Longman Dictionary of

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inflection/inflexion n inflect v
(in MORPHOLOGY) the process of adding an AFFIX to a word or changing it
in some other way according to the rules of the grammar of a language.
For example, in English, verbs are inflected for 3rd-person singular: I
work, he/she works and for past tense: I worked. Most nouns may be
inflected for plural: horse – horses, flower – flowers, man – men.
see also DERIVATION, CONJUGATION 2
informal assessment n
procedures used for systematic observation and collection of data about
students’ performance under normal classroom conditions rather than
through the use of standardized tests or other controlled methods of
appraisal.
see FORMAL ASSESSMENT
informal speech n
another term for COLLOQUIAL SPEECH
informant n
(in research) a person who provides the researcher with data for analysis.
The data may be obtained, for instance, by recording the person’s speech
or by asking him or her questions about language use.
see also FIELD WORK
information content n
see INFORMATION THEORY
information processing
information gap n
(in communication between two or more people) a situation where information
is known by only some of those present.
In COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING it is said that in order to promote
real communication between students, there must be an information gap
between them, or between them and their teacher. Without such a gap the
classroom activities and exercises will be mechanical and artificial.
information processing n
(in psychology and PSYCHOLINGUISTICS) a general term for the processes by
which meanings are identified and understood in communication, the
processes by which information and meaning are stored, organized, and
retrieved from MEMORY and the different kinds of DECODING which take
place during reading or listening. The study of information processing
includes the study of memory, decoding, and HYPOTHESIS TESTING, and the
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