The American Association of Teachers of French.
http://www.frenchteachers.org/

The American Association of Teachers of German. http://www.aatg.org/

American Association of Teachers of Italian http://www.aati-online.org

The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. http://www.aatsp.org

Usually given in the classroom, an achievement test measures students’ acquisition of material presented in class in a particular course.

In Krashen’s Monitor Theory (1982), acquisition is the subconscious process whereby a learner studying a second language or a child learning his or her mother tongue develops linguistic competence. Learning, by contrast, refers to the conscious process of studying and knowing the rules of grammar of a second language. Acquisition therefore refers to a deeper kind of linguistic knowledge that leads to the production of second-language utterances, whereas learning serves as a monitor, or editor of these utterances.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. http://www.actfl.org

A pedagogical device composed of text, pictures, titles, questions, etc., the purpose of which is to activate useful background knowledge possessed by students prior to exposure to a new document (literary text, article, song, video, etc.) or the study of new material. Thus prepared, students will find it easier to comprehend and remember the new material. (See prelistening activity, prereading activity, previewing activity, Schema Theory, visual organizer)

According to the ACTFL guidelines, speakers at the advanced level are able to explain and narrate in all time frames, structure arguments to support their opinions, construct hypotheses, and discuss topics with which they are familiar abstractly, although they are more comfortable talking about most topics concretely. The advanced level is divided into low, mid, and high, depending on how easily and accurately the speakers can perform the tasks described above.

In Krashen’s Monitor Theory, the affective filter refers to the emotional factors that can have an impact on a student’s acquisition of a language, namely motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety. A low affective filter (high motivation and self-confidence and low anxiety) facilitates acquisition, whereas a high affective filter (low motivation and self-confidence, high anxiety) hinders it. (see Monitor Theory)

The Audiolingual Methodology, aka the Aural-Oral, Functional Skills, New Key, or American Method, dominated the teaching of foreign languages in the USA in the 1950’s and 60’s. Based on behaviorist psychology and structural linguistics, the theoretical principle behind the audiolingual methodology was that language learning was a form of conditioning and a language was a set of habits to be acquired through repetition and memorization. In the pure form of the Audiolingual Method, instruction is entirely in the target language, explanations about the ways the language works are kept to a minimum, and listening and oral skills are emphasized. Teaching techniques consist mostly of drills and practicing, memorizing and modifying idiomatic dialogs. The problem with this method is that passive memorization and mechanical drills alone usually fail to enable students to use the language creatively in real-life conditions, and are likely to cause frustration and loss of motivation. Furthermore, this method is not adapted to visual or analytical learners.

An approach to language teaching in which the language itself is the object of study, whereas in an experiential approach, language is learned through communication. Many educators consider that these two approaches are complementary. (see experiential approach and communicative approach)

A set of philosophical or theoretical principles about language teaching. (see method, methodology, strategy, technique)

The theory behind this method is that a second language should be learned in the same way that children learn their native tongue: by listening to large quantities of language, by speaking, and by directly associating words and phrases with objects and actions. In the Berlitz method, the instructor starts with objects in the classroom, and then uses pictures, mime and paraphrase to avoid resorting to translation. Correct pronunciation is emphasized, and students hear complete and meaningful, contextualized sentences from the start. Grammar rules are usually not explained and are supposed to be constructed inductively by students.

See entry on acquisition.

Terms such as intermediate and advanced when used to describe the linguistic competence of an individual are obviously very subjective, which is why several official scales have been developed to propose clear criteria corresponding to different levels of proficiency. Such widely accepted scales are the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines in the United States of America and the Common European Framework in countries of the European Union. They propose definitions of language ability in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.