ITA Online - Glossary


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False Friend

A word that appears to be a cognate of a word in another language but is not; the Spanish word “embarazada” means pregnant and is, therefore, a false friend of the English word “embarrassed.”

Entry link: False Friend


Fluency is the ability to produce rapid, flowing, natural speech, without concern for grammatical correctness.

Entry link: Fluency

Free Morpheme

A morpheme that can stand on its own and have meaning.

Entry link: Free Morpheme


Grammar Translation Method

This method was used a long time ago in the teaching of Latin. The method focuses on translating grammatical forms and learning rules. Its focus is on accuracy and not fluency.
Entry link: Grammar Translation Method

Grammatical Form

The written or spoken pattern of the grammatical structure. For example, the form of the present continuous is subject + am/is/are + verb-ing (“Anna is singing”).

Entry link: Grammatical Form

Grammatical Meaning

The semantic meaning of a grammar structure. For example, the sentence “Anna is singing” includes the present continuous, which communicates that the action started before now and is occurring at the present moment.

Entry link: Grammatical Meaning

Grammatical Use

The pragmatic use of a grammatical structure. For example, one common use of present continuous is the description of a photograph or drawing: “In this picture, the kids are playing a game of soccer. It is raining.”

Entry link: Grammatical Use

Graphic Organizers

Classroom visual aids including tables, Venn diagrams, charts, timelines, and any graphic representation of a relationship between a set of ideas.

Entry link: Graphic Organizers


Holistic scoring

A scoring procedure typically used in writing assessment in which the reader reacts to the student’s composition as a whole. A single score is awarded to the writing.
Entry link: Holistic scoring



A group of words that, via usage, has established a special meaning apart from the individual words within; the idiom “let the cat out of the bag” has nothing to do with feline animals being released from captivity, but rather means “to reveal a secret.”
Entry link: Idiom
