An ELT Glossary : Aspect
Aspect is a feature of the verb system which indicates how an event is viewed - eg as temporary or permanent; as completed or ongoing; etc. It is expressed in different ways in different languages -...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Tone Languages
A Tone Language is one where the meaning of a word will change depending on the tone used when it is pronounced. Tone languages include Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese and Thai.An oft-quoted...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Terms connected with language skills
Authentic texts/materials Backchannel language Bottom up processing Circumlocution strategies CoherenceCohesion...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Blended learning
A blended course is a course which uses different forms of learning - which these days is very often a mix of on-line and face to face study. So, for example, if you were following one of our blended...
View ArticleThe ELT Glossary : Conversation Frames
A conversation frame is a type of activity particularly useful for practising specific functions/structures. it consists of a dialogue framework which gives the learners instructions about what they...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Agent / Patient
Agent and patient are two terms which describe how the subject and object of a verb relate to an action described by the verb. In simplistic terms, the agent is the person/thing which performs the...
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Teaching Exam Classes: Some issues to keep in mindThis article is written by Marie-Anne Gillis, and based on work she did when researching Teaching Exam Classes as her specialist subject for Delta...
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IATEFL 2017 - Glasgow : the online programme.
IATEFL 2017 has been on all week in Glasgow - and like last year I've been following it online and wishing I was there. There's been some interesting stuff - and I'll be blogging about a few individual...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Syntax
Syntax is the set of rules of a specific language which determine how words can be combined into phrases, phrases into clauses and clauses into sentences. For example, in the noun phrase the old woman,...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : The Direct Method
The Direct Method (also sometimes called the Berlitz Method, as it was adopted by the Berlitz chain of language schools, and also the Reform ) emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction to the...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Roleplay and Simulation
Roleplay and Simulation - are they the same thing or different? Well, it depends very much whose definition you read. So let's look first of all at what is the same about both of them.Whichever term...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Norm and Criterion Referenced Testing
In norm referenced testing, the percentage of the test cohort (ie the people taking the exam) who will pass or get certain grades is decided in advanced. Eg if I have a class of 20 learners I might...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Fillers /Discourse markers
Fillers (sometimes called discourse markers) are words or sounds like erm, er, you know, like, well, I mean etc used in spoken discourse to fulfil various functions. They may eg :give the speaker...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Reading Strategies
Extensive and Intensive ReadingExtensive reading involves reading a text at normal speed to understand the contents without necessarily retaining all the details. It's the way we would normally read a...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Semi-Modal verbs
Need, dare and ought are semi-modal verbs. They are called this because they are verbs which can act either as a modal verb - ie as an auxiliary, which can act as the operator and is followed by a bare...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : The Silent Period
The Silent Period is an idea stemming from Krashen's Input Hypothesis that learners in the earliest stages of language learning need a time when they just listen to and assimilate the target language,...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Product, process and genre approaches to writing
The product approach to writing is based on the idea that learning to write involves understanding what is required in a text type and then reproducing those features. it was used in the 1960s and 70s...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Parataxis
Parataxis is the juxtaposition of clauses without linking them with co-ordinating or subordinating conjucnctions. It occurs in informal spoken language as in the following extract where someone is...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Language Immersion Programmes / Bilingual Education
Children participating in a language immersion programme receive anything from 50-100% of their school education in a language which is not their L1. For example English speaking children attending a...
View ArticleAn ELT Glossary : Humanism in language learning
The Humanistic Movement in language teaching, at its height in the 1980s and now integrated into much of the mainstream Communicative Approach, was strongly influenced by the work of psychologists...
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