A-D

Aptitude

The specific ability a learner has for learning a second language. This is separate from intelligence.

Assessment
evaluation based on a learner's achievements

Assimilation
where learners of different backgrounds (or levels) identify themselves as one group

Auditory learners
people who learn best by having discussions and listening to lectures

Authentic task
task where language is practised in a way that is similar to the real world (role playing)

Authoring Tool

A program that allows the user to produce multimedia content in the form of web pages

Benchmarks
descriptors or reference points for measuring learning

Blogroll

A list of links to blogs

Bottom up learning/processing
starts with small or detailed learning (such as grammar) and progresses to large or more important concepts (such as reading a piece of text)

Brainstorming
gathering up many thoughts and ideas based on one subject

CALL

Computer assisted language learning

Case Study

Following a real life example from beginning to end

Circulating
moving around a room to observe and assist learners

Classroom climate
the physical and emotional atmosphere or feeling in a classroom

Communicative approach
an approach to language teaching in which the learner's main goal is to be able to communicate in the real world and the teacher's role is as a facilitator

Communicative Language Teaching

An approach concerned with the needs of students to communicate outside the classroom; teaching techniques reflect this in the choice of language content and materials, with emphasis on role play, pair and group work, among others

Comprehensible input
theory that language learners only acquire a language if they basically understand what the teacher is saying or presenting

Comprehensible output
theory that language learning occurs when people attempt and fail to communicate and are forced to try again

Cooperative learning
a teaching method in which learners are placed into small groups of different levels and given a task

Coping strategies
efforts learners make to reduce stress while learning

critical period
a hypothesis that suggests there is a certain time in a learner's life (before age 12) when language acquisition can fully occur; the theory suggests that after this period the learning capacity is weakened and native-like pronunciation is unlikely

Coping strategies
efforts learners make to reduce stress while learning

Curriculum
description of courses and/or content in a program

Deep learning
where the learner analyses new information and ideas and links these to previous knowledge with the goal of long term retention and understanding (see "surface learning")

Demo lesson
part of the interview process in which the applicant teaches a real class (usually a mini-lesson) in front of an interviewer or panel