TEFL Glossary

Also spelledcopular. See linking verbs.

A corpus is a collection of written texts. Corpuses are often used for linguistic research, for example, to find out what words commonly collocate with a particular word.

It is the use of symbols when correcting students' written work to indicate what type of mistake they have made.
E.g., T indicates using the wrong tense.

It is a point in the lesson, usually after a fluency activity, where the teacher goes over errors students have made during the activity.

Nouns that can be counted and have both singular and plural forms (e.g., apple/apples, car/cars).

'Certificate of Proficiency in English' is a Cambridge English examination for students at C2 level. It is often referred to as 'the Proficiency.'

Understanding of social norms and behaviours in different cultures that affect language use.

The process by which teachers select, organize, and present educational resources and materials to enhance learning experiences for students.

Valuable information derived from analyzing data, which can help educators understand student performance and tailor their teaching strategies.

In reading, decoding is the process of applying knowledge of letter-sound relationships and strings of letters to pronounce and thereby recognise written words, i.e., converting the symbols on a page or screen into meaningful words.

In listening, the decoding process includes recognising sounds, where words begin and end, sentence stress and chunks of language.