vocabulary

1. 1
1- Allophone
Def: A phonetic variation of a single phoneme.
Further info:
it does not create a change in the meaning.
Example:
The pronunciation of 'l' in 'light' and 'hill' (light 'l' and
dark 'l')
2- Assimilation Def: a feature of connected speechwhen a sound
changes to another sound because of a neighboring
sound
Example:
in ten boys /n/ followed by /b/ changes to /m/ as in
/tembɔiz/
3- Intrusion Def.: intrusion is when a sound is added in order to
allow the speaker to link two words more easily
Example:
He doesn'thave an original idea in his head.
Speakers of BrE often add an intrusive r between idea
and in /aidiərin/
4- Vocative Def.: a way of addressing someone, it's seen
infrequently in writing
E.g.:
Mum, mate
5- Response
Elicitator
Def.: a way of eliciting responsein a conversation
Example:
Okay? See?
6- Reciprocal
listening
Def.: a type of listening which involves interaction
between two or more people
Example:
business meeting

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7- Nonreciprocal
listening
Def.: a type of listening which describes a situation in
which the listener has no opportunity to contribute to a
dialogue
Example:
watching TV, listening to the radio
8- Antonym Def.:
a word which is the oppositein meaning to another
one
Example:
adjectives such as big-small or verbs such as arrive-
leave
9- A norm-
referencedtest
(a normative test/ NRT)Def.:
a test which compares test takers to each other rather
than against external criteria
10- Process writing (a
process approach)
Def.: a procedurein which students create a text by
planning, drafting, revising, editing and then
publishing or sharing with others
11- Auxiliary
verbs
Def.: verbs which are used to supportanother verb in a
sentence and have a grammatical function such as
showing tense, aspect, person, voice or mood
Example:
be, do, have, will, may, can
12- Fillers (pause
fillers/ hesitation
devices/hesitators/
hesitationstrategies/
filler expressions/
discourse fillers/
conversationfillers)
Def.: language used by speakers to avoid frequent,
long or silent pauses, to hold the floor, and to gain
thinking time. Fillers and hesitation devices
expressions are used to buy time in a conversation.
Example:
er, um, well, you know

3. 3
13- Syntax Def.: the study of the ways in which words combine
into larger units, suchas phrases, clauses and
sentences. It describes the basic order of clause
elements
Example:
In English the basic order of sentence elements is
Subject-Verb-Object
14- Bound morpheme Def.: It's a type of morpheme, and as such, it is the
smallest unit of grammar. It can only occuras an affix.
Example: prefixes such as dis-, un- or suffixes such as
-ly, -ness
15- Compound words Def.: words which are created through the
combination of two or more words
Example: there are compound adjectives (e.g. cold-
blooded)or compound nouns (e.g. jellyfish)
16- TPR (Total
Physicalresponse)
Def.: a method in which language teaching is based on
giving commands to elicit physical activity from
students
Example:
Teacher says "run" and students run
17- Tonic syllable Def.: The most important part of a tone unit; it carries
the main stress and that's where the change of pitch
begins
Example:
I live in LONdon
18- Genre Def.: any type of spoken or written discoursewhich is
distinguished by specific features (a conventionalised
structure and/or a characteristic vocab/grammar)
Example:
business reports, conference presentations, etc.

4. 4
19- Stative verb Def.: A verb which can be used to describe a
condition/state/belief/emotion/possession/sense
Example:
I KNOW it's true/ I HAVE a house
20- Proficiencytest Def.: A test that assesses candidates' language ability
regardless of any course of study taken
Example: IELTS, TOEFL
21- Cohesion Def.: The use of grammatical and lexical means to
achieve connected text, either spokenor written.
These include reference words, e.g. this, the, it, linkers
and topic-related lexis.
E.g.:“It is perfectly organized. HOWEVER, …”
22- Tense Def.: a grammatical category which is used to indicate
the time at which an action happens by changing the
form of the finite verb.
Further point:
English has three main tenses: past, present and future.
E.g.:‘he walked’ (past); ‘he walks’ (present); ‘he will
walk’ (future)
23- A direct test Def.: a test employing tasks which replicate real-life
activities
Example: role-playing a job interview, writing a letter
of complaint, or reading and completing an application
form
24- Minimal pairs Def.: two words which differ fro each other in
pronunciation by only one phoneme
Example: met-mat; pin-bin

5. 5
25- Hypernym
(superordinate)
Def.: a term for an 'umbrella' item of lexis which
subsumes a range of more specific items
Example: fruit in relation to apple, orange and pear
26- Product writing Def.: an approachof developing learners' writing
skills that is informed by the belief that creating a
written text is purely a matter of imitating elements
that are provided in a model
27- Idiom Def.: an expression whose meaning is not to be
interpreted literally. It's normally colloquial, but it can
appear in bothspoken and written language
E.g.:‘let the cat out of the bag’
28- Coordinating
conjunction
Def.: a word which joins phrases or clauses of equal
importance
Further point: Each clause joined by a coordinating
conjunction can stand alone. It's different from a
subordinate conjunction (e.g. unless) which joins a
subordinate clause to a main clause, and a subordinate
clause cannot stand alone
Example: but, and, or, etc.
‘I will go to the library or to the supermarket after
work.’
29- Modalauxiliary
verb
Def.: an auxiliary verb which modifies the meaning of
the main verb
Modal auxiliary verbs express functions such as
obligation, ability, possibility, offer or prediction
Example: might, must, can, should

6. 6
30- Directmethod Def.: a method in which only the target language is
used in class and therefore translation is avoided.
Grammar rules are not taught to the learners.
It emerged in the 19th century as a reaction against the
grammar translation method.
Example: Berlitz Method (the most natural way to
learn a language)
31- Scanning Glancing rapidly through a text to search for a specific
piece of information, or to get an initial impression of
whether the text is suitable for a given purpose
32- Skimming Glancing rapidly through a text to determine its gist,
e.g. to keep ourselves superficially informed about
matters not of great import to us (newspaper story)
33- Extensive reading Reading longer texts, usually for pleasure
34- Intensive reading Reading shorter texts to extract specific information
35- Top-down
processing
meaning is reconstructed rather than form decoded
-the reader brings to the text their knowledge of the
topic, the text type, how language works, as well as
their individual motivation
-the reader forms mental hypotheses concerning
elements of the text, and then read to confirm or refute
these hypotheses
-the reader does not decodesymbols individually
36- Bottom-up
processing
reading involves decoding written symbols
-each letter is processed
-deriving meaning is the end of this process

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37- Interactive
processing
reader uses both bottom-up and top-downprocesses
38- Topic schema The knowledge of the topic
39- Genre/formal
schema
The reader's knowledge of features of the genre
(layout, textual organisation, typical linguistic
features)
40-
Procedural/linguistic
schema
Def.: The reader's knowledge of how language works
in discourse.
E.g.:relationships between words on a syntactic level
41- Intralingual error Def.: errors in L2 that are not due to interference from
L1. These are also sometimes termed developmental
errors, meaning that they represent incomplete
learning of L2 rules or overgeneralization of them.
E.g.:Do you can sing?
42- Interlingual error Errors that result from negative transfer of L1 to L2.
43- Mistake The L2 learner masters the language but he makes a
slip
44- Error The L2 learner does not master the language area
concerned. There are performance errors and
competence errors
45- Post-systematic
error
A slip; the learner's interlanguage system is pretty
much mastered. An error can be self-corrected without
prompting.

8. 8
46- Pre-systematic
error
An error made becausethe learner is unaware of the
rule
47- Systematic error An error which occurs due to a consistent problem.
48- FossilizationSLA When an error becomes a permanent feature of a
learner's interlanguage. In theory such errors are
resistant to correction. It has been hypothesized that
the lack of instruction (and therefore the lack of a
focus on form) is the main cause. May also be due to a
lack of negative feedback on errors or the lack of a
push to make learners' output more accurate. Some
learners also have no social motivation to improve
their interlanguage.
49- Contrastive
analysis hypothesis
RobertLado and BF Skinner (1957) say the main idea
of this theory is that L1 rules can either help or hinder
the learning and acqusition of L2
50- Globalerror An error which impedes communication and requires
intervention to 'repair' it
51- Localerror An error that does not prevent a message from being
understood
52- Intrinsic
motivation
A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own
sake
53- Extrinsic
motivation
The external drive to do something becauseyou are
receiving something or given a reason to do so

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54- Integrative
motivation
Need to learn to fully integrate into a community that
uses the language.
55- Instrumental
motivation
The desire to learn an L2, not to join the community of
L2-users, but to achieve some other goal (travel to a
country or pass a test)
56- Tolerantof
ambiguity
A type of learner who can stay in uncertainty, despite
the discomfort of not knowing the answer
57- Intolerant of
ambiguity
a type of learner who cannot stay in uncertainty (e.g.
he/she wants to understand every word)
58- Risk taker a type of learner who approaches unfamiliar situations
and uncertainty with courage and forethought
59- Risk averse a type of learner who is unable to approachunfamiliar
situations and uncertainty with courage and
forethought
60- Field-independent
learners
Learners with a cognitive style that allows them to
solve problems without much outside assistance and to
focus on the specific steps of a task without being
distracted by the full external environment, or "the
field"
61- Field-dependent
learning
a field-dependent learning style is defined by a relative
inability to distinguish detail from other information
around it.

10. 10
62- Syllabus-free A learner who can learn from general elements in a
learning context and outside the classroom
63- Syllabus-bound A learner who needs the 'packaging' and presentation
of data which the teacher, syllabus or course provides
64- Reflective learner Reflective learners like to think about language and
how to convey their message accurately. They tend not
to make so many mistakes because they take time in
formulating what they want to say.
65- Impulsive learner Impulsive learners take risks with the language. They
are more concerned with speaking fluently than
speaking accurately, and so make more mistakes.
66- Bilabial Sound Formed by using both lips (p, b, m)
67- Labiodental
Sounds
formed with the upper teeth and lower lip (f, v)
68- Interdental Sounds are produced by placing the tip of the tongue between
the teeth (th, eth)
69- Alveolar Sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the
alveolar ridge (t, s, d, z, n)
70- Alveopalatalsound formed with the tongue on the hard palate [ʃ], [ʒ], [tʃ],
[dʒ]
71- Velar sound formed with the tongue on softpalate [k], [g], [ŋ]

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72- Stops air fully blocked
p, b, t, d, k, g, glottal stop
73- Fricatives air partially blocked
/f/,/v/, /ð/,/θ/,
/ʃ/ /ʒ/ /s/ /z/
74- Affricates air blocked totally then partially
/ʧ,ʤ/
75- Nasals air flows through nasal passage
/m/,/n/,[ŋ]
76- Retroflex backward movement of tongue blocks air /r/
77- Lateral air blocked in the middle, not at sides /l/
78- Semi-vowels almost no air blockage /j/ /w/
79- Super-ordinate
vehicle
is the super-ordinate of car, bus, etc.
80- Hyponym/(co)-
hyponym
bus, car, taxi, motorbike, plane, ferry
81- Lexicalset a group of words which belong to the same category
e.g. apple, banana, pineapple
82- Lexical/semantic
field
The topic that most of the words are based on
E.g. things you find in a kitchen, clothes

12. 12
83- Polysemy A word that has 2 or more related messages or
meanings.
It is the opposite of ‘monosemy’ (a one-to-one match
between a word and a meaning).
E.g.:
(1) the word ‘branch’ may mean a branch of a tree, or
a branch of a company
Play (something done for pleasure, a drama, a
game, etc.)
84- Homonymy refers to the situation where two or more words have
the same form but differ in their meanings.
E.g. a table; to table a motion
85- Homophony two words with different meanings have the same
pronunciation
E.g. blue vs. blew
86- Partialsynonymy words have the same denotation, but tend to differ in
connotations
e.g. ashamed-embarrassed; motorway-highway
87- Gradable
antonyms
words that represent two ends of a spectrum
e.g. hot-cold
88- Non-gradable
antonyms
Words which are direct opposites (e.g. alive-dead)
89- Borders of
meaning
when meanings overlap, e.g. table –desk
90- Connotation when some words have similar meanings but they are
used in different contexts

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e.g. skinny-thin-slim-emaciated
91- Register A form of language appropriate to a particular
situation.
e.g. bad tummy ache vs. acute gastroenteritis
92- Style A basic and distinctive mode of expression.
e.g. Get lost! vs. Could you go away please?
93- Collocation Words that frequently occurtogether. Can be
grammatical (collocate with specific prepositions:
"accountfor") or lexical: "narrow escape."
94- Phrasalverb A multi-word verb which consists of a verb and a
preposition or adverb that modifies or changes the
meaning can be separable or non-separable
e.g. turn the light on, walk away, stand up
95- Prepositionalverb A multi-word verb which consists of a verb and a
preposition and the two parts cannot be separated
e.g. apply for a job
96- Dependent
preposition
a preposition whose meaning can not be worked out in
isolation; it must be learned with the preceding
adjective or verb
e.g. interested in, fond of
97- Predicative or
attributive position
Adjectives in the first position - before the noun - are
called ATTRIBUTIVE adjectives. Thosein the
second position - after the noun - are called
PREDICATIVE adjectives. Notice that predicative
adjectives do not occurimmediately after the noun.
Instead, they follow a verb.

14. 14
He's calm. He's a calm person.
He's asleep. The asleep man??
98- Affixation prefixes and suffixes added to existing words
e.g. DIShonestY
99- Root the main part of a word which cannot be divided into
further elements, e.g. rain
100-Derivative A word that comes from another word, e.g. rainy
101-Stress shift Changing the stress from one syllable to another
changes the meaning and the pronunciation, as in
"reCORD" (verb) and "REcord" (noun)
102-Consonant
clusters
group of consonants which have no intervening vowel,
ie. /spl/ + /ts/ for "splits"
103-Weak forms When a sound is unstressed.
e.g. ph_o_togr_a_ph_e_r
104-Repetition repetition of encounters (e.g. reading the same word at
least 7 times over spaced intervals) helps
105-Retrieval a kind of repetition where the word is retrieved from
memory, e.g. using the word in a sentence. the act of
retrieving a word from memory

15. 15
106-Spacing distributing memory work over a period of time
107-Pacing allowing learners time during vocab slots to do their
preferred kind of memory work, to silently and
individually review the vocabulary
108-Use getting learners to use the words in some sort of
engaging, meaningful way
109-Cognitive depth learners make decisions about words. the more
demanding the decision, the better for memory
110-Affective depth the decision making is based on an affective judgment,
e.g. does the word have any pleasant or unpleasant
associations for me?
111-Personal
organising
judgments made are best if personalised, e.g. putting a
word in a sentence made by the learner
112-Imaging visualising a mental pic that goes with the word, the
image doesn'tneed to be creative, but rather generated
by the learner. Easily visualised words are more
memorable and therefore applying this to more
abstract words may help.
113-Mnemonics tricks to help retrieve items, often visual in nature. L2
word is visually associated with an L1-word
114-Motivation motivated learners are more likely to work on
rehearsal and practice

16. 16
115-Attention/arousal very high degree of conscious attention: the more
conscious attention is paid, the better the recall
116-Pure modal a modal verb which
-takes the inf without to
-has no special third personform
-the neg is formed by adding not
-the question is formed by inverting the subject and
the modal verb
-cannot be preceded by other aux
-there's no past form
117-Processwriting an approachto writing, some characteristics:
-ideas as starting point
-more than one draft
-collaborative
-emphasis on creative process
-writing is about linguistic skills
-cyclical process
stages: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing
118-Product writing an approachto writing (e.g. NEF), some
characteristics:
-Ss imitate a text
-one draft
- thr organisation of ideas is more imp than the ideas
themselves
-individual
-emphasis on end product
-writing is about linguistic knowledge
-linear
119-Coherence The relationship which link the meanings of utterances

17. 17
in a discourseor of the sentences in a text; the quality
of being meaningful and whole
120-Cohesion The use of grammatical and lexical means to achieve
connected text, either spoken or written
These include reference words, e.g. this, the, it, linkers
and topic-related lexis
-the grammatical and lexical relationship between the
elements of a text
121-Ellipsis the omission from a clause of one or more words that
are nevertheless understood in the context of the
remaining elements
nominal ellipsis: the teacher went to the board and
wrote on it
(been there, done that)
verbal ellipsis: I could tell you but I won't
122-Substitution Definition: use of (usually) determiners and adverbs
of place and time to substitute a previous element to
avoid repetition. A type of grammatical cohesion.
E.g.:
I think not
I thought so
I have some
123-Exophoric
referencing
Exophoric language points to something outside the
language of the text, which is understood in the
context:
“Take a look at this.”
Here, this refers to something that the speaker and
listener can see and understand, but which has no
meaning outside the context- we don't know what this
is- exophora.

18. 18
124-Cataphoric
referencing
Cataphoric referencemeans that a word in a text
refersto another later in the text and you need to
look forward to understand. Itcan be compared
with anaphoric reference, which meansa word
refersback to another word for its meaning.
Example:
(1) 'When he arrived, John noticed that the door
was open'.
(2) When I first laid yes on her, I thought how
beautiful Katy looked.
125-Anaphoric
referencing
Anaphoricreferencemeans that a word in a text
refersback to other ideas in the text for its
meaning. It can be compared with cataphoric
reference, which meansa word refersto ideas later
in the text.
Example
(1) ‘I wentout with Jo on Sunday. Shelooked
awful.' ´She` clearly refers to Jo, there is no need to
repeat her name.
(2) ‘John? Yes, I just saw him.’
126-Additive
(copulative)
conjunction
are coordinating conjunctions used to denote addition.
E.g.: ‘I like coffee and chocolate’
127-Adversative
conjunction
the conjunctive relation of units that expresses the
opposition of their meanings
E.g.: I like chocolate, but it makes me gain weight.
128-Causal
conjunction
It is a conjunction that involves reason, result and
purpose.

19. 19
as a result of, because are causal conjunctions
129-Temporal
conjunction
A temporal conjunction tells us about the time. When
will something happen? Which of the two happened
first? Below is a list of commonly used temporal
connectives.
Examples: during, after, as, as soonas, etc.
130-Lexical cohesion refers to the ties created between lexicalelements,
such as words, groups and phrases
E.g.: using
- repetition
-lexical substituition: the general was a man
-lexical chains: i'm a total petrol-head...cars are my
passion
-signalling: the problem...the answer..
-register
131-Rhetorical
cohesion
question / answer
-parallelism:
a) grammatical we shall fight...we shall fight...
b) sound - rhythm
c) semantic - 2 sentences are linked
132-Sociocultural
knowledge
The knowledge of the topic and the other culture,
including familiarity with the speakers
133-Genre knowledge knowing whether a conversation is interactional or
transactional
134-Discourse
knowledge
The ability of making connections between utterances
effectively, including using discoursemarkers

20. 20
135-Pragmatic
Knowledge
Knowledge of a speaker's purposes so that speech acts
(also called functions) can be interpreted correctly.
136-Parataxis Def.:It is when phrases and clauses are placed one
after another independently, without coordinating or
subordinating them through the use of conjunctions.
Further point:
It is the opposite of ‘hypotaxis’
E.g.:“
I came, I saw, I conquered.”
137-Hypotaxis Def.:It is when the clauses are coordinated or
subordinated to one another within sentences to
convey logical, causal or temporal relationships within
the clauses in a sentence.
Further point:
It is the opposite of ‘parataxis’.
E.g.:
“When I was around nine or ten I wrote a play”
138-Formulaic
Expressions
Def.: Phrases acquired as unanalyzed wholes by
second language learners.
For example: an ELL may not know for some time
that "How do you do?" is not a single word but four
separate words.
139-Clarifying what
you said
Def.: It is a communicative skill where the speaker
rephrase what he said in simpler or more
understandable words. Further point:
It is used to ensure that the listeners understand the
message of the speaker.
E.g.:"I mean..."
“In other words, …”

21. 21
140-Topic nomination Def.: It is a communicative skill; it is a way to enter
into topic talk.
Further point:
It is accomplished when a person makesa
statement or a question which leadsto a particular
topic.
E.g.:
"We should move on to the next topic"
141-Interrupting /
getting a turn
Def.: It is a communicative skill; it ist he violation of
turn-takingrules of conversation. The next speaker
begins to speak while the currentspeaker is still
speaking.
Further point:
An interruption breaks the symmetry of any
conversationalmodels.
E.g.:
"Yeah, but..."
142-Giving up a turn /
inviting other people to
speak
Def.: The manner in which the speaker invites the
listener(s) to speak while the former listens for
different purposes (obtaining information, asking for
opinion, etc.)
Further point:
To know when it is acceptable to take or give up a turn
in conversation is essential as it leads to the
cooperative development of discourse
E.g.:
Speaker:“So how are you, people?”
Listeners: “Weare fine, but …”
Or
Speaker:“Do you agree?”

22. 22
143-Checking /
seeking clarification
Def.: It is a communicative skill; seeking clarification
meansto offer back the essential meaningto the
speaker as understood by the listener. Thereby
checking that the listener'sunderstandingis
correct and resolving any areas of confusion or
misunderstanding.
Further point:
Clarification is importantbeing communicated is
difficultin some way. Communication can be
'difficult' for many reasons, perhapssensitive
emotions are being discussed - or you are listening
to some complexinformation or following
instructions.
E.g.:
Checking what you understood is correct: "Right?"
Clarifying what you said: "I mean..."
Asking for clarification:
“Whenyousaid ........ what did youmean?”
144-Circumlocution Def.: It's a communication strategy that uses many
words where fewer ones would do, especially in a
deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive.
Circumlocution means “talking around” or “talking in
circles.” It’s when you want to discuss something, but
don’twant to make any direct reference to it, so you
create a way to get around the subject.
The key to the definition of circumlocution is that the
statement has to be unnecessarily long and
complicated
E.g.:
“the vehicle that I use to drive to work in the
mornings” is a circumlocution for “my car.”

23. 23
145-Back-channelling
/active listening comm.
skill
Def.: a feature of speaker support:non-verbal
utterances to show attention or agreement; it reassures
the listener that the listeners are following the story
sympathetically.
E.g.:‘aha’, 'yeah' or 'OK'
146-Foreignizing a
word
Def.: Using a native word by adjusting it to the
second-language phonology (i.e. pronunciation) and/or
morphology (e.g. suffixes)
E.g.:“Shiros” used by some Japanese – Americans to
refer to “Whites” because the Japanese word for the
color white is “shiro”.
147-Achievement
test
Def.:A test which evaluates a learner's
understandingof specificmaterial
E.g.:end-of-the-year tests
148-Diagnostic test Def.:A test which identifies areas to work on
E.g.:English diagnostic tests, medical diagnostic tests,
etc.
149-Prognostic test Def.:A test which tries to predicta learner'sability
to complete a course or take an exam.
E.g.:placement tests
150-Interlanguage Def.: The 'separateness' of a second language learner's
system - it falls between the system of the native
language and the target language. It is also called an
approximative system and idiosyncratic dialect.