Automatization
The process whereby the components of a skill are performed, or the information is accessed, 'without thinking', ie quickly and independent of our conscious attention.

Behaviourist, behaviourism
A view of human activity in terms of behaviour, rather than underlying knowledge: in particular, learning is seen as habit formation as a result of behavioural responses to various stimuli or input from the environment being reinforced. A behaviourist view of language learning stresses learning through repetition and automatization of key structures.

Declarative knowledge
Knowledge of facts that can be stated.

Deduction
A process of reasoning in which a rule or general principle is used to draw conclusions about how data will behave (eg using a grammatical rule to produce a language form).

Discourse competence
Knowledge of how to organize language appropriately in constructing different types of written or oral text.

Explicit learning
Learning that takes place with conscious awareness and intention, and which results in knowledge of which the learner is aware (often declarative knowledge).

Implicit learning
Learning that takes place independently of conscious awareness and intention (sometimes referred to specifically as acquisition) It generally involves induction of a general pattern based on key features perceived (not necessarily consciously) in the input. 'Material that has been learned implicitly can be used to guide behaviour, make decisions and solve problems, although the individual is typically unaware of the complex knowledge held that enables him or her to act in this fashion' (Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, 2^nd Edition).

Induction
A process of learning whereby a general principle (eg a rule) is derived from exposure to, or observation of, data exemplifying that rule. It can happen implicitly or explicitly.

Input
The language to which language learners are exposed. Krashen's Input Hypothesis argues that all that is required for second language acquisition to occur is exposure to 'comprehensible input', input that can be understood.

Interlanguage
The second language learner's language, and the systematic knowledge that underlies it.

Lexical
Relating to words, and in particular, content words such as cat, study, happy as opposed to grammatical words, such as am, do, the.

Marked, markedness
A linguistic feature is said to be 'marked' in relation to another linguistic feature, when it is in some way 'unusual' or 'less basic' in a given language or languages.

Morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest unit of linguistic meaning, so for example, the word works contains two morphemes, the lexical stem work and the grammatical morpheme -s which marks the 3^rd person singular simple present tense form.

Morphology
The grammatical structure of words (ie the morphemes they are made up of).

Naturalistic
Refers to acquiring the target language through living and working in the country where it is spoken, with little or no formal instruction.

Negotiation of meaning
The way in which speakers establish understanding through clarification requests (What do you mean, …?), paraphrasing (Do you mean …?), repeating and checking (Did you say …? So …?).

Output
Language production in speech or writing.

Procedural knowledge
Knowledge that underlies a skill, ie how to do something. It cannot usually be stated and lies outside our conscious awareness. 'Procedural knowledge lies behind complex actions and typically is rather resistant to attempts to make it conscious; try explaining to someone how to tie one's shoe-laces - it's much easier to show than to tell.' (Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, 2^nd edition).

Salient
Noticeable, easy to spot, easy for the brain to process.

Semantics
Having to do with meaning.

Sociolinguistic competence
Knowledge of how to use language appropriately in different social settings within a given culture.

Syntax
The order of words and the relationships between them.

Unmarked
A linguistic feature is said to be 'unmarked' in relation to another linguistic feature, when it is in some way more general and more basic in a given language or languages.