TEFL Glossary

A diagnostic test is a test  designed to identify problems that learners have with the language.

A dictogloss is a kind of dictation activity where learners reconstruct a text rather than writing it down exactly word for word. The teacher reads the text in short chunks as in a normal dictation, but at a speed too fast for learners to write it down exactly. Instead, they note down key words and then work in groups using their notes to rebuild the original. They then compare their text with the original one. It is a good way for identifying learners' errors and the acceptable different ways of expressing the same idea.

Tailoring teaching methods and resources to accommodate different learning styles and abilities within a classroom.

An instructional approach that tailors teaching methods and resources to accommodate the diverse needs and learning styles of students.

See differentiation.

The ways in which a teacher can support students with different learning needs in the same class. It is anything that makes one student distinct from another, not just language and nationality. 

Two letters which together represent a single sound, e.g., ph, sh, ee, ea, etc.

A 'double vowel' - two vowel sounds which together make up what is perceived as a single sound.

E.g. hair /heə(r)/

go /goʊ/

It is also called the Natural method.

In the late 19th century, Heness and Sauveur opened a language school in the United States teaching German and French. They employed what they called the Natural Method because it was felt to mirror how children naturally learn their first languages. However, the approach came to be more commonly referred to as the Direct Method. The principles of the Natural/Direct Method, as outlined by Richards and Rogers (2001), are:

• Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language.
  
• Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.
  
• Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organised around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.
  
• Grammar was taught inductively.
  
• New teaching points were introduced orally.
  
• Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.
  
• Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.
  
• Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasised.
  

 (Richards and Rogers, 2001, p. 12)

Many features of this method or approach are still in evidence in the modern language classroom.

In some words in spoken English one syllable is not pronounced. E.g., 'interesting' looks as though it should be pronounced 'in-ter-est-ing,' but most native speakers say 'in-trest-ing.'