Vocabulary, Terminology, & Abbreviations Flashcards
English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
EAP programs focus on vocabulary and language skills needed to succeed in an all-English academic environment.
English Language Learner (ELL)
Used to refer to any student learning English as a second or third language.
English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
When we teach EFL, we are teaching English to students in their native country (e.g. Teaching English to Korean students in Korea).
English as a Second Language (ESL)
Refers to teaching English to non-native speakers within a country where English is the main language spoken.
English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
Refers to any English curriculum designed for a specific industry or trade (e.g. medical/hospitality).
L1
Refers to a student’s primary language.
L2
Refers to the language the student is learning.
Teaching E (TEFL)
Refers to the field of professionals who teach English in a country where English is not the primary language.
Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL)
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
This refers to the field of professionals who teach English in a country where English is the primary language.
TESOL International
Name of the international organization of TESOL instructors.
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
A test administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) which is a required exam for admission into many universities in the US and elsewhere. It is designed to assess international students’ level of English for academic purposes.
Acceptable Word Method
A procedure for scoring tests in which any response which (a) is grammatically correct, and (b) makes good sense in the context is given full credit as an acceptable answer.
Accuracy
Refers to the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences that are comprehensible.
Achievement Tests
Assessment instruments or procedures based on the objectives of a course, used to determine how much of the course content students have learned.
Acquisition
Picking up a language through meaningful conversation the way children pick up languages. Acquisition will occur when a learned is exposed to meaningful, comprehensible input. It is far superior to learning because it is language that is acquired that is available for fluent, rapid, natural speech.
Acquisition-learning Hypothesis
According to Stephen Krashen, adult second language learners can develop second language learning. One method is a conscious study of the forms of language, The other method is acquisition, or just picking up a language the way that children do without conscious attention to forms. Krashen further argues that acquisition is far more beneficial in terms of producing fluent, natural communication in another language. He also asserts that learning cannot change into acquisition.
Active Voice
Sentences where the subject is the performer or doer of the action, not the receiver of the action. (e.g. She washed the car.)
Activity
A single exercise or game.
Additive Bilingualism
When learning a second language does not interfere with the learning of a first language. Both languages are developed.
Admissions Tests
An instrument or procedure used to provide information about whether or not a candidate is likely to succeed in a particular program. (aka: screening tests)
Affective Feedback
When teachers display signs about how interested they are in trying to understand the student. These signs come in the form of gestures, facial expressions, and intonations.
- Positive affective feedback will encourage the learner to continue even if it is clear that the listener cannot fully understand.
- Negative affective feedback will stop a learner from speaking entirely and raise their affective filter.
