TEFL Glossary

What the teacher intends the students to learn in a lesson.

A sound formed by putting the tip of the of the tongue against the alveolar ridge - at the front of the roof of the mouth, just behind the top teeth. (t, d, s, z)

A word in a text (written or spoken) that refers back to an earlier idea in the text.

E.g., I spoke to Charlie this morning. She sounded a bit unhappy.

See also cataphoric reference.

The problems that the teacher predicts (anticipates) might arise in a lesson. The teacher should decide how to deal with these problems when planning the lesson.

 A word which carries the opposite meaning to another (e.g., black/white, fat/thin).

A way of teaching which is informed by certain beliefs about how languages operate and how they are learned. An approach is not as prescriptive as a method, which demands teachers to use particular procedures and techniques in the classroom.

It is a sound usually classed as a consonant (in English), but not a true consonant because there is no complete closure or restriction stopping the flow of air (/r/, /l/, /w/ and /j/). It is also called a semi-vowel. 

Articles are a type of determiners. They are placed before nouns. Broadly speaking, articles help the reader or listener understand which one(s) of a set of things we are talking about. There are three choices of articles: definite: the (Look at the horse), indefinite:a/an (We saw a horse), and no article: (I like horses).

This is how clearly a speaker pronounces words. In phonetics, it is how the vocal tract is positioned in relation to the tongue and other parts of the mouth. This configuration modifies an airstream to produce the sounds of speech.