TeachingEnglish
      CELTA Terminology

      I recall Teaching English had a collection of pages defining various ELT terminology, but I can't find it now, and I'm not sure which of the following it included. So here I define a few CELTA terms.  In particular, I've chosen ones that I have seen teachers forget or mix up the most often. 

      There are only a few - hope they help.

      I wouldn't recommend just reading through it - use it for quick reference if you forget a particular term.

      And nothing is in alphabetical order, so either scan through for keywords in bold or ctrl+F to search. 

       

      meaning, use, function, and concept

      I have to deal with these altogether, because they are essentially the same thing.  Meaning (the M in MPF) is the general term.  The other 3 are used differently for different types of language:

      concept
      This is used to describe the meaning of an item of lexis (vocabulary).  In a way it is the 'definition' of a new word.  That said, concept can include a lot more than a simple definition - it includes connotations (is it polite/impolite, positive/negative, etc), how it is different from its synonyms (plump describing a person can be a synonym for fat but suggests a more round appearance), the types of other words it can be used with, eg. handsome man, but beautiful woman, etc). 

      Also, concepts can be conveyed in many different ways.  The easiest way to convey the concept for 'apple' for example, is to actually show someone a real apple.  The second easiest way would be to show them a picture of an apple.  A definition would be one of the least effective ways.

      This can also be used to describe many grammatical structures and items, but use is often used for those instead.

      use
      The reason use is often preferred to describe the 'meaning' of grammatical structures is that it is easier to describe the meaning like this, for example, "We use Present Continuous to talk about future plans when the arrangements for those plans were made in the past". 

      Again, the definition isn't usually enough, and the concept/use of grammatical structures needs to be conveyed through clear situations (ie. in a story of some kind) and with the aid of timelines if relevant.

      function
      Function is used in two ways.  The two different ways can seem contrasting at times, but are actually closely linked.  The first is to describe the meaning of functional exponents (expressions similar to those in a tourist's language guide book).  For example, the function of "Could you pass the salt, please" is 'making a request' and the function of "I see your point, but..." is 'disagreeing'.

      The second is to distinguish the meaning of a grammatical structure when it isn't used in context from when it has a contextualised purpose that is different from its basic meaning.  The classic example is "It's freezing in here" which in basic meaning is "a statement of fact" (one of several uses of Present Simple), but when used in the right situation can have the function of "asking for permission (to close the window)".

      In both cases when focusing on function we usually use terms in the -ing form (above you can see 'making a request', 'disagreeing', 'asking for permission'; other common functions include 'apologising', 'refusing permission', 'expressing regrets', 'threatening', 'promising', etc).

      All three of these terms, though, refer to meaning.  (NOT form, which is to do with the name of grammatical structures, the spelling of words, word order, verb forms, how the sentence is made up, etc)

       

      CCQs and ICQs

      These two are very different, but have a couple of things in common and that combined with looking similar (and even being assessed in the same syllabus criteria on the CELTA) leads most teachers to mixing them up.  So here they are side-by-side by very different.

      CCQ stands for Concept Checking Question.  As seen above, 'concept' is to do with meaning.  CCQs are used to check understanding of the meaning of words, phrases, functional expressions or grammar.

      It's important not to overvalue CCQs though, as it is the concept checking that is the important part.  Questions are the most common way to check concept, but sometimes there are other ways to check concept that are much more effective (eg. if teaching body parts, then the best way to check understanding of 'ear' wouldn't be to ask questions like "How many do you have?" (2) and "Are they for listening or touching?" (listening), it would be to have the Ss use mime/gesture, "Touch your ears").

      ICQ stands for Instruction Checking Question.  By instruction we mean 'instructions to an exercise, a game, an activity, etc', on the CELTA often referred to as task set up.  ICQs are used to check that students understand how to do a task.

      ICQs should be closely linked to the type of activity and should check things that students are likely to do wrong.  They are particularly important when using a task that is similar to another task.  For example, if students do a lot of open gap-fill tasks, and then you set a guided gap-fill in which they have to choose words from the box below, they are very likely to forget to use the box below.  A good ICQ would be "Can you use any words?" (No.  Only the words in the box.)  Similarly, if they usually do writing tasks alone, but you decide to use a peer-writing task, then use the ICQ, "Do you work alone or in pairs?" (in pairs).

      Other task dependent ICQs might include Qs like:  For a 'describe the picture and your partner draws it' task, "Can you show your picture to your partner?" (no);  For a 'Describe your daily routine task' after leading in by talking about the daily routine of a couple of celebrities, whose pictures are still on the board,  "Do you talk about yourself or the celebrities?" (yourself), etc.

       

      TTT
      Teacher Talking Time.  This is usually used negatively, to say the teacher talks too much. 

      Lecturing is not only the least enjoyable approach to teaching, it's the least effective way to teach.  People learn best when they are actively involved; when they are doing things.  This is true in all learning, but it is even more important in language teaching because, depending on the level of the students, a large amount of what you say is not understood.

      Somtimes it is used to describe the type of teacher talk, too.  For example, 'grading of TTT' isn't necessarily suggesting that a teacher talks too much, just that when the teacher does talk, the level of the language used is too high/complicated for those students.

       

      Echo
      Echo is used to describe when a teacher repeats something a student said for no valuable reason.  As such, repeating during pronunciation drills or repeating for the purpose of error correction are not 'echo'.  When checking answers to a task, eliciting words and ideas in open class work, chatting with students informally, etc, then repeating them is echo.

      Compare:

      T: What colour is this?
      S: Orange.
      T: Orange, yes, it's orange.

      T: How old are you?
      S: EIGHTy-n.
      T: EighTEEN.

      In the first it is echo.  In the second it is correction.

      Echo is problematic because:

      1. It's not natural.
      2. It misses a good opportunity to raise the Ss awarenes of communication problems due to voice, volume, etc.
      3. It creates an atmosphere in which Ss don't need to listen to each other, because they know the teacher will repeat it anway.
      4. It creates a feeling of 'nothing is right until the teacher confirms it'. 
      5. Students often assume you are repeating it because they made a mistake (and if they didn't, they may overcorrect themselves and really make a mistake).

       

      MPF
      Meaning, pronunciation and form.

      Meaning covers the concepts, function, use, etc, of grammar, expressions, vocabulary (see more on meaning above).  For vocabulary this fairly obvious, so here are some examples for grammar and expressions:

      • "She can't come to the phone because she's playing tennis."
        To talk about a temporary action that is in progress at the time of speaking.
      • "I'm sure she'd love to meet you, but she's playing tennis that day."
        To talk about future plans in which the arrangement was made at an earlier time.
      • "If you touch that, it'll burn you."
        To warn somebody not to do something.
      • "If I get the job, I'll be so happy."
        To talk about a possible future event and the effect or result of that event.

      Don't forget there are many different ways to convey concept - including: pictures, mime and gesture, situations, synonyms/antonyms, definitions, time-lines, etc.

      Pronunciation covers basic sounds, pronunciation of words, sentence stress, connected speech, intonation, etc.

      Form covers how something is written, the types of verbs used, the word order, the sentence structure, etc.  Form covers different things for words, expressions and grammatical structures, but can include things like: 

      • spelling
      • the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc; transitive/intransitve, countable/uncountable, etc)
      • typical collocations and common sentence patterns (eg. a + lake/river/pond, the + ocean; tell + somebody something, say + something to somebody, talk + about something / with somebody)
      • the verb form (drive, drives, drove, driven, driving, etc)
      • the sentence structure, including the technical name and breakdown (eg. in "She's playing tennis" the form is Present Continuous which is made up of subject + am/is/are + V-ing; in "If you touch that, it'll burn you" and "If I get the job, I'll be so happy" the form is First Conditional which is made up of if + subject 1 + present simple, subject 2 + will + base verb)

      Don't forget, the same form can often have very different meanings:

      • bank = a place to get money or the side of a river, and there are other possibilities too (eg. a blood bank, don't bank on somebody doing something, etc).
      • "She's playing tennis" = an action in progress, or a future plan (in which the arrangements were made in the past), and there are other possibilities too (eg. "She usually attends piano lessons Tuesday evenings, but this summer she's playing tennis instead." = an action that is repeated around now (but isn't necessarily in progress at this moment)).

       

       

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