Test Specifications Test specifications – usually called ‘specs’ – are generative explanatory documents for the creation of test tasks. Specs tell us the nuts and bolts of how to phrase the test items, how to structure the test layout, how to locate the passage, and how to make a host of difficult choices as we…
Competence Competence corresponds to the I-language (Internal Language). Competency is the speaker/hearer’s knowledge of his language. It’s an abstract version of knowledge. Competency is independent of situation. It represent what the speaker knows in the abstract. The different types of competence are: grammatical competency, linguistic competency, communicative competency, pragmatic competency, Communicative Competency: Discourse Competency: The…
Speech Acts Speech acts are carried out over various turns and their exact shape takes into account interlocutor reactions. In other words, conversation is co-constructed by both interlocutors, which is something that can never be simulated with DCTs. Speech acts are certainly the most researched area of pragmatics, and they are arguably the most social,…
Infants’ Language Learning | TESL Issues Infants’ Language Learning | TESL Issues All normal children appear to contain within themselves the ability to create a language in spite of wide variations in experience. External auditory simulation is available to the fetus, although attenuated. Mother’s voice is a prominent sound in the amniotic environment, experience with…
Genie and Critical Period Hypothesis Genie Born in 1957, Genie experienced extreme deprivation beginning at about twenty months of age when she was confined to a dark room in the back of a house, harnessed to a potty seat by day and strapped in a sleeping bag in a caged crib at night, until she…
IELTS Speaking Test Sample | Video Games IELTS Speaking Test Sample | Video Games IELTS Candidate: Arash Watch this video on YouTube Part 1: Introduction Questions: So your name is Arash, right? Do you know any other languages, apart from English? Do you know Polish? Did you take any classes to learn Polish? Didn’t you…
Postmethod Pedagogy Postmethod pedagogy allows us to go beyond and overcome the limitations of method-based pedagogy. Within such a broad-based definition, Kumaravadivelu (2003) visualizes postmethod pedagogy as a 3-dimentional system consisting of pedagogic parameters of: Particularity: The parameter of particularity requires that any language pedagogy must be sensitive to a particular group of teachers teaching…
Language Learning Strategies Language Learning Strategies They are mental and communicative procedures learners use in order to learn and use language. Strategies can help the students to increase their level of consciousness and awareness over their learning process. Learning strategies are perhaps best defined in terms of a set of characteristics that figure in most…
Universal Grammar Universal grammar may be thought of as some system of principles common to the species and available to each individual prior to experience. Universal Grammar might be defined as the study of the conditions that must be met by the grammars of all human languages. In a highly idealized picture of language acquisition,…
Successful English Learners | Interview 2 Successful English Learners | Interview 2 Interviewee: Mr. Khaki Watch this video on YouTube Questions Could you please introduce yourself to us? How long have you been learning English? What do you plan to learn English for? How do you try to learn English vocabulary? What coursebooks or reference…