Glossary Pt 1

Question 1

accent

Answer 1

Way of speaking which tells the listener something about the speaker’s background

Question 2

dialect

Answer 2

A variety of a language, spoken in one part of a country, or by people belonging to a particular social class, which is different in some words, grammar and/or pronunciation from other forms of the same language

Question 3

address terms

Answer 3

Words used to address somebody in speech or writing, which change depending on age, sex, social group, and personal relationship. For example, tú/usted (Spanish) and Sir/Mr (English).

Question 4

adjacency pairs

Answer 4

A sequence of two related utterances by two different speakers. The second utterance is always a response to the first. They form part of the structure of a conversation. Examples of types of adjacency pairs include complaint-denial, greeting-greeting and question-answer.

Question 5

affective factors

Answer 5

Set of emotional factors that may influence language learning and use. These include basic personality traits (shyness), language attitudes, and states such as enthusiasm, anxiety, boredom, apathy

Question 6

critical period hypothesis (CPH)

Answer 6

Claim that there exists a ‘critical’ period in which children can acquire language easily, rapidly, perfectly and without instruction (age 2 to puberty). Belief that after puberty, language acquisition is difficult, with complete learning of L2 unlikely. This is a controversial claim with some rejecting it completely and other maintaining a steady decline in language learning ability with age.

Question 7

agency

Answer 7

An individual’s ability to make choices and take actions that have an impact on their learning and their environment. Learner agency relates to students’ capacity to actively engage in their own learning process, making decisions about what to learn, how to learn, and how to demonstrate their learning

Question 8

aggravation

Answer 8

Use of terms or expressions that make requests or statements more violent. For example, swear words

Question 9

mitigation

Answer 9

Use of terms or expressions that soften requests or statements, or other kinds of imposition, to make them less violent. For example, “please” or “would you mind”.

Question 10

applied linguistics

Answer 10

Concerned with performance or communicative uses of a language in specific situations. Three well-known branches / fields typically associated with applied linguistics may be SLA, L2 teaching, and (L2>L1) translation.

Question 11

theoretical linguistics

Answer 11

Concerned with linguistic competence or mental knowledge of a language. Two examples of well-known branches or fields typically associated with linguistics may be syntax and morphology.

Question 12

attitude

Answer 12

Influences learning. At the individual level, attitude relates to motivation, with positive attitudes contributing to learning. At the social level, attitudes may promote or devalue some languages.

Question 13

aptitude

Answer 13

Learner’s inherent abilities for language learning. It consists of several components: phonemic coding (ability to discriminate among sounds), grammatical sensitivity (ability to recognise grammatical functions of words), inductive language learning ability (how well learners extract patterns in language without being explicitly taught) and associative memory (ability to memorise forms and meanings of vocabulary).

Question 14

backsliding

Answer 14

Occurs when a learner moves back to a previous stage of development in language matters. The regular reappearance of features of a learner’s interlanguage which were thought to have disappeared. Sometimes a learner who appears to have control of an area of grammar or phonology will have difficulty with particular linguistic features in situations which are stressful or present communicative difficulties. Errors may then temporarily reappear.