Error analysis

Identifying and analysing errors made by learners and their possible causes. This evidence is used to judge where the learner is in the learning process, what language learning strategies learners are using, and to suggest where and how improvement may be made. So, in this procedure, samples of learner language are collected and the errors are identified, described, and classified according to their hypothesized causes. The errors are then evaluated for relative seriousness.

ESL

English as a Second Language – English language programs in countries where English is the dominant or official language. Programs designed for non-English-speaking immigrants in the USA are ESL programs.

ESOL

English to Speakers of Other Languages–a term often used to describe elementary and secondary English language programs. It is sometimes used to distinguish ESL classes within adult basic education programs.

ESP

English for Specific Purposes–a term that refers to teaching or studying English for a particular career (like law or medicine) or for business in general.

European Language Portfolio (ELP)

~ is, as its introduction states, a ‘personal document (and) at the same time an information tool and a companion to language learning. (It) enables all language proficiency – whether acquired within or outside formal educational settings – and intercultural experience to be documented and presented in a comprehensive, complete and internationally comparable way. It also contains guidelines for reflecting on one’s own language learning and for planning and monitoring further learning’.

Evaluation

~ involves making qualitative judgements, often subjective, about various aspects of language performance. Other uses of the term are: • materials’ evaluation • evaluation of teaching • evaluation of learning etc. ~ is a method of determining if students learned what they were taught. It is usually conducted at the end of a lesson.

Extensive listening/reading

Listening to or reading long pieces of text, such as stories or newspapers, i.e. it is listening or reading for general or global understanding, often of longer texts. See intensive listening/reading.

Extra-curricular activities

~ refer to activities performed by learners in out-of-lesson, or out-of-school time. Within a language learning context these may include attending a language club, watching a foreign language film, playing a part in a foreign play, participating in a foreign visit etc.