prompt n.

[Charles Doyle]

Typically, when I assign a paper to a class, I will write out and distribute several sentences of instructions and advice.  All of a sudden (it seems to me), my students are referring to such a document as "the prompt." (I would call it simply "the assignment"--or maybe, if I wanted to sound informal, "the specs").

When asked about the term, some of my students associate it with their AP classes in high school. Is it a (behaviorist?) term that emanates from colleges of education? The use doesn't match any of the entries for _prompt_ n.2 in the OED.

--Charlie

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org