language facultylanguage skills and vocabulary they have developed outside the classroom.
In this approach, children may recount stories and experiences orally to the
teacher, who writes words on charts or other visual devices and uses them
as a basis for teaching reading.language faculty n
also language acquisition device, LAD
in generative theory, the view is widely held that humans are innately
endowed with a specific faculty or mental module which provides them with
a set of procedures for developing the grammar of their native language.
language family n
a group of languages that are believed to have developed from a common
source, such as the Romance language family (French, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese and Romanian) which are all derived from Latin in the Middle
Ages.
language for academic purposes n
seeacademic discourse, English for Academic Purposes
language functions n
another term for functions of language1,2
language laboratory n
also language lab
a room that contains desks or individual booths with tape or cassette
recorders and a control booth for teacher or observer and which is used for
language teaching. The recorders usually have recording, listening, and play-
back facilities; students can practise recorded exercises and follow language
programmes either individually or in groups, and the teacher can listen to
each student’s performance through earphones. Language laboratories are
associated particularly with the audiolingual methodand have been
replaced in many institutions by a multi-media laboratory.
language learning n
see first language acquisition, language acquisition, second
language acquisition
language loss n
a general term referring to the loss or decline of linguistic skills, as may happen
when immigrants have limited opportunity to use their first language in an
environment where it is not spoken or valued or when second language