CELTA flashcards
CELTA · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Teaching practice hours
- CELTA requires a minimum of six hours of assessed teaching practice, delivered over at least eight lessons to two groups of learners at different levels.
- Written lesson plan
- A document submitted before each assessed lesson stating main and subsidiary aims, anticipated problems and solutions, staged procedure with aims, timing and interaction patterns.
- Anticipated problems
- Predicted learner difficulties with meaning, form, pronunciation or task demands, each paired in the lesson plan with a planned solution or teacher response.
- CCQ
- Concept checking question: a short closed question asked after presenting language to confirm learners understand its meaning, for example asking whether an action is finished.
- ICQ
- Instruction checking question: a closed question asked after setting a task to confirm learners know what to do, for example whether they write or discuss first.
- Gist task
- A first reading or listening task focusing on overall meaning, such as topic, general idea or purpose, usually set before any detailed comprehension work.
- Detailed comprehension task
- A second receptive skills task requiring learners to locate specific information, infer meaning or understand detail in the written text or recording.
- Pre-teaching lexis
- Briefly presenting and checking a small set of words, typically five to eight, that learners must know in order to complete the main receptive task.
- PPP framework
- Presentation, Practice, Production: a lesson shape that presents a language item, practises it in controlled exercises, then uses it in a freer, personalised activity.
- Test-Teach-Test
- A lesson shape that begins with a task to diagnose what learners already know, clarifies the gaps, then returns to a second improved version of the task.
- Guided discovery
- An inductive approach in which learners examine examples and answer leading questions to work out a rule of meaning or form before the teacher confirms it.
- Student talking time
- The proportion of lesson time learners spend speaking; in CELTA teaching practice it is generally maximised relative to teacher talking time.
- Graded teacher language
- Adjusting vocabulary, speed, sentence length and complexity of teacher speech to match learners' level so that instructions and explanations remain comprehensible.
- Interaction pattern
- The configuration of who speaks to whom within a stage: whole class, open pairs, closed pairs, groups or individual work, chosen to serve the stage aim.
- Delayed error correction
- Noting learner errors during a fluency activity and addressing them afterwards, typically on the board, so that communication is not interrupted.
- Self-evaluation
- A written reflection completed by the trainee after each assessed lesson, identifying what worked, what did not and specific action points for the next lesson.
- Trainer written feedback
- Post-lesson comments recorded against the assessment criteria, noting strengths, development points and whether criteria were met; given after every assessed lesson.
- CELTA assessment criteria
- The published criteria against which teaching practice is judged, covering planning, teaching skills, classroom management, language awareness and professional development.
- Written assignment word count
- Each of the four written assignments is expected to be between 750 and 1000 words long.
- Resubmission policy
- Cambridge permits one resubmission of each written assignment that is initially below standard; failing the same assignment twice means failing the course.
- Language analysis assignment
- The first assignment: it analyses meaning, form and pronunciation of specified language items, anticipates learner problems and proposes teaching solutions with reference to grammar sources.
- Focus on the learner
- An assignment profiling one learner's background, needs and errors, then recommending and justifying activities and materials intended to address those needs.
- Skills assignment
- The assignment requiring selection of authentic material, justification of it for a named group, and the design and evaluation of receptive or productive skills tasks.
- Lessons from the classroom
- A reflective assignment on the trainee's own teaching practice, identifying strengths, development priorities and evidence-based action points for future lessons.
- Authentic material
- Text, audio or video produced for real-world purposes rather than for language teaching; difficulty is managed through task design rather than by simplifying the text.
- Rationale
- The stated justification for a task, material or activity, linking the choice to learner needs, lesson aims and published methodology literature.
- Referencing requirement
- Assignments must cite sources for language and methodology claims, usually through author-date citations and a reference list; unattributed copying is treated as malpractice.
- Learner needs analysis
- Evidence gathered about a learner's goals, level, learning preferences and difficulties, used to justify the activities recommended in the focus-on-the-learner assignment.
- Error analysis
- Examining samples of a learner's spoken or written work to classify errors by type and likely cause, and to decide what to prioritise in future teaching.
- Appendix
- Supporting material such as designed materials, lesson plans or samples of learner work attached at the end of an assignment and excluded from the word count.
- Assignment outcomes
- Each written assignment is graded pass, resubmit or fail; all four assignments must be passed for the certificate to be awarded.
- Evidence-based reflection
- Reflection that quotes specific incidents, learner utterances or lesson stages from the trainee's own teaching rather than offering general impressions.