An ELT Glossary Cognates and False Cognates

Cognates

• Definition : A word that has a similar form and pronunciation, and the same meaning in English and the learner’s L1 and which is therefore easy for the learner to understand and remember.
• Examples : the Italian word possibile is a cognate of the English possible; The german word Haus is a cognate of the English word house

False cognates

• Definition : A word that has a similar form in English and the learner’s L1 but which is different in meaning and can therefore cause confusion to the learner. 
• Example :  libraire means bookshop in French but looks like library in English; simpatico means nice, or pleasant in italian, but looks like sympathetic.

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An ELT Glossary Minimal pairs

Definition : Two words that differ only in one phoneme are called minimal pairs.

Examples :  bin-been, /bɪn bi:n/, taint-paint /teɪnt peɪnt/, bill-pill /bɪl pɪl/ are all minimal pairs.

Extra information : Minimal pairs can be used in the classroom to help students distinguish between and produce phonemes which they have difficulty with. See here for some teaching ideas : Developing Bottom-Up Decoding Skills for Listening

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An ELT Glossary Homonyms

Definition: two words which have the same written form and pronunciation but differ in meaning. 

Examples :   bear (animal)  /  bear (tolerate);   row (=move with oars)  /  row (= things in a line).

Related terms : homophones, homographs

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An ELT Glossary Denotation and Connotation

• Denotation = the basic meaning of a word

• Connotation = the evaluative meaning associated with the word

• Example : slim and scrawny. Both of these mean thin - the denotation. However, slim has a positive connotation, whereas scrawny has a negative connotation

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An ELT Glossary The Critical Period Hypothesis

• Definition : This hypothesis suggests that there is a period in childhood when language acquisition can take place effortlessly and naturally, but that after adolescence the brain is no longer able to process language in this way. 

• Example : A child who goes to live in a foreign country will "pick up" a language just by being exposed to it, whereas an adult may need formal instruction

•  The hypothesis is associated with the work of Lenneberg in the 1960s. It is criticised by researchers into second language Acquisition such as Krashen who contend that acquisition remains possible throughout life, and that difficulties encountered by adults come from other sources such as affective factors.

• Further reading :  Abello-Contesse, C.   Age and the Critical Period Hypothesis

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