Glossary

A
 Academic Language – is the one used for school tasks, it is context reduced
 Age of Acquisition – it is a learner's age when it comes to acquiring a language. There
are ones who consider that learners should be younger in order for them to acquire a
language, and also others who believe that age is not a factor in learning a language
 ALM – Audio-Lingual Method, based on behaviorist theory, it is focused on creating
habits by repeating and practicing the way the sentences are made until the students
are able to produce them themselves
 Aptitude – it is an individual's potential for achievement
 Attitudes – it is an individual's general standpoint towards the second language
community
 Auditory/Aural Learner – it is a person who learns things more effectively by hearing
 Automatization – it occurs when a person has acquired a language and practiced it
enough for it to become automatic

B
 Behaviorism – a theory which claims that everything we learn is by creating habits (in
this case the habits of repeating and imitating a certain unfamiliar language)
 BICS – Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (field dependent people)
 Brainstorming – a group activity in which students find a solution to a problem by
giving spontaneous ideas

C
 CAH – Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, it was used as a method of explaining why
there were certain aspects of a language that were more difficult to acquire than others
 CALP – Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (field independent people)
 Caretaker Talk/Motherese – modified speech that involves slowing the rate of the
speech, talking in a higher pitch, paraphrasing, using simple sentences and a more
varied intonation
 Caring and Sharing – in order for language learning to be effective, the mind the body
and the heart should be engaged, because it is essential to be creative for life long
learning
 CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning, it is an approach that uses a
foreign or a second language to teach the students some subject
 CLT – Communicative Language Teaching
 Cognitivist Theory – claims that humans have an innate capacity to develop logical
thinking
  Communicative Approach – it is an approach in which the teacher manages classroom
activities and comes up with situations for the students to communicate about, and
students interact with one another which makes it a learner centered approach
 Communicative Competence – the ability to use a language for communication in
everyday life
 Community Language Learning – it is a learner centered learning, they are
independent but are sometimes guided by teachers
 Comprehensible Input Hypothesis – it means that we will acquire more if the input
contains language that is comprehensible to us, so the teachers should use one level of
language above their learners
 Connectionism – language acquisition by connecting certain words or phrases with
situations and trying to associate them
 CPH – Critical Period Hypothesis, a certain amount of time in which we are able to
learn a language, and the LAD works successfully
 CUP – Common Underlying Proficiency, it means that ideas in a native language will
be transferred to the second language

D
 DM - Direct Method of Language Teaching – in this method translation is not
allowed, and students perceive the meaning of the language through the language
itself, by using visual aids or pantomime to explain some concepts
 Dogme – it is a communicative approach to language teaching without the use of
textbooks, and its focus is on the communication between the students and their
teacher

E
 EFL – English as a Foreign Language
 ELL – English Language Learner
 Errors – they are a connection between the habits children have formed in their native
language and the ones in second language acquisition
 ESL – English as a Second Language
 ESP – English for Specific Purposes

F
 False Beginners – people who after studying a language, believe they've mastered it,
but they haven't enough to go in the real world and use it there
 FD – Field Dependent learners, they focus on the general meaning or a situation and
they are relational
 FI – Field Independent, they focus on details, they are analytical and they do not need
some kind of a context to perceive certain elements
 First Language Acquisition – studies the acquisition of a baby's native language
  FL – foreign language

G
 GTM – Grammar-Translation Method that focuses on teaching the language and
developing students' taste for the literature of that language

H
 Habit Formation, it is a notion found in behaviorism, which learners use to acquire a
language
 Haptic Learner – it is a person who uses touch and body movement to learn things
more effectively
 Humanistic Method – is a learner centered approach in which students decide their
own needs, set their goals, and evaluate themselves

I
 Impulsive Learners – the ones who use their intuition when solving a problem or
answering a question, they usually guess
 Innatism – a theory that claims that language acquisition is something which we are
born with, i.e. it is innate to us
 Instrumental Motivation – the one that motivates someone to learn a language to get a
better job
 Integrative Motivation – the one that motivates someone to learn a language only
because he/she wishes to know more about the culture and language itself
 Interactionism – learning from inside and out, meaning that children use their innate
ability of language acquisition along with the environment in which they are growing
up. These theorists believe that a language should be modified according to the
learner's capability, and that it is an important part of acquisition process.
 Interlocutor – it is a person that takes part in a conversation
 Interpersonal Intelligence – it means using language to communicate, talk to other
people and understand them
 Intrapersonal Intelligence – it means using language to understand yourself, and it is
also self-knowledge and self-confidence
 Intrinsic Motivation – children with this motivation want to excel in something and
they wish for self-actualization

K
 Kinesthetic Learner – it is a person who uses their body to learn more effectively
L
 L1 – an individual's native language, first language
 L2 – the second language learned after the first language
 LAD – Language Acquisition Device (Little Black Box), a set of language learning
tools provided to us at birth
 Learner Centered Approach – it is a method during which most of the class the
learners are talking and the class is in a way directed by them, and the teacher only
guides them in the right direction
 LL – Language Learning, it occurs at school, and is a conscious process

M
 Modified Input – slower rate of speech, comprehension checks, repeating or
paraphrasing certain parts of the sentences

P
 PDP – Parallel Distributed Processing, it means that how a child performs in regards
to language is the result of many levels of parallel connections between neurons
 Perceptual Learning Style – it involves visual, aural/auditory and haptic (kinesthetic
and tactile) types of learning

R
 Realia – objects found in real life, which the teacher presents to the students so they
could better understand certain aspects of language learning
 Reflective Learners – the ones who slowly and with more caution come to a decision
 Restructuring – it happens when new knowledge is integrated into our system of
language learning

S
 SLA - Second Language Acquisition, it studies the acquisition of a foreign language in
both children and adults
 SLL – Successful Language Learning
 Social Development Theory – claims that social interaction is important for full
cognitive development
 Social Interactionist Theory – claims that an infant's language development is helped
by the early interactions with its caregivers
 Social Language – it is the conversational language used every day
 S-R-R – Stimulus-Response-Reward, it is a process in which the environment
provides the stimuli to which the learner responses, which the environment later
rewards them for
 STT – Student Talking Time
  Suggestopaedia – uses the subconscious to influence and promote learning
 SUP – Separate Underlying Proficiency

T
 Tactile Learner – it is a person who has a more hands-on approach and uses touch to
learn things effectively
 TBL/TBI – Task Based Learning/Instruction, in this method students are given a task
that can be found in real life and they are supposed to interact with one another
 Teacher Centered Approach – in this approach most of the time the teacher is
lecturing, there is minimal student talking time
 The Affective Filter Hypothesis – claims that certain affective variables can prevent
input from reaching the LAD, which in turn makes it difficult to acquire a language
 The Monitor Hypothesis – explains how acquisition and learning are used. When
we've acquired a language and produced it, we are able to inspect it and use what
we've learned to correct our mistakes
 The Natural Order Hypothesis – we acquire certain parts of a language in a predictable
order
 The Silent Way – in this method the teacher is merely a guide and the students
discover things themselves and they develop independence this way
 TL – target language (this is the language in which a text is translated to)
 TPR - Total Physical Response, in this method the teacher is at first in control of the
class, but once the students have made progress in their language acquisition, the class
is directed by what they do and say
 TTT – Teacher Talking Time

U
 UG – Universal Grammar

V
 Visual Learner – it is a person who learns things effectively by seeing

Z
 ZPD – Zone of Proximal Development is a zone in which a child is able to reach a
higher level of performance, due to interacting with an interlocutor