The Dictionary of

Language Learning
Vocabulary

Mr. Berrahail Djamel

A  Acquisition:  This term describes language being learned without

conscious effort – for example the way children learn their
Accent:  This word has two meanings.  It usually describes how a
mother tongue.  Language acquisition is often contrasted with
person from a particular region or country speaks (for example, a
language learning.  For some researchers, such as Krashen,
British accent or a French accent).  It is also used to talk about
language learning happens during the formal study and
the stressed syllable(s) in a word (in other syllables that are a
internalization of rules and formulas. For these researchers
little louder and pronounced a little more strongly than others). 
'acquisition' is unconscious and spontaneous, and 'learning' is
In the word “remarkable” the second syllable is accented.
conscious, developing through formal study.
 
 
Accuracy:  Accuracy means ‘saying or writing it without errors.’ 
Active Vocabulary:  The words and phrases which a learner is
It refers to the correctness of learners' use of grammar,
able to use in speech and writing.  It is often contrasted with
pronunciation and vocabulary. Accuracy is often compared to
passive vocabulary.
fluency when we talk about a learner's level of speaking or
 
writing.
Activity:   In language teaching, an activity is a particular piece
 
of work, or assignment, that we ask students to do.  There are
many types of classroom activities:  for example, communicative
tasks or activities that involve students’ manipulating or
practicing language such as matching, predicting, and gap-fill
activities.  Many teachers use “task” and “activity”
interchangeably; however, for other teachers there is a
difference.  Here task is defined as one type of activity.  See
Task below.
 
AEF: The Algerian English Framework helps teachers and students
know what students should be able to do in English at each
school level (middle school MS1 through secondary school SE3) in
Interaction, Interpretive Listening and Reading, Productive
Writing and Speaking, and Linguistic Competency.
 
Affective Factors:  Affective factors are emotional factors which
influence learning. They can have a negative or positive effect.
Negative affective factors, such as anxiety, lack of motivation or
lack of self-confidence, act as a filter hindering a language
learner’s success.  The role of affect (emotion) and affective
filters in language learning are important in second language
acquisition theories.
 
Affective Filters:  Please see Affective Factors.
 
Aids to Teaching:  These are tools teachers use to help students
learn.  They can be divided into the following two groups:
(a) Visual: blackboard, whiteboard, Smart board, overhead
projector, realia (real objects a teacher brings into class to show
students), posters, wall charts, flipcharts, maps, plans,
flashcards, word cards, puppets;
(b)  Electronic:  Tape recorder, TV or video player, computer, CD
Rom, language laboratory.
Appropriacy:  Appropriacy refers to judgment about whether
what is said or how it is said is suitable for the context it is being
used in. It is an important aspect of language but an extremely
complex one, because decisions about how to say things depend
on understanding exactly what is right for the context and the
culture.
 
Assessment:  Assessment is the measurement of a person’s
ability, the amount they have learned, and what they need more
help with, and it is also measurement of the quality or success of
teaching or a course.  Assessment can be informal or formal.  result of learning, repetition and practice.
Informally, teachers can assess students’ knowledge and learning
at all stages of a lesson by listening as students work together or
give answers to questions.  This is often called continuous
assessment. Formally, teachers can assess knowledge and
learning by giving a test.  Inspectors, parents and students can
assess a teacher’s classes by giving positive or critical feedback
to the teacher.   the classroom encourages autonomy and is an important element
 
Assimilation:  Assimilation is when sounds change when they are
used in speech.  A sound changes because of the sound(s) that
comes before or after it.  Sounds change so that they more
similar to other sounds.  This is most noticeable when a sound at
the end of one word changes to become more similar to a sound
at the beginning of the next word.  For example, “white bag”,
would probably sound more like “wipe bag” because the /t/
changes to become more like the /b/.   In the word ‘pretty,’ for
some speakers the /t/ sound changes to sound more like a /d/. 
The reason for this is the vowel sounds on either side of /t/ are
both voiced sounds and so the voiceless /t/ is said as voiced /d/.
Attitudes:  Learners possess sets of beliefs about language
learning, the target culture, their culture, the teacher, the
learning tasks, etc. These beliefs are referred to as attitudes.
They are one affective filter and so influence learning in a
number of ways. Teachers also have attitudes – toward
themselves, what they teach, who they teach with, their
students, etc.  Their attitudes affect and influence their
teaching.
 
Audience:  Written or spoken communication has an audience -
the people the message is for. In order for the message to be
effective it must be written or said with the audience in mind.
The audience will particularly affect the choice of register, the
level of formality of lexis and expressions.
 
Audio-Lingual Method:  This method, based on Behaviorism,
considers listening and speaking the first focuses in language
learning, followed by reading and writing.  There is
considerable emphasis on learning sentence patterns,
memorization of dialogues and   extensive use of drilling so that
language is memorized; initially there may be little emphasis on
speakers understanding what they are saying.
 
Authentic Conversation: Authentic conversation is the kind of
real conversation that speakers have outside the language
classroom. It is important that conversations students have in
class are as authentic as possible.
 
Authentic Language:  Authentic language is the language really
used by native and proficient speakers of a language in real-life
contexts; it is not artificial or contrived for purposes of learning
grammatical forms or vocabulary.
 
Authentic Materials:  Authentic materials are unscripted
materials or those which have not been specially written for use
in a language classroom, though they may have been edited;
examples include articles from a newspaper or magazine, 
programs or broadcasts from TV or radio, films or videos, songs,
literature, blogs and chat room interactions, etc.
 
Authentic Task:  A task which involves learners in using language
in a way that replicates its use in the 'real world' outside the
language classroom.  Examples of authentic tasks include
answering a letter addressed to the learner, arguing a particular
point of view, or comparing various holiday brochures in order to
decide where to go for a holiday. In contrast, filling in blanks,
changing verbs from the simple past to the simple present and
completing substitution tables are not authentic tasks. See
Pedagogic Task.
Authentic Text:  A text which is not written or spoken for
language teaching purposes. A newspaper article, a rock song, a
novel, a radio interview and a traditional fairy tale are examples
of authentic texts. A story written to exemplify the use of
reported speech, a dialogue scripted to exemplify ways of
inviting and a linguistically-simplified version of a novel are not
authentic texts. See Simplified Texts and Text.
 
Automaticity:  Automaticity refers to a person’s ability to do
things without needing to think about them.  It is usually the
 
Autonomy:  Autonomy refers to a learner’s ability to take control
of his or her own learning, and to learn independently or in
collaboration with others. An autonomous learner takes more
responsibility for learning and is likely to be more effective than
a learner who is dependent on the teacher. Learner training in
of language teaching.
 Auxiliary Verbs:  The auxiliary verbs in English are be, do and
have.  Different forms of these verbs are used to create
different tenses, questions and negatives in English:
am/is/are/was/ were (not) eating/ being eaten; do/does/did
(not) eat; has/have/had (not) eaten/been eaten.
Awareness-raising:  The purpose of awareness-raising activities
is to make learners more aware of language and so improve their
understanding.  Awareness-raising activities do not involve
learners in using the language themselves but draws learners’
attention to it. They are often the first stage of learning new
language.
B
Behaviourist:  Behaviorism is a learning theory that views
learning as the formation of habits.  A behaviorist perspective on
language acquisition suggests that it is very important that
students get lots of repetitive, productive practice with new
grammar or lexis so that they acquire the ‘habit’ of producing
the structures and/or lexis.  Because behaviorism views language
learning as habit formation, even small errors are usually
corrected immediately in case learners get into ‘bad habits’. 
Second Language Acquisition research has largely disproved
behaviorism as a way to explain language learning. 
 
Behaviourist Learning Theory:  This is a theory of learning,
developed by B F Skinner. It sees learning as the formation of
habits. Environmental factors (input, teacher, classroom, etc.)
are seen as more important than students’ mental or internal
factors.
 
Bodily / Kinaesthetic Intelligence:  Bodily/Kinesthetic
Intelligence is one of the many types of intelligence described in
multiple intelligence theory. People with significant
bodily/kinesthetic intelligence may enjoy doing things rather
than reading or hearing about them; these learners are good at
making things and at physical activities in general.
 Body Language:  Body language is the posture, gestures and
mannerisms, and facial expressions which a person uses when
communicating with others.
Bottom-up Approach to Language Comprehension and
Production:  This approach focuses on teaching the micro-skills
first (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure), before
asking learners to use the language (communication). The focus
is on the various components of the language first. Students then
have to fit these together in comprehending or producing
language. See Top-down Approach to Language Comprehension
and Production.
Brainstorming: Brainstorming is the productive, random
generation of ideas based around a topic. There is no editing or
ordering of these ideas. They may then be used as the basis for
another activity such as writing or discussion.  For example,
before a discussion about going on vacation, students can be
asked to brainstorm all the places in the world they would like to
visit. It is often done as a group or whole-class activity and
individuals can also be asked to brainstorm ideas before sharing
them with a partner or group.
C overgrown garden and the verbs we use with garden include
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL):   CALL
incorporates the use of computers in teaching or learning a
second or foreign language.   For example, students may be
asked to read a text on the computer or to write an essay on the
computer utilizing the editing and spelling and grammar check
tools which facilitate writing multiple drafts (see writing
process).  There are also numerous computer-based programs and
activities designed specially to support language learning on the
computer.
 
Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT):  CAT is a relatively new
means of computer-based assessment in which the difficulty of
the exam tailors itself to each test taker’s level of ability. If, for
example, a test-taker performs well on an item of intermediate
difficulty, that person will then be presented with a more
difficult question; if the person performs poorly, s/he will be
presented with a simpler question. As a result, different test-
takers receive quite different tests.  Compared to the static tests
that nearly everyone has experienced, with the same fixed set of
items administered to all test-takers, computer-adaptive tests
require fewer test items to arrive at equally accurate scores.
Like any computer-based test, adaptive tests may show test-
takers results immediately after testing.
Computer Based Testing (CBT):  A computer-based test (also
known as Computer-Based Assessment (CBA), e-exam,
computerized testing and computer-administered testing) is a
method of administering tests in which the responses are
electronically recorded, assessed, or both. As the name implies,
Computer-Based Testing makes use of a computer or an
equivalent electronic device (i.e. handheld computer). CBT
systems enable educators and trainers to author, schedule,
deliver, and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams.
The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR):  The
Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) was
developed to be a practical international tool for setting clear
standards to be attained at successive stages of language
learning and for evaluating outcomes in an internationally
comparable manner. It provides the basis for the mutual
recognition of language qualifications, thus facilitating
educational and occupational mobility. It is increasingly used in
the reform of national curricula and by international consortia
for the comparison of language certificates. The document
describes in detail:  i) the competences necessary for
communication; ii) the related knowledge and skills; and iii) the
situations and domains of communication. It defines levels of
attainment in different aspects of its descriptive scheme with
illustrative descriptors scale. To read more about it, follow this
link: http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Linguistic/CADRE_EN.asp
 
Cloze Procedure:  An exercise where every fifth word (or sixth
or seventh, etc.) is deleted from a text.  The interval between
the deleted words should remain the same throughout the text. 
The student then supplies the missing words, often relying on
contextualization for help.
Cognate:  A cognate is a word in one language that is similar in
form and meaning to a word in another language because the
languages are related.  For example, the English word “brother”
is similar to (is a cognate of) the German word “bruder.  Other
words which look similar have very different meanings and so are
called “false cognates” or “false friends.”  For example, the
French word “expérience” means “experiment” and not
“experience” even though it looks the same as the English word. 
See False Friends below.
Cognitive Code:  An approach to learning based on the belief
that learning is a process which involves active mental processes
and not simply the formation of habits (see Behaviorist above). 
It gives importance to the learner’s active part in learning and
using language, and in particular to learning grammatical rules. 
The approach is different from the habit-formation focus of the
Audio-Lingual and Direct methods.
Collocating verb:  Please see Collocations below.
Collocate:  When words collocate, they typically are used
together.  An example of words that collate with “garden” are –
rose garden, herb garden, terraced garden, rock garden,
weed a  garden, plant a garden, water a garden.
 
Collocations: Collocations are groups of words typically used
together.  With some collocations, it can be difficult to replace
one of the words with another word.  These collocations are
called fixed or unique collocations.  For example, “shrug your
shoulders” is a fixed collocation.  It is not possible to shrug any
other part of the body.  Students need to learn these collocations
as a unit.  However, many collocations are freer and one or more
of the words can be replaced by other words.  These word
combinations are useful for students to learn.  For example,
when teaching the noun ‘time’, it is useful for students to know
which verbs go with ‘time’.  English speakers can ‘tell the time’,
‘save time’, know the time’, etc, but don’t usually say ‘eat
time’, ‘go time’, etc.  Some nouns usually go with particular
verbs.  For example, the following verbs go with ‘party’:  have a
party, give a party, throw a party, attend a party, etc.  These
verbs are called collocating verbs.  More on collocations:  
http://www.hum.aau.dk/~firth/collocations.htm
 
Competency Based Approach: The competency-based approach
is based on linking learning carried out at school to varied and
relevant contexts-of-use in order to make the learning useful and
durable.  The aim is for students to develop intellectual,
linguistic and problem-solving capacities in school that will
enable them to tackle cognitively and pragmatically challenging
situations both in and out of school.  Students will thus see
learning as being worthwhile and having relevance both for their
studies and their future.  For more information on the
Competency Based Approach in an Algerian context, please look
at Curriculum Support Documents for MS4 and SE1.  Please click
on the following words in blue:  Curriculum Support Documents
for MS4   Curriculum Support Documents for SE1
Communication Strategies: These are strategies learners used
when they do not have the correct language for the concept or
meaning they wish to express.  Thus they use strategies such as
paraphrase and mime.  See Learning Strategies and Production
Strategies.
 
Communicative Competence:  This refers to the ability to use
language effectively for communication.  Gaining such
competence involves learning not only how to form
grammatically correct sentences but also when, where and with
whom it is appropriate to use the sentences, how to participate
in a conversation and how to respond.
 
Communicative Language Teaching:  Communicative Language
Teaching is an approach concerned with the development of
language speakers who have communicative competence and so
who are able to use language to communicate effectively and
appropriately, especially outside the classroom.  There is an
emphasis on students learning to express different functions
inviting, agreeing or disagreeing, etc), engaging in different
types of real-world tasks such as problem-solving, getting
information, etc and participating in role plays, pair and group
work, etc.
 
Communicative:  Teachers often ask questions in the classroom
which they already know the answers to.  For example, a teacher
might point to the clock and ask, “What time is it?”  This
question is not communicative because the teacher already
knows the answer.  A communicative activity is one in which one
person has information that the other person doesn’t have.  They
must therefore use English effectively to get this information.
See also Gap Activity.
 
Comprehensibility:  When something is comprehensible, it
means people can understand (or comprehend it).  Many factors
can interfere with comprehensibility.  In speaking, background
noise, non-standard, unexpected or new pronunciation or
grammar, inappropriate word choice, the way the speaker
organizes what they are saying, etc. can all make spoken texts
difficult to understand.  In writing, hand-writing, spelling, text
organization, non-standard grammar, or inappropriate word
choice and many other factors can interfere with
comprehensibility.    What someone says or writes can be
described as ‘comprehensible’ or ‘incomprehensible.’
  
Comprehensible input and i + 1:  Comprehensible input means
that the student reads or listens to English that she can
understand the meaning of.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that
she understands every single word perfectly.  Input is usually
comprehensible when the student understands most of the words
and grammar and can figure out the meaning of the rest by
interpreting the linguistic, social and physical context.  According
to Krashen, learners acquire new language (words, grammatical
forms, aspects of pronunciation, etc) only when they are exposed
to comprehensible input or i + 1.   The i represents input, or
language, the learner has acquired and already understands and
the 1 represents language that is a step beyond that level, but
comprehensible in context.
 Comprehensible Output:  The language produced by the learner
(the 'output') may be comprehensible or incomprehensible.  The
efforts learners make to be comprehensible may play a part in
acquisition.
Concordances (or concordance lines): A list of authentic
utterances each containing the same focused word or phrase,
e.g.:   designed so that it could serve as the only book which the
The bus driver still didn't have any change so he made me wait.
I really don't mind which one.  Any newspaper will do. I just
..know what they are saying.  Any teacher will tell you that it's…  the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.  See
 See also Authentic.
Connotation:  The connotation of a word is its suggested or
emotional meaning rather than its literal meaning.  Connotations
can be positive, neutral or negative.  For example, ‘slim’ has a
positive connotation for most people, ‘thin’ is more neutral, and
“skinny” is more negative.  Connotations are less fixed than
literal meanings and so different people may think words have
different connotations.  When learning new words, students need
to know if a word has strongly positive or negative connotations.  ability to respond in culturally sensitive and appropriate ways
 
Constructed Response Assessment:  With constructed response
assessments (also referred to as subjective assessments), the
answer is not visible (as it is in a multiple choice assessment).
The test-taker must recall or construct it. Constructed response
assessments are conducive to higher level thinking skills.  In the
broadest sense, constructed response assessments could refer to,
for example, including essays, art projects, reflections and
personal communication.  how people behave, feel and interact; the means by which they
 
Content words:  In any sentence or phrase, there are two types
of words: content words and function words.  Content words
carry the main, important or new information.  Function words
are the grammatical words that help to join the content words
together.  Content words are usually, but not always, nouns,
main verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.  For example, in the
following utterance, “Can I borrow your cellphone?”, borrow and
cellphone are the content words and carry the main meaning.  In
fact, if a speaker says just “Borrow cellphone”, listeners will
probably understand the meaning.  However, if someone says,
“Can I your?” a listener won’t understand what the speaker
wants.  Function words are usually pronouns, auxiliary verbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc.   For example, can, I
and your in the example above are all function words. 
 
 Context:  Context has two meanings: (1) the written or spoken
text that surrounds a part of the text, and (2) the physical
location, the social situation and the time in which a text is
produced or interpreted.  Both kinds of context influence the
meaning of a text or part of a text.
 
Contextualization:  Placing target language in a realistic
setting, so as to be meaningful to the student.
 
Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis:  According to this hypothesis,
L2 errors are the result of differences between the learner's first
language and the target language, and these differences can be
used to identify or predict errors that will occur.
 
Controlled Practice:  One way to teach new language (grammar,
lexis, or functional expressions) is to clarify the meaning, form
and use of it, and then to give students opportunities to practice
it in increasingly more challenging and authentic ways.  At the
beginning, the teacher limits or controls the range of language
that students need to use.  These are called controlled practice
activities and they can be written or spoken.  Oral repetition or
copying written words or sentences are the most controlled forms
of practice.  However, activities where students use the same
grammar, group of words, or functional expressions to complete
a task are also considered controlled practice activities. 
Teachers can also talk about semi-controlled and freer practice
activities, but they are not talking about distinct categories of
practice activities; they are describing a continuum between
controlled and freer practice.   Semi-controlled and freer
practice activities are described elsewhere in this glossary. 
 
Cooperative / Collaborative Group:  A grouping arrangement in
which positive interdependence and shared responsibility for task
completion are established among group members.  A term
‘cooperative/collaborative’ group describes a type of
organizational structure which encourages heterogeneous
grouping, shared leadership, and social skills development.
 
Course book Adaptation:  See Textbook adaptation.
Course book:  A textbook which provides the core materials for a
course. It aims to provide as much as possible in one book and is
learners necessarily use during a course.  Such a book usually
focuses on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functions and
Supplementary Materials.
Critical Period:  Some researchers believe that until the age of
puberty, our brains are better at learning language.  This period
of time before puberty is known as the critical period.
 
Cross-Cultural Competence:  A person with cross-cultural
competence has the ability to function according to the cultural
rules of more than one cultural system.  The person also has the
according to the cultural demands of a given situation.
 
Cue Cards:  Cards with words or pictures on them which are used
to encourage student response, or pair and group work.
 
Culture:  Culture is the sum total of the ways of life of a people,
including norms, learned behavior patterns, attitudes, and
artifacts.  Culture also involves traditions, habits or customs;
order and interpret the world; ways of perceiving, relating and
interpreting events based on established social norms.  Culture is
a system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and
acting.
 
Curriculum:  This word is used in two different ways.  A
curriculum is an educational document or program which states
the goals or purpose of the program; the content, teaching
procedures and learning experiences necessary to achieve the
purpose; the assessment means for measuring the extent to
which the purpose was achieved.   Curriculum is also used as a
synonym for syllabus.  In this sense, curriculum (or syllabus) is a
description of the specific content of a course and the order in
which the contents are covered.  acquiring English as an additional language.  They may not speak
D English with the same facility as their classmates because they
Descriptors:  Broad categories of discrete, representative
behaviors that students exhibit when they demonstrate a
competence or meet an assessment standard.
 
Development:  See Teacher development.
 
Dialect:  The regional variety of a language, differing from the
standard language in at least one of several ways: grammar,
vocabulary, pronunciation or idiomatic usage.
 
Direct Method:  The most common approach in TEFL, where
language is taught through listening and speaking.  There may be
little or no explicit explanation of grammatical rules; only the
target language is used in class, and there is no translation into
students’ mother tongue; meanings are communicated through
associating speech forms with actions, mime, objects, situations,
or gestures; and reading and writing are taught only after
speaking and listening.
 
Discourse:  In linguistics, discourse means a unit of connected
speech or writing which is longer than a sentence.
 
Discourse competence:  In speaking, discourse competence
involves being able to put together spoken phrases and sentences
so that the speaker communicates his/her meaning clearly to the
listener(s).  In writing, discourse competence involves being able
to put together written phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc. to
communicate the writer’s meaning clearly to a particular
audience.  communicate.
 
Discovery activity:  A discovery activity involves learners using
their energy and attention to work out, or discover, something
about the language for themselves.  Getting learners to work out
the rules of direct speech from examples, asking learners to
investigate when and why a character uses the modal 'must' in a
story, or  getting learners to notice and explain the use of ellipsis
in a recorded conversation are all examples of discovery
activities.
 
Drilling:  Drilling involves the intensive and repetitive practice of
target language.  It may be done chorally (the whole group
repeating together at the same time)l or individually.  There are
a variety of types of drills.
E
EFL: English as a Foreign Language.  The acronym is used to refer
to the field of English as a foreign language or to courses, classes
and/or programs designed for students learning English as an
additional language.  It is used to refer to students who are
learning English for purposes of study, travel, work and/or
personal interest reasons.
 
Elementary: Students at this level may have a vocabulary of up
to 1000 words and will probably be learning or practicing the
present simple and present continuous tenses, past simple and
present perfect, will/shall, 'going to' futures.  They should be
able to hold simple conversations and survive in everyday
situations.
 
ELL:  English Language Learner
 
Error analysis:  In this procedure, samples of learner language
are collected and the errors are identified, described, and
classified according to their hypothesized causes.  The errors are
then evaluated for relative seriousness.
 
ESL:  English as a Second Language.  The acronym is used to refer
to the field of English as a second language or to courses, classes
and/or programs designed for students learning English as an
additional language.  It is used to refer to students who are
learning English because they have immigrated to an English-
speaking country.
 
ESOL:  English to/for Speakers of Other Languages
 
ESOL Student: These are school-age learners, studying in the
medium of English, who are identified as still in the process of
English at all, or they do not speak, understand, and write
did not grow up speaking English or because they spoke another
language at home.
 
ESP:  English for Special Purposes (e.g., English language used
especially in the contexts of business, science and technology,
medicine etc)
 
Experiential:   Experiential is used to describe ways of learning
language by experiencing it in use rather than by focusing
conscious attention on language items and rules.  Reading a
novel, listening to a song and taking part in a project are
experiential ways of language learning.
 
Extensive Reading:  This term is used in two different ways.  It
can refer to reading longer texts, often for a general
understanding.  It is also used to refer to the reading students do
outside of class for pleasure.  It is important that students be
encouraged to read for pleasure because the reading provides
them with language input and information about the culture of
the language they are learning.
F
False Friends:  False friends look like cognates because they are
similar in form but different in meaning.  For example the English
word “gentle” looks like a cognate of the French word “gentil”
but they have different meanings.  See also Cognate.
 
Feedback:  This is the response learners get when they
 Feedback can involve correction,
acknowledgement, requests for clarification, backchannel cues
(e.g., "Mmm").  Feedback plays an important role in helping
learners to test their ideas about the target language.
 
Field Dependence/Independence:  Language learners differ in
the way they perceive, conceptualize, organize and recall
information.  Learners who are 'field dependents' operate
holistically:  they see the field as a whole.  Learners who are
'field independents' operate analytically:   they perceive the field
in terms of its component parts.  This distinction helps in the
understanding of how learners acquire a second language (L2).
 
Filter:  Learners do not attend to all the input they receive.
They attend to some features, and 'filter' other features out.
This often depends on affective factors such as motivation,
attitude, emotions, and anxiety.
 
Fluency:  When we talk about ‘fluency’ we mean ‘getting the
message across effectively, with ease and without hesitation’. 
 
Foreign Language:  A foreign language is one which is not
normally used for communication in a particular society.  Thus
English is a foreign language in France, and Spanish is a foreign
language in Germany.
 
Form:  Language teachers often talk about form and function. 
Form refers to grammar (grammatical form), pronunciation
(phonological form), and spelling (graphological form). 
Grammatical form can include word order (syntax), word
formation (e.g., happy, unhappy, happiness, happily, etc),
inflection (e.g., adding ‘-s’ to plural forms) or verb conjugation
in different tenses.  Form can also refer to how tenses and verbs
pattern. For example, the form of the ‘be going to’ future is ‘be
going to + infinitive without to’ (e.g., ‘am/’s/’re going to have’)
and one of several verb patterns used with the verb “warn” is
subject + ‘warn’ + noun/pronoun + not + infinitive (e.g., ‘She
warned me not to do that.’).  A grammatical form is sometimes
referred to as ‘a grammatical structure’.  The phonological form
of something refers to the sounds in the utterance, how they are
said and how syllables are stressed.  See also Meaning and Use.
 
Format:  The format of a text is the physical organization of the
different elements.  For example, in English letter format, the
writer’s address is usually written at the top of the letter,
sometimes on the left, sometimes in the center.  In other
countries, the writer’s address might be at the bottom of the
letter, or sometimes written only on the envelope.  reading this”); to talk about temporary habitual activities around
 
Formative Assessment:  Formative assessment is either formal
or informal assessment that is carried out during a course (as
opposed to at the end of a course).  The aim is to give students
and teacher information about how well students are doing in the
areas that have been taught and to highlight areas students need
more help or practice in.  Formative assessments may or may not
be graded.  See also Summative Assessment.
 
Form-focused Tasks:  These tasks have a linguistic focus.  They
are intended to give students practice in grammar, vocabulary,
etc. so that students can form especially tenses, words (spelling),
phrases and sentences (word order) accurately.   See Meaning-
focused Tasks.
 
Formulaic Speech:  This consists of phrases and expressions
learned as wholes and used on particular occasions.  See Patterns
and Routines.
Fossilization:  When an error becomes a habit of speech in a
second language learner we say the error has fossilized.  It
happens especially when the error does not interfere with
communication, and hence, the speaker does not get corrective
feedback.
Free Writing:  Students often write very slowly because they are
focused on avoiding grammar or spelling mistakes from the
beginning.  The technique of free writing encourages students to
get all their ideas on paper first before letting them edit their
writing.  Teachers ask students to write without stopping or
making corrections for a certain period of time (e.g., three or
five minutes).  Even if students can’t think of what to write, they
must keep writing:  Some teachers ask their students to write the
last word they wrote again and again, others ask students to
write, “I don’t know”, “banana”, or any other nonsense word.  the word ‘what.’).  Person B understands that person A may feel
When students finish free writing, they usually read and edit
their work, adding, deleting and organizing their ideas before
editing for grammar mistakes.  Sometimes teachers ask students
to read their free-writing aloud to another student who can give
suggestions about what to add or include.   See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_writing  for more on free
writing.
 
Freer Practice:  One way to teach new language (grammar,
lexis, or functional expressions) is to clarify it and then to give
students opportunities to practice it in increasingly more
challenging and authentic ways.  At the beginning, the teacher
limits or controls the range of language that students need to
use.  Once students have demonstrated their ability to produce
the new language with increasing accuracy, teachers then give
them more freedom to choose the lexis, grammar or functional
expressions they want to use to communicate their meaning.  example, can, I and your in the question “Can I borrow your cell
This is called semi-controlled practice.  When students have
demonstrated that they are able to use the new language to
communicate in limited ways, teachers give them opportunities
to use all the other language they know, as well as the specific
language they have been learning in the lesson.  This is called
freer practice.  There are not necessarily distinct categories of
practice activity, but rather a continuum between controlled and
freer practice.  Controlled and semi-controlled practice activities
are described at elsewhere in this glossary.  See Controlled and
Semi-controlled practice activities.
 
Frequency:  Language that learners hear and read contains a
range of linguistic forms which occur with varying frequency.
Learners’ output also contains a range of linguistic forms used
with varying frequency.  Some of the most frequently occurring
words are: and, was, with, I, be, on, to, and that. There is
evidence to show that input frequency matches output
frequency.
 
Function:  When teachers talk about linguistic form, they are
thinking about how the words, grammar or expressions sound, are
spelled, and what parts they are made up of.  When teachers talk
about linguistic function, they are thinking of the speaker’s
purpose, what the speaker wants to do or is doing with the
language, what the speaker wants to convey in choosing to use
those words, expressions or that grammatical structure.  For
example, the present continuous tense in English has four distinct
functions: to talk about activities in progress (e.g., “You’re
now (e.g., “I’m eating a lot of salads because the weather is so
hot”); to talk about planned future arrangements, (e.g., “I’m
seeing the doctor tomorrow”); and to express annoyance at
someone’s habitual behavior (e.g., “He’s always tapping his
fingers on his desk.”).  The function of language describes the
speaker’s purpose in using it: inviting, suggesting, advising,
recounting events we’re excited about, expressing annoyance,
describing a temporary situation, etc.  One function can usually
be expressed in different ways.  A speaker who wants to request
repetition can choose to say:  “Excuse me?”, “Pardon me?”,
“Sorry?”, “Can you say that again?”, “What did you say?”, etc. 
The speaker’s choice depends on who the other person is are,
what their relationship is and where they are.  Each of these
ways to express the function of requesting repetition is known as
a ‘functional exponent’ or sometimes, ‘functional expression,’
and learners need to know that one form may have many
different functions and one function may have many different
forms.
Functional Approach:   A course based on a functional approach
takes as its starting point for language development, what the
learner wants to do through language.  Common functions
include identifying oneself and giving personal facts
about oneself; expressing moods and emotions.
Functional Competence:  Functional competence describes two
things.  First, it describes a person’s ability to choose the most
effective way to realize a specific function in a particular
situation.  Functional competence also involves a person’s ability
to recognize, interpret and understand the speaker or writer’s
intention in choosing a particular functional expression, or
exponent.  For example, person A has not heard what person B
said.  Person A has a number of ways to ask for repetition.  The
person chooses “What did you say?” (with significant stress on
annoyed or angry because s/he misheard or misinterpreted what
was said, or person B may also realize that s/he said something
inappropriate, hurtful or controversial. 
 
Functional expressions:  A functional expression (or ‘functional
exponent’) is one possible way to realize a particular language
function.  For example, “I’m very sorry” and “I do apologize” are
two exponents, or functional expressions, that realize the
function of apologizing. 
 
Function words:  In any sentence or phrase, there are two types
of words, content words and function words.  Content words
carry the main, important or new information and function
words.  Function words are the grammatical words that join the
content words together.  Function words are usually pronouns,
auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc.  For
phone?” are all function words.  Content words are usually, but
not always, nouns, main verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.  In the
above question, borrow and cell phone are the content words and
carry the main meaning.  In fact, if a speaker just said “Borrow
cell phone?” the listener would probably understand the
speaker’s meaning.  However, if the speaker asked “Can I your?”
the listener wouldn’t understand what the speaker wanted.
G
Gap Activity:  In a gap activity, students have different (pieces
of) information.  In order to get all the information, they have to
ask other students for what they have. After sharing information,
students all have the same information.  Students have then
completed the activity or can use the complete information to do
another activity.  Gap activities involve students’ interacting
with each other, asking and answering questions.
 
Genre: A genre is a category of literary composition
characterized by a particular style, form, or content.  For
example, the historical novel is one genre of fiction.
 
General Service List: A standard list of 2000 frequently-used
words as compiled by Michael West.  It is regarded as a language
core by many syllabus designers.
 
Gesture:  A gesture is a conventional sign that can be used to
communicate.  For example, if a person gives the ‘thumbs up’
gesture, it usually means ‘good’ or ‘OK; someone holding their
hand up in a classroom is a gesture that usually means, “I want to
speak.”.    
 
Grading:  Grading refers to the order in which language items
are taught.  Grading is usually based on moving from simple to
complex; it may also be based on going from most frequent to
least frequent.  Grading may reduce the difficulties of language
learning because language is introduced in steps or stages.
 
Grammar-Translation: A method of teaching in which students
mainly study and learn grammar rules and lists of vocabulary, and
practice them by translating texts into the language they are
learning or out of that language into their mother tongue.  This
method is the way especially Latin and Greek have traditionally
been taught.
 
Grapheme: Graphemes are the written symbols for sounds in
language, for example the letters of an alphabet or characters
used in picture writing (as in Japanese “kanji”).
 
Graphic Organizer:  A graphic organizer is a visual tool to help
students organize their thinking, get new ideas, compare two or
more items, visualize relationships, and/or to store information
in a way that is visually easy to understand. There are many
different kinds of graphic organizers.  intonation indicates the speaker’s attitude and emotion.  For
H someone is surprised or excited, their intonation often rises.
Hypothesis Formation: This refers to learners creating ideas or
hypotheses about language rules, and then testing them out. The
hypotheses can be conscious or unconscious.
I often indicates a yes/no question or the speaker’s uncertainty.
IATEFL: International Association of Teachers of English as a
Foreign Language
 
Idiom: An idiom is a multi-word expression, used as a unit of
meaning, whose meaning cannot be understood from its
elements, for example “It’s raining cats and dogs” or “She
washed her hands of the whole affair.”
 
Inductive Learning: In inductive learning, learners are not
taught grammar or other language rules but discover them from
their experience of using the language.
Inflection: An inflection is something added to a word, or is some
other change to the word, according to the rules of the
language.  For example, English plural nouns are inflected often
with –s or –es, but sometimes in other ways, eg., man-men or ox-
oxen; English verbs are inflected for the past tense by added –d
or –ed but also in other ways, e.g., fall-fell, sit-sat, etc.  See Foreign Language and Second Language.
Inflection includes the use of prefixes (behave-misbehave) and
suffixes (behave-behaviour) as well.
 
Inferencing: This is the means by which the learner forms
hypotheses, through attending to input, or using the situational
context to interpret the input.
Input: This is the language which learners are exposed to. It can
be spoken or written. It serves as the data which the learner uses
to determine the rules of the target language.
 
Interactionist Perspective:  Some researchers suggest that
conversational interaction is essential for second language
acquisition.  The theory is that when learners have an
opportunity to interact with speakers, they can influence what
the speaker says by getting him/her to slow down, use simpler
words, or repeat what s/he said.  This modified input is simpler
to understand and is therefore more likely to be comprehensible
input.  If, as is believed, comprehensible input promotes second
language acquisition, input that is modified through interaction
therefore promotes acquisition. 
 
Interactive Competency: This refers to the ability to use
language orally to interact with others in order to create social
relations, express needs, understand and address needs of others
and to get things accomplished.  Engaging in a discussion is an
example of using one’s interactive competence.
 
Interpretive Competency:  This refers to the ability to
understand written language through reading or spoken language
through listening and to interpret it appropriately.  Reading is
the ability to understand and interpret written texts, listening is
the ability to understand and interpret oral language.  
  
Interference: According to Behaviorist learning theory, the
patterns of the learner's mother tongue (L1) get in the way of
learning the patterns of the L2. This is referred to as
“interference.”
 
Interlanguage:  Interlanguage is the type of language produced
by learners who are in the process of learning a language.  The
learner's interlanguage is different from both the L1 and the
actual L2.
 
Intermediate:  At this level, a student will have a working
vocabulary of between 1500 and 2000 words and should be able
to cope easily in most everyday situations. Students at this level
should be an ability to express needs, thoughts and feelings in
a reasonably clear way.
 
Intensive Reading:  Intensive reading refers to reading shorter
texts for a high level of understanding.
 
Intonation:  Intonation is the way that a speaker’s voice goes up
or down while they speak.  It is often described as the music of
speaking.  Intonation can be used to indicate three things.  First,
example, if someone is bored, their intonation is usually flat.  If
 
Second, intonation indicates the grammatical function of an
utterance.  For example, flat or falling intonation at the end of
an utterance often indicates a statement, and rising intonation
 
Third, intonation helps to indicate connections between
utterances.  For example, rising intonation at the end of a phrase
often indicates that the speaker is going to say more, but falling
intonation at the end of a phrase often indicates that the speaker
has finished.  English intonation goes up and down more than
most other languages and is different to the intonation of many
other languages.  For these reasons it is important to help
students notice and produce English intonation patterns. 
J–K–
L
L1: The learner’s first language.
 
L2: A term used to refer to both foreign and second languages. 
 
Language Acquisition Device:  Noam Chomsky, an influential
linguist and researcher, proposed that every human brain
contains a language acquisition device (or LAD).  This LAD is able
to hear language, analyze it, and figure out the grammatical
rules. 
Language awareness: Learners develop language awareness by
focusing their attention on features of language in use and
making discoveries about how the language is used. Teachers can
help learners to develop this awareness by asking questions.  See
Discovery Activities.
 
Language "Chunks":  Chunks are groups of words which may be
learned as a unit (e.g., thank you very much).
 
Language Data: Language data are actual instances or examples
of language use which provide information about how the
language is used. A corpus can be said to consist of language
data.  See Corpus.
 
Language Laboratory: A language lab(oratory) is a room
equipped with headphones and booths to enable students to
listen to a language teaching program, while being monitored
from a central  console.  Labs may be Audio-Active (AA), where
students listen and respond to a tape, or Audio-Active-
Comparative (AAC), where they may record their own responses
and compare these with a model on the master tape.
Language Minority Student: A student who comes from a home
in which a language different from the dominant language in the
country or culture is spoken and who is studying in schools taught
in the dominant language is called a language minority student.  grammar.  For example, “See you soon/later/tomorrow/on
In the US, 1 in 7 school children speak a language other than
English at home but their school studies are in English.  These
students may or may not speak English well and need support
especially to develop academic language proficiency.  The same
situation is found in many countries, where students speak a
language at home which is not the language of school instruction
and they must learn the additional language in order to succeed
academically.
 
Language Practice Activity: These are activities which involve
repetition of the same language point or skill. The purpose for
language production and the language to be produced are usually
predetermined by the teacher’s task. The intention is not that
students use the language for communication but to strengthen,
through successful repetition, their ability to manipulate a
particular form or function. Asking students in a class who
already know each other repeatedly to ask each other their
names is a practice activity.  See Language Use Activity.
 
Language Proficiency: the level of competence at which an
individual is able to use language for both basic communicative
tasks and academic purposes
Language Use Activity: These are activities which involve the
students’ using language to communicate. The purpose of the
activity might be predetermined but the language which is used
is determined by the learners. For example, getting a new class
of learners to walk round and introduce themselves to each other
is a language use activity; asking students to complete a story is
also a language use activity.
 
Language Variety: This is a term used to talk about the
variations of a language used by particular groups of people,
including regional dialects, dialects related to specific social
groups (sociolect), or particular language used by a particular
individual (idiolect).  All dialects are characterized by distinct
vocabularies, pronunciation, speech patterns, grammatical
features, and so forth.
 
Learning: The internalization of rules and formulas which can be
used to communicate in the L2.  Krashen uses this term for
formal learning in the classroom.
 
Learning Strategies: Learning strategies are the ways learners
accumulate new L2 rules and how they automatize existing ones.
The strategies can be conscious or subconscious. These contrast
with communication strategies and production strategies, which
account for how the learners use their rule systems, rather than
how they acquire them. Learning strategies may include
metacognitive strategies (e.g., planning for learning, monitoring
one's own comprehension and production, evaluating one's
performance); cognitive strategies (e.g., mental or physical
manipulation of the material), or social/affective strategies
(e.g., interacting with another person to assist learning, using
self-talk to persist at a difficult task until resolution).
 
Learning Styles: The way(s) that particular learners prefer to
learn a language. Some have a preference for hearing the
language (auditory learners), some for seeing it written down
(visual learners), some for learning it in discrete bits (analytic
learners), some for experiencing it in large chunks (global,
holistic or experiential learners) and many prefer to do
something physical whilst experiencing the language (kinesthetic
learners).   Metalinguistic awareness:  This is awareness of the forms,
 
Lexical Item: An item of vocabulary which has a single element
of meaning. It may be a single word, a compound word or a
multi-word phrase, for example: book, bookcase, post office, put
up with.
 
Lexical Chunks:  Some word combinations have a meaning as a
unit and none of the words can be replaced by other words
without completely changing the meaning.  For example, “by the
way”, “upside down”, “a long way off”, “out of my mind”. 
Students need to learn lexical chunks as a fixed combination of
words or as a single lexical item. 
Lexical Phrases: Lexical phrases are phrases or multi-word
expressions that can vary a little and allow some, but not all,
substitutions.  They are somewhere between vocabulary and
Monday”, “As far as I know/can tell/understand it”, etc.  
Students need to learn the fixed phrase and common or relevant
substitutions. 
 
Lexical Set: A group or family of words related to one another by
some semantic principle:  e.g., lamb, goat, chicken, beef are all
different types of meat and form a lexical set.
 
Linguistic Competence: This broad term is used to describe the
totality of an individual's language ability.  It refers to the
underlying language system which can be inferred from an
individual's language performance.
 
Linking:  In speaking, when a word ends in a consonant sound
(not a consonant letter) and the next word starts with a vowel
sound (not a vowel letter), the two words ‘run together’ or join
so that they sound like one word.  For example, in the phrase,
“Come on!”, the last sound of the first word is  /m/, and the first
sound of the next word is the vowel sound /ɔ/.  When they are
spoken at natural speed, the two words are pronounced as one
word, “Come on” (/kʌmɔn/)
M
Materials:  Materials are anything which is used to help to teach
language learners. Materials can be a textbook, a workbook, a
cassette, a CD-Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a
newspaper, a paragraph written on a whiteboard.
 
Materials Adaptation:  It is important to adapt or make changes
to materials in order to improve them or to make them more
suitable for a particular type of learner. Adaptation can include
reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and/or supplementing
existing material. Most teachers adapt materials every time they
use a textbook in order to maximize the value of the book for
their particular learners.
 
Materials Evaluation: This involves the systematic appraisal of
the value of specific materials in relation to a teacher’s
objectives and to the objectives of the learners using them.
Evaluation can be pre-use and focused on predictions of potential
value; it can be during-use and focused on awareness and
description of what the learners are actually doing while the
materials are being used; and it can be post-use and focused on
analysis of what happened as a result of using the materials.
 
Meaning:  Meaning is what a speaker or writer uses language to
express, convey, communicate.  Meaning is what the speaker or
writer intends that his or her audience understand.  Meaning is
affected by context and so while word “late” may mean ‘not
punctual,’ in another context, it may also mean that someone is
dead (“the late Joe Smith”).  Meaning is essential to learning a
language; current brain research indicates that without
understanding what new language means, students cannot learn
or use it.  See also Form and Use.
 
Meaning-focused Tasks: These tasks focus on communication of
meaning. Meaning-focused tasks do not provide focus on
individual linguistic components; rather they engage students in
communication. According to the meaning-focused approach,
involvement in communicative tasks is all that is necessary to
develop competence in a second language.  See Form-focused
Tasks.
 
structures and other aspects of a language system and how they
work together.  It can be awareness of, for example, the fact
that there are different kinds of words - verbs, adjectives and
nouns – and how they are used. 
 
Meta-language and Metalinguistic:  Meta-language is the words
and terminology used to talk about language, and metalinguistic
is the related adjective.  Meta-language is used to discuss,
describe or analyze a particular language or languages in
general.  For example, the sentence: “In English /b/ and /p/ are
both bi-labial plosives, but one phoneme is voiced and the other
unvoiced” includes the meta-language: bi-labial, plosive,
phoneme, voiced, unvoiced.  Words such as noun, preposition,
adjective, past simple, auxiliary verb, etc. are all metalinguistic
terms.
 
Macro-functions:  Linguistic functions are the things done with
language.  These purposes can be divided into large categories,
or macro-functions, for example, to transmit information or to
build social relationships
 
Micro-functions:  Linguistic functions are the things done with
language, such as complain or persuade.  Each of these functions
can be divided into smaller categories, or micro-functions, for
example, persuading a friend, persuading a colleague, persuading
an employee, etc.  employing, employed, employer, employee, unemployed,
 
Micro-teaching:  This is a technique used on teacher training
courses in which a part of a lesson is taught to a small number of
students.  A variation of this is “peer teaching” in which
the 'students' are often peers of the trainee teacher attending
the same course.
 
Microskills:  In language teaching, there are usually four skills:
reading, writing, speaking and listening.  Each one of these skills
is made up of many other skills, or microskills.  For example, the
skill of reading involves recognizing the function of a text,
recognizing the function of parts of a text, inferring the writers’
attitude from the text, or inferring the meaning of unknown
words from context.  Although students may use microskills in
their first language, they don’t necessarily transfer automatically
to English and therefore students need practice.
 
Mime:  Mime is ‘silent acting’ or acting without words or
speaking.  learner to receive feedback on the written or spoken language
 
Mindmap:  A mindmap is a diagram used to organize words,
information and ideas.  Here is an example:  Students can used
mindmaps to record lexis, or get and organize ideas before
speaking or writing.  They are a kind of graphic organizer.  Natural Approach: Pioneered by Krashen, this approach
 
Minimal Pair: A minimal pair is two words which differ from
each other in only one sound.  For example, sit/set,
ship/sheep, pen/pan, fan/pan, pan/pat, drew/threw are all
minimal pairs.  learners’ errors.
Modal Verb: Modal verbs express the speaker’s opinion or
attitude about the action of the verb.  In English there are 9
modal verbs:  will, would, shall, should, may, might, can, could,
must.  (Some people include the following in this category:  language.  This is known as the natural order hypothesis. Please
ought to, need to, dare to and used to because they function in a
similar way to modal verbs).   learn the rules, forms and items in their first language is not the
 
Model:  When teaching new lexis or grammar, students need to
hear the language point said – or modeled – before they try to say
it themselves.  When asking students to do a particular activity,
students need to see and hear a clear example, or model, of
what they will do in the activity.
 
Modeling:  Modeling means showing students or giving students
an example of exactly what the teacher wants them to do. For
example, if students are going to do a written grammar practice
activity, then rather than explaining what to do, the teacher
shows them what to do.  The teacher can do this by writing an
example on the board and the class doing it together.  In
preparation for doing a speaking activity, it is usually much more
effective for the teacher to act out both student roles, standing
in two different places, or changing voice to show the difference
between the two roles.  Before students start the activity, the
teacher needs to make sure students have understood what to
do.  The teacher can ask short simple questions to make sure of
students’ understanding.  Non-verbal Communication: Paralinguistic and non-linguistic
 
Monitor: Language learners and native speakers typically listen
to themselves and try to self-correct any errors in what they have
just said. This is referred to as “monitoring.” The learner can
monitor vocabulary, phonology, or discourse. Krashen uses
'Monitoring' to refer to the way the learner uses 'learnt'
knowledge to improve naturally 'acquired' knowledge.
 
Morpheme: A morpheme is the smallest single unit of language
that has meaning.  For example, the word ‘pigeons’ has two
morphemes, ‘pigeon’ and ‘-s’.  The morpheme ‘pigeon’ means a
medium-sized bird often found in cities and sometimes raised for
food or racing.  The morpheme ‘s’ indicates plural.  Some
morphemes, like ‘pigeon’, can stand alone.  These are called
‘free morphemes’.  Other morphemes, like ‘s’, ‘-ed’ or ‘-ing’,
cannot stand alone and must always be attached to a word. 
These are called ‘bound morphemes’.
 
Morphology: Morphology is the study of the structure of
individual words and patterns of word formation.  For example,
the word ‘unhappiness’ is formed of three parts: un- (meaning
not), -happi- (modified from the word ‘happy), and –ness (a
suffix that changes an adjective into a noun).  The word,
‘employ’ can be modified in the following ways: employs,
employment, unemployment.  Native speakers of a language
know how words are formed and what modifications are possible
and can also use this morphological knowledge to create new
words.  It is important to help students increase their knowledge
of word formation.   See also Syntax.
 
Motivation: These are the factors that determine and influence
a person’s desire to do something.   'Instrumental' motivation
occurs when the learner's goal is functional (e.g. to get a job or
pass an examination); 'integrative' motivation occurs when the
learner wishes to identify with the culture of the L2 group.
“Task" motivation is the interest a learners feel while performing
different learning tasks.
 
Multi-media Materials: Materials can make use of a number of
different media. Often such materials are available on a CD-Rom,
which incorporates use of print, graphics, video and sound.
Usually multi-media materials are interactive and enable the
which they produce.
N
combines acquisition and learning as a means of facilitating
language development in adults.  The approach emphasizes
natural communication rather than formal grammar study,
informal acquisition of language rules, and tolerance for
Natural Order Hypothesis:  Most second language acquisition
researchers agree that there is a predictable order in which first
and second language learners acquire particular aspects of
note: research evidence suggests that the order in which children
same as the order in which students learn the rules, forms and
items of the language they study in school.
 
Needs analysis:  Needs analysis is an activity or series of
activities teachers give students to do in order to find out what
the students’ learning needs are. A good understanding of learner
needs can contribute to successful course planning.
 
Negotiation of Meaning: When learners interact with native
speakers or other learners, they often have problems in
communicating. In order for their communication to be
successful, students need to be able to indicate understanding,
lack of understanding and desire for the conversation to continue
or not.  They also need to be able to help each other express
ideas and, when necessary, to make corrections to what was said
and how something was said.  These aspects of what speakers do
during a successful conversation is called 'negotiation of
meaning.’
 
messages can be transmitted in conjunction with language or
without the aid of language during communication. Paralinguistic
mechanisms include intonation, stress, rate of speech, and
pauses or hesitations; non-linguistic behaviors include gestures,
facial expressions, and body language.
Norm-referenced test: A norm-referenced test measures a

candidate's mark against what other people are achieving in the
same test. It can be compared with a criterion-referenced test,
which measures a candidate's mark against a series of criteria
and produces a description of level based on those criteria.
Norm-referenced tests are useful for indicating the level of an
individual learner in comparison with others.
Noticing hypothesis:  The noticing hypothesis suggests that
language learners must first notice, or pay attention to, language
forms before they can acquire them.  This attention to linguistic
form could happen accidentally, or because a textbook or person
points it out.  Part of Speech:  The words of a language can be divided into
 
Noticing: When learners "notice" language, they pay special
attention to its meaning, form, and use.  Noticing is regarded as
an important part of the process of learning new language and
will only occur when the learner is ready to take on the new
language.  It can occur for different reasons:  learners may
notice their errors in their production; they may simply be
intrigued or interested in something new they hear or see; or
they may need language they do not yet have in order to
communicate, notice the "gap" in their knowledge and so notice
the language others’ use to communicate the same meaning.
O example, in the case of pronouns, there are subject pronouns
P his, her, its, our, their).  There are main verbs, auxiliary verbs
PDP:  PDP is a framework which teachers use to plan and teach
reading and listening lessons or parts of lessons which have
reading or listening in them.   The letters stand for:  Pre-During-
Post.   In the Pre- stage, students talk about the topic or
situation in the text they will be working with.  They may
contribute what their own experience or knowledge of the
topic/situation is, they may speculate and make guesses about
what they will hear or read, and they learn key lexis that will
help them both understand the text and do activities while and
after they listen.  During the listening or reading stage, students
do tasks that deepen their understanding of the text. Each
activity is given before students engage with the text so that
they develop reading and listening abilities rather than test their
memory of the text.  Activities generally progress from
understanding generally to understanding detail.  During this
stage, students can also explicitly work on reading and listening
skills rather than only on comprehending the text.   In the Post
stage,  students can use the text as a model for writing or
speaking (a role-play, for example) they will do; focus on specific
language used in the text; or use and build on the text content in
a discussion or project of some kind.  See PDP Framework under
Frameworks.
 
PPP: This is an approach to planning for and teaching language
items.  It follows a sequence of presentation of the item,
practice of the item and the production of the item. This is the
approach currently followed by most commercially-produced
textbooks and has the advantage of apparent systematicity and
economy. However, it is based on the "linear" and "behaviorist"
view of language learning, which researchers have shown to be
incorrect. This approach ignores the cyclic nature of learning,
and treats learning as a series of "knowable facts".  See Language
Practice; SLA; Language Use.
 
PPU:  Like PDP and PPP, PPU is a framework which teachers can
use to plan and teach.  The focus of a PPU lesson is on speaking
and during the lesson, the students learn grammatical structures,
lexis, pronunciation and/or functional exponents.  During the
Present stage, students become familiar with the context and the
meaning, form and use of language items being covered is made
clear.  During this stage, students may also focus on speaking
skills such as interrupting, asking for clarification, showing
interest, etc.    Students then have opportunities to practice the
language or speaking skills.  The purpose of these activities is to
help students become more accurate with the language and
skills, and the activities move along the continuum from
controlled to semi-controlled.  In the Use stage, students use the
language and/or skills to complete a communicative task – in
other words, students participate in an activity similar to one
they might do outside class and in an activity that requires real
communication.  See PPU Framework under Frameworks.
Pair Work: A process in which students work in pairs for practice
or discussion.
Paralinguistics:  Paralinguistics are the aspects of spoken
communication that do not involve words. These may add
emphasis or shades of meaning to what people say and include
verbal aspects such as stress, intonation, speed of delivery, etc
and non-verbal ones such as gesture, facial expression and body
language. Some definitions limit this to verbal communication
that is not words.
 
types or classes of words according to their function.  We call
each of these types of word a ‘part of speech.’  Here are the
eight basic parts of speech in English, each with a couple of
examples:   
Noun: e.g., egg, work, happiness, girl
Adjective: e.g., big, small, interesting      
Verb: e.g., sit, drink, like
Conjunction: e.g., and, but, so
Adverb: e.g., slowly, quickly, fast               
Preposition: e.g., to, from, above, below 
Pronoun: e.g., I, me, my, he, him, his           
Interjection: e.g., Oh! Ouch! Hi!
We can divide these basic categories into sub-categories.  For
(e.g., I, you, it, she, we, they), object pronouns (e.g., me, you,
him, her, it, us, them), and possessive pronouns (e.g., my, your,
(have, be and do) and model verbs.  Determiners such as articles
(a, an, the) and demonstratives (this, that, etc) are sometimes
considered types of adjectives and sometimes categorized
separately. 
More on parts of speech:  http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary.html.
 
Passive Vocabulary: The vocabulary that students are able to
understand but not necessarily able to use.  See Active
Vocabulary.
 
Patterns: These are a type of formulaic speech.  Unlike
formulaic speech, which consists of phrases and expression
learned as wholes and used on particular occasions (e.g., How
are you? In my opinion, With best wishes, You must be joking),
patterns have open slots.  For example, “Can I have a .......?” is
a pattern which can be completed in a number of different
ways:  Can I have an orange?  Can I have a pen?  Can I have a
break?  See Routines and Formulaic Speech.
 
Pedagogic Task: In pedagogic tasks, learners are required to do
things which it is extremely unlikely they would be called upon to
do outside of the classroom. Completing one half of a dialogue,
filling in the blanks in a story and working out the meaning of ten
nonsense words from clues in a text are examples of pedagogic
tasks.  See Real-world Tasks.
 
Peer Assessment:  Students may be asked to listen to a peer or
read through a peer’s written work and give that person
feedback.  It is essential to limit what students give feedback to
peers on and it is important to give them language with which to
give and receive the feedback.  In teacher training, peers may be
asked to give feedback to each other on lessons they teach,
presentations they give, materials they produce, etc.  Again, it is
helpful to help training teachers with language they can use to
give and receive feedback.
 
Peer Correction: Peer correction is a classroom technique where
learners correct each other, rather than the teacher giving the
correction.
 
Peer Reading:  Peer-reading involves asking students to read
each other’s writing.  It is a useful teaching technique because
students can get ideas about content, lexis, or grammar from
reading each other’s work, and can often see mistakes that the
writer has missed. 
Performance-based Assessment: Performance-based assessment
focuses on achievement. This type of assessment is based on
free-form responses to standard questions scored by human

markers on a standards-based scale. A well-defined task is
identified and students are asked to create, produce, or do
something, often in settings that involve real-world application
of knowledge and skills. Proficiency is demonstrated by providing
an extended response and responses can be in the form of a
painting, portfolio, paper, or exhibition, or it may consist of a
performance, such as a speech, athletic skill, musical recital, or
reading.
Performance Standards: These are statements that refer to how
well students are meeting a content standard.  The standards
specify the quality and effect of student performance at various
levels of competency (benchmarks) in the subject matter.  In
addition, they specify how students must demonstrate their
knowledge and skills and can be used to show student progress
toward meeting a standard.
 
Personalized:  ‘Personalized’ activities are activities in which
students talk about themselves, things or people they know or
care about, or ask questions that they personally want to know
the answer to.  Process-oriented Syllabus:  A process-oriented syllabus focuses
 
Personalization: Personalization happens when activities allow
students to use language to express their own ideas, feelings,
preferences and opinions. Personalization is an important part of
the communicative approach since it involves true
communication, as learners communicate real information about
themselves.
Phoneme:  A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound which causes
a change of meaning and the basic units with which spoken
language is produced. For example, if the ‘u’ sound in ‘cut’ is
changed to an ‘a’ sound, the word changes to ‘cat’ – a word with
completely different meaning.    Phonemes are not the same as
letters; they are sounds.  For example, the letter ‘e’ can
represent different phonemes.  Compare the pronunciation of ‘e’
in these words: ‘bed’, ‘river’, ‘be’.   
Plosive:  A plosive is a kind of consonant that is produced by
stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it.  correct and obeying discourse conventions relating to main
In English, the /d/ in ‘dinner’ is a plosive.  Plosives can be voiced
or unvoiced.  The /d/ in ‘dinner’ is a voiced plosive and the /t/
in ‘tea’ is an unvoiced plosive.  Plosives are sometimes called
‘stops’ because the air stops at some point and then is released.
 
Post Observation Feedback:  This is feedback which inspectors,
peers and teacher trainers give on lessons they have observed. 
The feedback is usually both oral and written.
 
Poster:  Posters in language classrooms are usually big pieces of
paper that are used to illustrate important concepts, display
students’ thinking or ideas, or to decorate the room.  Posters can
be professionally printed or created by the teacher or students.   writing involves producing texts such as letters or essays.
Posters are good for reminding students of new vocabulary with
labeled pictures, and can also be used to remind students of
useful expressions, grammar or classroom rules, or homework
assignments.  presentation are examples of using one’s productive speaking
 
Pre-listening: Pre-listening activities are things learners do
before a listening activity in order to prepare for listening. These
activities have various purposes, including pre-teaching or
activating vocabulary, predicting content, generating interest
and checking understanding of task.
 
Pre-teaching: Pre-teaching involves teaching the language
learners will need to do an activity before they are asked to do
it.
 
Prediction: In a prediction activity, learners use their knowledge
and experience of a topic or situation, or they use ‘clues’ such as
a group of words or a picture, to guess what a listening or
reading text will be about.  The guesses they generate provide
them with a reason to listen or read, as they confirm or reject
their predictions.
Prescriptive Grammar: A prescriptive grammar is a set of rules
about language based on how people think language should be
used. In a prescriptive grammar there is right and wrong
language. It can be compared with a descriptive grammar, which
is a set of rules based on how language is actually used.
Prior Knowledge: Prior knowledge is the knowledge learners
already have before they meet new information. A learner's
understanding of a text can be improved by activating their prior
knowledge before they read the text, and developing this habit is
good learner training.
Process Approach: The process approach focuses on the means
whereby learning occurs. The process is more important than the
product. In terms of writing, the important aspect is the way in
which completed text was created. The act of composing evolves
through several stages as writers discover, through the process,
what it is that they are trying to say. See Product Approach.
 
Process Writing: Process writing focuses learners on the
different stages and aspects of writing as they have been
observed in good writers, and spends time on each stage. These
are: planning, drafting, revising, editing and considering the
audience.
 
on the processes of learning.  It can be compared to a product-
oriented syllabus which focuses on things learnt at the end of the
learning process (outcomes) rather than on the process itself.
Many people have questioned the validity of separating syllabi
into process- and product-oriented and argue that most syllabi
are, and must be, a combination of processes and outcomes.
 
Product-oriented Syllabus: A product-oriented syllabus focuses
on things learnt at the end of the learning process (outcomes)
rather than the learning processes involved (see above). Many
people have questioned the validity of separating syllabi into
process- and product-oriented and argue that most syllabi are,
and must be, a combination of processes and outcomes.
Product Approach: The product approach focuses on the end
results of teaching and learning. In terms of writing, there should
be something "resulting" from the composition lesson (e.g. letter,
essay, story, etc.). This result should be readable, grammatically
points, supporting details and so on.  See Process Approach.
 
Production Strategies: These are strategies involved in using
linguistic knowledge in communication, and they operate largely
unconsciously.  They do not imply any communication problem. 
See Communication Strategies and Learning Strategies.
 
Productive competence:  This refers to learners’ ability to
produce coherent, appropriate and relevant messages in writing
and speaking.  It also refers to their ability to express ideas
effectively and organize thoughts appropriately.  Productive
competency is more often associated with writing because
 
Productive speaking competency is also the production of texts;
it differs from interactive speaking competency in that it does
not involve interaction with other speakers.  Giving a lecture or a
competency.
 
Productive Skills: The productive skills are speaking and
writing.  They are called ‘productive’  because learners produce
language when they speak or write. They are also known as
active skills. They can be compared with the receptive skills of
listening and reading.
 
Productive Use:  It is sometimes important to differentiate
between the English that students need to be able to use when
they speak or write, and the English that students need to be
able to understand when they hear or read.  Using English to
speak or write is called productive or active use.  Using English to
listen or read is called receptive or passive use.  English can be
used receptively and productively at the same time.  For
example, in a conversation, people listen (receptive use) and
then speak (productive use).   
Project: A project is a task which involves pairs, small and/or
larger groups of students working together independent of the
teacher to produce an authentic product: a series of posters for
tourists giving information about the students’ town, an
advertisement, a collection of recipes, a collection of poems, a
newsletter, a play, a brochure, a news program, etc.  The
students and teacher discuss the content of the project, the time
allocated for project, what students might need to complete the
project and so on.  Students may take on specific roles within
their groups in order to get work completed.  Then the students
to the work:  they carry out interviews, they research for
information in books or online, they draw, etc.  The teacher
monitors their work and offers help where necessary.  When they
have completed the task, students present what they have done
to the class (or in some cases to the school or parents).  Peers
and/or the teacher may give feedback on the product.  Projects
should involve students in authentic communication and tasks
should be engaging, motivating and meaningful.     be compared to display questions, which are questions teachers
 
Project Work: Project work is work which focuses on completing
a task. Project work normally involves a lot of resources - time,
people and materials - and learners practice a range of skills and
language as they complete the work.
 
Prominence:  Prominence is a technical term for Sentence
Stress.
 
Prompts: Prompts are stimuli a teacher uses to get learners to
give a response using target language. Prompts can be visual,
spoken or written.
 
Psychological Distance: The term is used to refer to the
learner's overall psychological set with regard to the target
language and its community. This is determined by factors such
as language shock and motivation.
Q
R using language stored in long-term memory.
Rapport: Rapport in language learning refers to the relationship
between the teacher and the learners. Teachers try to build good
rapport with the learners.  A good rapport between teacher and
students and between students contributes to an environment
that will help learning.
 
Rate of Acquisition: The speed at which the learner develops L2
proficiency. This is different to the 'route of acquisition'.
 
Rating scale: A rating scale is a scale against which a learner's
performance is assessed, producing a quantifiable result. The
rater is usually trained in applying the scale before they rate real
samples of language.
 
Realia: Realia are real things that are brought to the class and
used as a resource.   A teacher working with beginners on food
lexis might bring in authentic examples of food such as garlic, an
apple, a pear, a carrot, etc to show students.  Realia is an
extremely efficient way to clarify meaning.
 
Real-life Communication: This is the kind of communication
activity people engage in outside the classroom in the real-
world.  
 
Real-world Tasks: These are tasks based on authentic materials
and situations. Learners are required to approximate, in class,
the sorts of behaviors required of them in the world beyond the
classroom. See Pedagogic Tasks.
 
Receptive Skills: The receptive skills are listening and reading.  communicative tasks such as essays, posters, presentations,
Learners do not need to produce language when they listen and
read; instead they receive and understand it. These skills are
sometimes called the passive skills, and they can be contrasted
with the productive, or active, skills of speaking and writing.
 
Receptive Use:  It is sometimes important to differentiate
between the English that our students need to be able to
understand when they hear or read it, and the English students
need to be able to use when they speak or write.  Using English
to listen or read is called receptive or passive use.     English can
be used receptively and productively at the same time.  For
example, in a conversation, people listen (receptive use) and
then speak (productive use). 
 
Recycling: Recycling involves learners’ practicing language which
they have been exposed to previously.  It is very unusual for
anyone to learn anything after only one exposure to it, and
recycling helps students remember and internalize the language
and so is an essential part of the learning process. The recycled
language is often re-introduced in a different context, or through
a different skill. This helps the student extend their range of use
of the new item.
 
Referential questions: Referential questions are questions
people ask when they do not know the answer. In an ELT
classroom, referential questions can be questions teachers ask
learners and learners ask each other. Referential questions can
ask even though the answer is already clear, and teachers ask
just to see if the learners know the answer, or in order to give
students practice manipulating the language.
 
Register:  A register is a variety of a language used for a
particular purpose or in a particular social setting.  For example,
the register of parents talking to their young children is quite
different from the register of employers talking to their
employees.  Talking to employees in the same way that one
normally talks to young children is usually considered
inappropriate.
 
Reliable:  This term is used to talk about tests and test results. 
A test is considered reliable if it gives consistent results when it
is given at different times to different groups of people.
 
Retention: Retention of (new) language means remembering the
language rather than forgetting it. Once a word is retained, it
can be retrieved and used later.  
 
Retrieval: Retrieval is the action of recalling (remembering) and
 
Role-play:  In a role-play, students are asked to act out a
particular transaction in a particular role.  Students can role-play
ordering food in a restaurant, asking directions on the street, or
interviewing a famous football (soccer) player or musician.  Role
plays are usually used to practice language that students already
know (semi-controlled oral practice) or sometimes used to
practice the skill of speaking (fluency speaking practice). 
Students decide what they are going to say with or without help
from the teacher. If the teacher limits students’ choice of
language to use, the role-play is a practice activity; if students
are free to choose what they will say, the role-play is a fluency
activity.  Reading a dialog aloud is not a role-play because
students have no choice about what to say.  Before doing a role-
play, students need to understand clearly what the situation and
roles are, and to have preparation time to think about what they
are going to say.  Role-plays should be realistic, interesting, and
require genuine communication.
 
Route of Development: L2 learners go through a number of
transitional states en route to acquiring target language rules.
This is referred to as the 'route of development.’
 
Routines: These are a type of formulaic speech. They are units
that are learnt and used as wholes, for example, "I don't know”
“How awful!” “Thank you very much” and “the thing is…”  See
Formulaic Speech and Patterns.
 
Rubric: Rubrics are the marking standards used to assess
letters and interviews.  A rubric is composed of characteristics of
the task being assessed and a scale that rates the quality of the
characteristics from low to high.  For example, a rubric for a
written essay might include these four characteristics: 
organization, appropriateness of content, grammatical accuracy
and range of vocabulary.  The characteristics might be rated
along four levels:  excellent, good, adequate, needs
improvement. 
S
SARS:  This acronym stands for Select, Adapt, Reject,
Supplement.  When making decisions about what to use in a
course- or text book, a teacher can decide to use the material as
it is; the teacher can make changes to – or adapt – the material
the book; the teacher can decide not to use the material at all;
or the teacher can supplement the material in the book by
finding additional material from other sources.  This decision-
making process can be applied to texts, activities connected with
the texts, visuals, activities for practicing language items,
speaking or writing tasks, and projects.
Scanning: Scanning is a reading or listening technique used to
find specific information as efficiently (and quickly) as possible.  sentence, “I went to the park”, ‘went’ and ‘park’ are the most
When scanning, readers or listeners know what information they
want and read or listen until they find it, usually ignoring other
information.  Readers move their eyes quickly over the page until
they find the information they are looking for.  For example,
when people want to find a phone number, they scan the
telephone book for the specific person’s name and number.   words or syllables in a sentence can make it very difficult for
They do not read all the names, addresses and telephone
numbers, but instead look only for the one they want.  Scanning
as a listening technique is similar.  Listeners know in advance
exactly what information they want and they listen until they
hear it.  For example, people waiting at the bus station listen
until they hear the destination, the time or name of the bus they
want. Then they listen very carefully for the specific piece of
information they need or want.    believed that the teacher needs to remain as silent as possible
Scripts: These can be considered a type of formulaic speech.
They are memorized sequences of utterances which are more or
less fixed and predictable, such as “How do you do?”
Schwa:  The vowel sound in many (but not all) unstressed
syllables or words is the schwa. It is the only vowel sound in
English that has its own name, “the schwa.”  The phonemic
symbol for this sound is /ə/.    For example, the underlined words
or syllables contain the schwa when said at a natural speed:  “I
need to go to the doctor’s.”
 Second Language: The term is often used to refer to any
language a person speaks other than that person’s first or home
language.   Use of the word “second” has become controversial
given the fact that many people speak more than two languages;
there is increasing use of the term “Additional Language.”
 Self-access Materials:  These are materials designed for
learners to use independently - i.e. on their own without access
to a teacher or a classroom. They are normally used by the
learner at home, in a library or in a self-study centre.
 Self Assessment: Self-assessment involves learners assessing
their own language proficiency, rather than a teacher doing it.
Self-correction: Self-correction happens when learners correct
themselves instead of a teacher doing it. Teachers can involve
learners in self-correction by giving the learners more or less
guidance as to where the error is and/or what type of error it is,
and by providing learners with examples of correct or
appropriate use of language so that they can compare what they
said or wrote to it.
Semantics:  Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and
fixed-word combinations (e.g., “by the way”) and how they work
together to create meaning.
Semi-controlled Practice:  One way to teach new language
(grammar, lexis, or functional expressions) is to clarify it (i.e., to
be sure that students understand what it means, how it is formed
and pronounced, in what situations it is used and the purpose for
using it) and then to give students opportunities to practice it in
increasingly more challenging and authentic ways.  At the
beginning, the teacher controls or limits the range of language
that students need to use.  These are called controlled practice
activities, and they can be written or spoken.  When students
have demonstrated their ability to produce the new language
with increased accuracy, teachers then give them more freedom
of choice in what other lexis, grammar or functional expressions
they can also use.  This kind of practice is called semi-controlled
practice. However these are not distinct categories of practice
activities, rather a continuum between controlled and freer
practice.   Controlled and freer practice activities are described
elsewhere in this glossary. 
 
Sentence Stress:  Sentence stress is the pattern of stressed and
unstressed words across a sentence. Normally this emphasis, or
prominence, is on words that carry important information,
although this can change significantly, depending on the specific
meaning the speaker wants to communicate. Words that carry
the most important information in a sentence or utterance are
usually spoken a little more loudly, with a little more emphasis
and take a little longer than less important words.  In the
important words and so they would normally be stressed. 
Depending on the speaker’s meaning, the stressed words can
change.  For example, the response to the question, “Did you go
around the park?” might be “No, I went to the park”, with the
stress on ‘to’.  Research shows that putting stress on the wrong
listeners to understand what the speaker is trying to say.  For this
reason, it is important to help students notice and practice
appropriate sentence stress.     
 
Silent Way: The Silent Way is a language teaching methodology
created by Caleb Gattegno.  He believed that students do not
learn something just because the teacher has taught it; he
during a class partly in order to listen and observe students, how
they learn and what they are learning, and partly so that learners
have as much speaking opportunity as possible. Gattegno
believed that the only way a person learns to speak a language is
to speak it, not study it.  He believed that learners use the
experience of learning their mother tongue when learning a new
language, and that an essential part of learning a language
involves developing internal criteria of what is right and wrong in
the language. He understood that language is a vehicle for the
expression of a person’s thoughts, attitudes, opinions, feelings,
perceptions, etc and that encouraging learners to express these
things motivates their learning language.  The use of physical
objects such as Cuisenaire rods, the Sound/color wall chart, word
charts and a pointer are associated with this approach.
 Simplification: This describes the way learners make use of
rules which are grammatically, morphologically or phonologically
less complex than the actual rules of the language they are
learning.  They often do this as a result of overgeneralization. 
For example, having learned that in English the past is formed by
adding –ed to the verb, the learner tries to add –ed to all verbs,
thus producing incorrect forms such as “spended” or “costed.”
 Simplified Texts: These are texts which have been made
simpler so as to make it easier for learners to read them. The
usual principles of simplification involve shortening the length of
the text, shortening sentences, omitting or replacing difficult
words or structures with simpler ones, omitting qualifying clauses
and omitting non-essential detail. It can be argued, however,
that such simplification might make the words easier to
understand but it could make it more difficult for the learners to
achieve global understanding of the text because it is now dense
with important information. It might be more useful to learners
to simplify texts by adding examples, by using repetition and
paraphrase and by increasing redundant information - in other
words, by lengthening rather than shortening the text.
Skimming: It is reading or listening to get the main idea, or gist. 
When skimming, readers or listeners don’t try to understand
every word, but try to get an overall or general understanding of
what seems most important.  As a reading technique, skimming
helps readers to read more quickly.  Readers look quickly at the
title, subtitles, subheadings, and any pictures to get hints about
the topic of the text; they might read the first and last sentence
of each paragraph, look for important words, or jump over
portions of the text in order to find the main idea (or gist) of the
text.  Readers, often skim the front page of the newspaper
before deciding which article to read first.  Skimming as a
listening technique can help listeners to understand the general
idea of the text before deciding to listen more carefully.  When
skimming during listening, listeners use the context in which they
are listening to get hints about the topic and then notice and
interpret words that are spoken more loudly, or with slightly
longer pauses around them.  These words are often important
clues to the topic of the listening text.  When sitting on a bus,
people sometimes listen in this way to the conversations of

people sitting in front of them in order to find out what they’re
talking about.  At the supermarket people listen in this way to an
announcement on the loudspeaker to see if the announcement is
useful or interesting for them.    Supplementary Materials: Supplementary materials are
SLA: This is an abbreviation for Second Language Acquisition and
is normally used to refer to research and theory related to the
learning of second and foreign languages.
Slips: Slips are mistakes caused by temporary factors such as a
learner’s being tired, nervous, excited or distracted. They can be
compared with errors, which are caused by a learner not knowing
something.
Social Distance: This refers to feelings a person has that his or
her social position is relatively similar to or different from the
social position of other people.  The social distance between two
different groups, communities or individuals affects how they
communicate with each other and may affect how members of
the group or community feel about the language of the other
group and how  the they learn the language of the other group.  English syntax is described as S-V-O.  In Japanese syntax, on the
 Socio-cultural Context: Socio-cultural context refers to the idea
that language, rather than existing in isolation, is closely linked
to the culture and society in which it is used. This means when
language is learnt, the socio-cultural context in which it is used
needs to be taken into consideration as well.
 Socio-cultural awareness: Socio-cultural awareness means
awareness of the societies and cultures of the target language,
and therefore of the contexts the language is used in. Teachers
themselves transmit information subconsciously about culture
and society through their behavior and interaction with learners.
Spontaneous Speech: This is speech produced without rehearsal
or planning.
 Standard Pronunciation:  Around the world, English is spoken in
many different countries, by many different groups of people and
with many different accents.  Deciding which of these accents is
‘normal’ or ‘standard’ pronunciation is difficult.  However, by
“standard pronunciation” we mean “the pronunciation of
American English that is most commonly used and most easily
understood by most Americans”.  One way to think of it is
‘newsreader pronunciation’.   experience of using the language in ways that it is used in the
 Strategic Competence:  Strategic competence is a speaker’s
ability to choose the best verbal or non-verbal strategy to
improve the effectiveness of communication or to repair break-
downs in communication in a particular context.  itinerary of a journey from a timetable, completing a passport
 
Stress:  Stress is the emphasis or force given to certain syllables
in words or words in a phrase or sentence. A listener hears
stressed syllables or words as longer, louder and/or higher-
pitched than unstressed syllables and/or words. See also
Sentence Stress or Word Stress.
Stress Pattern: The stress pattern of a word is the way all the
syllables in it are stressed. Depending on the number of syllables
in the word, there can be main, secondary and unstressed
syllables.
 Stress-timed: A stress-timed language is a language in which the
stressed syllables in phrases and sentences occur at regular
intervals of time.  For example, in the sentence “The
témperature/ rose stéadily/ all dáy” there are three stressed
syllables marked with an accent, one per segment; in order to
maintain rhythm and say each segment in basically the same
amount of time, other syllables are unstressed and shortened.
Stress-timed languages can be compared with syllable-timed
ones, where each syllable takes roughly the same amount of time
to say.
 Success of Acquisition: This is the level of proficiency that a
learner finally achieves. See Fossilization.
 Summative Assessment: Summative assessment evaluates how
much a student has learned at the end of a course.  Summative
assessment “sums up” the student’s progress. It can be compared
to formative assessment, which gives the teacher and learner
helpful information during the course.
designed to be used in addition to the core course materials.
These materials may come from teacher resource books,
coursebooks other than main (core) textbook, workbooks, and
authentic sources such as radio, TV, magazine, newspapers, etc.
See Coursebook.
 Syllabus: A syllabus is a document that describes what the
contents of a language course will be and the order in which they
will be taught. The content of a syllabus normally reflects certain
beliefs about language and language learning.
 Syntax:  Syntax is the study of how words combine to form
sentences and the rules which govern sentence formation in a
particular language.   The syntax of a language determines what
kind of word can go in which sentence positions.  For example, in
English syntax, the subject of the sentence is usually before the
verb and the subject and verb are placed before the object. 
other hand, although the subject of the sentence is first, it is
followed by the object and then the verb.  Japanese is an S-O-V
language.  Students often make errors with syntax.  For example,
it is common for French and Arabic speakers of English to put the
adjective after the noun (e.g., “She is a woman big”) because
this patterning reflects the syntax of those languages. 
T
Target Language: This is the language that the learner is
attempting to learn.
 
Task:  A task is an activity that involves learners in
comprehending, manipulating, producing and/or interacting in
the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing
their language to exchange meaning.  The intention is to convey
meaning rather than to manipulate form. 
 
Task-based: This refers to materials or courses which are
designed around a series of authentic tasks which give learners
'real world' outside the classroom. There is no pre-determined
language syllabus, and the aim is for learners to learn from the
tasks – to notice - the language they need to participate
successfully in them. Examples of such tasks are: working out the
application form, ordering a product from a catalogue and giving
directions to the post office.  See Authentic Tasks.
 
Teacher-centered:  A teacher-centered approach is one in which
the teacher is the center of class activity and student attention.
It can be compared to a learner-centered approach.
Teacher Development:  Teacher development is concerned with
professional development and training for in-service teachers – in
other words for teachers after their initial training (see Teacher
Training below).  The focus is usually on deepening and
expanding teachers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes, developing
teacher self-evaluation practice and innovations in the fields of
education, teaching and learning, and subject matter.
Teacher-Talking Time (TTT): Teacher-talking time (TTT) is the
time that teachers, rather than learners, spend talking in class.
Some teacher talking time is necessary and/or helpful: giving
instructions, checking student understanding, and synthesizing
what students have said.  Other teacher-talking time is
unnecessary and detrimental to student learning: (lengthy)
explanation of grammar, lexis, pronunciation points and/or
functions, talking while students are doing an activity or
thinking, answering questions instead of allowing students to
answer, etc.  Teacher talking time can be compared with
student-talking time. One key element of many modern
approaches is to reduce the amount of TTT as much as possible
so as to allow learners opportunities to speak, and learn from
using the language.
 
Teacher Training: The formal process by which people learn
basic knowledge, skills and techniques for teaching grade-level
classes or content-specific classes (such as English language,
math, science, geography, etc).   The focus of many initial
English-language teacher training programs is on preparing lesson
plans, classroom management techniques, ways of
teaching/revising and practicing language, teaching the fours
skills and correcting errors. Teacher training programs of
excellence also guide potential teachers to develop awareness of
students and student learning, evaluation of their teaching in
terms of student learning, and development of positive attitudes.
Teacher Talk: Teachers make adjustments to both language
form and language function in order to help communication in
the classroom. These adjustments are called 'teacher talk.'
 
Test:  A test is a procedure of measuring ability, knowledge
and/or performance.  It is form of assessment.  Words commonly
associated with “test” include:  achievement, aptitude,
placement or diagnostic; proficiency or progress; cloze, discrete
point or essay; standardized, etc.
Test-Teach-Test: Test-teach-test (sometimes known as task-
teach-task) is an approach to teaching (presenting or reviewing)
lexis, grammar, pronunciation and/or functions.  In this
approach, learners first complete a task or activity without help
from the teacher; the teacher monitors carefully. Then, based on
the challenges or problems seen, the teacher focuses on those
problematic areas in particular. Finally, learners do another task
or other tasks to practice the language.  This approach is used
when the teacher knows the students are most likely to have
some knowledge of the language focus.  The teacher may not be
sure how much the students know and may also wish to activate
what they already know before adding to or building on that
knowledge with new information.  The first activity is not really a
test; its purpose is to highlight what students know, don’t know
and/or are uncertain of.  The post-teach activities are also not
really tests; their purpose is to give students practice and use of
the language being covered.
 
Text:  A text is any scripted or recorded production of language
presented to the learners of that language. A text can be written
or spoken and could be, for example, a poem, a newspaper
article, a passage about pollution, a song, a film, an extract from
a novel or a play, a passage written to exemplify the use of the
past perfect, a recorded telephone conversation, a scripted
dialogue or a speech by a politician.
 
Textbook Adaptation:  Based on an understanding of what
students’ needs and interests are, a teacher makes changes to
texts, activities and tasks in the text- or course book so that they
meet student needs better and/or are of more interest or
relevance to students.
 
Think-out-loud (Think Aloud) Protocol:  Helping students to
become more conscious of the ways they think about and do
particular activities, and the strategies they use to do them, can
help them to see possible improvements. Teachers can help
students with this kind of ‘thinking about thinking’ (or
metacognition) by asking them to explain what they are doing
and why as they do something.  This is called a ‘think-out-loud
(or think aloud) protocol.’
 
Tongue Twister:  A tongue twister is a phrase, sentence, or
rhyme that is difficult to pronounce because some of the sounds
are similar, or because it is difficult to say quickly.  “Sally sells
seashells at the seashore” is an example of a tongue twister in
English.
 
Total Physical Response: Total Physical Response (TPR) is an
approach to language learning and teaching in which instructions
and/or commands are issued initially by the teacher and later by
students which require a physical response from learners.  For
example, teachers teaching some basic verbs of movement ask
students to stand up, walk to the door, go back to their seats, sit
down, cross the room, etc., first model language and action, and
then ask students to do the actions. Later, when students are
confident of both meaning and form, they give each other
instructions using the language. 
 
Training:  See Teacher Training.
 
Top-down Approach to Language Comprehension and
Production: The top-down view of language learning starts from
use of the language. The study of grammar, vocabulary, sentence
structure, etc., comes later, once the learner has started using
the language for communication. In a top-down approach, a
learner makes use of previous knowledge and experience,
expectations and scripts to analyze and process interactions and
texts for meaning. In this way, the learner utilizes knowledge of
the “larger picture” to assist in comprehension.  See Bottom-up
Approach to Language Comprehension and Production.
Transactional Tasks: These tasks are primarily concerned with
the transfer of information.  See Interactional Tasks.
 
Transfer: Students and teachers can use knowledge they have of
the students’ L1 to help in learning the L2.  Transfer of
knowledge from L1 to L2 can be positive when the two languages
have similar structures, or it can be negative, when the two
languages are different, and L1-induced errors occur.
U
Universal Grammar (UG): Noam Chomsky, an influential linguist,
proposed the theory that every speaker is born with and knows a
set of general principles that are the same for all languages –
thus it is known as universal grammar.  When learning another
language, learners are able to apply these principles to the new
language, as they learn the parameters of the principles in the
new language.  For example, a universal principle is that in all
languages words have structural relationships; language is not
simply a disconnected sequence of words, but words that relate
to each other in specific ways to convey meaning.  The language
specific parameter of this principle is that syntax varies from
language to language and so learners of English learn that in a
prepositional phrase the preposition goes at the beginning of the
phrase (in the room) while in Japanese, it goes at the end (Japan
in). Theorists believe that Universal Grammar makes it possible
for children to learn languages more easily before the critical
period because after the age of puberty, universal grammar
becomes fixed to reflect the grammar of the language(s) have
learned in childhood.  
 
Universal Hypothesis: This states that certain universal
linguistic properties determine the order in which the rules of a
specific language are acquired. Thus, linguistic rather than
cognitive factors determine acquisition.
Unvoiced:  Please see Voiced.
 
Use: Use is the ways that people actually speak and write to
communicate in a language.  In the classroom, use activities are
tasks – opportunities for students to engage in authentic
communication using English to solve a problem, to get or
exchange information not known to the other person, to create
something (a poster, a brochure, for example), to reach a group
decision or consensus, and/or to discuss a topic.  With regard to
classroom activities, the use focused portion of a lesson is
distinct from the language-practice focused portion.
 
Utterance:  An utterance can be a single spoken word, several
words spoken together, or a whole spoken sentence.  An
utterance can be thought of as a complete unit of speech in
spoken language.  In linguistics, the technical definition of
utterance is, “any speech sequence consisting of one or more
words and generally preceded and followed by a short pause or
period of silence”.    For example, “Congratulations!” is a one-
word utterance; “Nice weather” is a two-word utterance, and
“Without any doubt” is a multi-word utterance.  All these
utterances can be used as complete and independent units of
spoken language to communicate effectively in particular
contexts.  Note that none of the above examples are sentences,
although spoken sentences are also utterances.
V
Valid:  See Validity below.  A test can be called valid if it has
validity. word grammar for these two uses of ‘want’ is: ‘want + object’
  and ‘want + object + infinitive.’  When learning new words,
Validity: A test's validity refers to the degree to which the test students need to know this kind of information to help them use
measures what it is supposed to measure.  For example, a test the word correctly. 
intended to assess students’ ability to use the past tense has
validity if it requires students to use regular and irregular past Word stress:  In English, in words of more than one syllable, one
forms they have studied or could be expected to know, in or more syllables are usually pronounced a little more strongly
assessment activities they are familiar with, in positive and than the others.  These syllables are pronounced more loudly,
negative sentences, and/or in questions; the same test would are a little longer than other syllables, and are also a little higher
have little to no validity if it tested students on things they could than other syllables.  This is called word stress.  Word stress can
not be expected to know using types of test items students have change the meaning of words.  For example, the word ‘dessert’
never experienced before and if it did not assess a range of (something sweet eaten after a meal) has stress on the second
regular and irregular verbs, positive and negative sentences and syllable, but the word ‘desert’ (a dry area such as the Sahara)
questions.   Statistical measures are applied to tests to assess has stress on the first syllable.  Word stress can also change the
their validity. Validity can be compared with reliability, which part of speech.  For example, ‘record’ is a verb, but ‘record’ is a
refers to how consistent the results are if the test were given noun.  For these reasons, stressing the wrong syllable(s) can
under the same conditions to the same learners. seriously affect understanding.  It is therefore very important to
  help students notice which syllables are stressed.  A good
Variability: Language learners vary in the use they make of their dictionary indicates which syllable is stressed in a word.   
linguistic knowledge. This can be systematic or unsystematic.
  Workbook: A workbook is usually part of a coursebook series
Visual Aid: Visual aids are the pictures, diagrams, maps, graphs (teacher’s, student’s and workbook).  Workbooks contain extra
and/or realia, etc a teacher uses to help students understand, to practice activities for learners to work on in their own time.
introduce and set the scene for a reading or listening text, or to Usually the book is designed so that learners can write in it and
stimulate students’ thinking, speaking, discussion and/or writing. often there is an answer key provided at the back of the book so
  that learners can check their own work.
Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (VAK): VAK, or Visual,
Auditory and Kinesthetic, refers to one model of learning styles.
The VAK model is comprised of three different learning styles, or X–Y-Z
preferred ways of learning. In some accounts, another style,
tactile, is included.
  
Vocabulary:  Vocabulary has two meanings in English language
teaching.  First, it means the individual words that students learn
as part of their study of English.  The term lexis rather than
vocabulary is increasingly preferred now because lexis includes
not only single words, but also multi-word combinations.  Please
see Lexis.  The second meaning of vocabulary is ‘the set of words
that a person is familiar with in a particular language’.  It is
possible to say that a person has ‘a large vocabulary’ or that
students’ active or productive vocabulary is usually smaller than
their passive or receptive vocabulary.
 
Vocabulary Bank: A vocabulary bank is a collection of new lexis
–words, phrases and expressions - that the learner or class builds
up as they learn.
 
Voiced (Voicing):  Some English sounds are produced using the
vocal chords and some are pronounced without using them.  The
use or non-use of the vocal cords to produce sounds is called
voicing.  Sounds that are produced using the vocal chords are
called voiced sounds.  For example, /d/, /g/, /b/, /m/ and all
vowels are voiced sounds.  Sounds that are produced without
using the vocal chords are called unvoiced sounds.  For example,
/t/, /k/, /p/and /f/ are unvoiced sounds.

Warmer/ Warm-Up: A warmer is a short, active, participatory

activity at the start of the class to get students thinking in and
speaking English, to bring the class together – in other words, to
warm up the learners. Warmers can be compared to coolers,
which are short, often calming activities to finish the class.  

Weakened:  Please see Weakening.

Weakening:  Vowels in unstressed syllables in connected speech

often change so they become shorter and more like the vowel
sound in the in the phrase ‘in the corner.’  This sound is called
the ‘schwa’ and is represented by the phonetic symbol, /ə/.  Not
all weakened vowels become schwa.

Word Grammar:  Word grammar is the structural pattern in

which an individual word is correctly used.  For example, the
verb ‘want’ must be followed by an object.  It is not possible to
say only “I wanted”; it is necessary to say “I wanted
(something)”.  In addition, it is not correct to say, “I wanted him
coming”; it is necessary to say “I wanted him to come”.  Thus the