KTET Category 3 key terms

The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance from a more capable person. Instruction aimed at this zone stretches ability without overwhelming the student.

Temporary support a teacher provides so a learner can complete a task beyond current ability. Support is gradually withdrawn as competence grows, shifting responsibility to the student.

A view that learners actively build knowledge by connecting new experience to prior understanding, rather than receiving information passively. Teaching therefore begins with what students already know and provides active, meaningful tasks.

An organised mental framework a learner uses to interpret new information. Existing schemas may need revising when new experience contradicts them, which is central to conceptual change teaching.

A sequence describing qualitative shifts in thinking: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Upper primary and high school learners are typically moving toward or within formal operational reasoning, though not uniformly.

Reasoning tied to tangible objects and direct experience, typically emerging in middle childhood. Such learners handle classification and conservation but struggle with abstract, hypothetical problems until formal operations develop.

Awareness and regulation of one's own thinking, including planning, monitoring comprehension and adjusting strategies. It predicts academic success and can be taught through think-alouds and self-questioning.

A cycle in which learners set goals, apply strategies, monitor progress and adjust effort. Teachers foster it by giving choice, teaching study strategies and prompting reflection after tasks.

Drive to engage in an activity for its own interest or satisfaction rather than for external reward. It is supported by autonomy, competence and relatedness, and it sustains deeper learning than rewards alone.

The belief that ability can be developed through effort and strategy, as opposed to a fixed view of talent. It influences how learners respond to failure and can be shaped by teacher feedback.

A tendency in adolescence to overestimate how much others notice and judge them, alongside difficulty separating personal perspective from others'. Teachers can reduce friction by allowing private reflection and respectful challenge.

The adolescent process of exploring and committing to values, roles and aspirations. Classrooms support it through opportunities for voice, choice and recognition of diverse backgrounds.

The effect of friends and classmates on attitudes, effort and behaviour. It can promote or hinder learning, so teachers shape it deliberately through group norms and cooperative structures.

Arranging schooling so that all learners, including those with disabilities or marginalised backgrounds, learn together with appropriate support. It requires curriculum adaptation, accessible materials and a barrier-free environment.

Planning one lesson with varied content, process or product so learners at different readiness levels can succeed. It responds to observed differences rather than creating separate tracks.

A framework that designs learning goals, methods, materials and assessment to be usable by the widest range of learners from the outset, offering multiple means of engagement, representation and expression.

Ongoing gathering of evidence about learning to adjust teaching and help students close gaps. It is low-stakes and feedback-oriented, unlike a final judgement of achievement.

Using assessment evidence to inform next steps for both teacher and learner. Key practices include sharing learning intentions, questioning, peer and self-assessment, and acting on results.

Information about what was done well, what needs improvement and how to proceed, focused on the work rather than the person. It outperforms marks or praise alone in improving learning.

A stable, plausible but incorrect idea a learner holds, often from everyday experience. Effective teaching elicits it, creates cognitive conflict and helps the learner rebuild the concept.

The widely popular claim that matching instruction to a student's preferred modality improves learning. Evidence does not support this meshing hypothesis, so teachers should use varied representations for all learners.

Structured group work in which members depend on one another to reach shared goals, with individual accountability. It differs from mere group seating because roles and success criteria are explicit.

Creating and maintaining conditions that support learning, including routines, expectations, physical arrangement and responses to disruption. Preventive, relationship-based approaches work better than punishment alone.

A proactive approach that teaches expected behaviours, reinforces them and analyses what triggers problem behaviour. It replaces blame with environmental and instructional adjustments.

A cycle in which a teacher identifies a classroom problem, plans an intervention, acts, collects evidence and reflects. It produces local knowledge and professional growth rather than generalisable theory.

Systematically examining one's own teaching decisions and their effects in order to improve. Tools include lesson logs, peer observation and structured post-lesson analysis.

Sensitivity to the sound structure of spoken language, including syllables, rhymes and individual phonemes. It underpins decoding and spelling and is a strong early predictor of reading success.

Teaching the relationships between letters or letter groups and the sounds they represent, used to decode unfamiliar words. It is most effective when systematic and applied to real reading and writing.

Reading accurately, at an appropriate pace and with expression, so attention can go to meaning. It develops through repeated reading of familiar text and modelling.

Deliberate techniques such as predicting, questioning, summarising, clarifying and inferring used to build meaning from text. Explicit teaching with gradual release improves understanding across subjects.

An approach that organises language lessons around meaningful interaction and real purposes, with accuracy developed alongside fluency. Learners use the target language for tasks, not only for drills.

A syllabus built around purposeful tasks, such as planning a trip or solving a problem, with language focus drawn from task demands. Meaning comes first; form is addressed during or after the task.

The study of how people learn an additional language after a first, including the role of input, interaction, output and error. Errors are often developmental evidence rather than signs of failure.

A learner's evolving rule system for a second language, distinct from both the first language and the target. It changes with new input and can fossilise if practice and feedback stop.

Reading large amounts of easy, self-chosen material for pleasure and general understanding. It builds vocabulary and fluency, complementing intensive study of short, difficult texts.

Teaching writing as recursive stages of planning, drafting, revising and editing rather than a single submission. Peer response and conferencing provide feedback during the process.

A scoring guide listing criteria and levels of quality, shared with learners in advance. It makes expectations transparent and supports consistent, criteria-referenced judgement.

A diagram linking concepts with labelled relationships to show structure and hierarchy. It reveals connections and gaps in understanding and works well as both a teaching and assessment tool.

Students investigate questions, gather and interpret evidence, and construct explanations, with the teacher guiding rather than lecturing. It develops reasoning and scientific habits of mind.

A disciplined cycle of observing, framing a testable question, hypothesising, experimenting with controls, and interpreting data. At school level it is taught as reasoning practice, not a rigid recipe.

The specialised blend of subject knowledge and teaching knowledge that lets a teacher anticipate difficulties, choose representations and explain ideas effectively to learners of a particular age.

A framework describing the integration of subject matter, pedagogy and technology. Effective use requires understanding how a digital tool changes what and how a topic can be taught.

A planned combination of face-to-face teaching and online learning, each chosen for what it does best. Success depends on clear purpose, access and support for self-regulation.