Macmillan English Dictionary: Glossary of ELT Terms

Quick Reference A-C

Back to ELT Terms

Source: English Club www.macmillan.com.mx

T
Task-based learning	Task-based learning (TBL) is an approach which concentrates more on carrying out tasks (solving puzzles, writing projects, investigating topics and so on) than on graded structures and vocabulary. Back to top
Topic sentence	See Identifying the topic sentence. Back to top
Total immersion	See Immersion. Back to top
TPR	TPR = Total Physical Response. TPR is an ELT method that involves getting students (usually children) to respond physically to the language before they produce the language orally. Examples: Students acting out the words of a song. Students physically responding to commands like "Give me a book". Back to top
Transitive / Intransitive verbs	Transitive verbs have an object: He was reading a book. She cooked lunch. Intransitive verbs don’t have an object. He died on Saturday. They cried a lot. Back to top
Transmission mode	Classes work are said to be in transmission mode when the flow of information is one way only - from the teacher to students, with the students are passive receivers of knowledge. This is the basic dynamic for instructivism, an approach in which teaching is principally a matter of giving facts to students. The opposite approach to instructivism is constructivism. Back to top
TTT	TTT = Teacher Talking Time. Students need input from the teacher for: instructions motivation exposure to the language. These are examples of effective TTT. However, it’s very easy to talk too much in class, particularly if you’re nervous. This means that you are depriving your students of opportunities to practice the language, and can lead to confusion and passiveness among the students. Make sure that all your TTT is effective TTT! See also STT (Student Talking Time). Back to top

U
Use / Usage	The use of a language item is it’s communicative purpose, as used by native speakers. The usage of a language item is the grammatical rules for making it. Example: The second conditional: If I had enough money, I would take a vacation. The use of the second conditional is: Talking about the the consequences of hypothetical situations in the present or future. The (most simple) usage of the second conditional is: If + past simple, would + infinitive. Back to top

V
Virtual classroom	In a distance learning course or any online course where the students interact with the teacher and each other via the internet, there isn’t a true classroom. However, the students may be interacting together and interacting with a tutor by e-mail or bulletin boards, etc. Therefore they are working in a virtual classroom. Back to top
Visual discrimination	See Auditory / Visual discrimination. Back to top

W
Warm-up	A low challenge, enjoyable and relaxing activity designed to get the students responding well at the beginning of a class. It sets the context of the lesson or recycles what was taught in previous lessons and helps the students better understand the new structure or vocabulary. Back to top
Weak forms / Citation forms	Some words have two pronunciations: The weak form, which is used in normal conversation. The citation form, such as when you say the word on its own (e.g. reading it from a dictionary) or when emphazing it. Example: was Weak form: the a of was is like the e in absent (a schwa or neutral vowel sound, not an e sound!). Citation form: the a is like the o in hot. The weak form is used when no emphasis is necessary. A: Where were you this morning? B: I was in a meeting. The citation form is used when the word is emphasized: A: You weren’t at the meeting this morning. B: Yes, I was. Back to top
Whole word approach	See Phonics approach / Whole word approach. Back to top
Word families	See Lexical sets. Back to top
Writing skills	Some of the most important writing skills are: taking notes writing a passage from notes writing formal letters writing informal letters writing e-mails writing a resume. Back to top