Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition

participants make adjustments along such dimensions as
presuppositions about shared knowledge, the purpose of the
communication and the relative status or authority of the participants.
Thus if A says ‘John is going to London’ and B responds ‘John who?’
and A replies ‘John Henry’, then they have negotiated agreement on the
reference of ‘John’.
notion A category of classification of meaning. E.g. time, quantity, space.
Usually contrasted with function (q.v.). See also the work of Wilkins
and the Council of Europe, especially van Ek.
objective question A question for which there is only one clear-cut answer,
or an extremely limited range of specifiable alternatives. Often used for
multiple choice questions, but there are other types. An objective test is
one consisting entirely of objective questions. The question is
‘objective’ only in the marking. The choice of what is to be answered is
normally made subjectively by the setter of the question or test.

---

Glossary
225
official language The language which is adopted by a country or
institution through administrative or judicial decision: usually the
language of parliamentary debate, lawcourts, education, broadcasting,
etc. See national language.
OHP overhead projector.
operator see function words.
oral/aural Term used for methods of teaching which concentrated on
developing the skills of speaking and listening in the first instance (c.
1950–70). Cf. audio-lingual and direct method.
oral composition A story, or other extended piece of speech, composed in
class, usually by co-operative class effort.
pair work A procedure for intensive class work in which students co-
operate simultaneously in pairs (also called dyads) for discussion or
practice.
paradigm, paradigmatic (1) In traditional grammar, the list of forms a
word can take, e.g. boy, boys, boy’s, in written English. (2) In
postSaussurean linguistics the possible choices in a particular slot; e.g.
each slot in ‘She can swim’ can be filled respectively by I, you, he, it,
we, etc., may, will, might, etc., hop, jump, run, write, etc. Cf.
syntagmatic.
para-language Systematic communication associated with language, but
not realised in grammar or lexical choice. May include ‘ums’ and ‘ers’,
significant pauses, ‘uhuh’ and—some would say—intonation. Some
people extend this definition further to include other signalling
systems. See semiotics; body language.
parole see langue.
passive vocabulary The vocabulary which a student is able to
understand as distinct from what he or she is able to use. ‘Receptive’
is often preferred, as the operation of understanding is not a passive
activity.
pattern Any regular organisation which can be perceived: used in
grammar. E.g. sentence patterns; phonology and semantics. Cf.
structure.
pattern practice A teaching procedure associated with audio-lingualism
which enables students to practise sentence patterns in order to
acquire the grammatical ‘shape’ without any reference to meaning
or use.
pedagogical grammar A grammar of a language modified so that it is
suitable for effective teaching; this may be based on an adaptation of
a descriptive grammar, or on an analysis of the natural order in which
a learner or learners acquire items in a foreign language.
pedagogics A term more frequently used outside Britain than inside, for
the systematic analysis and study of teaching procedures.
peer group The group of people which occupies the same position in the

---