MTTC English as a Second Language (126) flashcards

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

BICS versus CALP

Cummins distinguishes conversational fluency (BICS), reached in about one to three years, from academic language proficiency (CALP), which typically takes five to seven years and is the focus of academic ESL instruction.

Comprehensible input hypothesis

Krashen's claim that acquisition occurs when learners receive input slightly beyond their current level (i+1), supported by visuals, gestures, and context rather than explicit grammar explanation.

Affective filter

Krashen's construct describing how anxiety, low motivation, or low self-confidence can block learners from taking in comprehensible input; a low-anxiety classroom increases available intake.

Silent period

The pre-production stage in which a new English learner may understand but not speak; it is developmentally normal, so instruction should rely on listening, gestures, and nonverbal responses.

Interlanguage

The learner's rule-governed interim language system between the first language and the target language; errors reflect active hypothesis testing, transfer, and overgeneralization rather than carelessness.

Fossilization

The persistent stabilization of non-target-language forms despite continued exposure and instruction; targeted feedback and opportunities to produce modified output are used to address it.

Contrastive analysis

A framework predicting second-language difficulty by comparing the first and target languages; its hypothesis is weakened because many predicted errors never occur, reflecting positive transfer.

Lau v. Nichols

The 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that providing instruction only in English to students who do not understand it can deny meaningful access to education under Title VI.

Castañeda three-prong test

A standard for judging language programs: the program must be based on sound educational theory, implemented effectively with resources, and evaluated to show results.

Sheltered instruction

An approach that teaches grade-level content using comprehensible input, scaffolds, and explicit language objectives so English learners can access the curriculum while developing English.

SIOP components

Eight features of sheltered lessons: content and language objectives, building background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice and application, lesson delivery, and review and assessment.

Reclassification criteria

The evidence required to exit English learner status, typically an English proficiency test score plus content assessment, teacher recommendation, and parent input; former ELs are monitored afterward.

Home language survey

A form completed at enrollment that identifies students whose first language is not English; it triggers screening with a valid English proficiency test and possible program placement.

WIDA ACCESS test

A widely used annual English language proficiency assessment measuring listening, speaking, reading, and writing; results inform placement, instructional planning, and reclassification decisions.

Tier 2 vocabulary

High-frequency academic words that appear across content areas, such as analyze, contrast, and evaluate; they offer the greatest payoff for English learners' academic reading and writing.

Cognate awareness

Recognizing words that share form and meaning across languages, such as analyze and analizar; it accelerates vocabulary learning for learners whose first language shares Latin roots.

Output hypothesis

Swain's claim that producing language forces learners to process syntax and notice gaps in their knowledge, especially when they are pushed to make meaning precisely.

Interaction hypothesis

Long's claim that negotiation of meaning during interaction, such as clarification requests and recasts, makes input more comprehensible and promotes second-language development.

Zone of proximal development

Vygotsky's concept of the gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with support from a more capable peer or teacher; scaffolding targets this zone.

Scaffolding

Temporary supports such as modeling, sentence frames, word banks, and visuals that help learners complete tasks beyond their independent level; supports are gradually removed as proficiency grows.

Communicative competence

The ability to use language appropriately, comprising grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic components; communicative language teaching targets all four rather than grammar alone.

Grammar-Translation Method

A historical method focused on memorizing rules, translating texts, and analyzing grammar; it develops reading and accuracy but provides little oral communication practice.

Audiolingualism

A behaviorist method using drills, repetition, and habit formation to teach sentence patterns; it emphasizes accuracy and pronunciation but offers limited meaningful communication.

Task-based learning

A communicative approach in which learners complete meaningful tasks, such as planning a trip, and acquire language through interaction rather than through isolated form drills.

Funds of knowledge

The skills, experiences, and cultural resources families and communities possess; culturally responsive instruction draws on these to make content relevant and build on strengths.

Acculturation strategies

Berry's four patterns of adapting to a new culture: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization; integration is associated with the most positive academic and psychological outcomes.

Culture shock stages

A predictable sequence of honeymoon, frustration or hostility, recovery, and adjustment; behavior changes during transition can be mistaken for learning or behavioral disabilities.

Language difference versus disability

A determination requiring data in both languages, developmental and schooling history, and ruling out interrupted education before referring an English learner for special education evaluation.

Analytic rubric

A scoring tool that rates separate traits, such as organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics, at described performance levels; it gives more diagnostic feedback than a single holistic score.

Formative assessment

Ongoing evidence gathering, such as exit tickets, observations, and oral interviews, used to adjust instruction and give feedback rather than to assign a final grade.

Testing accommodations for ELLs

Supports such as extended time, bilingual glossaries, simplified directions, and separate settings that reduce language barriers without changing the construct being measured.

Backward design

A planning process that starts with desired results, then determines acceptable evidence, then designs learning experiences; it aligns objectives, assessment, and instruction.

Co-teaching models

Collaborative arrangements between ESL and content teachers, including one-teach/one-assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, and team teaching, to integrate language and content instruction.