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English Language, Culture and Society — LET Practice Questions

This English Language, Culture and Society section of the LET English Major exam covers 13 expert-reviewed practice questions. Each question has a plain-English explanation and notes on why the wrong answers are wrong.

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Sample questions with answers and explanations

Sample 1

A dialect is _____.

Answer: B

A dialect is a VARIETY of one larger language — a regional or social version with its own accent, words, and sometimes grammar, but still understandable to other speakers of that language. Cebuano-Bisaya and Hiligaynon are dialects of the broader Visayan language family. Cockney English and American English are dialects of English. They share enough with each other to be "the same language."

Why the other choices are wrong
  • A. Group size isn't what defines a dialect — Mandarin has "dialects" with millions of speakers each.
  • C. Dialects are spoken AND written; writing isn't the dividing line.
  • D. Dead languages (Latin, Sanskrit) are not dialects — they are full languages no longer spoken natively.

Sample 2

How does linguistic relativity influence the teaching of language?

Answer: B

Linguistic relativity (the Sapir-Whorf idea) says the language you speak shapes how you think and see the world. If your language has many color words, you notice more colors. If your language has many kinship words (kuya, ate, lola), you think about family roles differently. For teaching, this means a teacher must bring culture into the classroom — you cannot teach a language without teaching the worldview behind it.

Why the other choices are wrong
  • A. Universal grammar is the OPPOSITE idea — that all minds share one underlying grammar, regardless of language.
  • C. Linguistic relativity REQUIRES cultural elements in teaching; you can't skip them.
  • D. Linguistic relativity supports contextual learning (meaning in cultural context), not rote drill.

Sample 3

Language reflects culture because _____.

Answer: B

Every culture stores its way of seeing the world in its words. Filipino has many words for rice (kanin, bigas, palay) because rice farming and eating shaped the culture. English has many words around individual achievement because the culture values that. So when you study a language, you are also reading the values, beliefs, and traditions of the people who speak it.

Why the other choices are wrong
  • A. Languages do NOT share one universal grammar — that's a different debate (Chomsky's theory), and even then it has nothing to do with culture.
  • C. Language is shaped by society at every level — slang, politeness rules, even what topics are taboo.
  • D. Language changes constantly with culture (think of all the tech words added in the last 20 years).
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