TEFL Glossary

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B

bare infinitive

It is usually just referred to as 'infinitive without to,' e.g. 'go' and 'be', rather than 'to go' and 'to be'.

base form

See infinitive.

base word/form

See word family.

Berlitz Method

A language teaching method developed by Berlitz language schools. (See Unit 8.)

bi-lingual education

See Content and Language Integrated Learning.

bilabial

A sound formed by putting the two lips together (/p/, /b/ and /m/).

body of the lesson

Generally all lessons should have a warmer-body-plenary structure. The main part of the lesson is the body. The first and final stages are the warmer (or lead-in) and the plenary. The body is normally further divided into separate stages.

bottom-up processing

Trying to build up an understanding of a text (written or spoken) by starting with the smallest units – letters or sounds –  and building these up to understand the words and grammatical structures in the sentences. The reader then tries to understand how the sentences relate to one another and so on. This process includes decoding and word attack skills.