Essential Terms for English Language Teaching

Accuracy and Fluency

Accuracy

Accuracy refers to the ability to speak or write without making mistakes, ensuring correct grammar and vocabulary. In accuracy-focused activities, teachers provide corrections to help students understand their errors.

Fluency

Fluency is the ability to produce rapid, flowing, natural speech, though it may not always be grammatically correct. Fluency activities prioritize communication over perfect accuracy.

Teaching and Learning Processes

Action Research

Action research involves teachers experimenting with new methods and studying the results to determine their effectiveness.

Acquisition

Acquisition is the subconscious process of learning a language without explicit awareness, similar to how children learn their first language.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment criteria are the standards used to evaluate a learner's performance.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is a theory suggesting that behavior can be conditioned through stimulus-response-reinforcement mechanisms.

Bottom-Up Processing

Bottom-up processing is an approach to understanding a text by starting with individual words and phrases and building up to the overall meaning.

Controlled Practice

Controlled practice involves students in repetition and cue-response drills to reinforce specific language patterns.

Comprehensible Input

Comprehensible input is language that students understand, even if it is slightly above their current production level.

Cue-Response Drill

A cue-response drill is a technique where teachers provide prompts to elicit specific responses from students, helping them practice target language structures.

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)

CLIL is an educational approach where a subject is taught through a foreign language, integrating language learning with content learning.

Developmental Stage

Developmental stage refers to the different abilities and understanding levels that children exhibit at various ages as they grow.

Reading and Listening Activities

Extensive Listening

Extensive listening involves listening for pleasure and overall meaning, rather than for detailed study.

Extensive Reading

Extensive reading involves reading longer texts, often for pleasure and outside of class, with minimal or no tasks.

Intensive Listening

Intensive listening involves listening to audio materials, either recorded or live, primarily for language and meaning study.

Intensive Reading

Intensive reading involves reading short texts for detailed understanding, often accompanied by exercises to analyze language and meaning.

Follow-Up Task

A follow-up task is an additional activity that students complete after a reading or listening exercise to reinforce learning.

Jigsaw Reading/Listening

Jigsaw reading/listening is an activity where students read or listen to different parts of a text and then share information to understand the complete story.

Motivation and Learning Environment

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation comes from external factors, such as rewards or recognition, rather than from the learning process itself.

Integrative Motivation

Integrative motivation is the desire to learn a language to become part of the target language community.

Instrumental Motivation

Instrumental motivation is driven by specific goals, such as improving job prospects.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation stems from the enjoyment and satisfaction derived from the learning process itself.

Information-Gap Activities

Information-gap activities require students to share different pieces of information to complete a task, promoting communication and collaboration.

Classroom Tools and Techniques

Formal Operational Stage

According to Piaget, the formal operational stage is when children begin to think abstractly.

Input Hypothesis

The input hypothesis suggests that language acquisition occurs when learners receive comprehensible input slightly above their current level.

IWB (Interactive Whiteboard)

An IWB is a digital display connected to a computer, allowing teachers and students to interact directly with the content using touch or an interactive pen.

Learning Styles

Learning styles refer to the different ways individuals prefer to learn and process information.

Lesson Shape

Lesson shape describes how the beginning, middle, and end of a lesson are structured by the teacher.

Rapport

Rapport is the positive professional relationship between teachers and students.

Realia

Realia are real-life objects, such as clothes or menus, used in the classroom to enhance learning.

Retrieval and Use

Retrieval and use involve students recalling previously learned language and applying it in new contexts.

Scaffolding

Scaffolding refers to the support provided by teachers to help students perform tasks and solve problems, gradually reducing assistance as students become more independent.

Assessment Types

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is used to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback to help students improve.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment evaluates student learning at the end of a course or unit, often in the form of achievement tests.