receptive vocabulary n
alsorecognition vocabulary, passive vocabulary
the total number of words a person understands, either in reading or listening.
see active/passive language knowledge
reciprocal pronoun n
apronoun which refers to an exchange or mutual interaction between
people or groups.
English uses the phrases each other and one another like reciprocal pro-
nouns. For example, the sentence X and Y smiled at each other implies that
X smiled at Y and that Y smiled at X.
reciprocal verb n
a verb is called reciprocal when it suggests that the people or things
represented by thesubject of the sentence are doing something to one
another.
For example, the sentence, Jeremy and Basil were fightingmay imply that
Jeremy and Basil were fighting each other. In that case, the sentence uses
fightas a reciprocal verb.
recitation n
see discussion method
recognition n
the ability to say whether or not a word (or other linguistic unit) has been
encountered before or has a particular suggested meaning. Recognition is
somewhat easier than recall(being able to remember a word on one’s own).
Teachers sometimes draw on this principle to facilitate comprehension and
communication with learners.
In psychology, recognition is typically operationalized by presenting sub-
jects with a list of words to study (for example, a list of Spanish verbs) and
later asking them to identify which items were on the original list. Answers
fall into four categories:
1 hits: responses that correctly identify items originally presented
2 correct negatives: responses that correctly identify items not previously
presented
3 misses: responses that fail to identify items originally presented
4 false positives: responses that incorrectly identify items as having been
presented previously.
see alsolistening comprehension
receptive vocabulary