Glossary

Here’s the terminology from this week which is all about choosing activities, lesson planning and managing learners. If there are any terms which you’re not sure about, post your question below – you may find one of your fellow learners has an explanation which will help you to understand it better.

Lesson aim

What the teacher wants to achieve in the lesson or in the course. The main aim is the most important aim.

Stage aim

The aim or purpose of a stage, step or short section of a lesson.

Subsidiary aim

The secondary focus of the lesson, less important than the main aim. It could be the language or skills learners use in order to achieve the main aim of the lesson, or a skill or language area which is practised while the teacher is working on achieving the main lesson aim.

Personal aim

What the teacher would like to improve in his/her teaching.

Anticipated problems and solutions

When teachers are planning a lesson, they think about what their learners might find difficult about the lesson and about how they can help them learn more effectively at certain points in the lesson.

Assumptions

When teachers think about what they believe their learners will or will not know or how they will behave in a particular lesson.

Class profile

A description of the learners and information about their learning, including their age, ability, strengths and weaknesses in language and skills.

Interaction patterns

The different ways learners and the teacher work together in class, e.g. learner to learner in pairs or groups, or teacher to learner in open class, in plenary. When teachers plan lessons, they think about interaction patterns and write them on their plan.

Language analysis

A breakdown of vocabulary and grammar covered in the lesson which provides information about the structure of the language, what it means and how it is used.

Procedures

A set of actions that describes the way to do something. Teachers write lesson plans and provide details of exactly what is going to happen in each stage of a lesson. The details of the different actions are the procedures of the lesson.

Resources

The materials or tools which teachers use in class to help learners learn.

Stage

A section of a lesson. Lessons have different stages or steps such as lead-in, presentation, practice.

Timetable fit

Teachers plan timetables which provide details of the lessons they will teach in the near future. Timetable fit is about how a lesson fits logically into the sequence of lessons in a timetable.

Timing

The likely time different activities or stages in a lesson plan should take. When teachers plan lessons, they think about how long each activity will take and they usually write this on their plan.

Differentiation

This is when teachers identify and address the different needs, interests or abilities of their learners by providing a range of activity types and using a range of approaches.

TTT

This is the commonly accepted abbreviation for teacher talk time and refers to the amount of time in a lesson that the teacher talks to the learners. It is important that TTT is helpful to the learners.

STT

This is the commonly accepted abbreviation for student talk time and refers to the amount of time in a lesson that the students talk. There needs to be a balance of TTT and STT in a language lesson.

Grading language

This is when teachers use language they know the students have already studied to ease the cognitive load. This can be done by avoiding informal, colloquial language or complex grammar structures.

Eliciting

When the teacher asks learners questions, or prompts them, to come up with ideas or language. It can be used to activate their existing knowledge of a language point in order to base new knowledge on what they already know.

Monitoring

When the teacher observes learners during an activity to check their understanding of the activity and assess their progress.

Feedback

This happens at the end of the activity cycle when the teacher gives the learners feedback on their performance by going through the answers with the class and/or finding out what they have talked about. This stage can be used for further clarification if the learners still need help with the language point.