Longman Dictionary of

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materials
entries (e.g. words or phrases) on one list are the correct matches for
entries on another list.
see also SELECTED-RESPONSE ITEM
materials n
in language teaching, anything which can be used by teachers or learners
to facilitate the learning of a language. Materials may be linguistic, visual,
auditory, or kinesthetic, and they may be presented in print, audio or
video form, on CD-ROMS, on the Internet or through live performance
or display.
materials evaluation n
in language teaching, the process of measuring the value and effectiveness
of learning materials.
mathematical linguistics n
a branch of linguistics which makes use of statistical and mathematical
methods to study the linguistic structure of written or spoken texts. This
includes the study of the frequency of occurrence of linguistic items (see
FREQUENCY COUNT) and the study of literary style.
see also COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS
matrix (plural matrices) n
a table consisting of rows and columns to display data or results of an
analysis. For an example, see the matrix used in this dictionary under the
entry for IMPLICATIONAL SCALING.
maturation n
see INTERNAL VALIDITY
maximal projection n
see PROJECTION (PRINCIPLE)
mean n
the arithmetic average of a set of scores. The mean is the sum of all the
scores divided by the total number of items. The mean is the most commonly
used and most widely applicable measure of the CENTRAL TEND-
ENCY of a distribution.
see also MEDIAN, MODE
mean length of utterance n
also MLU
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