GLOSSARY
1. Acronym: Abbreviation of several words by using the first letter of each word, usually in such a way that the abbreviation itself forms a pronounceable word. Often written in capital letters, eg, EAL (English as an Additional Language – a new term replacing ESL). See list of common acronyms at the appendix section.
2. Active voice: Grammatically, where the 'doer' of the action comes before the verb, for example 'Anne broke the vase'. Where the reverse happens, ie, the 'receiver' of the action is placed before the verb, eg, 'The vase was broken by Anne’, it is called the passive voice.
3. Activities: Teacher’s choice of tasks which require students to employ specific strategies, eg, cloze (fill in blanks), information gaps (connect missing pieces), etc.
4. Adjective: Word class that describes a noun to add extra meaning. Different types of adjectives include numbering adjectives, eg, two, many, lots of; describing adjectives, eg, big, old, yellow, beautiful; comparing adjectives, eg, more delicate, best, bigger.
5. Adverb: Word class that adds meaning to a verb, eg, 'She sings beautifully'; an adjective, eg, 'He is really interesting'; or an adverb, eg, 'She walks very slowly.' In English, most adverbs have an -ly ending.
6. Analogy: Comparison demonstrating the similarities between two things, people or situations. It is a device to clarify an idea through a connection. Analogies are often used in persuading, explaining or arguing a point.
7. Antonym: Word or word group with a meaning opposite to that of another word or word group, eg, hot (cold), go away (come back). Antonyms and synonyms are useful in building vocabulary.
8. Argument: Reasons and evidence given to support an idea or a proposition.
9. Audience: see Three bases.
10. Base word: Word to which a prefix or a suffix can be added to create new words, eg, the base word for jumped is jump, for retirement is retire, for incompressible is compress.
11. Cloze: task requiring students to fill in blanks.
12. Composer: Person who has created a text.
13. Comprehension: responding to, interpreting, analysing and evaluating texts.
14. Connectives: Words which link ideas, sentences and paragraphs in logical relationships. Identifying connectives is critical in linking ideas within a sentence or carrying over meaning from one sentence to the next. Connectives can be temporal, eg, first, second, next, eventually, finally; causal, eg, because, for, so, therefore, for that reason, accordingly, as a consequence; additive, eg, also, besides, furthermore, in addition, in the same way, comparative, eg, rather, alternatively, unlike; conditional/concessive, eg, if, yet, although, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, despite this; clarifying, eg, in fact, for example
15. Context: See Three bases.
16. Contraction: Shortened form of one or two words (one of which is usually a verb). In a contraction, an apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter or letters, eg, I'm (I am), can't (cannot), how's (how is), he’ll (he will).
17. Critical reading: Exploration of the quality of argument, content, analysis, information or persuasion in a text, to assess the way in which themes, issues or ideas are presented for the audience and purposes intended.
18. Cultural assumptions: Beliefs or attitudes about such things as gender, religion, youth, age, disability, sexuality, social class and work that are taken for granted as being part of the fabric of the social practices of a particular culture. Cultural assumptions underlie cultural expressions in texts and may also be embedded in texts in various ways, and as such can be a major stumbling block for students from a different cultural background to the composer.
19. Decode: to apply knowledge about letter-sound relationships, letter patterns and base words to correctly pronounce or read unfamiliar written words.
20. Digital literacy: Ability to understand digital texts.
21. Ellipsis: Omission of words where words repeat what has gone before and these terms are simply understood, eg, 'The project will be innovative. To be involved (in the project) will be exciting.' a word like one is substituted for a noun or noun group, as in 'There are lots of apples in the bowl. Can I have one?' (of them).
22. Evaluative level: see Three Level Guide.
23. Explicit teaching strategies: Modelled, Guided and Independent teaching which allow students to assume increasingly more responsibility in an explicitly sequenced way. In modelled teaching, scaffolding is direct, teacher-led and obvious. In guided teaching, scaffolding provides just enough support from the teacher to enable student to demonstrate new learning. In independent teaching, scaffolding provides minimal support from the teacher and greater opportunity for students to demonstrate their new learning and apply it to other contexts. Another way of representing these strategies is: I DO (modelled), WE DO (guided) and YOU DO (independent).
24. Figurative language: Words or phrases which create comparisons by linking the senses and the concrete to abstract ideas. Figurative language is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense, eg, simile, metaphor, irony, sarcasm, etc. It greatly facilitates the visualising process which aids comprehension. However, cultural assumptions are often embedded in figurative language making it difficult for students who are from a different background to the composer.
25. Fluency – Ability to read quickly, accurately and with proper expression.
26. Four clues for comprehension: Sequence of four stages in reading an assessment text: whole text (including questions and diagrams), paragraphs, sentences, words. See section on Reading techniques for an assessment text.
27. Guided teaching: see Explicit teaching strategies.
28. Imaginative text: see Types of text
29. Independent teaching: see Explicit teaching strategies.
30. Infer: Draw a conclusion from clues presented and use background knowledge of the content matter, eg, She ran out the door with her umbrella (the inference is it’s raining or could be raining soon).
31. Inferential level: see Three Level Guide.
32. Informative text: see Types of texts.
33. Irregular verb: Verb that does not use the regular “ed” suffix for the past tense, eg, am / was, sing / sang. See regular verb.
34. Language conventions: Accepted language practice that has developed over time and is generally used and understood, eg, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
35. Language features: Characteristics of language that support meaning, for example sentence structure, vocabulary, illustrations, diagrams, graphics, punctuation, figurative language. Choices in language features and text structures together define a type of text and shape its meaning (see structures of texts). These choices vary according to the purpose of a text, its subject matter, audience and mode or media of production.
36. Language modes: Six ways of receiving or producing texts: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and representing. These modes are often integrated and interdependent activities used in responding to and composing texts in order to shape meaning. Any combination of the modes may be involved in responding to or composing print, sound, visual or multimedia texts. Also, the refinement of the skills in any one of the modes develops skills in the others. The “receptive” modes are listening, reading and viewing; whereas the “productive” modes are speaking, writing and representing.
37. Literacy: Synthesis of language, thinking and contextual practices through which meaning is shaped. Effective literacy is intrinsically purposeful, flexible and dynamic, and involves interactions in a range of modes and through a variety of media.The ability to understand and evaluate meaning through reading and writing, listening and speaking, viewing and representing. Traditionally, a “literate” person is one who can read and write.
38. Literacy continuum: tool which highlights significant markers of literacy progress that might be evidenced over time in eight key aspects.
39. Literal level: See Three-Level Guide.
40. Making connections: Students making personal connections from text with something in their own lives (text to self), another text (text to text) or something occurring in the world (text to world). See Super Six Strategies.
41. Metalanguage: Language used to describe and discuss a language. The language of grammar and the language of literary criticism are two examples of metalanguage.
42. Metaphor: Comparison in which one thing is spoken of as if it were another, eg, the ship ploughs the sea; China is a giant. Metaphors invoke vivid images and thus greatly facilitate the visualising process which aids comprehension. A metaphor says one thing is something else, whereas a simile says one thing is like something else.
43. Modality: Aspects of language that suggest possibility, probability, obligation, frequency and conditionality as expressed in choices for modal verbs (eg, can, may, must, should), modal adverbs (eg, possibly, probably, certainly, perhaps), modal nouns (eg, possibility, probability, certainty) and modal adjectives (eg, likely, possible, certain). Modality can form a continuum from high modality (eg, obliged to, always, must) to low modality (eg, might, could, perhaps, rarely).
44. Modelled teaching: see Explicit teaching strategies
45. Monitoring: Student stopping and thinking about the text during reading, knowing what to do when meaning is disrupted. See Super Six Strategies.
46. Multimodal: Comprising more than one mode of communication, eg, combination of print, image and spoken text as in films or webpages.
47. Nominalisation: Process for forming nouns from verbs (eg, reaction from react or departure from depart) or adjectives (eg, length from long, eagerness from eager), and thus a valuable tool for building vocabulary.
48. Noun: Word used to represent people, places, ideas and things. See Nominalisation.
49. Paragraph: Section of writing dealing with a particular idea or topic, usually consists of a number of sentences. Paragraphs begin on a new line and may be indented in handwriting.
50. Passive voice: Grammatically where the 'receiver' of the action is placed before the verb, eg, 'The vase was broken by Ann’. Where the reverse happens, the 'doer' of the action is placed before the verb (Anne broke the vase), it is called the active voice. The passive voice usually occurs in more formal styles of writing. EAL students find the passive voice difficult due to irregular verbs and lack of usage of the passive voice in some languages.
51. Person: Relationship between a subject and its verb showing whether the subject is speaking about itself (first person – I or we), being spoken to (second person – you), or being spoken about (third person – he, she, it or they).
52. Persuasive text: see Types of texts.
53. Phonics: Concept that there is a predictable relationship between the sounds of a spoken language and the letters and spellings that represent these sounds in written language.
54. Phrase: Group of words without a verb and don’t make sense on their own but add more interest to the basic idea, eg, There’s no cake left on the plate.
55. Phrasal verb: Verb which can be attached with different prepositions to change meaning, eg, get in/out/off/on/over/up, etc
56. Predicting: Students using information from text, graphics and own experiences to anticipate meaning and making educated guesses. See Super Six Strategies.
57. Prefix: Word part that is attached to the beginning of a base word to change the meaning or function of the word, eg, unhappy, dislike, preview, review, photosynthesis, etc. It is the opposite of a suffix which is attached to the end of a base word. Identifying prefixes and suffixes is a key tool in vocabulary building.
58. Preposition: Connecting word indicating position, direction or time, eg, in, out, to, from, before , after, etc.
59. Pronoun: Word used in place of a noun, eg, it, its, they, them, theirs, this, these, everybody, which, etc. Identifying pronouns is critical in carrying over meaning from one sentence to the next. See Connectives.
60. Punctuation: Markers and symbols that indicates the structure and organisation of written language so that it makes sense to the reader, eg, comma, full stop, capital letters, etc. Punctuation marks provide symbolic cues to support intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud. See Language conventions.
61. Purpose: See Three bases.
62. Reading texts: Recognising words automatically, reading in a phrased and fluent way and navigating texts to create meaning.
63. Question parts: see Three question parts
64. Questioning: Students posing and answering questions to clarify meaning and stimulate further interest. See Super Six Strategies.
65. Regular verbs: These change their form very little and the suffix “ed” is added to the base word in the past tense. Example: walk / walked. See Irregular verbs
66. Responding: Personal connections students make when they read, listen to or view texts.
67. Rich discussion: Student activities in pairs or groups stimulated by meaningful tasks. Talking definitely promotes deep comprehension.
68. Root word: see Base word.
69. Scaffolding: Teacher providing assistance which ranges from intensive support transitioning to guided and then independent work by students. See Explicit teaching strategies.
70. Scanning: Process that involves moving your eyes quickly up and down a page of text when seeking specific words and phrases. See Scanning and Skipping.
71. Sentence: combination of a noun and a verb, and usually an object, eg, The girl kicked the ball.
72. Simile: Comparison in which something is likened to another, eg, as cold as ice, run like the wind (visualisation). Similes, like metaphors, greatly facilitate the visualising process which aids comprehension.
73. Skimming: Process of reading quickly through text and identifying main ideas. See Scanning and Skipping.
74. Skipping: Deciding what not to read during skimming and scanning.
75. Stress: Pronunciation process involving a stronger force of utterance or a higher pitch given to a syllable, eg, investigate is pronounced as in-VEST-e-gayt. EAL students are usually unwilling to speak when they are unsure of which syllables to stress in a long word. See Syllables.
76. Suffix: A word part that is attached to the end of a base word to change the meaning or function of the word. Example: happiness, colourful, friendship, highest, inflation, measurement, measurer, measuring, measured, measurable, etc. It is the opposite of a prefix which is attached to the beginning of a base word. Identifying suffixes and prefixes is a key tool in vocabulary building.
77. Summarising: Students identifying main ideas, sequencing key events and restating in own words. See Super Six Strategies.
78. Super Six Strategies: Six specific strategies for comprehending a text: Making connections, Predicting, Questioning, Monitoring, Visualising and Summarising. Students draw automatically on these strategies once they have been explicitly taught what each strategy is, how it is used and why it is useful.
79. Syllable: Unit of sound within a word containing a single vowel sound, eg, wonderful has three syllables: won-der-ful; globalisation has five syllables: glo-ba-li-sa-tion. Pronunciation of long technical words needs to be modelled by the teacher, complete with stress patterns (accent, intonation). Breaking up words into syllables and stress patterns is useful in spelling, vocabulary building and confidence boosting in pronunciation.
80. Symbolism: Use of a symbol that represents something else, particularly in relation to a quality or concept developed and strengthened through repetition. For example, freedom can be symbolised by a bird in flight in both verbal and visual texts. See Metaphor.
81. Synonym: Word or word group with the same or similar meaning, for example want (desire), go away (leave). Synonyms and Antonyms are useful in building vocabulary.
82. Tense: Element that determines when the action or condition of the verb form is located in the past, present or future. See Irregular verbs.
83. Text structure: The ways information is organised in different types of texts, for example chapter headings, subheadings, tables of contents, indexes and glossaries, overviews, introductory and concluding paragraphs, sequencing, topic sentences, taxonomies, cause and effect. Choices in text structures and language features together define a text type and shape its meaning (see Language features).
84. Texts: Communications of meaning produced in any media that incorporates language, including sound, print, film, electronic and multimedia representations. Texts include written, spoken, non-verbal, visual or multimodal communications of meaning. They may be extended unified works, a series of related pieces or a single, simple piece of communication.
85. Theme: refers to the central or one of the main underlying ideas or messages of a text.
86. Think aloud: Valuable teaching technique to give voice to the thought processes and strategies inside a teacher’s head which will then guide students’ own cognitive activities.
87. Three bases: Purpose, audience and context are three key bases of a text which must be considered by a reader in order to fully comprehend the text. Purpose is the reason the text was created, eg, to entertain, to inform or to persuade. Audience is the intended people the text was created for, eg, young, mature or sophisticated, etc. Context is the circumstances surrounding the creation of the text, eg, historical, social or political, etc, and also the personal background of the reader.
88. Three-level guide: Readers can derive meaning from text at three sequential levels: literal, inferential and evaluative levels. In assessment, a literal question asks for information that is given explicitly in the text thus requiring a relatively lower level of skills to answer. An inferential question asks for information that is not given explicitly in the text thus requiring the student to infer from the text, which is a higher order of thinking skill. An evaluative question elicits a personal response from the students regarding their judgement and recommendation about the text, requiring the highest order of thinking skill. Thus, a literal question can be said to require students to read “on the lines”, an inferential question “between the lines” and an evaluative question “beyond the lines”.
89. Three question parts (3Ts): Most exam questions can be broken up into three parts: Task, Topic and Target (3Ts). Task refers to task words such as describe, explain, argue, discuss, etc. Topic refers to the main concept or issue being tested. Target refers to the boundary given to the topic. For example, the question “Explain the effects of globalisation on businesses in Australia” can be broken up into Task: Explain, Topic: effects of globalisation, and Target: businesses in Australia. Using the 3Ts model, students will be less likely to stray off-task. Accordingly, if teachers frame questions with the 3Ts model in mind then this will facilitate comprehension.
90. Tone: Voice adopted by a composer to indicate emotion, feeling or attitude to subject matter. Also the author's attitude towards the subject and audience, for example playful, serious, ironic, formal, etc.
91. Topic sentence: serves as the main idea in a paragraph. Usually, the first sentence in a paragraph. See skimming.
92. Types of texts: Generally, texts can be classified as belonging to one of three types: imaginative, informative or persuasive.
Imaginative texts – texts that represent ideas, feelings and mental images in words or visual images. An imaginative text might use metaphor to translate ideas and feelings into a form that can be communicated effectively to an audience. Imaginative texts also make new connections between established ideas or widely recognised experiences in order to create new ideas and images. Imaginative texts are characterised by originality, freshness and insight. These texts include novels, traditional tales, poetry, stories, plays, fiction for young adults and children, including picture books and multimodal texts such as film.
Informative texts – texts whose primary purpose is to provide information through explanation, description, argument, analysis, ordering and presentation of evidence and procedures. These texts include reports, explanations and descriptions of natural phenomena, recounts of events, instructions and directions, rules and laws, news bulletins and articles, websites and text analyses. They include texts which are valued for their informative content, as a store of knowledge and for their value as part of everyday life.
Persuasive texts – texts whose primary purpose is to put forward a point of view and persuade a reader, viewer or listener. They form a significant part of modern communication in both print and digital environments. Persuasive texts seek to convince the responder of the strength of an argument or point of view through information, judicious use of evidence, construction of argument, critical analysis and the use of rhetorical, figurative and emotive language. They include student essays, debates, arguments, discussions, polemics, advertising, propaganda, influential essays and articles.
93. Verb: Word expressing action, existence or occurrence. Different suffixes (ed, ing, tion, ment, ive, etc) are used to indicate verb tenses and noun or adjective form of a verb. See Phrasal verbs, Passive voice.
94. Viewing: Observing and comprehending a visual text, for example diagram, illustration, photograph, film, television documentary, multimedia. This sometimes involves listening to and reading accompanying written text.
95. Visual text: Texts in which meaning is shaped and communicated by images rather than words. Visual texts use techniques such as line, shape, space, colour, movement, perspective, angle and juxtaposition to shape meaning. Examples of visual texts include cartoons, billboards, photographs, film, TV, artworks, web pages and illustrations.
96. Visual literacy: Ability to decode, interpret, create, question, challenge and evaluate texts that communicate with visual images as well as, or rather than, words. Visually literate people can read the intended meaning in a visual text such as an advertisement or a film shot, interpret the purpose and intended meaning, and evaluate the form, structure and features of the text. They can also use images in a creative and appropriate way to express meaning.
97. Visualising: Students making a mental image from a text, going inside a scene or becoming a character. See Super Six Strategies.
98. Vocabulary knowledge: Understanding the meaning of spoken and written words and using this word knowledge to create texts. Each new word has three aspects which need to be taught: meaning (definition), pronunciation and spelling. A student’s verbal vocabulary is likeky to be stronger than their reading vocabulary which in turn is larger than the writing vocabulary. Logically, a student will then find it easier or be more motivated to transfer his/her own known words from the verbal into the reading and writing arenas given the appropriate skills, eg, phonics to go from verbal to reading, sentence construction to go from reading to writing.
2. Active voice: Grammatically, where the 'doer' of the action comes before the verb, for example 'Anne broke the vase'. Where the reverse happens, ie, the 'receiver' of the action is placed before the verb, eg, 'The vase was broken by Anne’, it is called the passive voice.
3. Activities: Teacher’s choice of tasks which require students to employ specific strategies, eg, cloze (fill in blanks), information gaps (connect missing pieces), etc.
4. Adjective: Word class that describes a noun to add extra meaning. Different types of adjectives include numbering adjectives, eg, two, many, lots of; describing adjectives, eg, big, old, yellow, beautiful; comparing adjectives, eg, more delicate, best, bigger.
5. Adverb: Word class that adds meaning to a verb, eg, 'She sings beautifully'; an adjective, eg, 'He is really interesting'; or an adverb, eg, 'She walks very slowly.' In English, most adverbs have an -ly ending.
6. Analogy: Comparison demonstrating the similarities between two things, people or situations. It is a device to clarify an idea through a connection. Analogies are often used in persuading, explaining or arguing a point.
7. Antonym: Word or word group with a meaning opposite to that of another word or word group, eg, hot (cold), go away (come back). Antonyms and synonyms are useful in building vocabulary.
8. Argument: Reasons and evidence given to support an idea or a proposition.
9. Audience: see Three bases.
10. Base word: Word to which a prefix or a suffix can be added to create new words, eg, the base word for jumped is jump, for retirement is retire, for incompressible is compress.
11. Cloze: task requiring students to fill in blanks.
12. Composer: Person who has created a text.
13. Comprehension: responding to, interpreting, analysing and evaluating texts.
14. Connectives: Words which link ideas, sentences and paragraphs in logical relationships. Identifying connectives is critical in linking ideas within a sentence or carrying over meaning from one sentence to the next. Connectives can be temporal, eg, first, second, next, eventually, finally; causal, eg, because, for, so, therefore, for that reason, accordingly, as a consequence; additive, eg, also, besides, furthermore, in addition, in the same way, comparative, eg, rather, alternatively, unlike; conditional/concessive, eg, if, yet, although, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, despite this; clarifying, eg, in fact, for example
15. Context: See Three bases.
16. Contraction: Shortened form of one or two words (one of which is usually a verb). In a contraction, an apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter or letters, eg, I'm (I am), can't (cannot), how's (how is), he’ll (he will).
17. Critical reading: Exploration of the quality of argument, content, analysis, information or persuasion in a text, to assess the way in which themes, issues or ideas are presented for the audience and purposes intended.
18. Cultural assumptions: Beliefs or attitudes about such things as gender, religion, youth, age, disability, sexuality, social class and work that are taken for granted as being part of the fabric of the social practices of a particular culture. Cultural assumptions underlie cultural expressions in texts and may also be embedded in texts in various ways, and as such can be a major stumbling block for students from a different cultural background to the composer.
19. Decode: to apply knowledge about letter-sound relationships, letter patterns and base words to correctly pronounce or read unfamiliar written words.
20. Digital literacy: Ability to understand digital texts.
21. Ellipsis: Omission of words where words repeat what has gone before and these terms are simply understood, eg, 'The project will be innovative. To be involved (in the project) will be exciting.' a word like one is substituted for a noun or noun group, as in 'There are lots of apples in the bowl. Can I have one?' (of them).
22. Evaluative level: see Three Level Guide.
23. Explicit teaching strategies: Modelled, Guided and Independent teaching which allow students to assume increasingly more responsibility in an explicitly sequenced way. In modelled teaching, scaffolding is direct, teacher-led and obvious. In guided teaching, scaffolding provides just enough support from the teacher to enable student to demonstrate new learning. In independent teaching, scaffolding provides minimal support from the teacher and greater opportunity for students to demonstrate their new learning and apply it to other contexts. Another way of representing these strategies is: I DO (modelled), WE DO (guided) and YOU DO (independent).
24. Figurative language: Words or phrases which create comparisons by linking the senses and the concrete to abstract ideas. Figurative language is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense, eg, simile, metaphor, irony, sarcasm, etc. It greatly facilitates the visualising process which aids comprehension. However, cultural assumptions are often embedded in figurative language making it difficult for students who are from a different background to the composer.
25. Fluency – Ability to read quickly, accurately and with proper expression.
26. Four clues for comprehension: Sequence of four stages in reading an assessment text: whole text (including questions and diagrams), paragraphs, sentences, words. See section on Reading techniques for an assessment text.
27. Guided teaching: see Explicit teaching strategies.
28. Imaginative text: see Types of text
29. Independent teaching: see Explicit teaching strategies.
30. Infer: Draw a conclusion from clues presented and use background knowledge of the content matter, eg, She ran out the door with her umbrella (the inference is it’s raining or could be raining soon).
31. Inferential level: see Three Level Guide.
32. Informative text: see Types of texts.
33. Irregular verb: Verb that does not use the regular “ed” suffix for the past tense, eg, am / was, sing / sang. See regular verb.
34. Language conventions: Accepted language practice that has developed over time and is generally used and understood, eg, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
35. Language features: Characteristics of language that support meaning, for example sentence structure, vocabulary, illustrations, diagrams, graphics, punctuation, figurative language. Choices in language features and text structures together define a type of text and shape its meaning (see structures of texts). These choices vary according to the purpose of a text, its subject matter, audience and mode or media of production.
36. Language modes: Six ways of receiving or producing texts: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and representing. These modes are often integrated and interdependent activities used in responding to and composing texts in order to shape meaning. Any combination of the modes may be involved in responding to or composing print, sound, visual or multimedia texts. Also, the refinement of the skills in any one of the modes develops skills in the others. The “receptive” modes are listening, reading and viewing; whereas the “productive” modes are speaking, writing and representing.
37. Literacy: Synthesis of language, thinking and contextual practices through which meaning is shaped. Effective literacy is intrinsically purposeful, flexible and dynamic, and involves interactions in a range of modes and through a variety of media.The ability to understand and evaluate meaning through reading and writing, listening and speaking, viewing and representing. Traditionally, a “literate” person is one who can read and write.
38. Literacy continuum: tool which highlights significant markers of literacy progress that might be evidenced over time in eight key aspects.
39. Literal level: See Three-Level Guide.
40. Making connections: Students making personal connections from text with something in their own lives (text to self), another text (text to text) or something occurring in the world (text to world). See Super Six Strategies.
41. Metalanguage: Language used to describe and discuss a language. The language of grammar and the language of literary criticism are two examples of metalanguage.
42. Metaphor: Comparison in which one thing is spoken of as if it were another, eg, the ship ploughs the sea; China is a giant. Metaphors invoke vivid images and thus greatly facilitate the visualising process which aids comprehension. A metaphor says one thing is something else, whereas a simile says one thing is like something else.
43. Modality: Aspects of language that suggest possibility, probability, obligation, frequency and conditionality as expressed in choices for modal verbs (eg, can, may, must, should), modal adverbs (eg, possibly, probably, certainly, perhaps), modal nouns (eg, possibility, probability, certainty) and modal adjectives (eg, likely, possible, certain). Modality can form a continuum from high modality (eg, obliged to, always, must) to low modality (eg, might, could, perhaps, rarely).
44. Modelled teaching: see Explicit teaching strategies
45. Monitoring: Student stopping and thinking about the text during reading, knowing what to do when meaning is disrupted. See Super Six Strategies.
46. Multimodal: Comprising more than one mode of communication, eg, combination of print, image and spoken text as in films or webpages.
47. Nominalisation: Process for forming nouns from verbs (eg, reaction from react or departure from depart) or adjectives (eg, length from long, eagerness from eager), and thus a valuable tool for building vocabulary.
48. Noun: Word used to represent people, places, ideas and things. See Nominalisation.
49. Paragraph: Section of writing dealing with a particular idea or topic, usually consists of a number of sentences. Paragraphs begin on a new line and may be indented in handwriting.
50. Passive voice: Grammatically where the 'receiver' of the action is placed before the verb, eg, 'The vase was broken by Ann’. Where the reverse happens, the 'doer' of the action is placed before the verb (Anne broke the vase), it is called the active voice. The passive voice usually occurs in more formal styles of writing. EAL students find the passive voice difficult due to irregular verbs and lack of usage of the passive voice in some languages.
51. Person: Relationship between a subject and its verb showing whether the subject is speaking about itself (first person – I or we), being spoken to (second person – you), or being spoken about (third person – he, she, it or they).
52. Persuasive text: see Types of texts.
53. Phonics: Concept that there is a predictable relationship between the sounds of a spoken language and the letters and spellings that represent these sounds in written language.
54. Phrase: Group of words without a verb and don’t make sense on their own but add more interest to the basic idea, eg, There’s no cake left on the plate.
55. Phrasal verb: Verb which can be attached with different prepositions to change meaning, eg, get in/out/off/on/over/up, etc
56. Predicting: Students using information from text, graphics and own experiences to anticipate meaning and making educated guesses. See Super Six Strategies.
57. Prefix: Word part that is attached to the beginning of a base word to change the meaning or function of the word, eg, unhappy, dislike, preview, review, photosynthesis, etc. It is the opposite of a suffix which is attached to the end of a base word. Identifying prefixes and suffixes is a key tool in vocabulary building.
58. Preposition: Connecting word indicating position, direction or time, eg, in, out, to, from, before , after, etc.
59. Pronoun: Word used in place of a noun, eg, it, its, they, them, theirs, this, these, everybody, which, etc. Identifying pronouns is critical in carrying over meaning from one sentence to the next. See Connectives.
60. Punctuation: Markers and symbols that indicates the structure and organisation of written language so that it makes sense to the reader, eg, comma, full stop, capital letters, etc. Punctuation marks provide symbolic cues to support intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud. See Language conventions.
61. Purpose: See Three bases.
62. Reading texts: Recognising words automatically, reading in a phrased and fluent way and navigating texts to create meaning.
63. Question parts: see Three question parts
64. Questioning: Students posing and answering questions to clarify meaning and stimulate further interest. See Super Six Strategies.
65. Regular verbs: These change their form very little and the suffix “ed” is added to the base word in the past tense. Example: walk / walked. See Irregular verbs
66. Responding: Personal connections students make when they read, listen to or view texts.
67. Rich discussion: Student activities in pairs or groups stimulated by meaningful tasks. Talking definitely promotes deep comprehension.
68. Root word: see Base word.
69. Scaffolding: Teacher providing assistance which ranges from intensive support transitioning to guided and then independent work by students. See Explicit teaching strategies.
70. Scanning: Process that involves moving your eyes quickly up and down a page of text when seeking specific words and phrases. See Scanning and Skipping.
71. Sentence: combination of a noun and a verb, and usually an object, eg, The girl kicked the ball.
72. Simile: Comparison in which something is likened to another, eg, as cold as ice, run like the wind (visualisation). Similes, like metaphors, greatly facilitate the visualising process which aids comprehension.
73. Skimming: Process of reading quickly through text and identifying main ideas. See Scanning and Skipping.
74. Skipping: Deciding what not to read during skimming and scanning.
75. Stress: Pronunciation process involving a stronger force of utterance or a higher pitch given to a syllable, eg, investigate is pronounced as in-VEST-e-gayt. EAL students are usually unwilling to speak when they are unsure of which syllables to stress in a long word. See Syllables.
76. Suffix: A word part that is attached to the end of a base word to change the meaning or function of the word. Example: happiness, colourful, friendship, highest, inflation, measurement, measurer, measuring, measured, measurable, etc. It is the opposite of a prefix which is attached to the beginning of a base word. Identifying suffixes and prefixes is a key tool in vocabulary building.
77. Summarising: Students identifying main ideas, sequencing key events and restating in own words. See Super Six Strategies.
78. Super Six Strategies: Six specific strategies for comprehending a text: Making connections, Predicting, Questioning, Monitoring, Visualising and Summarising. Students draw automatically on these strategies once they have been explicitly taught what each strategy is, how it is used and why it is useful.
79. Syllable: Unit of sound within a word containing a single vowel sound, eg, wonderful has three syllables: won-der-ful; globalisation has five syllables: glo-ba-li-sa-tion. Pronunciation of long technical words needs to be modelled by the teacher, complete with stress patterns (accent, intonation). Breaking up words into syllables and stress patterns is useful in spelling, vocabulary building and confidence boosting in pronunciation.
80. Symbolism: Use of a symbol that represents something else, particularly in relation to a quality or concept developed and strengthened through repetition. For example, freedom can be symbolised by a bird in flight in both verbal and visual texts. See Metaphor.
81. Synonym: Word or word group with the same or similar meaning, for example want (desire), go away (leave). Synonyms and Antonyms are useful in building vocabulary.
82. Tense: Element that determines when the action or condition of the verb form is located in the past, present or future. See Irregular verbs.
83. Text structure: The ways information is organised in different types of texts, for example chapter headings, subheadings, tables of contents, indexes and glossaries, overviews, introductory and concluding paragraphs, sequencing, topic sentences, taxonomies, cause and effect. Choices in text structures and language features together define a text type and shape its meaning (see Language features).
84. Texts: Communications of meaning produced in any media that incorporates language, including sound, print, film, electronic and multimedia representations. Texts include written, spoken, non-verbal, visual or multimodal communications of meaning. They may be extended unified works, a series of related pieces or a single, simple piece of communication.
85. Theme: refers to the central or one of the main underlying ideas or messages of a text.
86. Think aloud: Valuable teaching technique to give voice to the thought processes and strategies inside a teacher’s head which will then guide students’ own cognitive activities.
87. Three bases: Purpose, audience and context are three key bases of a text which must be considered by a reader in order to fully comprehend the text. Purpose is the reason the text was created, eg, to entertain, to inform or to persuade. Audience is the intended people the text was created for, eg, young, mature or sophisticated, etc. Context is the circumstances surrounding the creation of the text, eg, historical, social or political, etc, and also the personal background of the reader.
88. Three-level guide: Readers can derive meaning from text at three sequential levels: literal, inferential and evaluative levels. In assessment, a literal question asks for information that is given explicitly in the text thus requiring a relatively lower level of skills to answer. An inferential question asks for information that is not given explicitly in the text thus requiring the student to infer from the text, which is a higher order of thinking skill. An evaluative question elicits a personal response from the students regarding their judgement and recommendation about the text, requiring the highest order of thinking skill. Thus, a literal question can be said to require students to read “on the lines”, an inferential question “between the lines” and an evaluative question “beyond the lines”.
89. Three question parts (3Ts): Most exam questions can be broken up into three parts: Task, Topic and Target (3Ts). Task refers to task words such as describe, explain, argue, discuss, etc. Topic refers to the main concept or issue being tested. Target refers to the boundary given to the topic. For example, the question “Explain the effects of globalisation on businesses in Australia” can be broken up into Task: Explain, Topic: effects of globalisation, and Target: businesses in Australia. Using the 3Ts model, students will be less likely to stray off-task. Accordingly, if teachers frame questions with the 3Ts model in mind then this will facilitate comprehension.
90. Tone: Voice adopted by a composer to indicate emotion, feeling or attitude to subject matter. Also the author's attitude towards the subject and audience, for example playful, serious, ironic, formal, etc.
91. Topic sentence: serves as the main idea in a paragraph. Usually, the first sentence in a paragraph. See skimming.
92. Types of texts: Generally, texts can be classified as belonging to one of three types: imaginative, informative or persuasive.
Imaginative texts – texts that represent ideas, feelings and mental images in words or visual images. An imaginative text might use metaphor to translate ideas and feelings into a form that can be communicated effectively to an audience. Imaginative texts also make new connections between established ideas or widely recognised experiences in order to create new ideas and images. Imaginative texts are characterised by originality, freshness and insight. These texts include novels, traditional tales, poetry, stories, plays, fiction for young adults and children, including picture books and multimodal texts such as film.
Informative texts – texts whose primary purpose is to provide information through explanation, description, argument, analysis, ordering and presentation of evidence and procedures. These texts include reports, explanations and descriptions of natural phenomena, recounts of events, instructions and directions, rules and laws, news bulletins and articles, websites and text analyses. They include texts which are valued for their informative content, as a store of knowledge and for their value as part of everyday life.
Persuasive texts – texts whose primary purpose is to put forward a point of view and persuade a reader, viewer or listener. They form a significant part of modern communication in both print and digital environments. Persuasive texts seek to convince the responder of the strength of an argument or point of view through information, judicious use of evidence, construction of argument, critical analysis and the use of rhetorical, figurative and emotive language. They include student essays, debates, arguments, discussions, polemics, advertising, propaganda, influential essays and articles.
93. Verb: Word expressing action, existence or occurrence. Different suffixes (ed, ing, tion, ment, ive, etc) are used to indicate verb tenses and noun or adjective form of a verb. See Phrasal verbs, Passive voice.
94. Viewing: Observing and comprehending a visual text, for example diagram, illustration, photograph, film, television documentary, multimedia. This sometimes involves listening to and reading accompanying written text.
95. Visual text: Texts in which meaning is shaped and communicated by images rather than words. Visual texts use techniques such as line, shape, space, colour, movement, perspective, angle and juxtaposition to shape meaning. Examples of visual texts include cartoons, billboards, photographs, film, TV, artworks, web pages and illustrations.
96. Visual literacy: Ability to decode, interpret, create, question, challenge and evaluate texts that communicate with visual images as well as, or rather than, words. Visually literate people can read the intended meaning in a visual text such as an advertisement or a film shot, interpret the purpose and intended meaning, and evaluate the form, structure and features of the text. They can also use images in a creative and appropriate way to express meaning.
97. Visualising: Students making a mental image from a text, going inside a scene or becoming a character. See Super Six Strategies.
98. Vocabulary knowledge: Understanding the meaning of spoken and written words and using this word knowledge to create texts. Each new word has three aspects which need to be taught: meaning (definition), pronunciation and spelling. A student’s verbal vocabulary is likeky to be stronger than their reading vocabulary which in turn is larger than the writing vocabulary. Logically, a student will then find it easier or be more motivated to transfer his/her own known words from the verbal into the reading and writing arenas given the appropriate skills, eg, phonics to go from verbal to reading, sentence construction to go from reading to writing.