16.Glossary of some common modes of teaching and learning


BRAINSTORMING
A kind of group activity intended to generate a lot of ideas. Every suggestion is recorded however unlikely or far-fetched. Decisions about practicality are made later.

CALL
Computer assisted language learning.

ELICITATION/SOCRATIC TECHNIQUE
A form of teaching by question and answer gradually leading to the elicitation of certain truths.
FEEDBACK SESSION
A class activity in which various individuals or groups report back to the class on what they have been researching or discussing. It may also be a session in which the teacher reports back to students with an evaluation of their work.

JIGSAW LEARNING
A form of learning/teaching in which different students cover different areas of a topic; they later pool their knowledge (e.g. by means of seminar/class papers).

PROJECT
A kind of Task-based activity which usually involves an extended amount of independent work, either by an individual student or by a group of students.

PYRAMID GROUP
A form of group activity in which the class is divided into groups. After some time, pairs of groups are joined together and continue the discussion. This procedure is repeated until there is only one group, comprising the whole class. Sometimes called a Snowball group.

ROLE PLAY
A form of SIMULATION in which the participants adopt certain roles or parts.

TASK-BASED (LEARNING)
Used to describe any kind of learning which involves the performance of a specific task or piece of work.

WORKSHOP
A kind of TASK-BASED group activity which involves the completion of a certain specified task. It is expected that all the members of the group to contribute something to the completion of the task.