matching itemn
a type of test item or test task that requires test takers to indicate which
entries (e.g. words or phrases) on one list are the correct matches for entries
on another list.
see also selected-response item
materials n
in language teaching, anything which can be used by teachers or learners
to facilitate the learning of a language. Materials may be linguistic, visual,
auditory, or kinesthetic, and they may be presented in print, audio or
video form, on CD-ROMS, on the Internet or through live performance
or display.
materials adaptation n
see adaptation
materials evaluationn
in language teaching, the process of measuring the value and effectiveness
of learning materials.
mathematical linguisticsn
a branch of linguistics which makes use of statistical and mathematical
methods to study the linguistic structure of written or spoken texts. This
includes the study of the frequency of occurrence of linguistic items (see
frequency count) and the study of literary style.
see also computational linguistics
matrix (plural matrices)n
a table consisting of rows and columns to display data or results of an ana-
lysis. For an example, see the matrix used in this dictionary under the entry
for implicational scaling.
maturationn
see internal validity
maximal projectionn
see projection (principle)
meann
the arithmetic average of a set of scores. The mean is the sum of all the scores
divided by the total number of items. The mean is the most commonly used
matching item