Semantic Fields in TEFL

A semantic field (sometimes known as a lexical field) is a group of words related by meaning. In teaching a semantic field could be: animals verbs of perception‏‎ foodstuffs … In practical terms the definition is quite loose and general. Sometimes a word will belong to just one semantic field […]


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Second Language

When a student learns English in order to live and work in an English speaking country we say they are learning English as a Second Language. For example, these kinds of people learn English as a second language: an Afghan refugee resettled in Australia a Russian student who is studying […]


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Second Language Acquisition‏‎ or SLA

The way in which someone learns a second language‏‎ is known as Second Language Acquisition or SLA. Overview SLA is often regarded as mimicking the way in which native speakers acquire their first language (or Mother Tongue‏‎ (MT)) and it is often felt that imitating this methodology in the classroom […]


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Pidgin & Creole

These 2 terms are related and often overlap. They’re used to talk about different methods used to communicate. Simply put: Pidgin is a simplified form of language used by two different groups to communicate. Creole is a pidgin which has formed into a full language (and is learnt as a […]


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Phonology

Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the sound system of a language. Contrast this with Phonetics which which studies the sounds of speech and they way in which they are interpreted. Generally speaking it is not necessary to have an academic knowledge of this subject […]


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