This glossary has been made for the subject of English V, for the BA in ELT at Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa (UAS) in Mexico, for the reading file Giving feedback to language learners, by Cambridge University Pres (2020).
Made by Massiel Alvarado.
Accrue
verb
1: to come into existence as a legally enforceable claim
2: to come as a direct result of some state or action
3: to accumulate over time—most commonly used when referring to the interest, income, or expenses of an individual or business. Interest in a savings account, for example, accrues over time, such that the total amount in that account grows.
Example: ''the wisdom that accrues with age''
''interest accrues on a daily basis''
Affordance
noun
The quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used.
Example: ''We sit or stand on a chair because those affordances are fairly obvious''
Automated feedback
noun
Using a combination of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence, Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) systems scan a text
(either a written text or a transcription of spoken language) in order to find possible errors.
Communicative competence
noun
It is the ability to achieve communicative goals in a socially appropriate manner. It is organized and goal-oriented, i.e. it includes the ability to select and apply skills that are appropriate and effective in the respective context. It includes verbal and non-verbal behaviour.
Corrective feedback
noun
Error correction, where the objective is usually to facilitate improvements in a learner’s accuracy.
It focuses on learners’ errors. It can also be harmful to language acquisition and it can impact negatively on learners’ feelings.
Delayed feedback
noun
When teachers choose to wait until the end of an activity to correct errors. It is usually given to the whole class.
Direct feedback
noun
also known as explicit feedback, in which the teacher provides a corrected reformulation of an error often requires the learner to repeat the correction, especially in feedback on speaking.
- There is less risk of learners misunderstanding the teacher’s signal.
- It is more effective in the short-term, but less so in the long-term.
Effective feedback
noun
- It is about learning tasks
- Is specific and related to learning goals
- Is appropriately challenging
- It entails the active involvement of the learner
- Is a combination of the positive and the negative
Entail
verb
involve (something) as a necessary or inevitable part or consequence.
Feedback
noun
Information that a learner receives about their language learning and most commonly refers to information about their language
production (speaking and writing), although it can also concern reading and listening, study skills, attitudes, effort and so on.
Formative feedback
noun
Information that is intended to help the learner in some way, given continuously during learning.
Also known as ''feed forward'', as this kind of feedback provides information about what the learner can or should do next.
Global error
noun
Those which interfere with comprehension, rather than ‘local errors’, which do not affect intelligibility.
Illustrative feedback
noun
One way of doing this is by selecting the work of two or three students (with their permission, and, possibly, without naming the students concerned), projecting it on to the board and going through it orally with the whole class, using a combination of direct and indirect comments.
Immediate feedback
noun
When teachers correct students as soon as they make a mistkae (do not wait until the end of activity or lesson).
Indirect feedback
noun
may induce less anxiety in learners, especially in the case of feedback on spoken language. It is more likely to lead to learning because it requires learners to do more of the work themselves: they are required to take a more active role in their own learning, and this should help memorization and automatization.
Iteration
1: the repetition of a process or utterance.
2: the action or a process of iterating or repeating: such as
a) a procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result
b) the repetition of a sequence of computer instructions a specified number of times or until a condition is met
Learner-directed feedback
noun
Students are given suggestions, ranging from broad questions about the organization of their text or reader-friendliness to more detailed questions about word choice, sentence structure or layout.
Mismatch
a failure to correspond or match; a discrepancy.
Example: ''She is blood type O, and the donor heart and lungs she received in the first operation were blood type A. That mismatch triggered rejection by her immune system''
Oral feedback
noun
It allows for more dialogue and negotiation.
Overleaf
adverb
On the other side of a leaf (as of a book) find the answers overleaf.
Parroting
verb
to repeat exactly what someone else says, without understanding it or thinking about its meaning / a person who sedulously echoes another's words.
Example: ''She doesn't have an original thought in her head - she just parrots anything that Sara says''
Peer feedback
noun
where one learner gives feedback to another.
- It can benefit both the receiver and the giver of feedback
- It requires the givers of feedback to listen to or read attentively the language of their peers, and, in the process, may provide opportunities for them to make improvements in their own speaking and writing
- It can facilitate a move away from a teacher-centred classroom, and promote independent learning
Praise
verb
To express warm approval or admiration of.
Prompt
verb
the action of saying something to persuade, encourage, or remind someone to do or say something.
Stigmatizing error
noun
Those which may offend the target reader or interlocutor.
Summative feedback
noun
An evaluation, typically given by a score, of a student’s work or at the end of a period of study.
Unambivalent
adjective
Not subject to misinterpretation or more than one interpretation; clear-cut, definite.
Synonyms: apparent, bald, bald-faced, barefaced, bright-line, broad, clear.
Undertake
verb
1: commit oneself to and begin (an enterprise or responsibility); take on.
2: to take upon oneself : set about : ATTEMPT
3: guarantee, promise
Utterance
noun
Something that someone says / a spoken word, statement, or vocal sound.
Written feedback
noun
It is probably the most frequently used approach and has the advantage of providing a permanent record.
