Independent study

Studying without a teacher present or without the teacher monitoring and directing the learning very closely, e.g. learners could carry out research on a topic using reference resources. This could be done at home or with minimum involvement of the teacher in class. It is specially designed instruction in courses taught through a variety of delivery methods that complement traditional high school curricula and provide an accredited diploma.

Individual learner differences

The term ~ refers to differences in how learners learn an L2, how fast they learn, and how successful they are. These differences include both general factors such as language learning aptitude and motivation, and specific learner strategies. These differences can be cognitive, affective, or social in nature.

Inductive learning

Learning to apply the rules of a language by experiencing the language in use, rather than by having the rules explained or by consciously deducing the rules.

Information gap

(in communication between two or more people) a situation where information is known only by one of those present; in communicative language teaching (see Communicative approach) it is said that in order to promote real communication between students, there must be an information gap between them, or between them and their teacher. Without such a gap the classroom activities and exercises will be mechanical and artificial.

Information-gap activity

A classroom activity in which learners work in pairs or groups. Learners are given a task, but they are given different information and, to complete the task, they have to find out the missing information from each other.

Input (n., v.)

Information which is given to learners by the teacher, e.g. through a text or via electronic means. This constitutes the language to which the learner is exposed. It can be spoken or written. It serves as the data which the learner must use to determine the rules of the target language.

In-service teacher

An individual who has been hired by a district and is actively teaching.

Intensive listening/reading

One meaning of intensive listening/reading is reading or listening to focus on how language is used in a text. See extensive listening/reading.