TEFL Academy Glossary
A-level
A Levels (Advanced Levels) are the exams UK school pupils take on leaving school aged 17-18. They usually take three subjects. A student with a good pass at A-level is considered ready to start studying that subject at university. People studying for an A-level i...
A-level
A Levels (Advanced Levels) are the exams UK school pupils take on leaving school
aged 17-18. They usually take three subjects. A student with a good pass at A-level is
considered ready to start studying that subject at university. People studying for an A-
level in a foreign language are at upper-intermediate level.
abstract noun
A noun which refers to an abstract idea (e.g., peace, love, understanding) rather than
something tangible. See concrete noun.
accuracy-based activities
Accuracy-based activities are classroom (or homework) activities whose main focus is
producing, selecting or perceiving correct forms (compare with fluency-based
activities).
acquisition
The process of getting to know a language through exposure to it, rather than through
consciously studying it. Young children acquire their first language. A distinction is often
made between language acquisition and language learning, though people who are
studying a foreign language probably acquire a large proportion of it, i.e., get to know it
without consciously studying and memorising it.
adjective
A word which describes a noun. E.g., an old man, a difficult question, or my hair
is red.
adverb
A word or phrase that describes an adjective, verb, or another adverb. Adverbs express
time, manner, place, frequency, or degree, e.g., then, slowly, there, sometimes,
extremely.
Sentence adverbs, or adverbial phrases (such as frankly, honestly, in my opinion) can
be used to modify (comment on) whole sentences.
,aims
What the teacher intends the students to learn in a lesson.
alveolar
A sound formed by putting the tip of the of the tongue against the alveolar ridge - at the
front of the roof of the mouth, just behind the the top teeth. (t, d, s, z)
anaphoric reference
A word in a text (written or spoken) that refers back to an earlier idea in the text.
E.g., I spoke to Charlie this morning. She sounded a bit unhappy.
anticipated problems
The problems that the teacher predicts (anticipates) might arise in a lesson. The teacher
should decide how to deal with these problems when planning the lesson.
antonym
A word which carries the opposite meaning to another (e.g., black/white, fat/thin).
approach
A way of teaching which is informed by certain beliefs about how languages operate
and how they are learned. An approach is not as prescriptive as a method, which
demands teachers to use particular procedures and techniques in the classroom
approximant
It is a sound usually classed as a consonant (in English), but not a true consonant
because there is no complete closure or restriction stopping the flow of air (/r/, /l/, /w/
and /j/). It is also called a semi-vowel.
article
Articles are a type of determiners. They are placed before nouns. Broadly speaking,
articles help the reader or listener understand which one(s) of a set of things we are
talking about. There are three choices of articles: definite: the (Look at the
horse), indefinite: a/an (We saw a horse), and no article: (I like horses).
Audiolingualism
A method of foreign language teaching
authentic materials
These are listening or reading texts/materials that were produced for native speakers;
they were not originally intended to be used for language teaching.
,auxiliary
An auxiliary verb is a verb used in conjunction with a main verb to form tenses,
questions and negatives. In English, the primary auxiliary verbs are do, be,
and have: Do you like coffee? You are working hard. I haven't been there.
These three verbs can also act as main verbs.
The full name for modal verbs is 'modal auxiliary verbs.' They operate in the same way
though the meanings they convey are different.
bare infinitive
It is usually just referred to as 'infinitive without to,' e.g. 'go' and 'be', rather than 'to go'
and 'to be'.
Berlitz Method
A language teaching method developed by Berlitz language schools.
bilabial
A sound formed by putting the two lips together (/p/, /b/ and /m/)
body of the lesson
Generally all lessons should have a warmer-body-plenary structure. The main part of
the lesson is the body. The first and final stages are the warmer (or lead-in) and the
plenary. The body is normally further divided into separate stages.
bottom-up processing
Trying to build up an understanding of a text (written or spoken) by starting with the
smallest units - letters or sounds - and building these up to understand the words and
grammatical structures in the sentences. The reader then tries to understand how the
sentences relate to one another and so on. This process includes decoding and word
attack skills.
CAE
Certificate of Advanced English - a Cambridge English examination for students at C1
level.
CALL
Computer Assisted Language Learning
caregiver speech
, Caregiver speech is the simple language used to address young children. It is also
referred to as child-directed speech, and it is sometimes called 'motherese.'
cataphoric reference
When a word in a text refers to another one which occurs later in the text.
E.g., Because he was feeling unwell, James decided to go back to bed. Here he refers
forward to James.
See also anaphoric reference and exophoric reference.
CBLT
Competency-Based Language Teaching. In this approach, learning goals are defined 'in
terms of precise measurable descriptions of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors
students should possess at the end of a course of study.' (Richards & Rodgers, 2001,
p.141).
CEFR
Common European Framework of Reference. System used for describing a learner's
ability in a second or foreign language.
choral drilling
Drilling is when students repeat a word or phrase modelled by the teacher to practise
pronunciation or help memorise structure. Choral drilling is the whole class or a group
repeating together (in chorus).
chunks of language
A large proportion of the language we produce seems to be memorised 'chunks of
language', rather than original creations generated through combining our grammatical
and lexical knowledge. Examples are the _____er, the _________er (as in the bigger,
the better), you must be joking, to cut a long story short.
classroom contract
An agreement, negotiated with students, on how students should behave.
closed pairs
This is when all the students in a class work in pairs at the same time (compare
with open pairs).
closed question
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