Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language
ISBN: 9781111351694
Glossary of Key Terms
academic language
a variety of language involving complex and varied technical
and sub-technical vocabulary, complex grammatical patterns
and text structures (e.g., problem-solution and comparisoncontrast), cohesive devices (transition words), and metadiscourse expressions; typically used for cognitively abstract
content and demanding academic reading, writing, speaking,
and listening; contrasts with informal (primarily oral) social
language
academic listening
the processing of spoken language in academic contexts, e.g.,
lectures, seminars, tutorials and on-line media
accentedness
the extent to which an accent is perceived as different from
one’s own; compare intelligibility, comprehensibility, and
interpretability
accuracy
the degree to which language forms are grammatically,
phonetically, and/or lexically correct; compare fluency
action research
a research method that involves teachers identifying an issue
in their classroom and systematically collecting and analyzing
data to illuminate the issue; often involves iterative cycles of
planning, acting, observing, reflecting, and replanning;
considered to be a form of teacher or practitioner research
carried out by people within the setting under investigation;
compare teacher research
action zone
the pattern of teacher-student interaction revolving around
those students who actively participate or who are called on by
the teacher to contribute
adapting a textbook
the process through which a teacher makes changes in
textbook materials to have them better fit a particular group of
students
adjunct instruction
an approach to content-based language teaching in which L2
students concurrently enroll in a language and a content
course; the tasks and assignments are generally coordinated
between the language and content instructors; compare
content and language integrated learning, content-based
instruction, sheltered instruction, and theme-based
instruction
advance organizer
an organizational framework that is presented in advance of a
lesson to emphasize its central idea, e.g., having students skim
a reading text or using a graphic organizer to present key ideas
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 1
and vocabulary
aesthetic reading
a term coined by Louise Rosenblatt to designate a process in
which a text is mainly read to provide pleasure for the reader
allomorph
a predictable variation in the form of a morpheme; for
example, the regular past tense (-ed) morpheme has three
allomorphs that vary according to the phonological
environment: /t/ in walked, /d/ in jogged, and /əәd/ in waited.;
compare morpheme, morphology, morphosyntax
alphabetic writing
a writing system where the graphic sign is linked to a spoken
sound or phoneme
analytical approach
according to David Wilkins, one of two broad approaches to
syllabus design; this approach uses topics, text, tasks and
experiential content rather than linguistic content as its point
of departure and is favored by communicative approaches to
language teaching (e.g., task-based language teaching,
content-based language teaching); compare synthetic
approach
analytic rubric
an assessment tool that rates the various components of
student performance and provides scores for each one;
compare holistic rubric and rubric
approach
a theory of language and language learning that includes units
of linguistic analysis and psychological and pedagogical
principles; compare design, methodology, and procedure
appropriacy
the degree to which language use is communicatively
acceptable in a given situation
asynchronous media
online communication that does not happen in “real time” but
rather at different times (for example e-mail); compare
synchronous media
authentic
a term that describes language or tasks that approximate those
used in the real world for non-pedagogical purposes, i.e., for
genuine communication; compare authentic discourse and
authenticity
authentic discourse
discourse (oral or written) that was produced for some
communicative purpose and not artificially constructed with
language teaching in mind; compare authentic and
authenticity
authenticity
the degree to which texts and tasks are ‘real’ rather than
artificially created; compare authentic and authentic
discourse
automaticity
the ability, typically developed through extensive practice, to
perform a language task without conscious or deliberate effort;
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 2
also referred to as automatization
baseline data
in research studies, data gathered to document the status quo
before an experimental treatment or before the implementation
of a change whose effect the researcher wishes to investigate
basic interpersonal
communication skills
(BICS)
according to Jim Cummins, a learner’s language proficiency
that is characterized by a command of every-day,
conversational or social language; compare cognitive
academic language proficiency (CALP)
basics of writing
the ability to recognize and produce the graphic signs of the
writing system of a language and their most frequent
combinations
beginner’s paradox
the challenge faced by beginning learners of a second or
foreign language who do not know enough words to
comprehend a text when reading and thus are unable to read
enough to acquire new words through exposure
bias
systematic differences in the meaning of test scores based on
group membership, e.g., gender, ethnicity, social class
bilingual
an individual possessing age-appropriate skills in two
languages, although the nature and extent of the skill in each
language may vary according to multiple individual and
situational influences
bilingual education
a program of education in which two languages are used as the
means of classroom instruction for a given group of students,
such that the students receive some of their instruction in one
language and some in the other, with the proportion of each
language varying according to program type, instructional
goals, and various contextual influences
biliteracy
the ability to read and write in two languages
blog
a shortened form of weblog, a type of online diary or journal
that typically focuses on one topic and invites comments from
readers
bottom-up literacy
skills
“lower-level” (text-based) skills involved in reading and
writing that include building meaning via decoding text (lettersound correspondences), recognizing words and word parts,
understanding and parsing phrase and sentence structure
bottom-up processing
the process whereby a learner applies existing knowledge of
sound segments, words, phrases etc. to make sense of or to
produce a spoken or written text; often involves the
segmentation of linguistic units to: (1) help the reader or
listener interpret the text or utterance; or (2) help the speaker
or writer to produce or reformulate the text or utterance;
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 3
compare top-down processing
computer assisted
language learning
(CALL)
instruction in which the learning process is facilitated through
the use of computers
career technical
education (CTE)
training in vocational fields, such as auto technician, welding,
or certified nursing assistant (formerly called vocational
education); compare Vocational English as a Second
Language
caregiver speech
how a caregiver, typically a parent or grandparent, may talk to
a child learning language in order to aid in comprehension,
using, for example, clear pronunciation, a slower rate of
speech, shorter and simpler utterances, rephrasing, and
repetition; also referred to as child-directed speech,
caretaker speech, motherese, or teacherese
Comprehensive Adult
Student Assessment
Systems (CASAS)
a U.S.-based non-profit organization that provides teachers
and school systems curricula and assessments with a focus on
basic skills
co-text
refers to the discourse context of a form or construction, i.e.,
to what comes before and what comes after the form or
construction; the co-text is often influenced by the genre or
register of the given piece of discourse
characterization
a term describing how an author portrays a character in a short
story or a novel by carefully selecting what the character
thinks, says, and does
chunks
sequences of words that are repeatedly used together, for
example you know what I mean, by the way, I don’t know;
easily identified using corpus research
claims
assertions or statements of interpretation that assessment
developers (teachers, committees, or agencies) make regarding
an assessment
classical languages
ancient languages with a rich literary tradition; for the
purposes of this text, Classical Greek and Classical Latin
classroom research
research based on the collection of empirical data within
classrooms which investigates how classroom activities and
interaction patterns affect the teaching/learning process; also
referred to as classroom-centered research and classroombased research
closed task
a task for which there is a single correct answer, solution, or
outcome
cloze
a type of assessment in which randomly-selected or
deliberately-selected words in a written passage have been
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 4
deleted and the test taker fills in the blanks
cognitive academic
language proficiency
(CALP)
according to Jim Cummins, a learner’s language proficiency
that is characterized by not only a command of basic
interpersonal communication skills (BICS) but also those
language and literacy skills required for academic study;
compare basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS)
cognitive flexibility
the ability to adapt strategy use to unfamiliar or unexpected
moments in language learning or use
cognitive processes
a learner’s conscious or nonconscious mental behavior used to
achieve some language learning objective
coherence
the unity of a piece of discourse such that the individual
sentences or utterances are connected to each other to form a
meaningful whole with respect to the context; compare
cohesion
cohesion
the grammatical and/or lexical relationships between the
different elements of a text, which hold across sentences or
clauses; resulting from the use of various devices (e.g.,
reference items such as pronouns, transitional expressions
such as therefore) that explicitly link propositions in the text;
compare coherence
cohesive chain
a group of linguistic structures used in a series for a single
referent or meaning; for example, a personal pronoun, a
demonstrative pronoun and a noun phrase with definite article
the could be used in succession for the same referent; or a
series of synonyms could be used to convey the same meaning
(e.g., large, big, sizeable)
cohesive device
a linguistic structure used to create connections across
sentence boundaries, contributing to text coherence. In
English, grammatical cohesive devices include personal
pronouns (e.g., it), demonstrative pronouns and determiners
(e.g., this), definite article the, and sentence adverbs (e.g.,
consequently), among others
communicative
competence
the ability to use language, both oral and written, as well as
language strategies, appropriately in diverse social situations
for different purposes and with a variety of interlocutors or
audience types, according to local community norms; compare
discourse competence, linguistic competence, socio-cultural
competence, and strategic competence
Communicative
Language Teaching
(CLT)
an approach to language teaching dating from the 1970s that
emphasizes the learning of language for (and by) meaningful
interactions with others either through speech or writing, but
usually with everyday speech as an initial priority
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Community Language
Learning
a language teaching method developed by Charles Curran
based on a counseling model; students decide what they want
to say, the teacher translates these utterances into the target
language, and once many expressions have been elicited, the
teacher writes the expressions on board and explains their
structure
complementing or
supplementing a
textbook
the process through which a teacher selects and/or creates
additional materials that are not provided in a textbook in
order to enhance classroom instruction
complexity
the use of a wide range of structures to form more varied
sentences
comprehensibility
the perceived ease with which a speaker can be understood;
compare accentedness, intelligibility, and interpretability
comprehensible input
a hypothesis developed by Stephen Krashen claiming that the
language input required for language acquisition to occur
should be just above students’ current level of understanding;
often referred to as “i + 1”
concordancer
a computer-based program that analyzes and displays
grammatical, lexical, and lexicogrammatical patterns in
spoken and written corpora, with the results typically
displayed in strings of words that highlight the usage patterns
constructed response
type
assessment tools that require students to provide a response
using language that they have learned
content and language
integrated learning
(CLIL)
a pedagogical approach with a dual focus on the integration of
second or foreign language study with subject matter learning;
this terms is commonly used in Europe; compare adjunct
instruction, content-based instruction, sheltered
instruction, and theme-based instruction
content-based
language teaching
(CBLT)
an approach to the teaching of language in which content is
the driving force behind the course or curriculum; it is often
drawn from regular school subjects such as science, geography
and mathematics or topics of themes of interest to students;
also referred to as content-based language instruction;
compare adjunct instruction, content and language
integrated learning, sheltered instruction, and theme-based
instruction
context analysis
the gathering of information about contextual factors that will
impact the curriculum; also referred to as situation analysis
and environment analysis
conversation analysis
the study of “talk-in-interaction,” which attempts to describe
the organization of conversation in terms of its sequential
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systems, rules, and structures
corpus
a searchable, generally electronic collection of spoken and/or
written texts which can be used to determine the frequency of
occurrence of certain words and grammatical structure, along
with other words or structures with which they co-occur
corpus-based
approach
an approach that incorporates grammatical, lexical, or other
linguistic descriptions based on structural patterns identified in
a large collection of spoken and/or written texts such as found
in dictionaries, collocation reference books, and concordancers
course managements
system (CMS)
a software application which allows teachers to create a course
learning space with a variety of classroom tools (e.g., live
chat, a discussion board, a course calendar, links of interest)
criterion-referenced
assessment
an assessment approach where the interpretation of test
performance is absolute (i.e., in relation to some level of
mastery)
critical ethnography
a reflective and evaluative approach to researching target
situations, requiring researchers to assess their own frames of
reference and the effect of their work upon the context and the
implications of their findings for society
critical literacy
an approach to the teaching of literacy that seeks to examine
how power inequities and human injustices can be reflected in
texts
critical period
hypothesis (CPH)
a theory that claims that: (1) there is a period from birth to
puberty when children’s minds are flexible and able to acquire
language naturally and easily; and that (2) following the onset
of puberty native-like proficiency becomes increasingly
difficult to achieve because of the biological changes in the
brain
cultural values
ideas, world-views, attitudes, opinions, principles, and
knowledge shared by members of a particular society, and not
necessarily shared or understood by members of other
societies
curriculum
a specification of the goals, objectives, content, procedures,
and evaluation instruments underpinning a course of study,
typically for a program entailing more than one course;
compare syllabus
deductive approach
an approach to the presentation of new material which begins
by the teacher presenting the rules for a given teaching point,
then providing examples that illustrate the rule; also referred
to as rule-driven learning; compare inductive approach
Deixis
The language we use to point to people, places and time, for
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example, you, those people (point to people); this, that, over
there (point to places); today, next week, back then (point to
time)
descriptive grammar
a description of how speakers of a language actually use the
language; compare prescriptive grammar
descriptive
observation
a style of observing classroom events in which the observer
suppresses impulses to judge and evaluate teaching behaviors,
often producing field notes that describe classroom events as
non-judgmentally as possible
design
curriculum objectives and syllabus types for teaching,
including learning activities, materials, and the roles of
teachers and learners; compare approach, methodology, and
procedure
designer methods
a term coined by David Nunan to describe methods developed
and promoted by one individual and spread by disciples, e.g.,
Silent Way, Community Language Learning
developmental
bilingual program
an educational program that aims to provide language and
literacy instruction for learners in two languages from
Kindergarten through elementary and occasionally through
secondary levels as well; also referred to as a maintenance
bilingual program
dictogloss
a classroom activity in which students listen to a text read
aloud to them and then reconstruct it in writing from their
notes; can be done individually or in pairs or groups; also
referred to as dictocomp
discourse
an instance of spoken or written language that has describable,
internal form and meaning (e.g., words, structures, cohesive
devices) relating coherently to an external function or purpose
and a given audience or interlocutor
discourse analysis
the study of language in use (both spoken and written) that
extends beyond sentence boundaries
discourse competence
The ability of a learner to construct coherent and cohesive oral
and written discourse in the target language and to interact
with others (e.g., in conversations, email, business letters) in a
coherent and acceptable manner; compare communicative
competence, linguistic competence, socio-cultural
competence, and strategic competence
discourse structure
awareness
conscious awareness of the ways in which text information is
organized and the signals that provide cues to that
organization; often used by good readers for reading
comprehension and good writers for effective text production
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display question
a question (usually posed by the teacher) asking the learner to
provide specific information related to the lesson content (e.g.,
from a written text or as part of a grammar drill or homework
correction task); typically display questions require lower
order thinking skills or rote memory; compare referential
question
double immersion
program
a form of immersion in which instruction in two foreign
languages takes place concurrently, for example, native
English-speaking students learning French and Hebrew in a
double immersion program; compare immersion, partial
immersion, two-way immersion, and total immersion
early-exit bilingual
program
an educational program for English language learners that
provides instruction in two languages for a limited number of
years (ranging from 3-4 years) after which the curriculum and
instruction continues in one language, generally the politically
dominant one; also referred to as transitional programs
efferent reading
a term coined by Louise Rosenblatt in which a reader focuses
on the message of the text and on extracting information (as is
too often the case in literature classes) rather than on its
aesthetics
elicitation
any technique designed to get the learner to produce language
in speech or writing
ellipsis
the omission of words or phrases which can be understood
from the co-text (textual ellipsis) or the situation (situational
ellipsis); common informal speech and writing
emergentism
in the context of second language acquisition, theories that
assume that: (1) language use and acquisition emerge
gradually from basic cognitive processes that are not specific
to language; and that (2) learners respond to the frequency of
the forms they are exposed to in the input
emic perspective
in classroom research, a point of view that describes behaviors
or beliefs in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously)
to participants; reflective of insiders’ views, i.e., what insiders
know and/or believe to be true; compare etic perspective
English as a foreign
language (EFL)
English that is studied and learned in contexts where English
is not commonly spoken, e.g., Korea, Turkey, Peru; compare
English as a second language, English as a lingua franca,
English as an international language
English as a lingua
franca (ELF)
the varieties of English that are emerging in Europe and Asia
as a result of non-native speakers of English using English to
communicate with other non-native speakers; compare
English as a foreign language, English as a second
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 9
language, English as an international language
English as a second
language (ESL)
English that is studied and learned in contexts where English
is commonly spoken, e.g., the U.S., U.K., Australia,
Singapore; compare English as a foreign language, English
as a lingua franca, English as an international language
English as an
international language
(EIL)
a term that recognizes that English has spread well beyond its
original borders and now exhibits numerous varieties, with
more non-native than native users; used across national
boundaries for purposes of diplomacy, business, science,
entertainment, etc., often quite apart from its historical and
cultural origins; compare English as a foreign language,
English as a lingua franca, English as a second language
English learner (EL)
preferred term for students in U.S. schools who are placed in
English as a second language classes that are designed for the
study of English; alternative term for English language
learner (ELL), which is also commonly used
English to Speakers of
Other languages
(ESOL)
a preferred term that refers to the subject studied in U.S.
schools by speakers of other languages in recognition of the
fact that many students may be learning English as their third
or even fourth language; often used interchangeably with
English as a second language (ESL)
e-portfolio
a collection of selected digital items (documents, video or
audio files, etc.) which highlights an individual’s learning over
a period of time
Engage, Study,
Activate (ESA)
a series of lesson phases proposed by Jeremy Harmer as an
alternative to Presentation-Practice-Production; in ESA, the
lesson begins with “Engage”–a phase in which learner
attention is stimulated and motivation is thus enhanced; this is
followed by “Study”–a phase in which language awareness is
heightened and learners engage in language practice; finally in
“Activate” learners apply what has been learned, engaging in
meaningful communication; compare Presentation, Practice,
Production (PPP)
estrangement device
a tool for gathering information in classrooms that provides an
outsider’s perspective (for example, video and audio
recordings which provide opportunities for teachers to be able
to see their own teaching behaviors as other might see them)
ethnographic
investigations
the long-term study of the beliefs and behavior of social
groups
etic perspective
in classroom research, a point of view that describes behaviors
or beliefs in terms that are meaningful to the outsider (e.g., a
researcher, supervisor, mentor); reflective of an outsider’s
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 10
view, i.e., what outsiders see and/or believe to hold true;
compare emic perspective.
every-day writing task
a writing activity that students might do outside of their school
assignments such as shopping lists, logs/diaries/journals,
letters/notes, text messages, e-mail messages, blogs, etc.;
compare school-oriented writing tasks
evidence
any research finding based on analysis of assessment data,
assessment performance, and the impact of assessments
expanding circle
based on B. B. Kachru, countries where English is learned as a
foreign language (such as China, Japan, and Brazil) and where
the target English variety is an Inner Circle model such as
American or British English; compare inner circle and outer
circle
explicit instruction
the focused study of words, structures, or sound patterns; also
referred to as intentional instruction
extensive reading
an approach to the teaching and learning of reading in which
the emphasis is placed on the top-down aspects of reading
larger amounts of text that are within students’ range of
linguistic competence; compare intensive reading
fairness
the quality of assessment procedures that guarantees equitable
opportunity to learn, with score interpretations and
determinations that are free of bias
far transfer
the transfer of knowledge or strategies that were learned in one
situation to another, different or changing learning situation; in
English for Specific purposes (ESP) programs, this is a central
goal so as to enable learners to modify and adapt their existing
knowledge and strategies for their future use in different
contexts
fluency
the ability to read, speak, or write easily, smoothly, and
expressively; a relative concept that must take into account
task, topic, learner’s age, and amount of second language
exposure; compare accuracy
focused task
a communicative task that is designed to get learners to
practice a predetermined linguistic form; compare task;
unfocused task
focus-on-form
instruction that overtly draws students’ attention to linguistic
elements as they arise in lessons which focus mainly on
meaning or communication; compare focus-on-forms
focus-on-forms
an approach that is evident in the traditional approach to
grammar teaching based on a structural syllabus, with the
underlying assumption that language learning is a process of
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 11
accumulating distinct linguistic elements or constituents;
compare focus-on-form
formative assessment
assessments used while instruction is in progress to promote
student learning; compare summative assessment
formative assessment
of teaching
a procedure used to enhance the learning of teaching (not to
evaluate the quality of teaching behaviors); typically
characterized as assessment for teacher development over
time; compare summative assessment of teaching
form-function
relationship
the relationship that a linguistic structure has with its use, such
as a passive verb used: (1) to place focus on the recipient of an
action rather than the agent; or (2) to avoid naming an agent
responsible for the action
function
in the notional-functional syllabus, one of the two
organizational principles determining the selection of items to
be taught; this principle takes into consideration the
communicative purposes of a language (both formal and
informal), often involving particular grammatical forms and
lexical expressions that signal the function; some common
classroom functions include reporting, summarizing, agreeing
and disagreeing, expressing a position, identifying, defining,
sequencing, hypothesizing, predicting, describing, comparing
and contrasting; compare notion, notional-functional
syllabus
functional literacy
minimum reading and writing abilities to meet basic personal,
social, and occupational needs
functional load
the relative importance or frequency of a linguistic contrast in
making distinctions in meaning
future self -guide
a possible self that acts as a forward-pointing force by
providing incentive, direction, and impetus for action in order
to reduce the discrepancy between one’s actual self and the
projected ideal/ought-to selves
General American
English Pronunciation
(GA)
the pronunciation of many Americans whose speech has few
marked regional influences; the norm for teaching English
pronunciation to second language learners in the U.S.
genre
originally considered a text type, genre is now seen as a
textual (or spoken) approach to a given situation, a social
action often sanctioned and conventionalized by a community
of readers or writers
global errors
According to Marina Burt and Carol Kiparsky, errors that lead
to misunderstanding or miscommunication of a sentence;
compare local errors
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glocalization
a term blending the concepts of globalization and localization,
referring to when something global is locally adapted to each
locality or culture in which it is used/sold; initially a term from
economics, now used by applied linguists to refer to global
language teaching methods/practices which are locally adapted
goals
the description in broad terms of the general learning
outcomes of a course; also referred to as aims, purposes, and
general learning outcomes; compare objectives
grammar
the system of language that includes inflections, structures,
and patterned sequences (constructions) in language that have
meanings and uses
grammaring
the ability to use grammar constructions accurately,
meaningfully, and appropriately
graphic organizer
a diagram or chart (such as a spider map or a T-graph) used to
organize or represent knowledge graphically with the intent of
enhancing comprehension, learning, and critical thinking
ability; also referred to as visual organizer, advance
organizer, or concept map; compare KWL chart
group cohesiveness
the strength of the relationships linking group members to one
another and to the group itself
group dynamics
the science of the social behavior of small groups overlapping
a number of fields (e.g., social psychology, clinical
psychology, and sociology) that involve groups as focal points
around which human activities and relationships are organized
group norms
implicit and explicit rules of conduct in the classroom that
regulate the life of the learner group and that make joint
learning possible
guided imagery
a variety of techniques to focus and direct one’s imagination,
utilizing visualization and to a lesser extent the non-visual
senses
hedging
a linguistic device used by a speaker or writer to “soften” or
qualify an assertion; hedging structures include probability
adjectives and adverbs (e.g., possible, possibly), modal verbs
(e.g., could, may), quantifiers (e.g., most, many), and
expressions such as sort of, kind of etc.
heritage language
students who speak a language at home (their first language)
that differs from the majority language of the community in
which they live (their second language) and whose education
has taken place primarily in the second language; when
seeking to obtain advanced literacy skills in their home
language, these students are often placed in special heritage
sections (e.g., Spanish for native speakers) due to their
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 13
differing learning profile from that of traditional foreign
language learners
holistic rubric
an assessment tool that rates student performance as a whole
and generates a single score; compare analytic rubric and
rubric
immersion education
a type of foreign language program which typically serves
language majority students in North American contexts.
Immersion programs vary in terms of the amount of subject
matter instruction in the L2; compare total immersion,
partial immersion, two-way immersion, double immersion
incidental word
learning
vocabulary that is “picked up” or acquired when a learner’s
attention is focused elsewhere (e.g., on meaning)
incumbent worker
workers currently employed who are undergoing (re)training
to improve performance on the job
inductive approach
presentation of new material which begins by the teacher
presenting examples, then guiding the students to arrive at the
rule based on the examples presented; also referred to as
discovery learning; compare deductive approach
information gap
activity
an activity in which selected information is known by one
participant but not the other and the participants must discover
and share the information to complete the task
initiation-responseevaluation (IRE)
a classroom interactional sequence in which the teacher asks a
student a display question and then signals whether the
students’ response is correct or not followed by a brief
evaluation; compare initiation-response-feedback (IRF)
initiation-responsefeedback (IRF)
a classroom interactional sequence in which the teacher asks
the student a referential question; after the student responds,
the teacher provides feedback and uses the student’s response
to continue the conversational exchange (often over multiple
turns); compare initiation-response-evaluation (IRE)
inner circle
based on B. B. Kachru, countries where English is a native
language (such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and
Canada); compare expanding circle and outer circle
input modification
the ways in which teachers alter their classroom language
based on their perceptions of learners’ proficiency level
integrated instruction
the integration of the four language skills (listening, speaking,
reading and writing) during instruction
intelligibility
the extent to which a message can actually be understood;
compare accentedness, comprehensibility, and
interpretability
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 14
intensive reading
an approach to the teaching and learning of reading in which
the emphasis is placed on the bottom-up aspects of reading
texts of a limited length; compare extensive reading
interlanguage
(1) the series of interlocking systems moving from the first
language (L1) to the second language (L2) which characterize
language acquisition; (2) the system that is observed at a
single stage of development (i.e., an interlanguage); and (3)
particular L1 and L2 combinations (for example, L1
French/L2 English versus L1 Japanese/L2 English)
intermediate level
slump
the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, often
characterized by a slowing of progress and frustration due to
students’ belief that they are more advanced than they really
are; compare learning to read, reading to learn
international teaching
assistant (ITA)
at the university level, international graduate students hired by
departments to serve as teaching assistants; often, a certain
level of language proficiency is required by the university for
students to serve as ITAs
interpretability
the extent to which a listener is able to figure out a speaker’s
intentions; compare accentedness, comprehensibility, and
intelligibility
intertextuality
the use of others’ texts (or one’s own previous texts) in
shaping a newly-created text, for example by citing other
authors or alluding to commonly known works
jigsaw activity
an activity in which individuals receive different but related
parts of something, and then work together to complete the
whole; in jigsaw reading and listening tasks, individuals
receive parts of a text that is shared and reconstructed in
groups
KWL chart
a graphic organizer commonly used for promoting strategic
reading or listening; the chart motivates students to engage in
the text by having them discover what they already know (the
K stage), what they want to know (the W stage), and what they
have learned (the L stage); also referred to as a KWHL chart
(with H representing the How stage); compare graphic
organizer
Language Experience
Approach (LEA)
a method of teaching first and second language literacy in
which a group of students first experiences some activity or
event together; then, drawing upon that common experience,
the students dictate statements describing the experience to the
teacher (or another student) who writes them down; this story
is then used for various reading and language practice
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 15
activities; particularly effective for beginning and intermediate
English as a second or foreign language students, and for
showing the relationship between oral and written language
language majority
speakers of a dominant language, either politically or
numerically; also referred to as linguistic majority; compare
language minority
language minority
speakers of a language who are fewer in number and/or less
politically and economically powerful than speakers of the
dominant language; also referred to as linguistic minority;
compare language majority
language of wider
communication
(LWC)
a language used internationally by a large number of second
language speakers in areas such as education, commerce,
science, diplomacy, etc.; English is not the only language of
wider communication, other examples being Mandarin
Chinese, Spanish, and Swahili
learner strategy
a conscious or nonconscious thought or behavior used by an
individual to achieve a language learning or use goal
learner’s style
a learner’s strategic, motivational, or affective predilection for,
or orientation to, language learning or use; also referred to as
learning style
learning disabilities
difficulties faced by some individuals when learning specific
skills or tasks in a typical manner
learning outcomes
statements that specify what students should know or be able
to do as result of participation or completion of an activity,
course, or program; also referred to as student learning
outcomes
learning to read
learning the conventions of reading, e.g., what the shapes and
lines on a page mean or what the conventions of narrative text
are; compare intermediate-level slump, reading to learn
an approach to improve learning involving a group of teachers
examining student data and together designing a lesson that
one teacher teaches, while the others observe; following the
lesson, the lesson study members meet again to reflect on the
lesson and discuss their observations and then collaborate on
revising the lesson and re-teaching it
lesson study
lexicogrammatical
a term that refers to structures in which grammar and
vocabulary combine and interact in creating meaning; for
example, this solution, consisting of a demonstrative
determiner and classifier noun, is a lexicogrammatical
structure that is used to create cohesion
lexicon
the words and phrases of a language; its vocabulary
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 16
lingua franca
a language used to communicate with others when there is no
common first language
lingua franca core
(LFC)
the proposed minimal elements of pronunciation (proposed by
Bryan Jenner and elaborated by Jennifer Jenkins) that learners
need to acquire in order to speak English intelligibly
linguistic competence
the accuracy and extent of a learners’ phonological, lexical,
and grammatical proficiency in a second or foreign language;
compare communicative competence, discourse
competence, socio-cultural competence, and strategic
competence
listening strategies
techniques that can be used to aid listening comprehension,
including metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective
strategies
listening taxonomies
lists of skills and strategies which learners may use to develop
their listening comprehension skills
LISTSERV®
a software program that runs e-mail discussion lists; originally
a brand name which has since become the generic term for this
type of program
literacy
the ability to read and write a language; compare New
Literacy Studies
literary texts
texts (such as short stories, novels, plays, and poems) that are
not primarily designed to convey information but rather to
engage the reader in an aesthetic experience and whose form is
carefully selected by the author in order to provide new
insights
local errors
according to Marina Burt and Carol Kiparsky, errors that
involve only a small portion of a sentence (for example,
missing articles) but do not lead to misunderstanding of a
proposition; compare global errors
macro-skills
the basic language skills of reading, writing, listening, and
speaking, which can be further subdivided into individual
processes and abilities; compare micro-skills
professional authors who write for publication, and/or
classroom teachers who create localized materials and lessons
for specific student audiences
materials writers
meaning-based
writing
a system where the graphic sign is linked to a meaning in the
real world, e.g., a sign for a word such as tree, river, entrance,
etc.
metacognition
the ability to reflect on one’s thinking and exercise control
over cognitive processes through planning, monitoring, and
evaluation
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 17
metacognitive
processes
a learner’s conscious or nonconscious self-regulation of
thoughts or behaviors related to some language learning or use
goal
meta-communicative
awareness of and ability to objectify, reflect on, or discuss the
forms, functions, and appropriateness of communication
metalinguistic
awareness of and ability to objectify or discuss language
forms, functions, and systems
methodology
(1) a set of step-by-step procedures for teaching a language;
(2) according to Jack Richards and Theodore Rodgers, a threepart construct consisting of approach, design, and procedure;
(3) procedures and principles for selecting, sequencing, and
justifying learning experiences; compare approach, design,
and procedure
micro-skills
the subdivision of the four macro-skills of reading, writing,
listening and speaking into individual processes or abilities
(e.g., in listening, the ability to guess word meaning from
context or the ability to recognize reduced forms of words);
compare macro-skills
a minimal unit of structure or meaning which falls into one of
two types: (1) a free morpheme consisting of a word root or a
particle that can stand on its own; or (2) a bound morpheme
that cannot stand on its own and consists of an inflectional
affix (e.g., –s plural) or a derivational affix (e.g., –ion as in
createàcreation); compare allomorph, morphology,
morphosyntax
morpheme
morphology
the study of the structure of words and their inflections and
derivations; inflectional morphology deals with grammatical
affixes, e.g., –s for regular plurals and –ed for regular past
tense; derivational morphology deals with the extension of
lexical items using affixes such as –ity and –ible that typically
change the part of speech: human (adj)àhumanity (noun);
access (noun/verb)àaccessible (adj); compare allomorph,
morpheme, morphosyntax
morphosyntax
refers collectively to the morphological and syntactic rules that
constitute the grammar of a language and the interaction of the
two (adj: morphosyntactic); compare allomorph, morpheme,
morphology
motivation
the mental function or state that determines the direction and
magnitude of human behavior, that is, why people decide to do
something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity,
and how strongly they are going to pursue it
motivational
constellations of various motivational, cognitive, and
emotional variables that form coherent patterns/amalgams that
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 18
conglomerates
act as wholes
multicompetent
individual
in contrast to the term nonnative speaker–which highlights
what an individual is not (i.e., a native speaker of a language)–
this term highlights an individual’s knowledge of and ability
to use two or more languages
narrow-angled ESP
classes
classes (such as adjunct classes and some types of vocational
English classes) offered to students with similar needs and
goals; their advantage is that the needs assessment and target
situation analysis–and the pedagogy–can be specifically
focused; their disadvantage is that they often do not prepare
students for a broad range of possible workplace situations or
a variety of classrooms; compare wide-angled ESP classes
native speaker
traditionally, a term referring to people who learned a
language as their first or sole language, in a natural setting,
and from childhood
native speaker fallacy
the belief that a native speaker is always the best teacher of a
language; also referred to as native speaker construct
needs assessment
in English for Specific Purposes, the process of gathering and
interpreting information about students’ learning needs so as
to make decisions about course or curricular goals and
content; also referred to as needs analysis; compare target
situation analysis
negotiated syllabus
an approach to course design that involves learners in
decision- making about what they are going to learn
New Literacy Studies
(NLS)
the study of reading and writing in authentic socio-cultural
contexts with the goal of interpreting, producing, and
critiquing text, visual information, and other forms of
ideological discourse; compare literacy
non-native speaker
traditionally defined as a speaker who acquires a given
language as a second or additional language, in contraposition
to the term native speaker; today a somewhat controversial
term given questions about the “ownership” of languages;
compare native speaker
norm-referenced
assessment
an assessment approach where the interpretation of test
performance is relative to other test-takers’ performances
notion
in the notional-functional syllabus, one of the two
organizational principles determining the selection of items to
be taught; this principle takes into consideration the ideas or
meanings (e.g., time, quantity, duration, location) that learners
need to express; compare notion, notional-functional
syllabus
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 19
notional-functional
syllabus
objectives
a language syllabus organized around the communicative
purposes (or functions) for which people use language and the
ideas (notions) that are being communicated; compare notion,
function; also referred to as functional-notional syllabus
the breaking down of goals into achievable and measurable
parts; compare goals
onset
in a syllable, the opening segment, consisting of up to three
consonants (e.g., say, stay, stray); compare rime
open task
a task with more than one possible answer, solution, or
outcome
oral fluency
the ease with which one can speak in a given language (for
example, the first or second language)
outer circle
based on B. B. Kachru, countries (such as India and Nigeria)
where the English varieties spoken are localized and the role
of English is that of an institutionalized variety that is
influenced by local languages and different from Inner Circle
varieties; compare inner circle and expanding circle
paradigmatic
a relation of substitution that typically occurs across clauses or
sentences with the paradigmatic forms occurring in the same
grammatical slot, e.g. Is that a new watch? No, it’s my old
one; compare syntagmatic
paralinguistics
the study of elements that accompany language use but are not
part of language per se (e.g., body language, gestures, facial
expressions)
parsing
the process of analyzing the grammar of words and their roles
in larger grammatical units
partial immersion
program
a form of immersion education in which typically about 50%
of the instructional time is spent in the second language;
compare immersion, double immersion, and two-way
immersion
pedagogical discourse
analysis
the use of discourse analysis to identify learner problems and
develop activities to help learners improve their
communicative competence
pedagogical grammar
an eclectic grammar that provides teachers and students useful
generalizations about a language for teaching and learning
purposes
perception
the recognition that sounds form known words or phrases
periphery learning
indirect, unconscious learning which, it is claimed, occurs
when the learner is focused on or attending to something else
persistence
the adult learner’s ability to remain in an educational program
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 20
for as long as possible, leave, and return dependent on
personal needs
phoneme-grapheme
correspondence
a sound and a written symbol (or symbols) constitute a regular
match, e.g., the letter n and the sound /n/ as in nice
phonics
the study of the sounds of language and the connection of the
sounds to the letters that represent them and how these letters
form words
phonological
awareness
the awareness that words consist of separate sounds, a part of
the decoding process in reading; this includes alphabetic letter
knowledge and awareness of the sound-symbol
correspondences, being able to identify syllables in a word,
being able to segment a word into phonemes, and knowledge
of sound blending and rhyming
podcast
asynchronous content (e.g., news broadcasts, professional
development modules) available online in an audio or video
format; often downloadable; compare asynchronous media
point of view
the perspective from which a literary text is told; entails what
the author chooses to tell the reader about the characters and
events of a story; may serve as a device to manipulate how the
reader reacts
politeness
culturally-determined linguistic and other types of behavior
that have the goal of accommodating the other person's values
and social disposition
post-methods era
a recognition that there is no one best method, which has
resulted in a search for research-based frameworks to inform
teaching and learning in different contexts
pragmatic function
the meaning– or social purpose– of an expression, word,
phrase, or sentence in actual spoken or written
communication, e.g., the function of how are you as a greeting
pragmatics
a subdiscipline of linguistics that studies how context
contributes to meaning, e.g., interaction participants'
intentions, social status, social distance, age, and gender of
interaction participants, and setting; a particular focus involves
understanding meaning in context, for example, I’m very cold,
depending on the given context in which it is uttered could
actually mean, ‘I want you to close the window’, ‘I want to go
back indoors’, and so on.
prescriptive grammar
the way that a language “ought to” be used; compare
descriptive grammar
Presentation, Practice,
Production (PPP)
traditionally, the three stages of a form-focused lesson, starting
with introduction to a new language point, moving to
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 21
controlled practice, and ending with communicative activities;
compare Engage, Study, Activate (ESA)
previewing
a pre-reading activity during which learners prepare for
reading by looking over the text that they are going to read to
identify its key features (e.g., headings, boldface,
pictures/charts/tables)
problem-based
learning (PBL)
a student-centered instructional strategy in which students
collaboratively solve problems that relate to their lives
procedures
all techniques, practices, behaviors, and equipment observable
in the classroom; compare approach, design, and
methodology
process approach
an approach to the teaching of writing that focuses on
understanding and teaching the process that experienced
writers use in composing; generally involves consideration of
audience and purpose, strategies for idea generation, and
revision and feedback on multiple drafts of a paper; compare
product approach
process-oriented
instruction
pedagogy that develops learners’ ability to enhance the
cognitive and social processes of their learning through
explicit teaching and implicit scaffolding
product approach
an approach to the teaching of writing that uses models to
focus primarily on the rhetorical and grammatical features of
the final written product (for example, a five paragraph essay)
rather than the process of writing; compare process approach
productive word
knowledge
the ability to use a word in writing and speaking; compare
receptive word knowledge
professional
association
an organization designed for professionals to join together to
collaborate on common issues and concerns and share
expertise
professional
development
the process whereby teachers take steps to enhance their
knowledge, skills, and abilities; also referred to as
professional learning
professional learning
community (PLC)
a group of teachers who regularly gather together to share their
expertise while collaborating on specific tasks with the goal of
improving their teaching practice
proficiency
one’s (functional) ability in a given second or foreign
language
psychometric
experiments
the use of tests to measure psychological variables, including
comprehension
published or
collections of teaching materials published in a book format to
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 22
commercial textbooks
be used by teachers as the basic source for information and
activities to use in a class
push-pull factors
negative factors that cause people to migrate from one region
or allegiance and, conversely, positive factors that attract them
to move to another region or allegiance
reading to learn
the process of gaining new knowledge from what is read,
especially from expository or information-based texts;
compare intermediate-level slump, learning to read
recast
the reformulation of a learner utterance, usually by the teacher
in an attempt to provide the correct target form
Received
Pronunciation (RP)
the pronunciation of the educated British elite of Southeast
England; spoken by relatively few native speakers but often
used as the model in second language teaching materials; also
referred to as BBC English
receptive word
knowledge
recognizing and understanding a word in reading or listening;
compare productive word knowledge
recycling
the classroom practice of presenting one aspect of language
(e.g., a grammatical construction, a word or phrase, a
pronunciation feature) and then returning to the same aspect
from time to time as the need arises to reinforce it
referential question
a question (usually posed by the teacher) that has no single
correct answer and typically requires the learner to provide an
original, creative answer (e.g., the learner’s opinion on an
issue); typically such questions require a higher level of
thinking on the part of the learner; compare display question
reflective practice
a process involving teachers thinking deeply about what
happens in their classrooms and making changes in an effort to
enhance the effectiveness of their teaching
reliability
consistency of a set of measurements or a measurement
instrument over multiple administrations
rereading
an activity in which students reread the same passage or text,
e.g., to search for new information, to repair comprehension,
to complete a post-reading activity, or one of a number of
fluency-development exercises
response tokens
single words or short phrases uttered by the listener while the
speaker is holding the floor with the function of signaling
listenership, at differing levels
rime
in a syllable, the closing segment consisting of a vowel plus
any following consonant(s) (e.g., see, seed, seeds); compare
onset
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 23
rubric
an assessment tool that includes criteria for evaluating levels
of student performance; compare holistic rubric and analytic
rubric
Scaffolded Silent
Reading (ScSR)
an approach to silent reading practice that involves some
degree of teacher guidance and monitoring
scaffolding
find-tuned help provided to learners to develop their
competence and enable them to accomplish a task which they
would otherwise not manage on their own; often includes
breaking the task down into smaller steps, modeling it, or
showing alternate ways of accomplishing it
schema
a pre-existing knowledge structure in the memory of human
beings, essential to discourse processing; plural: schemata
school-oriented
writing task
a writing activity needed for learning within the school context
such as answers to questions, summaries, reports, and essays;
compare every-day writing task
Secretary's
Commission on
Achieving Necessary
Skills (SCANS)
a U.S. Department of Labor report issued in the 1990s that
describes to educators and employers what students and
workers need to know and be able to do in order to succeed in
the work place; delineated in the report are five workplace
competencies and three foundation skills for employers and
employees and for high school and adult school students who
are entering the labor force
segmental features
consonants and vowels, or the “segments” of the sound
system; compare suprasegmental features
selected response item
type
an assessment tool that requires students to select an answer or
response to demonstrate learning, e.g., multiple choice items
self-regulation
a learner’s executive control processes related to use of
cognitive, affective, and sociocultural strategies
sheltered instruction
an approach to content-based language teaching in which L2
students study subjects in the regular curriculum; usually
taught by a subject matter instructor who has special training
in strategies for making the content accessible to L2 students
and assisting them with language development; compare
adjunct instruction, content and language integrated
learning, content-based instruction, and theme-based
instruction
Silent Way
a language teaching method developed by Caleb Gattegno;
using an array of visuals (colored rods of different sizes, sound
charts, and word charts), the teacher gets students to practice a
new language point while saying very little in the process;
only the target language is used with no explanation allowed
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 24
skill-building theory
a view claiming that: (1) knowledge originates in an explicit
form and is gradually proceduralized into an implicit form
through practice; and (2) explicit knowledge develops into
implicit knowledge through communicative practice; also
referred to as skill-acquisition theory
skills-based
curriculum
a language learning curriculum that is divided by language
skills such that students would have a class or a dedicated
portion of a course in listening/speaking, reading, writing,
and/or grammar
social distance
the degree of familiarity or closeness between the speaker and
the hearer and/or between the second language learner and the
target language community
socialization
a complex, ongoing process whereby an individual acquires
social skills and learns the norms, attitudes, values, and
behavior that are needed to participate within a particular
culture and its speech community; also referred to as
enculturation
socio-cultural
competence
knowledge, skills, and functional abilities that are associated
with values, beliefs, norms, and behavior of a particular
society and in the context of daily communication and social
interaction, i.e., knowing how to speak and behave
appropriately; compare communicative competence,
discourse competence, linguistic competence, and strategic
competence
speech acts
conventionalized, frequently repeated, and routinized
expressions, classified by their communicative and pragmatic
functions and obligatory and optional sequential moves (e.g.,
as requests, apologies, compliments, complaints)
spoken grammar
the unique structural characteristics of oral language (as
compared with written language) at the word, phrase, and
clause levels; reflective of the face-to-face nature of spoken
language and how it differs from writing
stance
the way in which a speaker or writer expresses his or her
personal feelings, attitudes, judgments, or assessments toward
another speaker, writer, or topic
standards
statements about what students are expected to know and be
able to do as a result of instruction; criteria for student
achievement, usually established by an educational institution,
a professional organization, or a governmental agency
stimulated recall
a data elicitation process in which a researcher uses some
record of an event (e.g., a video recording) to prompt the
participant’s recollections of that event; the verbal
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 25
recollections are recorded forming a new layer of data as the
participants recall and discuss the original event
strategic competence
(1) the ability to adapt and adjust when communicating in a
second language to compensate for knowledge gaps or
breakdowns, (e.g., rephrasing, asking for help, using gestures);
(2) a set of informational structures in long-term memory
associated with the information processing system of the brain
and observed in terms of self-regulatory processes; compare
communicative competence, discourse competence,
linguistic competence, and socio-cultural competence
student learning
outcomes (SLO)
statements describing what a student will be able to do or
demonstrate at the end of a lesson, course, or program; usually
tied to assessment
Suggestology
a language teaching method developed by Georgi Lozanov;
students are exposed (in a very comfortable setting) to scripts
with musical accompaniment, followed by group or choral
reading of the script, followed by songs, and games; on a
subsequent day, students elaborate on the script to create an
anecdote or story; also referred to as Suggestopedia
summative assessment
assessments used to summarize student learning upon
completion of course or program of instruction; compare
formative assessment
summative assessment
of teaching
the evaluation of an individual’s teaching abilities with a view
toward the current status of the teacher’s development;
commonly used to refer to as formal assessment of faculty by
a supervisor; compare formative assessment of teaching
suprasegmental
features
pronunciation features which extend over multiple sounds
(e.g., stress, rhythm, and intonation); also referred to as
prosody; compare segmental features
syllabary
a writing system where the graphic sign is linked to a syllable,
usually CV or CVC in form; for example, in text messages an
8 can represent the syllable ‘ate’ /eyt/ in words like m8 (mate),
d8 (date), etc.
syllabus
a description of a course plan; may contain some or all of the
following elements: brief course description, goals and
objectives of course, assessment scheme, materials, outline or
timetable of course content and sequence
syllabus design
procedures and principles for selecting, sequencing, and
justifying the learning content of a course
synchronous media
online communication that occurs in “real time” (such as an
online chat session or a telephone conference); compare
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 26
asynchronous media
syntagmatic
refers to linear relations that are expressed within the same
clause or sentence such as a lexical collocation (e.g., an
auspicious occasion) or the position in which an indirect
object occurs (I gave John the book/I gave the book to John);
compare paradigmatic
synthetic approach
according to David Wilkins, one of two broad approaches to
syllabus design; this approach is based on the analysis and
specification of discrete linguistic items and is favored by
traditional approaches to language teaching (e.g., grammar
translation); compare analytic approach
target language
the second or foreign language that learners are trying to
acquire
target situation
analysis
in English for Specific Purposes, the process of gathering and
interpreting information about the discourses and cultures in
which students will be working or studying to arrive at
decisions about course or curricular goals and content;
compare needs assessment
task
according to Peter Skehan, an activity that satisfies the
following criteria: meaning is primary; there is a goal that
needs to be worked toward; the outcome is evaluated; and
there is a real-world connection; compare focused task,
unfocused task
task repetition
the repetition of the same or similar task at a later stage of
learning
task-based teaching
an approach to the teaching of second/foreign languages based
on a syllabus consisting of communicative tasks and utilizing
a methodology that places primary emphasis on meaningful
communication rather than linguistic accuracy
task-supported
language teaching
teaching that utilizes tasks to provide free practice in the use
of a specific linguistic feature previously presented and
practiced in exercises; often in the form of presentationpractice-production (PPP) with the task providing an
opportunity for free production
teacher learning
teachers incorporating new ideas into their existing theory of
teaching, which leads to improved classroom practice
teacher research
research conducted by teachers, regardless of the focus
involved or the method used; compare action research
teaching English to
young learners
(TEYL)
field of study within the larger field of TESOL that refers to
the teaching of English as a second or foreign language to
children and young adolescents
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 27
technique
a specific classroom activity that teachers use in the
classroom, e.g., dictation, choral repetition, chain drill, small
group problem-solving, etc.
Technology-Enhanced
Language Learning
(TELL)
classroom teaching and learning that is enhanced through the
various uses of computers and other electronic devices
textbook evaluation
the process of determining the effectiveness and merit or value
of textbooks with reference to specified language learning
criteria
textbook
implementation
actual use of textbooks in classroom settings, evidencing trialand-error, selectivity, and expansion activities
textbook selection
determining relevance and making textbook adoption or
recommendation decisions; often carried out by committees,
with attention to issues of academic freedom as well as
administratively sanctioned student needs
thematic unit planning an approach to curriculum design involving the creation of
linked instructional units centered around a theme or topic, the
goal of which is to present language within a meaningful
context; often used in conjunction with communicative
approaches
theme-based
instruction
an approach to content-based language teaching in which
themes and topics are integrated with second/foreign language
instruction; compare adjunct instruction, content and
language integrated instruction, content-based instruction,
and sheltered instruction
think-aloud procedure
a procedure which involves having research subjects
(including teachers and learners) verbalize their thoughts as
they are undergoing some process, such as lesson planning or
revising a composition; compare think-aloud protocol
think-aloud protocol
the resulting record (whether it be an audio-recording, a
videotape, or a transcript) of research involving a think-aloud
procedure; compare think-aloud procedure
threaded discussion
in an online discussion forum, a chronological listing of all
postings on a particular topic in which all posts are identified
by the identity of the person posting the message and the time
posted; the first message posted (e.g., by a teacher or a
student) receives responses from others, forming a thread
the amount of time during task work in which the students are
actively engaged in the language learning process
time on task
top-down literacy
skills
“higher-level” (mental) skills involved in reading and writing
that include employing background knowledge in the
comprehension of a text; these also involve the ability to make
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 28
predictions and inferences; compare bottom-up literacy
processing
top-down processing
the application by a learner of prior knowledge and knowledge
of the context to understand or produce a spoken or written
text; compare bottom-up processing
total immersion
program
a form of immersion education in which the majority of school
subjects are taught in the L2; compare partial immersion,
double immersion, immersion, and two-way immersion
Total Physical
Response (TPR)
a method for teaching a foreign language developed by James
Asher in the 1970s that is based on connecting language to
movement through a series of commands, such as “Stand up”
or “Sit down”; still used widely as a technique in teaching
English as a second or foreign language for learners with
beginning levels of proficiency
triangulation
the use of at least three different types of data to support
research findings (e.g., proficiency test scores, questionnaires,
and classroom observations)
turn
the smallest unit of interaction between at least two speakers,
of varying lengths, with speakers in a conversation taking
turns at speaking and a new turn, usually beginning when
there is a speaker change
turn taking
(1) the part of conversation analysis that deals with how two
or more speakers manage their turns in a conversation; (2) as
part of the interactive dynamic of classrooms, the roles of
speakers and listeners shift frequently, with turns initiated,
delegated, relinquished, borrowed, stolen, interrupted, offered,
overlapping, etc.
two-way immersion
program
an educational program that uses two languages as media of
instruction from Kindergarten through elementary levels of
education (and rarely through secondary education); serves
students coming from two different home languages (typically
from language majority and language minority backgrounds)
and uses the two languages in roughly similar proportions in
classroom instruction; also referred to as dual language
immersion; compare double immersion, immersion, partial
immersion, total immersion
unfocused task
a fluency-oriented communicative task for which learners are
not made aware of the specific linguistic feature being
practiced; generally these types of tasks elicit general samples
of language use; compare focused task, task
usage
(1) a reference to language use as it applies to the specific
mention of grammatical rules and lexical patterns; or (2) the
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 29
ways that native speakers actually speak and write (as
contrasted with the ways in which traditional grammars say
they should speak and write)
validity
various types of evidence and theory supporting the proposed
interpretation and use of test scores
vernacular (language)
the language or dialect of a given speech community, often
lacking a written tradition.
Vocational English as
a Second Language
(VESL)
a primary curricular focus on the language required for
successful participation in vocational training programs and
for job performance; compare career technical education
visible minority
teachers
native-English speaking teachers who belong to an ethnic
minority and hence do not resemble the ethnic stereotype of
the Anglophone teacher
vocabulary breadth
the measure of the number of words that one knows; compare
vocabulary depth
vocabulary depth
to know many aspects of a word, including its meaning(s),
written form, spoken form, grammatical behavior,
collocations, register, associations and frequency; compare
vocabulary breadth
wait time
the amount of time which elapses after a teacher poses a
question to an individual student or to the class as a whole
washback
the influence or effect of assessment on instruction
Web 2.0
the second generation of the Worldwide Web, seen as a
platform to enable interactivity and shared dynamic content,
rather than static webpages
Webinar
a web-based seminar or professional development opportunity,
featuring both visual and audio material available online in
real time and typically allowing for interaction with
participants from around the world; often recorded and made
available asynchronously after the initial broadcast
WebQuest
an inquiry-based activity that asks students to investigate a
question or topic of interest using web-based resources
wide-angled ESP
classes
classes (such as stand-alone English for academic purposes or
pre-employment vocational English classes) offered to
students with a variety of needs and goals; their advantage is
that they attempt to prepare students for a number of contexts
and language situations; their disadvantage is that it is more
difficult to conduct needs assessments and, especially, target
situation analyses; also referred to as broad-angled classes;
compare narrow-angled ESP classes
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 30
Wiki
a dynamic, collaborative online workspace where any
contributor can add, delete, or edit site content without
specialized knowledge or tools; wiki sites are typically
equipped with a built-in text editor and can be used effectively
in English as a second/foreign language writing classrooms
word family
a collection of words including the base word, its inflections
(when an affix is added according to the requirements of
grammar, such as to inflect a verb for the third person
singular) and its derivatives (when the affix changes the word
class or part of speech of the word)
zone of proximal
development (ZPD)
according to Lev Vygotsky, the difference between what a
child can achieve alone and what s/he can achieve with the
help of the adult (parent or teacher) or more skilled peer
Copyright © National Geographic Learning. All rights reserved. 31