Glossary of ELT terms

When you are concentrating on accuracy, you are making sure that what the students produce is grammatically correct English with correct vocabulary. Typical accuracy activities: grammar presentations, fill-in exercises, frame dialogues. Assessment is often equated and confused with evaluation, but the two concepts are different. Assessment is used to determine what a student knows or can do, while evaluation is used to determine the worth or value of a course or program.
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Accuracy

Assessment

Classroom assessment involves two major types of activities: collecting information about how much knowledge and skill students have learned (measurement) and making judgments about the adequacy or acceptability of each student's level of learning (evaluation). Pieces of language from the "real world" newspapers, menus, radio broadcasts, television programs, websites, etc. The most common form of blackboard blindness is when you have to write a word you know well on the board and you cant remember how to spell it. In a more general context, it refers to all those situations in the classroom where you suddenly forget something you in fact know and understand perfectly well. Typically used in writing, but is any activity where individuals general ideas related to a topic or task; done in either groups or individually with no restriction on quality of ideas. Once ideas are generation, they are they evaluated and a decision about which to pursue is made. Computer Assisted Language Learning. Using specially designed computer programs to teach English. These may be simple game-type activities or grammatical exercises, or complete language courses on CD-ROM with graphics, sound and practice exercises. CD-ROM CALL programs often have a facility for recording and playing back your voice to help with pronunciation. The process of setting up an activity in class, monitoring it, and following it up. A key concept in classroom management is classroom dynamics. This is the type of interaction going on in a class: A method of teaching that focuses on helping students communicate meaningfully in the target language. With this approach there is a tendency to place more emphasis on speaking and listening tasks. The communicative approach is designed to give the students meaningful activities. The aim is to teach the students to use "real-world" language. Controlled practice is when the students use a limited set of new language. After the controlled practice, students can then move on to free practice where they invent parallel sentences about another person with other activities.

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Authentic material

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Blackboard blindness

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Brainstorming

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CALL

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Classroom management

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Communicative approach

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Controlled / Free practice

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Counselling

Counselling is a teacher talking with a learner about their learning and advising them. It can be done in a formal or informal way, and integrated into the beginning or end of a language course.

A drill is a set of sentences containing a new structure for the students to repeat.
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Drill

Choral drill: the entire class repeats the sentences in unison. Individual drill: The teacher selects students to repeat a sentence individually. Substitution drill: The teacher varies the drill with cue words.
There are three basic types of error correction: Teacher correction: The teacher corrects the student. Self-correction: The teacher indicates the student has made a mistake or error (usually by repeating in a quizzical tone) and gives the student an opportunity to self-correct. 3. Peer correction: The teacher asks other students to correct the mistake or error.

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Error correction

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Errors and mistakes

Errors are when students produce incorrect language because they dont know the correct form. Mistakes are when students produce incorrect language although they know the correct form. Students can usually correct their mistakes, but by definition they cant correct their errors. Elicitation is a technique by which the teacher gets the learners to give information rather than giving it to them. It helps develop a learner-centred dynamic, it makes learning memorable as learners can link new and old information, and it can help produce a dynamic and stimulating environment. False beginners have some understanding of the basics of English, but they cant use it very well. They may give the impression that they know little or nothing of the language. True beginners know absolutely nothing about English and have had little or no contact with the language. Usually, false beginners advance much more quickly than true beginners. Feedback is information a teacher or another speaker, including another learner, gives to learners on how well they are doing, either to help the learner improve specific points, or to help plan their learning. Feedback can be immediate, during an activity, or delayed, at the end of an activity or part of a learning programme and can take various forms. A set of sentences or a text which has blanks in it for the students to complete with the correct or appropriate word. Fill-in exercises are a good way of reinforcing new grammar and vocabulary. When you are concentrating on fluency, you are helping students to express themselves in English. You are not concerned with errors of grammar and vocabulary. Typical fluency activities: role plays, speeches, communicative activities, games.

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Elicit / elicitation

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False beginners

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Feedback

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Fill-in exercises

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Fluency

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Group work

Activity, usually communicative, done by groups of three or more.

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Ice-breakers

Ice-breakers are speaking activities used with a new class in order to give the learners an opportunity to meet each other. In order to complete an ice-breaker task learners must talk to each other.

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Integrated skills

Lesson, or section of a lesson, in which several skills are naturally combined.

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Jigsaw

A jigsaw listening or reading activity is an information gap exercise. Learners hear or read different parts of a text, then exchange information with others in order to complete a task. L1 is the students native language. L2 is the language which the students are learning.

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L1 / L2

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L1 interference

Students errors are sometimes the result of trying to express themselves using the structures of their native language. Language acquisition is the process by which children learn their native language. They can achieve full competence in speaking without any formal instruction. Language learning is the process by which we learn a language through formal instruction. Adults taking English classes are learning the language, not acquiring it. The distinction sometimes becomes blurred, as in the case of children learning a second language at school, or an adult picking up a language by living in the country but not taking language classes. A key concept in modern teaching theory. The main idea behind learner autonomy is that students should take responsibility for their own learning, rather than be dependent on the teacher. Different students learn in different ways. Learning styles affect all the processes of learning a language: how much is remembered; how much recycling is needed; how quickly material is learned and so on. The idea of learning styles is a feature of key areas of ELT such as Multiple Intelligences and Learner Training. A sentence which gives students an example of the grammatical structure they are learning.

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Language acquisition / Language learning

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Learner autonomy

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Learning styles

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Model sentence

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Monitor

To monitor is to watch and listen to learners while they are doing an activity but not to lead them in the activity. Teachers monitor to find out what problems the learners are having, and to identify the type of errors learners make as they produce language. The reasons why students are learning English. Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from inside the student: Extrinsic motivation comes from pressures on the student: Motivation is an important factor in a students learning process. Generally speaking, intrinsically-motivated students learn more effectively than extrinsically-motivated students. Pace refers to the speed of the class. It is a subjective judgement, connected with how it feels for the learner to go through the sequence of activities in a class.

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Motivation

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Pace

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Pair work

Activities done by two learners working together, e.g. question-answer pair work.

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Peer-correction

One learner correcting another. Compare self-correction.

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PPP

PPP is the standard presentation technique Presentation, Practice, Production.

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Presentation

Introducing the students to new language grammar, vocabulary or functions.

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Productive skills
Rapport

The productive skills are speaking and writing, because learners doing these need to produce language. They are also known as active skills. They can be compared with the receptive skills of listening and reading.

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Positive relationship between teacher and learners.

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Realia

Real objects used as teaching aids. The receptive skills are listening and reading, because learners do not need to produce language to do these, they receive and understand it. These skills are sometimes known as passive skills. They can be contrasted with the productive or active skills of speaking and writing. Activity in which pairs or groups of learners act as different people, not themselves, e.g. doctor and patient, or customer and shop assistant. It is often combined with simulation.

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Receptive skills

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Role-play

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Self-correction

Learner correcting him- or herself, perhaps assisted by the teacher.

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STT

Student Talking Time

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TTT

Teacher Talking Time.

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Use / Usage

The use of a language item is its communicative purpose, as used by native speakers. The usage of a language item is the grammatical rules for making it. A low challenge, enjoyable and relaxing activity designed to get the students responding well at the beginning of a class.

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Warm-up