formative testformal speech n
a careful, impersonal and often public mode of speaking used to express
a polite distance between participants, and which may influence pronunci-
ation, choice of words, and sentence structure. For example, compare:
Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to be here tonight(said on
a formal public occasion)
Nice to be here(said on an informal occasion between friends)
see also colloquial speech, style, stylistic variation
formal universal n
see language universal
formant n
in acoustic phonetics, a group of overtones corresponding to a resonating
frequency of the air in the vocal tract, used to classify vowel sounds.
format n
in a language test, the tasks and activities that test takers are required to do
(e.g. true/false itemor multiple-choice itemformat)
formative n
(in generative grammar) the minimum grammatical unit in a language.
For example, in:
The drivers started the engines.
the formatives would be:
the +drive +er +s +start +ed +the +engine +s
see also morpheme
formative evaluation n
the process of providing information to curriculum developers during
the development of a curriculum or programme, in order to improve it.
Formative evaluation is also used in syllabus design and the development of
language teaching programmes and materials.
Summative evaluationis the process of providing information to decision
makers, after the programme is completed, about whether or not the
programme was effective and successful.
see also evaluation
formative test n
a test that is given during a course of instruction and that informs both the
student and the teacher how well the student is doing. A formative test