DELTA Written Exam revision
Questions & Answers(RATED A+)
The name & topic area for a type of question designed to check and guide learners'
understanding of a new language item by isolating its core meanings e.g. for 'She
used to smoke': Does she smoke now? Did she in the past? Did she do it once or
regularly? - ANSWERconcept checking question, or CCQ
The process & topic area by which a sequence of words is fine-tuned in order to
reduce ambiguity and create a more complex message than just lexical items can
express e.g. She work project 3 month >>> She'll be working on the project for 3
months. - ANSWERgrammaring
A communicative syllabus which is organised according to general meaning
categories which are universal concepts e.g. habits, location, frequency, quantity. -
ANSWERnotional - functional (syllabus)
The theory that there is a period (e.g. age 2 until puberty) during which language can
be acquired rapidly and perfectly, and after which it is no longer possible to achieve
the same level. - ANSWERcritical age
The person or thing that is affected by the action of a transitive verb in a sentence or
clause e.g. You heard me. - ANSWERobject
The ways in which the relationship between a verb and the noun phrases associated
with it can be changed without changing the basic meaning of the sentence. The
active and passive make up the system e.g. Her chauffeur took her to the airport /
She was taken to the airport by her chauffeur. - ANSWERvoice
A noun that is not created by adding -ing to the verb-stem (e.g. Parking is not
permitted.) - ANSWERgerund
A database of real language samples (either spoken or written texts) stored on a
computer and which can be used for investigating language use and structure. -
ANSWER(language) corpus / corpora
Using the medium of English to teach a subject such as geography, natural science
or history, to learners whose first language is not English. - ANSWERcontent and
language integrated learning / CLIL / content-based teaching / content-based
learning
A consonant sound in which air flow is initially stopped, but then is released slowly
with friction, e.g. /tʃ/ - ANSWER(an) affricate / affricative
A type of test which is designed to show what language skills or knowledge a learner
already has. It is often used by a teacher to find out how much a learner knows
before beginning a language course. - ANSWERdiagnostic (test)
, Basic definition: An activity where learners read different texts/parts of texts and then
exchange/compare/share the information they have read.
Further points:
- Often used in communicative language teaching/learning.
- A task is used to encourage students to share the information they have.
- It creates a communicative purpose for reading the text(s)/an information gap, and
it allows for the integration of skills to be produced.
Example: The same news item from different newspapers which learners compare/a
story divided into parts - learners exchange information to make sense of the whole
thing. - ANSWERjigsaw reading (with DEF)
Basic definition: It is a syllabus organised around (abstract)
concepts/meanings/ideas and the exponents used to express them.
Further points:
- It is associated with a communicative language syllabus/CLT.
- It is often combined with functional syllabus/functional syllabus more common.
- Notions are similar to functions but more general in nature (telling the time vs.
time).
- It is associated with Wilkins (1970s).
Example: The headings in this syllabus would be: duration; location; degree;
direction; the past; age; ability; possibility; permission; degree, etc. -
ANSWERnotional syllabus (with DEF)
The morphological process of adding a bound morpheme, to the stem of a word,
either at the end or at the beginning. This modifies the word's meaning and/or
changes its word class, e.g. adding 'ful' to 'use' (useful) or 'un' to 'tidy' (untidy), or
'headful' and 'headless.' - ANSWERaffixation
Morphemes such as -ness, ir- and non- which are placed before a root morpheme
(as a prefix), or after (as a suffix) in order to change meaning word class etc. e.g.
hapiness, irregular, and non-active. - ANSWERaffixes
Basic definition: A type of processing using (either pre-existing) background
knowledge/information/experience (or of discourse or topic/culture/social norms) to
understand (reading/listening) texts.
Further points:
- mention of 'activating schemata' or 'schema theory'
- contrast to bottom-up processing (where the reader is decoding the language itself)
- most researchers regard reading/listening as a combination of top-down and
bottom-up processing.
- modern coursebooks make use of/develop/practise top-down processing through
visuals, prediciton activities, etc.
Example: when reading a text about New York, the reader creates a mental
picture/brainstorms/thinks of related ideas before reading the text, e.g. yellow cabs,
Questions & Answers(RATED A+)
The name & topic area for a type of question designed to check and guide learners'
understanding of a new language item by isolating its core meanings e.g. for 'She
used to smoke': Does she smoke now? Did she in the past? Did she do it once or
regularly? - ANSWERconcept checking question, or CCQ
The process & topic area by which a sequence of words is fine-tuned in order to
reduce ambiguity and create a more complex message than just lexical items can
express e.g. She work project 3 month >>> She'll be working on the project for 3
months. - ANSWERgrammaring
A communicative syllabus which is organised according to general meaning
categories which are universal concepts e.g. habits, location, frequency, quantity. -
ANSWERnotional - functional (syllabus)
The theory that there is a period (e.g. age 2 until puberty) during which language can
be acquired rapidly and perfectly, and after which it is no longer possible to achieve
the same level. - ANSWERcritical age
The person or thing that is affected by the action of a transitive verb in a sentence or
clause e.g. You heard me. - ANSWERobject
The ways in which the relationship between a verb and the noun phrases associated
with it can be changed without changing the basic meaning of the sentence. The
active and passive make up the system e.g. Her chauffeur took her to the airport /
She was taken to the airport by her chauffeur. - ANSWERvoice
A noun that is not created by adding -ing to the verb-stem (e.g. Parking is not
permitted.) - ANSWERgerund
A database of real language samples (either spoken or written texts) stored on a
computer and which can be used for investigating language use and structure. -
ANSWER(language) corpus / corpora
Using the medium of English to teach a subject such as geography, natural science
or history, to learners whose first language is not English. - ANSWERcontent and
language integrated learning / CLIL / content-based teaching / content-based
learning
A consonant sound in which air flow is initially stopped, but then is released slowly
with friction, e.g. /tʃ/ - ANSWER(an) affricate / affricative
A type of test which is designed to show what language skills or knowledge a learner
already has. It is often used by a teacher to find out how much a learner knows
before beginning a language course. - ANSWERdiagnostic (test)
, Basic definition: An activity where learners read different texts/parts of texts and then
exchange/compare/share the information they have read.
Further points:
- Often used in communicative language teaching/learning.
- A task is used to encourage students to share the information they have.
- It creates a communicative purpose for reading the text(s)/an information gap, and
it allows for the integration of skills to be produced.
Example: The same news item from different newspapers which learners compare/a
story divided into parts - learners exchange information to make sense of the whole
thing. - ANSWERjigsaw reading (with DEF)
Basic definition: It is a syllabus organised around (abstract)
concepts/meanings/ideas and the exponents used to express them.
Further points:
- It is associated with a communicative language syllabus/CLT.
- It is often combined with functional syllabus/functional syllabus more common.
- Notions are similar to functions but more general in nature (telling the time vs.
time).
- It is associated with Wilkins (1970s).
Example: The headings in this syllabus would be: duration; location; degree;
direction; the past; age; ability; possibility; permission; degree, etc. -
ANSWERnotional syllabus (with DEF)
The morphological process of adding a bound morpheme, to the stem of a word,
either at the end or at the beginning. This modifies the word's meaning and/or
changes its word class, e.g. adding 'ful' to 'use' (useful) or 'un' to 'tidy' (untidy), or
'headful' and 'headless.' - ANSWERaffixation
Morphemes such as -ness, ir- and non- which are placed before a root morpheme
(as a prefix), or after (as a suffix) in order to change meaning word class etc. e.g.
hapiness, irregular, and non-active. - ANSWERaffixes
Basic definition: A type of processing using (either pre-existing) background
knowledge/information/experience (or of discourse or topic/culture/social norms) to
understand (reading/listening) texts.
Further points:
- mention of 'activating schemata' or 'schema theory'
- contrast to bottom-up processing (where the reader is decoding the language itself)
- most researchers regard reading/listening as a combination of top-down and
bottom-up processing.
- modern coursebooks make use of/develop/practise top-down processing through
visuals, prediciton activities, etc.
Example: when reading a text about New York, the reader creates a mental
picture/brainstorms/thinks of related ideas before reading the text, e.g. yellow cabs,
