ELT Methodology and Background Terminology Glossary

Vocabulary flashcard deck containing fundamental concepts, theories, and terms in English Language Teaching methodology.

Acceptability

A judgement concerning the appropriateness or accuracy of a language item

Acculturation

The process by which people’s attitudes and values may change by exposure to alternative cultural norms

Achievement test

A test designed to measure how well something has been learned

Acquisition

A term contrasted with learning referring to the unconscious acquiring of a language

Affective filter

A hindrance to learning caused by stress or uncertainty

Backwash (aka washback)

The effect on teaching that testing has

Behaviourism

A theory of learning based around the acquisition of habit and reinforcement of learning

Bottom-up processing

An analytic approach to understanding a written or heard text which uses the reader / hearer’s knowledge of the structure and lexicon of the language to piece together the import of the text (cf. top-down processing)

Cloze test

Technically, removing, e.g., every fifth or seventh word from a passage and asking test takers to guess the missing words. Informally, a gap-fill test

Code switching

Changing languages or varieties of the same language in a text

Cognate

A word which has the same derivation and is similar in form in more than one language (meaning may or may not vary)

Communicative competence

The ability to: a) form accurate language b) understand the rules of speaking c) know how to make and understand speech acts and perform identifiable functions in language d) know where and when to use the language (i.e., understand what is appropriate)

Concept-checking question

A display question intended to ascertain whether an idea has been understood (cf. instruction-checking question)

Concordance

A computer-generated analysis of texts intended to identify collocational and colligational patterns

Connectivism

A theory of language acquisition based on the cognitive process of making connections and drawing parallels

Construct validity

In testing, the ability of the test constructor to describe what exactly is being tested

Critical period hypothesis

The theory that there is a critical period for learning language which ceases around the age of 12

Descriptive grammar

Grammar which describes what native speakers do rather than attempting to say what is right or wrong

Discourse analysis

Analysing language above the level of the sentence

Eclecticism

The selection of whatever practice seems appropriate from a range of theoretical perspectives

Formative evaluation

Testing or assessment designed to contribute to learning and improving teaching

Framing (aka transition)

Any technique which explicitly signals the end of an activity and the beginning of the next stage of a lesson

Genre approach

An approach to teaching, especially, writing which focuses on analysing the structure and content of a model text. It may be combined with a process or product approach (q.v.)

Illocutionary force

An utterance’s intended or perceived meaning. E.g., It’s cold in here = Please shut the window

Input hypothesis

The hypothesis that for input to be effective for learning it should be understandable and just above the learner’s current mastery level

Interlanguage

A learner’s current ability on a scale of knowing none of the language to full mastery

Langue

Suassure’s term for the shared knowledge of a language within a speech community. It is akin (but not the same as) Chomsky’s concept of competence. The former is based on the speech community’s knowledge, the latter on the individual’s knowledge

Monitor hypothesis

A posited process by which learners actively apply the rules they have learned to their own output (after the event)

Noticing

A classroom procedure or a cognitive process whereby learners note or are encouraged to note either: a) the language which is used to realise a useful communicative function (noticing the language) or b) the gap between the learner’s current interlanguage and a native-speaker model (noticing the gap)

Overgeneralisation

Extending a learned rule into areas where it will not work. E.g., making the past tense of come as comed.

Phatic communication

Communication which does not and is not intended to convey information. E.g., How do you do?

Prescriptive grammar

Grammar which sets out what is considered right and wrong rather than describing what people say

Process approach

An approach to teaching (especially of writing) which focuses on subskills such as drafting, proofing, expanding and so on rather than the end product

Product approach

An approach to teaching (especially of writing) which focuses on producing a text based on a model provided

Reliability

A measure of how consistent and trustworthy a test’s results are

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The theory that the language we speak determines what we can speak about

Schema (pl. schemata)

A mental framework in which information is ordered and classified

Strategic competence

The ability to use compensation to keep communication effective or to produce a desired effect on the listener

Summative evaluation

Assessment which happens at the end of a teaching unit

Top-down processing

Using knowledge of the world, the topic or the generic structure to make sense of a written or heard text (cf. bottom-up processing)

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Following Vygotsky, the ZPD is the area in which the learner can perform a task only with some support