Longman Dictionary of

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formative test
formative test n
a test that is given during a course of instruction and that informs both
the student and the teacher how well the student is doing. A formative test
includes only topics that have been taught, and shows whether the student
needs extra work or attention. It is usually a pass or fail test. If a student
fails, he/she is able to do more study and take the test again.
see also TEST, SUMMATIVE TEST
formula n (plural formulae or formulas)
another term for FORMULAIC LANGUAGE
formulaic expression n
another term for FORMULAIC LANGUAGE
formulaic language n
also formulae (or formulas), formulaic expression, formulaic sequence
sequences of words that are stored and retrieved as a unit from memory
at the time of use, rather than generated online using the full resources of
the grammar of the language. Researchers have used many different terms
for this phenomenon, including prefabricated routines, routine formulae,
stock utterances, lexical phrases or lexicalized phrases, institutionalized
utterances, and unanalyzed chunks. Formulaic sequences may be semantically
transparent and grammatically regular (e.g. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
“with best wishes,” “thank you very much”) or irregular in their form and
meaning, as is the case with IDIOMs. Formulaic sequences may be learned
initially as a unit, without an understanding of their internal structure, and
later analyzed so that internal elements can be used productively; formulaic
sequences can also be constructed from smaller units but stored as a
unit for future use, a process called fusion. Some formulae have open slots
and are called lexicalized sentence stems, e.g. “Who the [expletive] does
[pronoun] think [pronoun] is?” Formulaic language is believed to have
several functions, including conserving processing resources, enhancing
both FLUENCY and IDIOMATICITY, and realizing specific interactional functions.
Formulaic sequences that primarily function to organize discourse
(e.g. “In the first place,” “So what you are saying is X”) are often referred
to as conversational routines or gambits. Formulaic sequences associated
with a specific SPEECH ACT (e.g. “I really like your [noun],” “If it’s not too
much trouble, could you X?”) are sometimes called politeness formulas.
formulaic sequence n
another term for FORMULAIC LANGUAGE
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