Estimates of the size of a basic vocabulary for language learners range from
800 to 4000 words.basic writingn
a subfield of composition studies in the US that deals with the teaching of
writing to students at college or university level who have not mastered the
genre of academic writing. Basic writing courses are often directed to assist
students who have been traditionally excluded from higher education, such
as urban immigrant and refugee adults in college and pre-college settings.
basilectn
see post-creole continuum, speech continuum
battery of testsn
also test battery
a group of tests that are given together to a test taker or group of test takers.
behavioural objectiven
also performance objective, instructional objective
(in developing a curriculum) a statement of what a learner is expected
to know or be able to do after completing all or part of an educational
programme. A behavioural objective has three characteristics:
ait clearly describes the goals of learning in terms of observable behaviour
bit describes the conditions under which the behaviour will be expected to
occur
c it states an acceptable standard of performance (the criterion).
For example one of the behavioural objectives for a conversation course
might be:
“Given an oral request, the learner will say his/her name, address and
telephone number to a native speaker of English and spell his/her name,
street, city, so that an interviewer can write down the data with 100 per cent
accuracy.”
“Given an oral request” and “to a native speaker” describe the conditions,
and “with 100 per cent accuracy” describes the criterion, in this objective.
see also objective
behaviourismn
a theory of psychology which states that human and animal behaviour can
and should be studied only in terms of physical processes, without reference
to mind. It led to theories of learning which explained how an external
event (a stimulus) caused a change in the behaviour of an individual (a
response), based on a history of reinforcement. Behaviourism was used by
behaviourism