Glossary
Foreign Language Professor Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential foreign language professor terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key foreign language professor vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in foreign language professor training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ACTFL
- American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
- Adjunct
- Part-time instructor.
- Communicative approach
- Teaching through real use.
- Comprehensible input
- Language just above current level.
- Conjugation
- Verb forms.
- Heritage speaker
- Grew up hearing the language.
- Immersion
- Learning through use only.
- Intercultural competence
- Skills across cultures.
- OPI
- Oral proficiency interview.
- Peer review
- Expert review of research.
- Proficiency
- Ability to use a language.
- Study abroad
- Learning in another country.
- Syllabus
- Course plan and policies.
- Target language
- Language being learned.
- Tenure
- Permanent faculty status.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Foreign Language Professor practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Foreign Language Professor training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.