepted Answer

The first expresses possibility or deduction; the second makes a suggestion. One modal verb carries several meanings, so TKT expects you to read the context, not the form: 'could' can also mean past ability ('I could swim at five'), permission ('You could leave early') and polite offers ('She could see you now').

Question 4

How do you tell an auxiliary verb from a main verb in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

The main verb carries the lexical meaning; the auxiliary is the helper that builds the tense, question, negative or passive around it. In 'Did she finish?', 'did' is the auxiliary and 'finish' the main verb. 'Be', 'do' and 'have' can be either, so check the job they are doing in that sentence.

Question 5

What is the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb?

Accepted Answer

A transitive verb takes a direct object ('She wrote a letter'); an intransitive verb does not ('He arrived'). Many verbs are both, with a change in meaning ('The class ran' vs 'She ran the class'). This matters in error-correction tasks, where learners often supply or omit the wrong object.

Question 6

Both determiners and adjectives come before a noun. What separates them?

Accepted Answer

A determiner identifies or quantifies the noun and comes first: 'the', 'a', 'this', 'my', 'some', 'both', 'three'. An adjective describes a quality of the noun and sits between the determiner and the noun: 'the big house'. Determiners are a closed class; adjectives are open.

Question 7

A sentence contains two clauses joined by 'although'. Is it compound or complex?

Accepted Answer

Complex. A complex sentence has a main clause plus a subordinate clause introduced by a subordinator such as 'although', 'because', 'if' or 'when'. A compound sentence joins two main clauses of equal weight with a coordinator such as 'and', 'but' or 'so'. Subordinate clauses cannot stand alone.

Question 8

In TKT terms, what is the difference between the form and the use of a grammatical structure?

Accepted Answer

Form is how the structure is built - 'be' plus verb plus '-ing' for the present continuous. Use is what speakers do with it - describing actions in progress, temporary situations, or fixed future arrangements. Learners often master the form yet still misuse the structure, so lessons need to address both.

Question 9

Name the three main types of word formation tested in TKT lexis tasks.

Accepted Answer

Prefixes, added to the front and usually changing meaning ('unhappy', 'rewrite'); suffixes, added to the end and usually changing word class ('happiness', 'careful'); and compounds, two words combined into one item ('bookshop', 'sunglasses'). The affix tells you a lot about class: '-ness' and '-ment' make nouns, '-ly' usually makes adverbs.

Question 10

How is a collocation different from a lexical set?

Accepted Answer

A collocation is a pair of words that habitually occur together - 'heavy rain', 'make a decision'; the wrong partner sounds unnatural even when the grammar is correct. A lexical set is a group of words linked by topic or meaning - 'sofa, armchair, table, lamp'. Collocation is about partnership, lexical sets about category.

Question 11

'See' and 'sea' are homophones. What are 'bank' (river) and 'bank' (money)?

Accepted Answer

Homonyms - one form with two unrelated meanings. Homophones share pronunciation but differ in spelling and meaning ('their/there', 'tail/tale'); homographs share spelling but differ in pronunciation ('read' present and past). TKT lexis tasks regularly ask you to label sets of examples with the right term.

Question 12

Why can a learner know every word in 'She put up with it' and still not understand the sentence?

Accepted Answer

Because it is a multi-word item whose meaning is not the sum of its parts. Phrasal verbs combine a verb with one or two particles ('look up', 'put up with'); idioms are fixed expressions with figurative meaning ('under the weather'). Both must be learnt as single lexical items, not decoded word by word.

Question 13

How many phonemes are in the word 'place', and what does that show?

Accepted Answer

Four - /p/, /l/, /eɪ/, /s/ - despite five letters. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change meaning, written between slashes using the International Phonetic Alphabet. English spelling and sound do not match one to one, so always count sounds, never letters.

Question 14

What makes 'ship' and 'sheep' a minimal pair?

Accepted Answer

They differ by exactly one phoneme in the same position, so that single sound carries the whole meaning difference. Minimal pairs prove which contrasts are phonemic in English and are the standard tool for diagnosing and drilling a sound a learner cannot yet hear or produce ('bat/bad', 'pen/pan').

Question 15

A learner says 'PHOtograph' where you expect 'phoTOGraphy'. Is this a word stress or a sentence stress problem?

Accepted Answer

Word stress - which syllable is prominent inside a single word, and it can shift when suffixes are added. Sentence stress is which words are prominent across an utterance, normally the content words carrying information. Unstressed syllables often weaken to the schwa /ə/, as in the second syllable of 'teacher'.

Question 16

Why does 'next day' often sound like /neks deɪ/ in natural speech?

Accepted Answer

Elision - a sound is dropped when words run together. Connected speech also produces linking (an extra sound joining words, 'an apple'), assimilation (a sound changing under the influence of its neighbour, 'ten bikes' toward /tem/) and contractions ('I'm', 'don't'). This is why listening feels faster than the words on the page.

Question 17

What is the difference between a function and an exponent?

Accepted Answer

The function is the purpose the speaker has - inviting, apologising, refusing, speculating. The exponent is the actual language chosen to perform it: 'Would you like to join us?' and 'Fancy coming along?' are two exponents of the same function. One function has many exponents at different levels of formality.

Question 18

What does 'register' describe in TKT terminology?

Accepted Answer

The level of formality and the style of language chosen for a situation, audience and purpose - formal, neutral or informal. 'I regret to inform you', 'I'm sorry to say' and 'Bad news, I'm afraid' carry the same message in three registers. Register is a choice about how you say it, not about being correct.

Question 19

A learner emails a professor with 'Hey, send me the notes.' The grammar is perfect. What is the problem?

Accepted Answer

Appropriacy - the language does not suit the context, the relationship or the purpose, even though it is accurate. TKT treats appropriacy as a separate dimension from accuracy: teaching a function means teaching which exponents fit which situation, not only which are grammatical.

Question 20

'Why don't we take a break?' versus 'You should take a break.' Which is suggesting and which is advising?

Accepted Answer

The first suggests, the second advises. Suggesting proposes an action, usually including the speaker; advising recommends action to the listener based on the speaker's judgement; offering proposes to do something for the listener ('Shall I take these?'). Functions overlap in wording, so identify who acts and who benefits.

Question 21

Which of the four language skills are receptive and which are productive?

Accepted Answer

Receptive: reading and listening, where the learner takes meaning from a text. Productive: speaking and writing, where the learner creates language. Receptive skills are usually ahead of productive ones, which is why a learner may follow a lesson comfortably yet struggle to say much in it.

Question 22

A learner runs an eye down a timetable to find one departure time. Skimming or scanning?

Accepted Answer

Scanning - reading quickly to locate specific information, ignoring everything else. Skimming is reading quickly to get the general idea or gist of a whole text. Both are fast reading subskills, but skimming answers 'what is this about?' and scanning answers 'where is that detail?'.

Question 23

Name the reading subskill: a learner meets an unknown word and works out its meaning from the surrounding sentences.

Accepted Answer

Deducing meaning from context. Related subskills tested in TKT include reading for detail (close reading for full understanding), inferring attitude or opinion (working out what is implied rather than stated), and predicting (using the title, pictures or layout to guess content before reading).

Question 24

A learner speaks smoothly but makes many grammar mistakes. Which speaking subskill needs work?

Accepted Answer

Accuracy - producing correct forms. Fluency is speaking at a natural speed without unnatural hesitation. The two often pull against each other, so teachers choose their focus: freer speaking tasks build fluency, and interrupting them to correct undermines it. Speaking also involves interactive subskills such as turn-taking and repair.

Question 25

A written text uses pronouns and linkers correctly but the argument jumps around. Is cohesion or coherence missing?

Accepted Answer

Coherence - the overall logic and organisation that makes the whole text make sense. Cohesion is the surface linking: reference words, conjunctions and repeated vocabulary that tie sentences together. A text can be cohesive yet incoherent, so writing tasks need to address both, alongside layout and text type conventions.

Question 26

A learner studies English because she genuinely enjoys the language. What kind of motivation is this?

Accepted Answer

Intrinsic - motivation coming from inside the learner and from the satisfaction of the activity itself. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside rewards or pressures: a required certificate, a parent, a promotion. Intrinsic motivation tends to sustain effort longer, which is why TKT stresses making tasks meaningful rather than merely graded.

Question 27

Name three classroom measures a teacher can take to increase motivation.

Accepted Answer

Set achievable goals so learners experience success; personalise tasks so the content relates to learners' own lives and interests; and give learners choice or responsibility in what and how they study. Varying activity types, telling learners the aim of a lesson, and praising effort specifically also raise motivation.

Question 28

A teacher floods the class with English but never draws attention to how structures are built. What is missing?

Accepted Answer

Focus on form - directing learners' attention to the construction and use of language. TKT treats interaction and focus on form as complements of exposure, not replacements for it: exposure and acquisition supply the input, but classroom L2 learners typically need form highlighted too. Early on, some learners go through a silent period of taking in language before producing it.

Question 29

A learner who normally uses the past simple correctly says 'I goed' once and immediately fixes it. Error or slip?

Accepted Answer

A slip - a one-off lapse the learner can self-correct because the form is already known. An error is systematic and repeated because the learner has not yet learnt or internalised the form. The distinction drives the teacher's response: slips need only a prompt, errors need teaching.

Question 30

A Spanish speaker writes 'I have 20 years'. A learner of any L1 writes 'She goed'. What is each error called?

Accepted Answer

The first is interference (L1 transfer) - a structure carried across from the first language. The second is a developmental error, made by learners of any background as they over-apply a rule they are acquiring. Both are normal stages in interlanguage, the learner's own evolving system; errors that stop developing become fossilised.

Question 31

Give three ways L2 learning in a classroom typically differs from L1 acquisition.

Accepted Answer

Age and maturity - L2 learners usually already have a first language and abstract thinking to draw on. Exposure - L1 acquisition involves constant immersion, while classroom L2 exposure is limited in hours. Context and need - the L1 child must communicate to get needs met, whereas classroom L2 learners often need motivation and focus on form supplied by the teacher.

Question 32

What separates a learning strategy from a learning preference?

Accepted Answer

A strategy is something the learner deliberately does to help themselves learn - guessing meaning from context, keeping a vocabulary notebook, self-testing, noticing how speakers use a phrase. A preference (or style) is how a learner likes to receive and process information, for example through pictures, sound, or physical activity. Strategies can be taught; preferences are accommodated.

Question 33

A learner says: 'I write new expressions on small cards and test myself on the bus.' Which learning strategy is this?

Accepted Answer

Recording and revising vocabulary through self-testing. TKT tasks describe learner behaviour and ask you to label the strategy: working out meaning from context, using a dictionary or reference source, noticing and correcting one's own language, and reviewing earlier learning are the ones that come up most often.

Question 34

What three kinds of learner needs does TKT Module 1 distinguish?

Accepted Answer

Personal needs (interests, learning circumstances and what motivates the individual), learning needs (the language and skills gaps the learner must close), and future professional needs (the English the learner will require for study or work). A needs analysis identifies these so the syllabus and materials can be selected to match.

Question 35

What is the difference between a warmer and a lead-in?

Accepted Answer

A warmer is a short activity at the start to settle or energise the class and get learners speaking English; it need not connect to the lesson content. A lead-in introduces the topic or context of the lesson that follows, activating what learners already know and generating interest in the material to come.

Question 36

Name three common ways of presenting new language to a class.

Accepted Answer

Through a situation or context that makes the meaning clear before the form is given; through visuals, realia or mime that show meaning directly; and through a timeline or diagram that makes an abstract relationship such as time reference visible. All three establish meaning first, so learners have something to attach the new form to.

Question 37

Instead of asking 'Do you understand?', a teacher asks 'Is she doing it now? Yes or no?' What is this technique?

Accepted Answer

A concept checking question (CCQ) - a short, simple question that tests whether learners have grasped the meaning of the target language. Good CCQs avoid using the target structure itself and take a yes/no or one-word answer. 'Do you understand?' is unreliable because learners can answer yes without having understood.

Question 38

What is drilling for, and what are its main types?

Accepted Answer

Drilling gives repeated oral practice of a form so that pronunciation, stress and word order become automatic before freer use. Choral drilling has the whole class repeat together, which lowers anxiety; individual drilling lets the teacher hear and correct one learner; substitution drilling changes one element each time to practise the pattern rather than the sentence.

Question 39

A teacher asks 'So what do we call the person who serves you in a shop?' rather than supplying the word. What is this called, and how does it differ from prompting?

Accepted Answer

Eliciting - drawing language or ideas out of learners instead of telling them, which reveals what they already know and keeps them thinking. Prompting is helping a learner who has stalled to produce or repair language, with a gesture, a first sound or a partial cue, rather than giving the answer outright.

Question 40

How does controlled practice differ from freer practice?

Accepted Answer

Controlled (restricted) practice limits learners to the target language and has predictable answers - drills, gap-fills, substitution. Freer (authentic) practice lets learners choose their own language to communicate real meaning - discussions, role-plays. Controlled practice builds accuracy, freer practice builds fluency, and lessons usually move from one to the other.

Question 41

Student A holds half the train timetable and Student B the other half. What is this task type and why does it work?

Accepted Answer

An information gap activity. Because neither learner can see the other's information, they have a genuine reason to ask and answer, so language is used to communicate rather than to display. Contrast it with a gap-fill, where the missing items are in the text and the task is written, controlled practice of form.

Question 42

What are the three stages of PPP, and what happens in each?

Accepted Answer

Presentation - the teacher introduces the target language in a clear context and checks meaning and form. Practice - controlled activities such as drills and gap-fills build accuracy. Production - learners use the language freely in a communicative task. PPP moves from teacher control toward learner independence.

Question 43

How does Task-based Learning reverse the order of PPP?

Accepted Answer

In TBL learners do a meaningful task first, using whatever language they have, and the language focus comes afterwards, based on what they needed and what came up. PPP decides the target language in advance and works toward using it; TBL lets the task expose the need, which makes the language focus responsive rather than pre-set.

Question 44

A teacher sets a diagnostic task before teaching anything, then teaches only the gaps it revealed. Is this guided discovery or test-teach-test?

Accepted Answer

Test-teach-test - the first 'test' diagnoses what learners can already do, teaching targets only the gaps, and the second test checks improvement. Guided discovery is different: learners are given examples and questions and work out the rule themselves with the teacher's guidance, rather than being given it.

Question 45

Learners listen to instructions and physically carry them out without being required to speak. Which method is this?

Accepted Answer

Total Physical Response (TPR). Learners respond with actions to spoken commands, so comprehension is demonstrated physically and speaking is not forced. This respects the silent period and suits beginners and children, but it favours language that can be acted out, so it is normally one technique within a course rather than the whole course.

Question 46

Which approach treats fixed chunks and collocations as the main unit of language, and how does Grammar-Translation differ?

Accepted Answer

The Lexical Approach - it argues that fluent language is largely made of ready-made multi-word chunks, so it teaches collocations and expressions rather than only grammar rules plus single words. Grammar-Translation is at the opposite end: explicit rules, translation of sentences between L1 and L2, heavy use of the first language and little spoken practice.

Question 47

A school tests new students to decide which class to put them in. Is this a diagnostic or a placement test?

Accepted Answer

A placement test - its purpose is to assign learners to the right level or group. A diagnostic test identifies specific strengths and weaknesses so teaching can be targeted at what is missing. The two often use similar tasks; TKT distinguishes them by the decision the results are used to make.

Question 48

How does formative assessment differ from summative assessment?

Accepted Answer

Formative assessment happens during learning and feeds back into it, shaping what the teacher does next. Summative assessment comes at the end and sums up what was achieved, usually as a grade. Related distinctions: a progress test checks recent work during a course, while an achievement test covers the whole course syllabus at the end.

Question 49

What makes a proficiency test different from an achievement test?

Accepted Answer

A proficiency test measures a learner's general level of English independent of any particular course or syllabus, so anyone can sit it. An achievement test measures how much of a specific course's content the learners have mastered, so it is written against that syllabus and only makes sense for people who studied it.

Question 50

Learners grade each other's writing against a checklist, and each keeps a folder of drafts collected over the term. Name both methods of assessment.

Accepted Answer

Peer assessment and portfolio assessment. Self-assessment is the learner judging their own work, often against 'can do' statements. All three are usually informal assessment - built into normal classroom work to inform learning - as opposed to formal assessment, which is a scheduled test producing a mark or grade on the record.

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