TGC Glossary

 GlossaryTerm/wordDefinition

AccuracyAccuracy is the ability to produce language without making any errors; to speak or write a language without grammatical, vocabulary, spelling, or pronunciation mistakes.

Appropriacy /appropriateness

Appropriateness refers to how well the use of a language fits the social setting in which it is used. Formal pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar is suitable for a formal context, whereas informal language is appropriate for a more relaxed situation.AttemptAn attempt is a mistake that learners make when they try to say things they don’t know how to say yet.

Audio-lingual approach 

The Audio-lingual Approach emphasizes listening and speaking skills over reading and writing skills in the foreign language. This method contains the belief that listening and speaking are the most basic language skills and uses repetitive oral drills and immersive aural practices.

Authentic materials

Authentic materials are writings that were not designed or created for language learning purposes; some examples are news reports, magazines, blogs, or songs. These texts contain writing that is closer to how the language is used in everyday life.

CBI (content-based instruction)

Content-based instruction is a program in English as a second language that teaches students the skills that they need through content areas or subjects such as math, geography, or history.

CCQ (concept checking questions)Concept Checking Questions (CCQ) are questions or statements that are used to check the students’ understanding of the meaning(s) of new material.

Communicative approach

The Communicative Approach has the goal of communicative competence and focuses on developing the students’ abilities to make meaningful communication and language through all classroom activities.

Controlled practice

Controlled/restricted practice involves students in using target language in a guided and restricted way in which they have little choice over what language to use. Examples of controlled practice activities are repetition and substitution drills.

Curriculum

A dynamic system which includes identifying learning outcomes, planning for teaching and assessment, putting the plan into practice and evaluating effects

Deductive teaching

Deductive Teaching teaches rules (typically grammatical rules) and then applies them to examples or data.

Dictogloss

Dictogloss, or Grammar Dictation, is a technique to develop students’ grammatical competence. This involves the teacher dictating (speaking) a text to students and letting them copy down whatever they are able to hear. Then they compare with a partner or group to see what they missed, which might be followed with the teacher repeating the process. Afterwards, the students are given a copy of the original text to discuss their accuracy and what they missed.

Drill

Drill is the teaching technique where the teacher asks the students to repeat sounds, vocabulary, or structures several times to reinforce learning.

Eclectic approach / eclecticism

Eclecticism is an approach that uses several language teaching methods to accommodate different types of learners; e.g. applying both audio-lingual and communication techniques instead of only using one.

EFL (English as a Foreign Language)

EFL (English as a Foreign Language) refers to learners whom are learning English in an environment where English is not primarily used.

Elicitation

The elicitation technique is used to get a better picture of the learners’ language abilities by asking them questions that they might already know, but to encourage the learner to practice more of the language.

Error

An error is a systematic mistake made by a language learner that is due to incomplete learning and lack of mastery of that part of the language system.

ESL (English as a Second Language)

ESL (English as a Second Language) refers to learners with another mother tongue (first language) who are learning English while living abroad in an English-speaking environment.

Explicit instruction / teaching

Explicit instruction of new language items includes all techniques the teacher can use to focus learners’ attention on new grammar items and help them notice the key features of these new forms and form-meaning connections. These techniques include providing examples in context, explanations, illustrations, using tables, charts, graphs, visuals, realia, texts, videos and any combination of these.

Exposure

Exposure refers to the beneficial effect of being surrounded by the spoken and written language which the person is learning. More exposure typically means that the language is more practiced and used on a daily basis.

Feedback

Feedback is any (positive or negative) response that provides information on the result of a behavior or on a learners’ performance.

Flowchart

A flowchart is a type of diagram that shows a sequential order of activities or processes.FluencyFluency is the ability to speak stretches of language smoothly, naturally, and with native-like use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, and rate of speaking that is coherent (understandable) and with flow.

Form, meaning, use

Three dimensions of grammar. Form refers to morphosyntactic, phonemic and graphemic patterns (e.g. how a particular grammar structure is constructed, how it is sequenced with other structures in a sentence, how it is pronounced and how it is spelled); meaning includes the lexical meaning of the pattern (e.g. a dictionary definition) and its grammatical meaning (e.g. plural – more than one); use refers to the pragmatic dimension of a grammar item, that is, when it is used and why it is used.

Fossilization

Fossilization refers to the continuous use of incorrect linguistic features that become a permanent (fixed) part of the way a person speaks or writes a language. “Fossilized errors” are the fixed or fossilized language aspects.Grammar translation approach

The Grammar Translation 

Approach emphasizes reading and teaches translation and grammatical structures, usually along with a vocabulary list.

Grammaring

Grammaring conveys the dynamic nature of the grammar learning process. It is the process which a learner acquires the ability to use grammar structures accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately.

Implicit instruction / teaching

Implicit instruction teaches students by guiding them to come to their own conclusions. Whereas explicit teaching is when a teacher directly provides the “answer,” implicit teaching is more indirect and is used to help language learners internalize language use for higher fluency and accuracy.

Implicit learning

Implicit learning is generally non-conscious learning without awareness of what has been learned, in comparison to explicit learning where the learner is aware of what they learned.

Inductive teaching

Inductive teaching lets learners discover grammatical or other types of language rules through their own experience of using the language. This type of teaching usually applies implicit instruction and focuses on use of the language rather than presentation of language knowledge.

Inert knowledge problemInert knowledge is information of a language which one can express but not use. An example of the problem is such that a learner might learn vocabulary of a foreign language for an exam but not be able to use in a real situation.

Information gap

An information gap between two or more people is when some people know more information than others present. For instance, there is an information gap between teachers and students as the teacher has the knowledge, language skills, or answers while the students are trying to close the gap.

Input

Input in language learning is what a learner hears or receives that is used for learning. It refers to the part of language which the learner is exposed to and “takes in.”

Integrated skills

Integrated skills are the combination of two or more skills within a communicative task.L1L1 is also known as First Language, mother tongue, native language, or home language, which is a person’s mother tongue or first acquired language.L2L2 is also known as Target Language which is one that a person is learning.

Language chunk

Language Chunk refers to several words that are customarily used together in a fixed expression: e.g. “to make a long story short,” “in my opinion”.

Language skills

Language skills are the acquired abilities of how the language is used. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are considered the 4 core language skills. Speaking and writing are the active and productive skills while reading and listening are passive and receptive skills.

Learner training

Learner training are the activities that help learners take responsibility for their learning and help them develop and strengthen their language learning strategies.

Meaning

Meaning, in linguistics, is what a language expresses about the world we live in or any world. The study of meaning is called Semantics.Meaning, grammar dimensionSee Form, meaning, use

Metalinguistic

Metalinguistic knowledge is the knowledge of the forms, structure and other aspects of a language, which a learner arrives at through reflecting on and analyzing the language.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech where something is described by stating something that can be compared. For example: “The classroom was a zoo” is a metaphor describing the teacher’s class as loud, rowdy, or hard to control like wild animals seen in a zoo.

Mistake

A mistake is a non-technical word that refers to both a slip and an error.

Objectives

Brief and specific descriptions of what a student is expected to be able to do by the end of a period of instruction (lesson, module, or  semester).

Output

Output, in language learning, is language which a learner produces while speaking or writing and demonstrates what he or she can express in the target language.Peer correction / Self-correctionPeer correction refers to when a classmate or another learner corrects a partner’s language mistakes. Self-correction is when one corrects oneself.

PPP (presentation, practice, production)

PPP is a model of lesson planning with Presentation, Practice, and Production stages. The teacher in the Presentation Stage begins the language lesson with models, situations, or illustrations of the topic. The practice stage is where the students practice the new language in a controlled way through drills and activities. Lastly, the production stage is when students are encouraged to use the new language in a freer way for their own purposes and meanings (e.g. through role play, communication task, etc.).

Prompt

A prompt is a description of the material that test takers will encounter and respond to in the item.

Recast

Recast is a type of negative feedback where a speaker of the target language corrects a learner’s incorrect question or sentence by rephrasing it back to the learner. These are thought to be a way for learners to acquire new linguistic structures or notice that the ones they are using are incorrect.

Reflection

Reflection is the process of thinking back on experiences, in order to better understand the experiences and why it is important.

Restructuring

Restructuring, in language acquisition, is the integration of new forms into the learner’s language system to trigger reorganization of a sentence or question.

Slip 

A slip is a mistake learners make due to pressure of time, anxiety or tiredness, and which they can easily correct themselves.

Spidergram

A spidergram is a diagram with lines and circles for organizing information so that it is easier to use or remember. The diagram has its name because it looks like a spider’s web.

Syllabus

A syllabus is a document which outlines the structure of the course and identifies specific course content, goals, and focus.

TBLT (task based language teaching)

TBLT is an approach to teaching based on communication and interactive tasks. They can provide engagement to acquire grammar.

Usage / use

Usage is the way people actually speak and write. There is a distinction between the function of a linguistic item as an element in a linguistic system (usage) and its function as part of a system of communication (use).

Use, grammar dimension

See Form, meaning, use.