Home language

~, often referred to as the mother tongue, is normally the language acquired by the learner as his/her first language and usually (though not always) spoken in the learner’s home. It can also be referred to as a learner’s L1 (first language). It is sometimes used as a synonym for first language, primary language, or native language. Thus, it also refers to language(s) spoken in the home by significant others (e.g., family members, caregivers) who reside in the child’s home.

Homework

~ literally means work done at home. It is often, however, used more generally to refer to work generated by a teacher and/or the learner him or herself, to be completed outside class time. It can be done by an individual or as pair or group work.

Humanistic Methods

The Humanistic Methods emerged in the 1970’s, a period of great enlightenment as many would describe. People were feeling more liberated, and ESL teaching methods followed the movement. The designers’ method brought the issue of teaching further by looking at some variables that might have an influence on the learning process, apart from the contribution of the teacher and the students. Each of these methods has captured the attention of teachers and experts in the domain. However, they mostly remained confined to isolated regions of the world, and none of them has ever been recognised as being the current state of the art, even during its most popular time. Nonetheless, the originality of some of these methods have brought new ideas that are currently used today in the Communicative Approach.

I

IATEFL

International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language is based in the UK with members around the world.