reconstruction activity n
an activity in which students read or listen to a text and then reconstruct it.
dictationand dictoglossare examples of reconstruction activities.
reconstructionism n
this term is sometimes used to describe an approach to curriculum develop-
ment which emphasizes the importance of planning, efficiency, and rationality
and which stresses the practical aspects of education. In foreign language
teaching this approach emphasizes the promotion of practical skills, makes
use of objectives or mastery learning, and advocates a systematic approach to
needs analysis, programme development, and syllabus design. Reconstruc-
tionism is contrasted with progressivism, which emphasizes that education
is a means of providing people with learning experiences which enable them
to learn from their own efforts. It advocates a learner-centred approach to
education, sees the learner as a “whole person”, promotes the learner’s
individual development, and leads to a focus on the process of learning
rather than mastery of discrete learning items.
see curriculum ideologies
record keeping n
(in a language programme) the maintenance of a file of data on student
performance.
recount n
seetext types
recursiveness n
according to some linguistic theories, the capacity that enables the grammar
of a language to produce an infinite number of sentences. This view of
grammar was emphasized in Chomsky’s early grammatical theories. Many
linguists today argue that language use is in fact characterized by the
repeated use of fixed expressions and collocations.
recursive rule n
a rule which can be applied repeatedly without any definite limit. For
example, a recursive rule for the addition of relative clauses could produce:
The man saw the dog which bit the girl who was stroking the cat which
had caught the mouse which had eaten the cheese which...
recycling n
see spiral approach
recycling