The tefl.ai glossary of TEFL teaching methods, classroom techniques, assessment concepts and second-language-acquisition terms.
The past continuous is the English verb form made with was or were plus the -ing form of a verb, used for an action that was in progress at a particular time in the past. It most often supplies the background against which a shorter past simple event happens.
A recast is a corrective move in which the teacher repeats a learner’s incorrect utterance in corrected form, without stopping the conversation or stating that an error was made. The meaning is kept, the form is quietly fixed, and the correction is implicit. It is the most frequently used correction technique in language classrooms.
The present perfect is the English verb form made with have or has plus a past participle, used to link a past action to the present moment. It covers experience up to now, a situation that began in the past and still continues, and a past event whose result matters now. It never takes a finished time reference.
Guided discovery is an inductive teaching technique in which the teacher presents learners with examples of a target language item and then leads them, through questions and tasks, to work out the rule for themselves before any explanation is given. The teacher directs the route; the learners state the rule.
A concept checking question, usually shortened to CCQ, is a short question a teacher asks to confirm that learners have understood the meaning of a new word, phrase or structure, rather than asking them whether they understand. A good one uses simpler language than the target item, avoids containing the target item, and expects a brief answer.
Drilling is controlled repetition of a target word, phrase or structure, led by the teacher, to build accuracy and automaticity in production. The teacher gives a model, learners repeat it chorally and then individually, and variations substitute one element at a time. Drilling shapes pronunciation and form; it does not by itself produce communication.
L1 interference is the effect a learner’s first language has on their English when the two languages differ, producing errors that follow the rules of the first language rather than the target one. It is one form of language transfer, and it shows most clearly in pronunciation, word order and word choice.
Backward design is a three stage planning sequence in which a teacher first sets the learning outcome, then decides what evidence would prove learners have reached it, and only then plans the lessons. Popularised by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, it replaces planning that begins with activities or with the next page of the coursebook.
Eliciting is the set of techniques a teacher uses to draw language, ideas or knowledge out of learners rather than presenting it to them. The teacher supplies a prompt, usually a picture, a context or a question, and the learners supply the answer.
Teacher talking time is the proportion of a lesson the teacher spends speaking; student talking time is the proportion the learners do. The pair describes the balance of a lesson rather than setting a target, and the useful question is what the teacher’s talk is doing, not simply how much of it there is.
