Constructivists believe that there are no enduring, context-free truths, that
researcher biascannot be eliminated, that multiple, socially constructed
realities can only be studied holistically rather than in pieces, and that
the possibility of generalizing from one research site to another is limited.
Learning is seen as involving reorganization and reconstruction and it is
through these processes that people internalize knowledge and perceive the
world. In language teaching, constructivism has led to a focus on learning
strategies, learner beliefs, teacher thinking and other aspects of learning which
stress the individual and personal contributions of learners to learning.
A constructivist view of teaching involves teachers in making their own sense
of their classrooms and taking on the role of a reflective practitioner.construct validityn
(in testing) a type of validitythat is based on the extent to which the items
in a test reflect the essential aspects of the theory on which the test is based
(i.e., the construct). For example, the greater the relationship that can
be demonstrated between a test of communicative competencein a
language and the theory of communicative competence, the greater the
construct validity of the test.
contact languagen
see pidgin
content analysisn
1 (in research) a method used for analyzing and tabulating the frequency of
occurrence of topics, ideas, opinions and other aspects of the content of
written and spoken communication. For example, content analysis
could be used to determine the frequency of occurrence of references
to males, females, adults, children, Caucasians, non-Caucasians, etc., in
a set of language teaching materials, in order to discover if any particular
attitudes or themes were unintentionally being communicated in the
material.
2 (in testing) a method in which a panel of experts are called upon to ana-
lyze the content of a test to judge the degree to which the test content
actually represents what the test is designed to measure. A systematic
comparison of the test content with the test oritem specificationsto
which the test is constructed is often made for this purpose. It is used in
establishing content validity and construct validity.
Content and Language Integrated Learningn
also CLIL
a term used mostly in Europe for content-based instruction.
construct validity