DELTA Module One flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Minimal pair

Two words differing in only one phoneme in the same position, such as 'ship' and 'sheep' or 'pet' and 'bet'. Teachers use them to diagnose and practise phonemic contrasts that learners cannot yet hear or produce.

Voiced and voiceless sounds

A voiced sound involves vibration of the vocal folds, as in /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/; a voiceless sound does not, as in /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/. The distinction explains common final-consonant and plural-ending errors.

Place of articulation

The point in the vocal tract where airflow is obstructed to produce a consonant, for example bilabial (/p/, /b/), alveolar (/t/, /d/), velar (/k/, /g/) and dental (/θ/, /ð/). It underpins contrastive analysis of learner pronunciation problems.

Diphthong

A single vowel phoneme that glides from one quality to another within the same syllable, as in /eɪ/ in 'face' or /aɪ/ in 'price'. English has eight closing and centring diphthongs in standard inventories.

Consonant cluster

Two or more consonants occurring together without an intervening vowel, as in 'spl-' in 'splash' or '-nts' in 'students'. Clusters absent from a learner's first language are frequent sources of epenthesis, where speakers insert a vowel.

Weak forms

Reduced pronunciations of grammatical words such as 'and', 'of', 'to' and 'can' when unstressed in connected speech, usually with a schwa. Learners who only hear strong forms often fail to decode natural spoken English.

Elision

Omission of a sound in connected speech, as when /t/ disappears in 'next day' or 'friendship'. It is a normal feature of fluent speech rather than an error, and it affects listening comprehension.

Assimilation

A sound changes to become more like a neighbouring sound, as when 'ten bikes' is pronounced with /m/ before /b/. It explains why words heard in connected speech may not match their dictionary pronunciation.

Word stress

The relative prominence given to one syllable in a word, marked by greater loudness, length and pitch movement. Stress placement can distinguish word class, as in the noun 'record' versus the verb 'record'.

Intonation

The pattern of pitch movement across an utterance. A falling tone typically signals completion or certainty, while a rising tone often signals a yes/no question, incompleteness or a request for confirmation.

Denotation and connotation

Denotation is the literal, dictionary meaning of a word; connotation is the associations it carries. 'Cheap' and 'inexpensive' share denotation but differ in connotation, which matters in lexical selection tasks.

Hyponymy

A meaning relationship in which a more specific term is included within a broader one, as 'rose' is a hyponym of 'flower'. The broader term is the superordinate, and the set of terms forms a lexical field.

Polysemy

One word form carries several related meanings, as 'head' can mean a body part, a leader or the top of something. It differs from homonymy, where unrelated meanings coincide in form.

Collocation

The habitual co-occurrence of words, as in 'make a decision' or 'heavy rain'. Collocations are arbitrary rather than rule-generated, so learners need exposure and retrieval practice rather than explanation alone.

Idiom

A fixed multi-word expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from its parts, such as 'kick the bucket'. Idioms are typically non-compositional and often culturally specific, making them a distinct lexical category.

Register

The degree of formality and the situational variety of language, ranging from informal spoken to formal written. Register choice depends on audience, purpose and medium rather than on grammatical complexity alone.

Affixation

Word formation by adding a prefix or suffix to a base, as in 'un-help-ful'. Prefixes usually change meaning while suffixes often change word class, which is central to teaching word families.

Compounding

Word formation by combining two or more free morphemes into a new lexical item, as in 'bookshop' or 'well-known'. The meaning of the compound is not always predictable from its parts.

Conversion

Word formation in which a word changes word class without any added affix, as when the noun 'email' becomes the verb 'to email'. Also called zero derivation.

Lexical versus grammatical words

Lexical words carry substantive meaning and are an open class (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs); grammatical words express relationships and form a closed class (articles, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliaries).

Past perfect continuous form

Subject + had + been + present participle, as in 'She had been waiting for an hour'. It typically expresses an activity continuing up to a past reference point, often with a result visible at that time.

Second conditional meaning

Form: if + past simple, would + bare infinitive. It expresses a hypothetical or unlikely present or future situation, as in 'If I had more time, I would travel', and is often used for polite suggestions.

Countability and quantifiers

Countable nouns take plural forms and 'many' or 'a few'; uncountable nouns take singular verbs and 'much' or 'a little'. Some nouns vary by meaning, as 'paper' versus 'a paper'.

L1 interference

Transfer of features from the learner's first language into the target language, producing errors such as omitted articles or transferred word order. Contrastive analysis predicts likely trouble spots but does not guarantee them.

Overgeneralisation

A learner applies a rule beyond its valid range, producing forms such as 'goed' or 'more better'. It is evidence of active rule construction in interlanguage rather than simple imitation failure.

Fossilisation

The persistence of an incorrect feature in a learner's interlanguage despite exposure and instruction. It is often associated with communicative success, where the error does not impede understanding and so is not noticed.

Presentation, practice, production

A linear lesson model in which the teacher presents a language item, learners practise it in controlled exercises, then use it more freely. It suits discrete items but offers limited authentic communication.

Task-based learning

A framework in which learners complete a meaningful task, then focus on language that emerged, then repeat or extend the task. Meaning precedes form, and the syllabus is organised around tasks rather than structures.

Test-teach-test

A lesson shape that begins with a diagnostic task, teaches only what learners got wrong, then re-tests through a further task. It responds to learner need rather than to a pre-planned language point.

Guided discovery

Learners work out a rule from examples provided in context, with teacher scaffolding, before applying it. It builds awareness and cognitive engagement but requires carefully selected, unambiguous data.

Authentic materials

Texts and recordings produced for real communication rather than for language teaching, such as menus, podcasts or news articles. They offer genuine language use but may need task adaptation for level.

Materials evaluation criteria

Criteria for judging a resource include appropriacy to learner age and level, authenticity, cultural suitability, clarity of purpose, skills coverage, cognitive demand, flexibility and cost. Evaluation should be tied to a stated teaching aim.