item forms a necessary stage in the teaching of what comes later and items
must be taught in that sequence. Grammatical syllabuses in language teaching
are typically organized in this way.
see also linear syllabus, spiral syllabuslocus of control n
see attribution theory
locutionary act n
a distinction is made by Austin in the theory of speech actsbetween three
different types of act involved in or caused by the utterance of a sentence.
A locutionary act is the saying of something which is meaningful and can be
understood.
For example, saying the sentence Shoot the snakeis a locutionary act
if hearers understand the words shoot, the, snakeand can identify the
particular snake referred to. An illocutionary actis using a sentence to
perform a function. For example Shoot the snake may be intended as an
order or a piece of advice.
A perlocutionary actis the results or effects that are produced by means of
saying something. For example, shooting the snake would be a perlocu-
tionary act.
Austin’s three-part distinction is less frequently used than a two-part
distinction between the propositional content of a sentence (the proposi-
tion(s) which a sentence expresses or implies) and the illocutionary force
or intended effects of speech acts (their function as requests, commands,
orders, etc.).
locutionary meaning n
see speech act
log n
see learning log
logic n
in general, the study of reasoning, especially the formulation of deductive
rules that prove statements true from given premises and axioms. In order
to formalize rules for deduction, logical languages have been developed, of
which the best known are propositional logicand predicate logic. More
recently developed types of logical language include type logic, second-
order logic, and many-valued logic.
logic