KTET Category 3 flashcards

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

Piaget's concrete operational stage

Ages 7–11. Children can conserve, classify, seriate, and reason logically about concrete objects, but struggle with abstract and hypothetical ideas. Upper primary learners are typically at this stage.

Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky's term for the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance. Instruction should target this zone and use scaffolding that is gradually removed.

Scaffolding

Temporary support (hints, models, prompts, partial solutions) provided to help a learner complete a task within the ZPD. It is faded as competence increases so the learner becomes independent.

Positive reinforcement

In operant conditioning, adding a desirable consequence after a behaviour to increase the likelihood of that behaviour recurring. Example: praise or a token after completing homework.

Formative assessment

Ongoing assessment used to monitor learning and provide feedback during instruction. It is assessment for learning and informs teaching adjustments rather than assigning final grades.

Bloom's revised taxonomy

A hierarchy of cognitive processes: remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate, create. Teachers use it to align objectives, activities, and assessment items to intended cognitive levels.

Kohlberg's conventional morality

The second level of moral reasoning, where right and wrong are judged by social approval and maintaining law and order. Most adolescents reason at this level.

Inclusive education

An approach where all learners, including those with disabilities or diverse needs, learn together in mainstream settings with adapted content, process, and products, and without labelling or segregation.

Krashen's input hypothesis

The claim that language acquisition occurs when learners receive comprehensible input slightly beyond their current level (i+1). Meaning is central; conscious rule learning plays a limited role.

Affective filter

Krashen's term for emotional factors such as anxiety, low motivation, and low self-confidence that can block language acquisition. A low filter supports learning; a high filter impedes it.

Agglutinative morphology

A word-formation pattern where morphemes are added in sequence to a root, each carrying one meaning. Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil are agglutinative, unlike English, which is more analytic.

Communicative Language Teaching

An approach that prioritises meaningful interaction and authentic communication over isolated grammar drills. Fluency is developed alongside accuracy, and errors are treated as developmental.

Process writing approach

A writing pedagogy that treats writing as a recursive process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. It develops fluency, metacognition, and audience awareness.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound that distinguishes meaning in a language. English has about 44 phonemes represented by 26 letters, so explicit phonics teaching is needed for decoding and spelling.

Interactive reading model

A reading theory combining bottom-up decoding (phonics, word recognition) with top-down meaning-making (prior knowledge, context). Effective reading instruction supports both simultaneously.

SOV word order

A sentence pattern in which the subject comes first, the object second, and the verb last. Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil typically use SOV, unlike English, which uses SVO.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another without using 'like' or 'as', e.g., 'the classroom was a zoo'. It creates vivid imagery and deeper meaning.

Phonics

An approach to reading instruction that teaches the relationships between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes). It supports decoding and spelling, especially in English with its irregular spelling.

Tier-2 vocabulary

General academic words that appear across subjects (e.g., analyse, compare, evidence). They are high-frequency for school success and should be explicitly taught with context and morphology.

Inferential comprehension

Understanding ideas that are implied but not stated directly in a text. It requires combining textual clues with prior knowledge, unlike literal comprehension, which focuses on explicit information.

Interlanguage

Selinker's term for a learner's evolving second-language rule system, which is influenced by the first language and by overgeneralisation. Errors are systematic and indicate development, not failure.

Analytic writing rubric

An assessment tool that scores writing on separate criteria such as content, organisation, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. It provides detailed feedback and improves reliability across raters.

Register

The variety of language used for a particular purpose or audience, ranging from formal to informal. Teaching register helps students choose appropriate language for letters, essays, and presentations.

Subject–verb agreement

The grammatical rule that the verb must match the subject in number and person, e.g., 'She writes' vs. 'They write'. It is a common error area for second-language learners.

Receptive skills

Listening and reading, the skills through which learners receive and interpret language input. They typically develop before productive skills (speaking and writing) and support them.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Shulman's concept combining subject mastery with knowledge of how to teach it: common misconceptions, useful representations, analogies, and subject-specific assessment strategies.

Concrete–representational–abstract sequence

A mathematics teaching sequence that moves from physical objects (concrete) to drawings and diagrams (representational) to symbols and rules (abstract). It builds conceptual understanding before procedural fluency.

5E instructional model

A science teaching cycle: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate. It prioritises inquiry, prediction, and evidence-based explanation over rote memorisation of definitions.

Polya's problem-solving steps

Four steps for solving mathematics problems: understand the problem, devise a plan, carry out the plan, and look back. Heuristics include drawing a diagram, working backwards, and finding a pattern.

Table of specifications

An assessment blueprint that maps test items to content areas and cognitive levels. It ensures balanced coverage and alignment with learning outcomes before a test is administered.

Science process skills

Observable thinking skills used in scientific inquiry: observing, classifying, measuring, inferring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, and communicating. They are assessed through practical tasks, not only written tests.

Misconception

A persistent, incorrect idea that learners bring to a subject, such as 'multiplication always makes numbers larger'. Effective teaching identifies and directly addresses such ideas with evidence and counterexamples.