Standardized test

A test that is in the same format for all who take it. It often relies on multiple-choice questions and the testing conditions—including instructions, time limits, and scoring rubrics—are the same for all students, though sometimes accommodations on time limits and instructions are made for disabled students.

 

Stimulus

An event that causes something else to happen or take place

 

Story corner

A permanent space in the classroom where learners can tell each other stories or sit quietly and read stories.

 

Storyboard

To show the events in a story sometimes with speech and thoughts or short text.

 

Storybook

A book with stories for children.

 

 

Strategies

~ are seen as a hinge between a learner’s resources (competences) and what he/she can do with them (communicative activities)’ (CEFR p25).

 

Strategy training

Training in the use of learning strategies in order to improve a learner’s effectiveness. A number of approaches to strategy training are used, including: explicit or direct training – learners are given information about the value and purpose of particular strategies, taught how to use them, and how to monitor their own use of strategies; embedded strategy training – the strategies to be taught are not taught explicitly but are imbedded in the regular content of an academic subject area, such as reading, maths, or science; combination strategy training – explicit strategy training is followed by embedded strategy training.

 

Structural approach

A way of teaching which uses a syllabus based on grammatical structures. The order in which the language is presented is usually based on how difficult it is thought to be.

 

Subskill

Each of the four language skills can be divided into smaller subskills that are all part of the main skill, e.g. identifying text organisation (reading); identifying word stress (listening). See detail, gist, global understanding, scan, skim

Substitution

Replacing words, phrases or clauses in discourse with another word or words to achieve cohesion e.g. in the sentence ‘Bill is going to university next year, and Jim is too’, ‘too’ substitutes for ‘going to university next year’.

 

Substitution table

A grid giving a choice of grammatical forms.

 

Subtest

A test which is given as part of a longer test. For example, a language-proficiency test may contain subtests of grammar, writing, and speaking.