a type of statistical hypothesis test that is appropriately chosen where the
direction of an effect, such as a difference or correlation, is specified in
advance (e.g. the experimental group will score significantly higher than the
control group on a vocabulary recognition test).one-to-one n
a teaching situation involving one teacher and one student.
one-way task n
an information gaptask in which one participant holds all the informa-
tion and the information flows in only one direction during the task.
onomatopoeia n
also sound symbolism, echoism
refers to words that are considered by convention to be imitative of nature,
acoustically similar to the thing to which they refer (e.g. the bow-wowof a
dog or the tick-tockof a clock) or the sound made by the thing to which they
refer (e.g. a buzz saw). There are other words that are examples of semi-
onomatopoeia, such as the English words splashor growl. Languages dif-
fer in the range, choice, and phonetic realizations of onomatopoeic words.
An English dog goes bow-wowor ruff-ruffor woof-woof; a Japanese one
goes wan-wan.
see also ideophone
onset n
see syllable, tone unit
on-task behaviour n
(in a lesson or learning activity) learner behaviour which is directed
towards the lesson or activity. For example, during a class in which students
have been asked to read a passage and answer questions about it, students
may not give their full attention to the task during the lesson. Behaviour not
related to the task (i.e. off-task behaviour) may include getting up and talk-
ing to a classmate or doodling. The goal of an effective teacher is said to be
to increase the amount of time students are engaged in on-task behaviour in
order to provide them with maximum opportunities for learning.
see also time on task, effective teaching
ontogeny n ontogenetic adj
also ontogenesis
in studies of child language acquisition, the development of language
in an individual is sometimes referred to as ontogeny, and the historical
ontogeny