TEFL Glossary

A plosive is a sound formed by completely stopping and then releasing the flow of air (e.g.. /p/ and /g/).

Plosives are also called stops.

It is a word or word form which indicates more than one. In English, plurals are usually formed by adding -s or -es to the end of the singular noun.

Positive reinforcement is the process of encouraging or establishing a pattern of behaviour by offering a reward when the desired behaviour is exhibited.

A possessive is a word or form which indicates possession. In English these are: 's, possessive determiners (my, their, etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, hers, etc.).

PPP stands for present-practice-produce - a common procedure for teaching grammar. See units 1, 6 and 7.

Pre-teaching is teaching language that students will need for an activity in advance of asking them to read, listen, have a debate, etc.

It is an affix added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning, e.g., un-, dis- a-, etc.

See PET.

Before one can read and write.

It is a word placed before a noun to indicate a relationship between two parts of the sentence, e.g., on, in, at.

Most obviously prepositions indicate location: The cat is on the table. However, they may also refer to time: My birthday is in August, or other types of relation: I am interested in jazz.