Teaching Terminology - ELT Concepts and Methods

Vocabulary flashcards defining core terms, techniques, assessment types, and theoretical principles in English Language Teaching.

Target language

The language that students are learning or want to learn.

L1

The language that children acquire at home.

L2

Refers to any language that has been learned subsequent to the acquisition of the first language.

Drill

When students have to repeat restricted items of language.

Backward - build up

When we ask students to do choral repetition, repeating bits of a sentence, starting at the end and working up to saying the whole thing.

Chain drill

A drill that gets its name from the chain of conversation formed as students, one by one, ask and answer questions of each other around the room.

Single – slot substitution

A drill where the teacher gives a line and a cue word or phrase, and students repeat the line substituting the cue into its proper place.

Multiple –slot substitution

A drill where the teacher gives cue phrases one at a time that fit into different slots in a dialogue line, requiring students to adjust parts of speech or grammar.

Minimal pair

Pairs of words that differ in only one sound, such as 'ship/sheep'.

ICQ (instruction checking question)

Questions used after a teacher has given instructions to make sure students have understood what they need to do.

Transformation

An activity where students transform a given sentence pattern into another form, such as changing affirmative to negative or statement to question.

Overlearn

To continue studying or practicing something after initial proficiency has been achieved so as to reinforce or ingrain the material or skill.

Learner autonomy

When students make decisions about their own learning.

Curriculum

The overall plan for a subject or for a school – more general than a syllabus.

Choral repetition

When students all repeat the same word, phrase, or sentence at the same time.

Integrative motivation

Motivation to learn a language because we like or want to be part of a target group.

Instrumental motivation

Motivation that comes from a desire to achieve something specific, such as learning to do something because it will help get a better job.

Differentiation

Giving different learning tasks to different individual students.

ALM (Audio Lingual Method)

An oral-based approach emphasizing vocabulary acquisition through exposure to its use in situations, drilling students in grammatical sentence patterns based in linguistics and psychology.

Realia

Real objects that we take into our classes.

TPR (Total Physical Response)

A methodology where students learn by performing actions.

Syllabus

A list of items to be taught in a certain sequence.

Language exponents

A phrase or sentence that we ask students to learn or study because it demonstrates the construction of a piece of language.

ESA

Engage, study and activate – three elements of a teaching sequence.

Blended learning

When students use traditional learning aids, such as books, together with more modern technology such as websites and apps.

Formative assessment

In-process evaluations of students' comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit or course (assessments for learning).

Summative assessment

Evaluations used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period (assessments of learning).

Diagnostic test

A test given to students to see what to teach them next and/or what level they should study at.

Placement test

When we test students in order to decide what level they should study at.

Progress test

A test given during a term or semester to see whether students have learned what they have been studying in the last week or month.

Washback

When the form of an exam influences the way that teachers teach because they want their students to pass the exam.

Direct –test –item

When an exam candidate is asked to perform an actual skill that is being tested.

Indirect –test –item

A test item which tests grammar, vocabulary, etc., but doesn't ask students to use language realistically.

Deductive learning

Occurs when a rule or generalization is first presented to the learners, and then they apply it in practice activities.

Inductive learning

When learners themselves generalize the rule from examples before practicing it.

Dictogloss

A dictation-like activity where students try to reproduce a text that the teacher has read to them.

GTM (Grammar Translation Method)

A method of teaching foreign languages in which students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the target and native language.

Affixes

A morpheme added to a word to modify its meaning, such as a prefix at the beginning or a suffix at the end.

Connotation

The idea or feeling that a word suggests, which goes beyond just its explicit meaning.

Homonyms

A word that has the same spelling and sound as another word, but has a different meaning.

Superordinate

A general word that contains a number of hyponyms, e.g., vehicle (with hyponyms car, truck, bus).

Hyponyms

A word of more specific meaning than a general or superordinate term applicable to it, e.g., spoon is a hyponym of cutlery.

Co –hyponyms

Words that belong to the same larger superordinate category and are at the same level of meaning, e.g., eagle and kite.

Morpheme

The smallest unit of grammatical meaning, e.g., the past tense -ed ending or plural -s ending.

Blend

When two words are mixed together to make a new one, e.g., smoke + fog = smog.

Lexical phrase

A collection of words which are often found together and have a particular meaning.

Phrasal verbs

A multi-word verb with metaphorical/idiomatic meaning that can be transitive or intransitive.

Phonemes

An individual unique sound.

Phonemic transcription

When speech is written down in phonemic script instead of the written alphabet.

Elision

When sounds like /t/ and /d/ are left out at the end of words when connected in phrases.

Assimilation

When a sound changes because of the sound that is going to be used next.

Coherence

When something is comprehensible and ordered in a logical sequence.

Cohesion

When cohesive devices are used to show how the parts of a text relate to each other.

Juncture

The join between two phonemes that helps distinguish phrases like 'I scream' and 'ice cream'.

CLT (Communicative Language Teaching)

Teaching which encourages students to communicate rather than just practicing certain language items.

Real beginner

Learners who have had no contact with English at all.

False Beginners

Beginners that have already studied some English at some point in their life but feel they have little command of the language.

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation which comes from the act of learning itself and a desire to complete a learning task.

Extrinsic motivation

Motivation that comes from something outside the act of learning itself, such as a desire for a better job.

Language acquisition

Picking up a language without consciously learning it.

PPP

A teaching procedure with three stages: presentation, practice, and production.

TBL (Task Based Learning)

When teachers ask students to use language to do tasks rather than just learning grammar, vocabulary, etc.

Scaffold learning

When a teacher explains tasks in small logical stages and helps students until they can do the tasks by themselves.

Overgeneralization

The process of extending the application of a rule to items excluded from it in standard language norms (e.g., using 'goed').

ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)

The difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Semantics

The study of meaning.

Pragmatics

The relationship between sentences and contexts and situations.

Descriptive grammar

A set of rules about language based on how it is actually used, where there is no absolute right or wrong.

Prescriptive grammar

A set of rules based on how people think language should be used.

Compensatory strategies

Communication strategies used by learners to compensate for limitations in their language.

Ellipsis

When words are left out on purpose while ensuring the meaning is still understood.

Interference error

A mistake that learners make because they try to use their L1 grammar and vocabulary in their L2.