Syl La Buses

7/30/2019 Syl La Buses

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Plansandprogrammes

INTRODUCTIONA good number of peoplewho areprofessionallynvolvedn languageeaching il lat one time or another n their liveshave he responsibility f producingasyllabus,or part of one.But what exactlys a syllabus? heanswernvolves omeproblemsfterminology.Anoften-askeduestions:what s he differenceetween syilabusndacurriculum?For many, he term 'curriculum'(in BritishEnglish t east)s hewiderof the two, referring,n \Ahite's 1988:4) words o 'thetotalityof contentobe aughtand aims to be reahzedwithin one schoolor educational ystem'.Syllabuslon theotherhand, tends o refer o the contentof just onesubjectarea. lthough he ermsmaybe d.ifferentiatedn thisway, he truth is thatmanyapplied inguists sehemassynonyms. was recentlypreparinga coursewith the official itle of 'CurriculumDesign'. s i wasabout to deliver he first talk, I checkedhrough he handoutshadprepared. alf of them carried he offrcial itle.But heotherhalfreferredo he ourseas SyllabusDesignl simplydo not, in practice, istinguishhe two terms. nothertwo difficult termsare syllabusdesign'and course(or programme) esignlRichardset al. (1935)describehe differencewell. For them, syliabus esign nvolvesasweshallseebelow)planning course ontent.Courseor programme esignnvolvestherfactorsassociated ith implementation, ncluding such ssues s the timing andindeed imetabling)of variouscourseelements,nd how hecoursewill beevaluated.

Life is not made any simplerby the fact that if you ask eachers r administratorswhat they useasa syllabus, ou will getvery differentanswersndeed.Taylor1970)askedust this questionandhe notes hat somesyllabuseswereno more han neortwopagesn length,otherscoveronehundredpages. omewerewell aid outand are-fully bound. Others verecrampedand barely egiblelMy own experienceas eensimilar.On one occasionwhenI askedo see hesyllabus sedn a anguagechool,copyof GeorgeOrwell'sAnimalFarmwasproduced. hiswas hebook hatwas eingcoveredor anexamination.On otheroccasions hen askedhe same uestionwasgiven engthyandglossydocuments.

In all this diversity nd erminologicai onfusion,he mainpoint to holdontos hata syilabuss centrallya statement f.contenf, tatingwhata programmewill cover.n

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A N ] N T R 0 D U C T I o N I O T , C R t i G N L A N G U A G E L I A R \ l l N G A i \ I D T t A C H I N G

Chapter 9 we saw hat the what andhow of.languageteaching an be ciosely connected,so that a staiement of eontent is likely to caruywith it methodoLogi-cal implicatioss(perhaps ou can ind where hispoint wasmade, n 9'6)' Syllabusesherefore.rarelyconfine hemselveso contentalone.Often they talk aboutmethodology as well,andare ikely aiso o containstatements bout aims and objectives,and even about theform of evaluationo be used or the teachingprogramme'But content remains hemain elementof mostsYliabuses'In 3.1 the point was made that 'in the field of applied linguistics nothing everhappens n a vacuumlThis applies o syllabusdesignasmuch as to any other alea'The terms in which content s statedwill changeaccording o the view of,languageandlorlanguageearningheld by the syilabusdesigner. he ciearestexample of this,coveredn somedetail in9.6,is the movement rom structuralto notional/functionalsyllabusesn the 1970s. his was ntimately reiated o a change n views as to whatlanguages andwhat is involved n language se'

So the presentchapterneeds o be ead with one eye ooking backwards towardsChapter9 and o.r, ,rri r.y of languageeaching deas' t is alsoworth a glance orwardto L5.2,which dealswith lessonplanning. Many of the pianning principles appliedlinguistsusearerelevantat both the programmeand essoneveis'Thepresent hapter akesadetailedook at themajorsyllabusypes,particularlythestructural and the notional/functional. t dealswith the nuts and bolts of syllabusdesign, imingto giveyou a feelingof how syilabusesreactuallyconstructed'Wewillalso ook at differentsortsof languageeaching rogrammes, articularly'language orspecific urpose LSP)progfammes' nd general ourses here the purposesare arlessspecific.

11 .1 utsand bo l ts : n n i t ia l ookIn some anguageeaching extbooks, he contentspageof the Teacher'sBookreveals etailsof the ,yllui rr. Below s part of this page(for the first 18 units)from Teacher'sook 1of a coursecalledNow or English' wrote thesematerialsfor primary levelchildren,starting o learnEnglish-as foreign languageat theageof 8. Herearesomequestionso drawyoul

attention o aspectsof the con-tentspage.Questions and 2 ateparticularlymportant to our discussion;missout the otherones f Youwish.t1. Thereare hreecolumns.Thetitlesof each olumnappear n the shadedboxesat the top. Theyhavebeenomitted..Mhatdo you think they are for the firsttwo columns?Whatabout thethird column?This is more difficult becausewe

havenot yet ful1ydiscussedhe items that occur n this column' But go on:makea guess t what the title maybe'

2. Thoughyou cannot ell for surewithout seeingmoreof the book' which of thethreecolumnsdo you think tellsyou mostabouthow the book is organized?

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At regular ntervalshe book contains evisionunits. dentifr theseunits, and i:In Column2,some temsaregiven n italics.Whatddthese temshave n com- imon?Other temsare n capitals.&hat do theyhave n common?Saywhat the ,differences betweenhese w-oypesof iterl.

5. Concentrate ow on yerbforms.Units L to 12 ocuson oneverb n particular.Which one?What is the major tensentroducedbetweenUnits 13 and 18?

Partof contentspage rom teacher's ook L of Now or English Johnson1983)

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lntroductory lesson What'syour name?My name'sohn.names asking or namesandsaFngwho you are)colourscountriesof the world

I Good morningeveryoneI'm Anne.I'm not Peter.Who's this?It's Sam.

the characters f the bookintroducing yourself

2 Who's his? This sMr Porter.This s my ather.he's/she'snumbers -10

famiiy relations (talking aboutthe family)children'sages

Oh Sallyl \Nhat's his?I t ' s . . .(positive,negative,interrogative,shortanswer)

objectscommonly found inthe streetor house

4 What a mess! \,Vhoses thisbook?IMosebooks this?It's Sam's.It's his/her ook,Is that/ityour book?

common classroomobjectstalking about who ownsthings

5 Kate's arm Wat colour s it?It's red.It's a red horse.this/that

farm animals

6 Games o play revision,and Progress es t 1Geeup, Sam I ' m a . . .Y o u ' r e a . . .(positive,negative,interrogative,shortanswer)

excitingobs(talkingabout obs)

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He's a. . .S h e ' s . . .(positive, negative,interrogative, shortanswer)

simple actionsgiving ordersMPERATIVE(positivenegative)StoP,Bella,stoParticiesof ciothingWhat are hese?They're. .T h e s e a r e . . .PLURALNOUNSNO ARTICLE+ PLURALNO{lN/a + SINGULARt'{OUN

10 Shirtsand skirts

cowboys and IndiansWe're. 'You're, .They're. .(positive,negative,iiterrogative,shortanswer)numbers 1L-20

11 CowboYsandIndians

revision, and ProgressTest 212 Gameso PIaY jungle animalstalking about wherepeopleand animals iveSIMPLEPRESENT(positive,affirmative,all persons)the

13 In the ungle

leisure activitiesaskingabout likes anddislikesSIMPLEPRESENT(negative,nterro ative,all persons xcePt rdpersonsingular)

14 What a noise!

shopsand shoPPingasking or and givinginformationdoor numbersSIMPLEPRESENT(negative,nterrogative3rd-person ingular)numbers20-60here/there

15 Kate'sstreet

rooms n the housefurnituresaFtngwhere hingsareThere's/thereresomePREPOSITIONSOF PLACE(in, on, under, ehind)

16 Ghostsandmonsterspicnicsand foodsome/anYIs there/Arethere?(interrogative, hort

answers)17 Lrt't havea Picnic

revision,andProgress est318 Games o PlaY


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C H A P T I Ri P I . A N S N DP R O G R A M M E S

THESTRUCTURALYLLABUS' ' r l , f f i , t l .Z. lConstruct inqstructural yl labus gQuesti.on in Box ll.i asksabouthow.l/ow or Englishs organizeci.f you had theopportunityto look more carefully t the book tself, t wouldbecome pparento youthat ts main organizations n termsof the structures. achunit focuses n a numberof grammatical tructures.You cansee even rom the contentspages,hough moreclearly y ookingat the bookitself) hat these avebeenorderedandgraded hroughthe course.This is a wavof sayinghat the book followsa structuralsyllabus.n thistvpe of syllabus,he main organizing rinciple s accordingo language tructures.

How arestructuralsyllabusesctually onstructed? neway o find out wouldbe ointerviewsomeonewho hasdesigned yilabuses.t several oints n my career havedone just that. So in the sectionbelow I interview myself.MAAL (Me as AppliedLinguist) alks o MAMD (Me asMaterialsDesigner). hediscussionevolves roundthe Now or Englishsyliabushat you have ust seen.MAAL interviewsMAMDMAAL: I'd like to know first of all, MAMD, why you decided o usea structural

syllabusor your book.Why not a notional/functional r someothertype?MAMD: I thought about his for a very ong time, and n the end decidedhat for a

beginners'book it was mportant for the learnerso be introduced o thegrammarof the anguagen asystematic ay.Thatmeans ealingwith a dif-ferentsentenceattern n each esson r

'unit'.And that meansa structuralsyllabus.

MAAL: Does hat meanyou ignorednotionsand functions?MAMD: Not at all. But I didn't use hem asmy main'organizingprinciple',my'unit

of.organization'.Explain.Well, in eachunit of the book the main focus s on a group of sentencepatterns.For example n Unit 15 sentence atternsassociated ith thesimpiepresentense recovered . .(yawning)Yes, es. understandhat.. . . but in the courseof the unit the functionsof askingor and givinginformationare Louched n, oftenusing he simpiepresentense.So the main focus s on a grammarpoint, but notions and functionsareborne n mind in your choiceof languageo put in theunit.Precisely.OK. Now tell us what he fi.rst tagen designinghe syllabusor your coursewas.My coursewas o beacompiete ne,covering hree ears f teachingn threebooks.Somostof thegrammarof Englishwas obe covered ver heperiod.First of all, then, I wanteda iist of all the importantstructuresof English.

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Several ooks exist to help .vouwith this. One very usefui one is EnglishGrammaticaL tructure{Nexander et al. 1975)-This is a comprehensive-listof Englishsentence atterns.The book wasspeciallywritten with the pur-poseof helpingsyllabus esigners. tr -Onceycu hadyour ist of structures, hatdid you then do?The next decisionwas o divide them into 'yearsldeciding which structuresto teach n Year ,Year 2 andYear3.And how did you decide his?Well, supposehat my main criterion,at thebeginningat least,was o thinkabout simplicity - teaching he simplestructuresbefore the more compli-cated nes.\Mhatsomepeoplecall a 'simplicitycriterionlExactly.Of course, t's difficult to apply this criterion in a strict way,andsometimest's mpossible o saywhetheronstructure s more difficult thananother.But it's a good startingpoint. Another criterion. . .You don't have o explain all the criteria, vIAMD. We'll be discussinghislater n the chapter.Let'smove on. You havea list of structures assignedoYear1,2 or 3. What comesnext?Of coursea structuredivides nto many sentence atterns, so you have omake a list of the patternsassociated ith your structures, and decide nwhich order to teach hem.Is thatdifficult?I'm afraid it is. Think about some of the main patterns associated ith atense the simplepresent or example.First of all there's he basic orm . . .(lookingat his watch)Yes, es.We canput thesento a box; you don't haveogo through them all, thank you verymuch. . . .Now you may think it's sensibleo teach he 'basic'form first of all, and hecontentspageof Nowfor Englishshows hat I do this. But what that pagedoesn't how s that I introduce he receptive seof the question orm in thesameunit, so that the teacher anaskquestions. he learner has o producethe 'basic'form, but just understandhe question orm.Perhaps ou shouldexplainwhat you meanby the word'receptive'.It means he learners hould be able o understand, ut not necessart|yro-duce he form. As you know, reading and listeningare the receptlvekills,speaking ndwritingthe productiye nes. n my first unit on the simplepre-sent have he class ook at a jungle scene. he teacher asksquestionsikeWere do monkeysive?and the pupils reply Monkeys ive in the trees.Soatthis point the earners ave o understandhe question orm andproducehe'basic'form.Monkeysand ungles,eh?Sounds ike grippingstuff!lVell children are interested n monkeys and jungles, y-ouknow. Anotherissueat this stageswhat s called'pacing'. his is ensuringthat there ssomekind of balancehrough thebook, n termsof what s introduced. Each of.my


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C! - lAPTER1 PLA i ' l sA [ ]D PROGRAI / i v l fS

bookshas 30 units,and theseare divided nto five sections'eachwith slxunits.The si-xthunit of eachsection s a revisionone,soeachseclionhas ,veunits of newmaterialandoneof revision.'ve ried o 'pace'the course othat no more than one major structures introducednto eachsection.Lisuallyhe majorstructurewill be a new ense. henaround hisstructureI spreadhe minor onesout - asort of paddingo fil1 he materials ut.Can,vougivean example?Yes.n units 13 o 18of Book1, introducehesimpie resentense. ut if-vouook at thecontents age, ou'ilseehat some ther,more minor' struc-turesarespread hrough heseunits:some ndany or example.Yes. see.Well thankyou, NIAMD.Thatwas . . er . . very nteresting.But I haven't inishedyet! There'smuchmore o say.I'm sure here s. But we have o moveon, I'm afraid.

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.O11.2 iking hocolatesHerearesome f the mainsentenceatterns ssociatedith he simple resenttensen Enslish:'Basic'form (positiveaffirmative)NegativeQuestion (interrogative)

Note that all theseexamples se he third person ingular she).Think of theequivalent entencessinga differentperson e.g. hey).Identifuhe units inNow or English where hese hreepatterns f the simple resent re ntroduced.If you feel n the mood for a linguisticchallenge,se he examples bove owork out the rules or formingsimple resent egativesndquestions.easexplicitasyou can, and f possible segrammaticalerminologyn your explanation ifyou havedifficultywith thequestion orms, ookbackat howyou tackled he askin2.8).2

,Wtl .Z.ZCri ter iaor structural yl labusrdering

She ikeschocolatesShedoesn'tikechocolatesDoesshe ike chocolates?

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11.3WhatMAMD ould ave aid i f MAAL adn' tn ter rupted)MAMD mentions neof the criteria tructural yllabusesignersse or order-ing he tems ntheirsyiiabus.A4rat oes ecall hatcriterion? anyou hinkof

Here is a short Rough Guide to the most commoncriteria structural syllabusdesigners se o decideon the order theywill introducetems:

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anyothersstructuralsyilabus esigners ight use?After you have houghtabout this, readon.


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A } ] i \ I ; R C D U C i : C I ' . J I C T C R : ] C i \ I L A I i G U A G I L T A R T l ; ) ' I G A ) I ;

S I M P L I C I T YR I T E R I O NWhat t is:moving romsimple o morecclrnplextructuresComments:M We need o distinguishormaland onceptrralimpliciry. ormai.simpiicity elateso how the tem is'consttucted';For example'n Box Il'2' ,ror.twereasked o think about the

,,ru.,ur. of simplePresent egativesandquestions, hicharequitecomplex usingdo ,does, oesn't tc)'But a struct,rrJ-uy be ormallysimpieandconceptuallYifficult.Theindefinite rticle,or example' ouiustput a or an at thebeginning f thenounphruse. ut tisverydiff icultto explain sa concePt,f the earnerdoesno t havi it in theirL1.ff i Ltnsuists avesometimesried tod.,.llop'scientific' efinitions fsimpliciry. ut theirattempts avenever eallyworked.Onereasonsthat whatmakes sentenceimpleordifficult or you o processs not us ta question f it sstructr-rre.any'psychological'factorsarealso nvolved'

% Simphcity nd comPiexirY recomplicatedy contrastiveinguistics'Lookbackat 4.2 and he dealhl' u .structuremaybe moredifficult orthespeakersf one anguagehananother'accordingo therelationshipetweenthe argetanguagend he earner's l'

S E Q U E N C I N G R G R O U P I N GWhat t is:putting hings ogetherha t'go' together.Example:SomeandanY'Though herule sa simplification,earners reoftentaught har.anysusedFornegativendinterrogativeentenccs:idshe Lrt ny

chocoLates?nd She didn't eat Ltny hocolates,asoppose tc She atesome hocolates.I tmakessense to teach these 'vordsn thesamcor ad jacent un i ts '

F R E Q U E N C YlVhat t is: teaching hemost requentlyused orms first' :Comments:A 'frequencycount' is a studywhichcounts he frequenryof items n aIansuas.e.Many dealrvithvocabulary,buio,i"times they ookat grammaticalstructures. eorge 196J),or example,f inds hat he 's impie ' tenses(e 'g .nSheeats hocolarcand Sheatechocolate)aroutstrip he continuous'ones Sheseating hocolote andShewaseatingchocolate).erhaps hissuggestshesimple enseshouldbe aught efore he.onrin,.ro,.r,nes?Manysyllabuseseachthem he other waY ound'

Recentiy,nformationabout requencyhasbeen aken from corpora. ookbackto 3.2.6 o remind yourself bout orpusJinsuisticsnd what corPora re 'One,.ulo.r why they are useful o language.' ,.,::'teacherss becauseheyshowushowwords are eallyused'They canalsogivefirm information aboutword frequency'An examplewhich shows',bothheie ' ' ' ,advantagesasgiven n3'2;.6..,Itwas , .'t:;-':,.i-.r"ir?ra Re'ioofs es8) indingsregardinghe word see't wouldbenatural,we noted, or you o rmagrne.that rhemost commonuseof thiswordis ro do with visr-ral erceptionas n thesentence sawhim i'nrhe'dilstance|'n' ,'" ';,:i.,fact,computerevidenceuggestshatthemostcomrnonusages n thesense f'understand' as n Yes, see,i,r''Do40tti'' ;,,see?). ince his s the most reguent,' ' ', ,.'usage,erhaPst should e he irst

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taught-Corpora- analsoprovide - - - practised- ookbackto the c.o;:tentsag.efrequencynformationaboutgrainmatical of -N'owfor Englkh I and note how early tstructuresmoreefficientlyhana single is taught.Why s What's his? uchper: ion,ike Ceorge. ossibly an).UTIL ITYWhat it is: eachinghe most useful hingsfust.C o m m e n t ' , ,'Mostusefu]' ftenmeans'mostrequent'.Sometimes sentenceatternmaybe sousefulor the actual ro..r, of teachinsthat t isworth .ou.rir* early.SentencepatternsTtkeOoen he oor (rheimperative)uid Wot', this?oftenoccur' , '

, , t aearly n courses,ecauseheyareso:usefulin the classroom. nce he mperatives;-- -learneo,manyclassroom cuons anDe

usefulorm o teach arMT E A C H A B I L I T YWhat it is: teachingstructures hat are

, 7 aeasyo convey efore nes hataredifficult o teach.So t is simpliciw romthe,tea,ckiigp.ointf vieW." , ',., ', ,,, ' .CommentsAll teachersnow thatsomestrusturesareeasiero teach han others.Twoexamplesrom earlier: he some/anydistinctions a fuvourite or some eachersbecauset is easyo explainand practise.The ndefinite rticle,on the otherhand,canbe rendishly ifficuli io teach. '

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A controversial tatemento think about:perhapswith verydifficult structures llyou cando is exposeearnerso them,and offerexplanationsf asked, ather han try-ing to teach hem in a formal*ry. \r\hat do you think?

Designinga syliabus an be a very messybusiness, nd one reason s that thecriteriawehave eendiscussinganconflict.Wenoted, or example,hat it canbe veryuseful o teachWVtat'shis?early n in a course. ut he simplicitycriterion might sug-gest his patternshould comea little later afterall, it is a question orm, showinginversion,where he subject his comes fter he verb s or t. A small example, utif you evercome o designa syllabus ourself, ou'll find it is a processull of uncer-taintiesand compromises. essy, nd certainly n art rather hana science.

f f i t l .Z. l A recent erspect iven hestructuralyl labusIn 4.4 we lookedat morphemeacquisition tudieswhich suggest hat learnershavetheir own order for learningstructures what amounts o an internal syllabus. hemorphemeacquisition tudies, nd heChomskyanraditionwhich nspired hem,aska challenging uestion hat structural yllabus esignersannotavoid confronting. nBox 4.9weposedhequesti.onike his: whatis hepoint n havingan external yllabusif learners ave heir own nternalone?' pplied inguists ave eactedn differentwaysto the existence f the nternalsyllabus. ereare hree eactions:a) Sincehe earnerhas heir own internaisyliabus,here s no point i.n mposingan

externalone.We should et the learner ollowtheir own internal learninqorder.223

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A N JF J T R C D U C T I C NC F C R I I G N ]A | \ J G U A G Ti A R \ ] i N GA N DT i A C H i N G

This s reallywhatPrabhudoes.Find the section n Chapter9 wherehis proceduralsyllabuss described, nd makesure vorr reclear hat this is what he isb ) Yes,well doubtiesshe earnerhasan nternals,vllabus,ut for the purposes f class-room teachingwe can ust ignore hat,and carryon usingour external yllabus.Don't forget hat hemorpheme tudiesweredone n anaturaiisticontext.A/herewearedealingwith ciassroomearning, n external rder or learning houldbe mposed.Let'skeepan external yllabus, ut as ar aspossiblemake hisreflectwhatweknowabout he nternalsyliabus. n other words,we would use he nformationgivenbythe morpheme acquisition studies o help us decideon the order of structuresintroduced n textbooks.Oneapplied inguistwho follows his third argument s Pienemann, ho developedwhat is called he Teachabilityor sometimeshe Learnability)Hypothesis.His hypo-thesispredictsthat nstructioncanonlypromote anguage cquisitionf the [earner's]interlanguages close o the point when the structure o be taught s acquiredn thenatural setting' Pienemann1985:35). In his research e shows hat learnerswill notfi:lly mastera languagetem if it is too far in advance f the point that the 'internalsyllabus'haseached. he mplicat ion s hat eaching,programmeshould ake nforma-tion about acquisitionorders nto accountwhen they decidehow to order teachingitems.Rogers1994)shows hat this doesnot normallyhappen.She ooksat sevenext-books eachingGermanasa foreign anguage, nd finds hat the order n which temsare aught doesnot follow what is known aboutGermannatural acquisitionorders.It could be argued hat we don't yetknow enoughaboutnatural acquisitionordersfor Pibnemann's eachabilityHypothesiso havemuch impacton languageeaching.

But thehypothesis oescarry avery mportantmessagehat syllabus esignersgnoreat their peril. It is that syilabus onstruction s not just the applicationof simplicitycriteria, requencycountsand the rest.The notion of 'learnerstage' s an importantconsideration.Whether his is measuredn a formal wayby acquisitionorder studies,or is ustbasedon teacher xperience f theway earners rogress,t shouldbe n yourthoughtsasyou designa syllabus.Vhich somedayyou maywellhave o do.WWHw; NoTToNAL/FUCTTONALYLIABUSES

11.3.1eeds nalysisIn 9.6we describedhe development f the notional/functional .nlf) syllabus y theCouncilof Europe eam.We related t to the sociolinguisticrevolution', o discontentwith structural eaching n general,and with the structural syllabus n particular.nthis sectionwe shall ook more carefullynto the machineryof then/f syllabus.Selections a big issue or this syllabusype. In structural syllabus esignselectingwhat to teach is very much a questionof deciding on ordering.RememberwhatMAMD saysabout Nowfor English: ver he threeyearsof the coursehe feelshe canteachall the major structures f English.This conceptof total coverage startingwithbeginners nd proceeding vera periodof time until all the structures f theLanguagetz4


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C I . l A P T E R1 P L A N S \ ] DP R O G R A M M E S

havebeen aught is a commonone n much anguageeaching. ut t is not a con-cepttlrat can be applied easily o nlf syllabuses-ake unctions for example.t is dearthat the useso which a anguage anbe put areverymany.Wesimplycannot each llthe functionsof English.We thereforehave o find somemeansof identif ing whichfunctions o teach, nd which o exclude,rom our course.The memberof theCouncilof Europe eamwho consideredhisproblemwas heSwiss pplied inguistRen6Richterich.His answerwas elated o aprocedure hich wemet briefly n 10.2.3. eeds nalysis as ts roots n educationaltudies oingbackatleastas far as he work of the American educational sychologist, enjaminBloom,who deveioped wayof classifring ducational ims(Bloom 1956). heprocedureswidely used oday n relation o many studyareas,ncluding engineering nd man-agement.n the field of languageeaching,Richterichdefines anguage eedsas therequirementswhich arise rom the use of a languagen the multitude of situationswhich mqv arise n the sociai ivesof individualsand groups' 1972:32).But the keyword in Richterich'sdefi.nition situation- posesproblems.One dictionary (theConciseOxford) definest as a setof circumstances)nd anothermemberof the team,jan van Ek (1973), hinking specifically bout anguage se, alksof 'thecomplexofextra inguisticconditionswhich determineshe natureof the anguage ctlThewordssetand cornplex onvey he idea hat the factorswhich go to makeup a situationarecomplexand numerous.This suggestshat f the concept f situation s o bereallyuse-ful for syllabus esign, t will have o be brokendown into component arts.This isjust what the Council of Europedoes.The 'componentsof situations' sdescribed yvan Ek (L975)are llustratedn Box 11.4:

11 .4Par t o f the Counc i l f Europe 's eeds na lys ismode lHere aresomecomponents f 'situation'in the Councilof Europe'sramework:Settings. hereare wo typesof setting: a) Geographical:hichcountry he userwants o use he target anguagen. Some earnerswiil want o use he arget an-guage n the country where t is an L1; others n a country where t is an FL.Country of usemay have mportant mplications n o.urdecision boutwhat an-guage tems o teach.And (b) Place: .g.at the airport, n thehotel, n theoffi.ce.Topics.What the userwants o talk about.We may ind that a eatner's eeds reclosely elated o particular opic areas,ike leisure ctivities r businessatter*Topicscanbe mportant n the selection f notionsand unctions; heyareclearlycrucial n decidingwhat vocabulary o teach. ook backat Now or English's on-tentspagen Box 11.1.n which columndo topicsand exical reas ppear?Roles.The most important of theseare he social oles. xamples restrangerostranger, ustomero shopkeeper,octor opatient.The social ole relationshipslearner s likely to find themseivesn will affect he anguaget is most useful oteach.3

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So Step1 of needsanalysis la councii of Europe involves isting the situatiansbrokend-own.ntosettings,opicsand roles:: relevant o the learner in their useof the--targetlanguage.ut a further threestepsareneedeci.Step2 is to identifr the anguageactivitieslikeiyo occur n the situations'Van Ek says hat these muy be ascompara-tively "simple" asunderstandinghe weaiher forecaston the radio or as complexassummarisingorally in a foreign orrg.'*gea report written in one's native anguage'(1975:104). tep is to list he notioisand unctionsassociated ith the situations ndactivities. hen here san mportant fourth step.This is to identif,v he actual anguage;;;;"" useful o expresshe notions and functions' The word exponent susednthis context:we say hai suchand sucha phraseexpoundssuch and sucha function'Forexample,n Englishgy;oways o expound the function of greetingareHi andGoodmorning.Thesearf{rrverymuch in formalitv, and it maybe that for particularstudentsone is more appropriate han the other. You would let your needsanalysisdentiftwhat exponent t would be appropriate o teach'

These our steps: ituations + activities-->notionsand unctions -) exponentsakeus from needs o lurrg.rugeontent,and provid,ea way of selecting h: most relevantmaterial or our turrg,lugJry1abus.o put a ittle more fleshonto thesebones' maginethatyou aredevelop"irrg"uyllabusor a group of secretariesearning English'Box11'5invitesyou to undertake mini-needsanalysisor these earners:

11.5Doing min i -needsnalYsisHere sa shortexample f.paftofa needs nalysisor a secretary'

Componentsof situationslearner's l countrY; n the officehotelbookings, ransportationarrangements'appointmentsstrangero stranger; ecretaryo bossLanguageactivitY,,,ut"ing;6one calls o the FL country in relation Loa businessriptheir boss s to undertakeIdentifyingnotionsand functions:dates, imes, uturitYgiving nformation,requesting nformation' making arrangementsIdentifyingexPonentsShe'llbe staYingor . . ' daYsI'd like to . . .Couldyou pleaseell me ' ' 'on + date;at * time; will be + -ing; by + form of transport

Think of t}[ee more anguage ctivities n which this secretarymaywant o usetheirtargetanguage. oroneof these ctivities'work through Steps3and4 asabove'

Step1.SettingTopicsRoIesStep2

Step3l{otionsFunctionsStep4

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C H A P T E R] P L A N S N DP R O G R A M M E SThe Council of Europe's eedsanalysismodelwasone of a number that weredevelopedn the I970s.You may wish to referback o Chapter 0 wher-eou mgtanother (the keirvord to look for is Nijmegen).A further highly influentialmodelwasdevelopedyJohnNlunbv ),978). his rvasarmore omplexhan heCouncilofEurope's.i aiiempted o providea it'avof analvsingnv learne's needsn an',. itua-tion throuehout he rr,orld.But in the ,vordcomple-x'lies heproblem vhich Iunbv's

so-calledComrnunicatit'eieedsProcessarthe Cr\P) faced.As \\'est t1994)puts it:'\Iunbr"s attempt to be svstematic nd comprehensivenevitabll.-made his instru-ment infl.exibie,omplexand time-consuminglVemustensurehai the results f ourneedsanalvsis re not so complex hat they cannoteasily e translatednto teachingmaterials.Like all the needsanalysis vstemsve haveso far met, vlunby'sCNP looksat the'targetsituation' your learnersexpect o find themselvesn at some uture point. Itdoeswhat ssometimes alleda TargetSituationAnal,vsisTSA).But by thebeginningof the 1980s herewas a growingrealizationhat a properneeds nalysis hould ookat more than the targetsituation.A broaderapproach asprovidedby Hutchinsonand !'aters n their book on English or SpecificPurposesESP asweshallseen thenext section is the areawith which needsanal,vsissmostassociated). utchinsonand Waters(1987) use the word necessitieso describe hat we haveso far beendiscussing itemsreiated o the 'demandsof the target ituation'.But, they say, heanalysisof necessitiess not useful uniessaccompaniedy an indication of whatthe learneralready nows.So hey havea second ategory,alledacks.Youcould saythat mathematicallyacksarc necessitiesinus what he earneraheady nows.Theyare hat part of the target equirements hich arenotyet n the earner's ompetence.Thepart that needseaching.Hutchinsonand Waters' hird categorys wants.Theynote hat how a personper-ceives hat heyrequireout of an FLcoursemayhaveittle o dowith the analysis ro-videdby an 'objective'TSA. An example hey give s thecase f a GermanengineernamedKarlJensen. unby'sCNP or the Council of Europe'sSAwould,HutchinsonandWaters rgue,dentifyreadingacademicexts n English sa major needof Karl's.But this is not how he himselfseest. Thoughhe only areiyusesEnglish o talk faceto facewith engineering olleagues,e is veryconseiousf the act hat whenhe doesso his poor spokenEnglishetshim dorvn. n that situation ispride s verymuch onthe line'.So his own personal wants analysis' asopposedo an applied linguist's'needs

analysis') laces peakingEnglishat the top of the ist.But are earnerperceptionseliable?Can Kari really e trusted, ou might ask, oidentifr whathe requires? rindley 1939) ointsout hatmany eachersee l earnersare incapableof discussingheir requirementsn a sensible anner.For one thing,many cuituresdo not encourageearners o develop iews egardingheir needs.Somany learnersare simply incapableof expressingheirneeds. nd when they doexpress iews,Brindley suggestshat theseare oftennot wellarticulatedor enlight-ened.Trueas his may be, t is indeeda foolhardycourseesigner ho plans eachingwithout giving some considerationas to what the earnerseel hey need,however

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A N I N T R O D U C T I O NO F O R E I G NA N G U A G EE A R N I N I GN ] D T A C H { N l Cpootly they expresshemselves.he 'cautionarytale' n the last chapter'sBox i0.12showeduqt how fooihardy t is to ignore earnersl iews,After all, they are he prinr ---cipal stakeholders'in the anguageearningbusinessyouneed earnersf -vouwant toteachanguages!).ou gnore earners'eelings t your peri1.How canyou makesure hat the 'wantsof learners ike Karl areproperlyheeded?Onesuggestiondiscussedn Clarke1991) s to involvehim directiyn the process fsyllabus esign, y developing negotiated.lzllabus.his meanshatyou makeapointof asking our learnerswhat theywant out of your course, nd voubearwhat theysavin mind as you design he programme.This negotiationwill naturaliyoccur ui tfr.initial courseplanning stage.But it shouldhappen ater on too, an{ this reveals nimportant insight about how programmesshould be developed.There s a ratherwidespread elief hat syllabus esigns somethingwhich takes laceonceonly,at thebeginningof coursepreparation.You fi.rstdecid.e hat you will teach, he nr1.th oes,then how you wili teach t. Finallyyou do the teaching.But recail hat earlier n this

chapterwe described yllabus esignasa 'messybusinesslPartof the messinesss thatsyllabusdesignerswill (and should) find themselveseturning to their syllabusandmodiffing it as he coursedevelops, nd ndeedevenafter t has inished.This is howit shouldbe becauseearnerwants(aswell as heir lacksandnecessities)it l come olight as a courseprogresses.hey will rarelyobligeby entirelyrevealinghemselvesearlyon, at the needs nalysis tage.Dudley-Evans nd SrJohn 199g: zf haveapairof diagramswhichnicely llustrate he idealizedheory and themessy racticeof howcoursesare constructed,aught and evaluated.The diagramon the left shows hesequence f events s t would be n an dealworld. The complexities f the procedurein realityareshownon the right. Noticehow manymore ines hereare n thediagramon the right:evaluauon ___-___> evaluation needs

assessment

needsanalysis\

\ course\ desisn\ , / "

\ teaching //learning ,.)/,"* ./learningEarlierwe used he word 'stakeholder'to describehe learner.Thereareof coursevariousother stakeholdersnvolved n the language eachingoperation,and a fullneedsanalysiswill need o consider he viewsof a number of them. ]ordan's Lgg7)examples of a Nepaliman, Gopal,who wants o go to the UK to study or an MA inEconomics. ordanshows hat besides onsid.ering opalhimself,we need. lso o takeinto account he point of view of the NepaleseMinistry of Education, he British

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Council whoaresponsoringGopai), he staff n the UK teachinghe course ewantsto attend,and he ESPeaehers ho will preparehim for that course'Thevarious er-ceptions f all these takeholders aydiffer in subtlebut importantwa,vs.or example'ESp ecturersasHutchinsonand V'aters 987 oint out) sometimesend o exaggeratethe mportanceof Englishor aperson's tud% iving t morepriority thanthestudentthemselves,r the ecturersn hissubject epartment ould. vlore hanonepersPect-iveon needs houldbe consultedo achieve roundedpicture.The most obviouswayto collectstakeholders'iews s to ask hem,throughques-tionnairesor interviews.But other forms of datacollectionmay alsobe useful;ndeedIordan (.1997)istsno fewer han 14d,ifferentmethods or collectingnformation'Youmay or examplewant to see or yourselfhow English s used n targetsituations, ndthis may involvevideotapingpeopleas they use anguagen their workplace.n thecase f Kari ]ensen, our "..ar

analysiss likely o involvecoliecting omeexamplesfthetypesof English extshewould need o read.Think againabout he secretaries,vouconsideredn Box 11.5.Spend ome ime considering owyou couldcollectnforma-tion on their needs. hink about he targetsituation's ecessities,buton't fotgetlacksand. antsaswell.How would you find out about hem?This short sectionon needsanalysishas perhapssucceededn convincingyouwhat a complexoperationneedsanaiysis an be. Jordan 1,997:40)hasan amusingillustrationof whal he calls he 'needsanalysisugglerl His sketchshowsa stickman(the needsanalyst)uggling17bails n the airat the same ime. Eachball representsone of the considerationshat the needsanalystneeds o bear in mind. Examplesare language evel, subject-to-be-studied,xpectations,onstraintsof money andtime, and educationalbackground.Complicated!You may alsohavenoticedhowmany acronyms here areassociated ith this field. The onesmentionedarebarelythe tip of the iceberg. have mentioned TSA, but not LSA (Learning SituationAnalysis)or pSA (PresentSituationAnalysis). n fact t is the areas f ESPandEAP(Engiish or AcademicPurposes)n generalwhich are so soakedn acronyms.ESPand EAp are,one is temptedto say, ruly ESAP Entirely and Severely cronymPlasued.

f f i*z.z LSP rogrammesndn/fThis chapter,which startedoff consideringdifferentsyllabusypes,hasnow slippedimperceptiblynto consideration f a particular ype of programme the LSPcourse'This is r.ro*uduy,an extremelywidespread orm of language eaching. t took meno more than 15 minuteson Google his morning to comeup with the followinglist of LSp courses:Spanish or librarians,German or singers,talian for bankrng,portugueseor business rofessionals,rench or food and wine lovers,Chineseorlu*y.ir, Swedisho. .*.hurge students,Russianor lawyers, apaneseor doctors(aswell as another n Japanes"or onime lovers).Box 11.6showsa common wayofclassifyingSP:

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11 .6 AP o r LOP?There are many wa,vs f classifring he differenl areaswithin LSP (each areahaving ts own acronym,of course). major division s betweenEAP and EOP.English or Academic urposess concerned ith English br studying. Studentscoming o an English-speakingountry o studyan academic ubject hrough hemediumof English remember iiian Rivera n 1.2?) ften take an EAP course.But thereareother EAP situations for example n countries where English,though not the main ianguageor communication, s used n colleges or teach-ing purposes.Englishfor OccupationalPurposess Engiish for the workplace.Most if not all of the courseswhich I found on Googleare examplesof EOP.

Herearesomedescriptions f LSP essons. o you think thelzare LAP or LOP?1. The eachers

pilot about o2. The teacher sway.3. The students re earninghow to takenoteson a lecture given in the FL.4. The learners repractisingcontributingorally to seminar discussion.5. A learner s pretending o be a doctor explaining o a patient what is wrong

with them.6. The studentsare earninghow to try and reacha businessagreement over a

telephoneine.If you want to geta feelof what is involved n LAP and LOR take one of these6lessons boveand hink aboutwhat anguage ointsmight be covered.Assume

that the Tj involved syour own native L'- that it, the studentsare ear:ning ournative anguage san FL.

LSPand nlf syllabuseseveloped and in hand, becausehe latter provided suchausefulway of describingand classifyinganguageneeds.They were to a large extenttwinswho grewup together. ut as . McDonough 1q98)points out, the beginningsof LSP certainlypredatenlf. An influential pre nlf. paper was written by Strevens,an applied inguist who himself went on to produceESPmaterials in the form of atextbook for teachingseafaringEnglish.Strevens L97I) argues that general Englishcourseswith a high literary contentare not the only wayof doing things. The paper'stitle is 'Alternativesto daffodils'.

If LSPandnlf.are wins, they are alsoclearly elated o CLT. So it is not surprisingthat LSP should have a concernwith languageas discourse.Genre analysis,whichlooks at the features f discourse ssociated ith differentgenres,grew out of LSP.Agenre s, in the wo?dsof Swales 1990, he major book in this field), a collectionof'communicativeevents' texts or example)which 'sharesome set of communicat$epurposes'. ou doubtless now the word genreused o describe a type of li.terature230

roleplayingan air trafficcontrollerand one of the students s aland their plane.showing he classhow to constructa paragraph in a coherent


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I

c H A P r I R ] 1 P L A N SA i \ t DP R O G R A M M T S(tragedy, omedy, r epicpoetry for example.), nd also n relation o tfpes of film -horror, romantieeomedyand so orr - whichshare sorne fami\, resemblances'.n thefield of academicwriting we can identifugenresike academic apers,dissertations,textbooks.

To giveyotl a sense f what genreanalysisooks like, here s how Swales 1990)analyseshe characteristicatternsoccurring n the ntroductorysections f academicarticLes. is analysis seswo typesof unit which he callsmovesand steps:Move 1 EstablishingatercitoryStep1 Claimingcentrality

andlorStep2 Making topic generalization(s)andlorStep3 Reviewingtemsof previous esearch

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Move 2Step1AStep BStep1CStep DMove 3Step1AStep BStep2Step3

Establishinga nicheCounter-claimingorIndicating a gapOTQuestion-raisingorContinuinga traditionOccupying he nicheOutlining purposesorAnnouncingpresent esearchAnnouncingprincipal indingsIndicating esearch rticlestructure

Box i 1.7shows ou Swales' nalysisn action:

' t l .7 Analysing genreBelow s the abstract f a paperwhich appearedn an applied inguisticsournal(Borg2001).Nthough Swales'model s developedor introductions ather hanabstracts, ome but not all) of themoves nd steps e dentifiesare ound in thisabstract.Try andspot hem-'Formsof reflectivewriting suchasdiariesand journalsare widely acknow-ledgedas mportant tools in promotingboth the development nd the under-standingof teachers. owever,ittle attentionhasbeenawardedo the role heseforms of writing canplay n thedevelopment nd understanding f researchers.In thisPaper drawon my own experience f keepinga researchournal during

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AI . ] I . JTRCDUCTIC I ]O FORTIGl \ iA i \ ]G IJAGIEARNI i \ JGND T lAC i i I i ' JQa stu.dyof languageeaching o illustrate he significant contribution journalw'riting can rtake to deepening esearehersl nderstandingof all faeets of- heresearch rocesses.alsoargue hat such ournalscan provide other researcherswith illuminating nsight nto the research rocess.Given these benefits to bothwritersand readers f researchournals, claim that the issueof reflective writ-ing by researchersn languageeachingmerits much more discussion that it hasbeenawardedo date.'Now imagineyou are anEAP eacherwith a class f learnersabout to becomepostgraduate tudents n various subjects. hey all need to learn how to writeacademic rticles.How might Swales' nalysis e useful o you, and to them?Isit reallyanyuse?How on earthcanyou teach he structureof written genres?big topic this, which could occupymany hours of thought; perhaps even a fewminutes'would be worthwhile.

LSP eachings often verydemanding. .McDonough (1993)mentions two waysnwhich your job as an LSP teachermay differ from the 'normal' language teacher'swork. One s that you will oftenbecomemore invo.lvedn course planning and devel-opment.Thebusiness f needsanalysis,or example,may weli fal1on your shoulders.Secondly,ou have o come o terms with your learners'speciaiist subject field.So fyou are teachinga courseentitledEnglishfor Physiclsfs ou will need to havesomerudimentaryknowledge f thearea.A Nobel prlze n physicss not of course necessary(though t might help). But without a degree f interest n the field, and a rudimentaryknowledgeof it, you will find life difficult. LSP teaching involves a marciage of twodisciplines a ianguage nd a subjectarea.Like in real marriages, there are variouswaysof handling the reiationship,with varying degrees f success.One particularlyattractivepossibility nvolves eam eaching.The LSP eacherworks together with thephysics, hemistry,or management tudies eacher,attending lectures in thoseareasandmakingthe anguage lassesollow on from the subjecr areaclasses.

f f i t l .z.z TENoR rogrammesndn/fOne of the attractive eaturesof ESP s that it is relatively easy to identifr languageneeds.But this s not true of anotherverycommon teachingsituation, calledTENOR,This, as we saw n 1.7, stands or TeachingEnglish for No Obvious Reason,and itincludesa1lgeneral ourses, here he earnershavedivergentreasons or learning,or(as n manyschoolsituations)wherewe simply cannot know what their eventualuses(i f any)of the FL willbe.Needsanalysisdoesnot work easily or TENOR studentsbecause heir needsareeither unknown or can only be specified n the most seneral terms. How then canyou do the job of selectionwhich the notional/functional syllabus seems o require? ,jThe Council of Europe's nswer ies n the conceptof the 'comrnon core'.All iearners,whatever their eventual usesof the FL, will (the argument runs) need a certain232


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C H A P T I R . 1 . 1 L A i \ SA N DP R O G R A M M [ Scommon coreof notionsand functions. n the functionalarea, heseareparticularlyusesassociated ith generalsocializing,llkegreeting,equestingnformation, nviting.The Councilof Europeneeded o developalanguageeaching ,vstemhat wouldwork in the many highly diversesituationsmet throughout the membercountries.Flexibilitywasall important,and he Council'sneedsweremet by aunit/creditsystem.In this' teachingunits dealwith distinct areas f language se.Learners electwhichunits to coveraccordin$o their particular anguage eeds.Creditsaregiven or unitscompleted ndwhena numberof creditshavebeengained., qualificatiln sawarded.The s,vstemdentifies ive evelsof proficiency. he lowestwascalled heThresholdLevel or T-Level),hough atera lower evelcalled. aystagewasntrod.uced. extupis 'basic',then generalcompetence]advanced'and full professional,.he dea s thateach evelshouldhavea common coreunit, plusadditionalspecialisednits.VanEkwas giventhe task of developinga syllabus or the common coreof the ThresholdLevel.His document,calledTheThreshold evel,s a landmarkdocument n n/f syl-

labusdesign.t appearedn two forms:vanEk (1975) or theaduit earner, ndvanEk(1978) or thesecondarychool tudent.one of theadvantagesf n/f is that until youstart o consider ctualexponents,ouaredealingwith ideas Iike situation',notion'and function')whichar. non-lunguage-specific, ndcan herefore eapplied o the eaching f manylanguages.aonsequentiythenotionsand unctionsyou identif' asuseful or a GermanpersonearningEngiishare ikely to be equallyuseful o the British person earningGerman, he AmericanlearningSpanish, he italian learningFrench.This means hat a document ike theThresholdevelcanexist n a number of versions,or d.ifferentanguages.o t is thatalongsideheT-Level,herearecomparable ocumentsn other uniuui., -the FrenchNiveau-Seuil,GermanKontaktschwelle,panish{ivel Umbraland ia[]n LivelloSogliafor example.

11.8Gettingo know he T-LevelTheT-LevelpecificationvanEk 1975) onsistsf aseriesf ists.Wehave ealtwith themost mportantof these, hichare:

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(A) Topics(C) Roles(E) Functions(G) Form (exponents)

Belowaresome temsof the sort found in the T-Level.put these nder thecategories bove; hereare wo for eachcategory.ou cand.o hisby matchingnumbers nd etters e.g. f you hink'hobbies'is notional ategory,ouwouldwrite 5F.(1) bookinga hotel oom over he phone(2) airpofi

(B) Settings(D) Activities(f) Notions

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t l l

{4 \(s)( 0 1( 7 )( 8 )(e)

(10 )( 1 1 )lLz)( 1 3 )(14)

questions singWh- words(when,where,why etc')quantityhobbiesfriendto lriendduration (lengthof time)ianguagenstituteapologizingtypesof accommodationprivateperson o officialshould/ought oexpressingratitudeunterstanding nnouncementsia publicaddressystemse.g' n an airport)

For eachcategory A) to (G), think of two more examples hat you mightexpect o appearn the commoncoreof the ThresholdLevel.s

Wll.Z.+ N/f for general ndspecif ic rogrammesAre thereany eaching ituationsn which the n/f syllabuss particularl-1useful?Oneclear,and very large,audiencewas mrnediatelyapparentwhen n/f syllabusescameinto existence.n f*t, it was he audienceor whichnlf.camento existence'These werethe earners uffering rom the epidemicof 'synta-rsyndrome' hat (aswe saw in 9'6)Newmark diagnosed o well. Thesestudentsknew their grammar, but lacked com-municativeability.They existed n drovesaround the world, a \egacyof structuralteaching.N/f teachingwasable o addacommunicative imension o their knowiedge,to 'activate'this kno*ledge so that it could be used or doing things with language'Because f the sizeof this audience'vety many n/f coursesare pitched X the inter-mediate evel and above, he assumptionbeingthat the learners akeadyknow theirgrammar. mplicit in this approach s a view of language eaching hat becameverycommon. t is a two-stagemodel:

Stage1Teachgrammar, using a structural syllabusJ

StageTeachanguage seactivatinghe structuresaught atStage . Usea functionalsYllabus

What aboutother,more specialized,sesof nlf? We havealreadydiscussed SP'Aswe haveSeen, ecause f n/f and needs nalysis, eareable o say o our students:Wehaveanal,vsedour needs, ndare eaching ou ust hosepartsof English hat are elev-ant to thoseneeds'. eingable o ctraimhis shouldgiveour coursesgteat acevalidity'234


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C H / x P T I Rl p t _ A \ l SA i \ D p R O G R A M M T SThere is another type of course which is becoming increasinglywid.espread,thrcughout he world.We ouchedon a versionof it earlier n this chapter, ndmet itfirst n L2 with theChiiean tudentLilian Rivera.Shehas ust sixmonths n whichtobring her Englishup to a particularstandard. \hat sherequiresmight be calledan'urgenc;,*course'.ts essences to teacha Iargeamollnt of languag. n o short space

of time.Theurgency ourses popular,becausehe world. s full of people n Lilian'scfcumstances.The raditionalapproacho theurgenrycoursesnot veq/satisfactor,v.ftena text-book ntendedor a ongcoursewouldbe used, ndabandoned hen imeran out.Solearners ollowing a book organizedike Nowfor Engtishor just one month mightcover he verb BE andnot much else.N/f providesa much better way of selection,again ylookingat needs thistime r-rrgentnes.One commonversionof theurgenq/course s the pre-sessionalourse.This gives anguageraining to studentsabout tofollow somestudyprogramme n which the FL is the language f instruction.Manypre-sessionalourses reheld n the target anguage ountry. t is possibieo predictthe learners'urgentneedsas from the moment they arcive. hey wi1l, or example,soonwant to oPena bank account, o search or accommodation,o registerat theHealthCentre in Britain heywill probablyhavecaughta cold n the first few days).These eeds an form the basisof highly relevant eachingn which the notionsandfunctionsurgent or themare ntroduced.In the L970s ndearly1980s,t is no exaggerationo say hat n/f syilabusesomin-atedsyllabus esignn languageeaching.Ministriesof Educationworld.wideostledto changeheir syllabusesrom structural o nlf, and private anguage choolswouldboast of their up-to-datenotional/functional-basedeaching.The bubble had toburst.TvVhenit did, thiswasnot just theresultof theoretical bjectionso thenotional/functionaisyllabus, ut alsoof concrete roblemsencountered y practitioners theteachers ho actuallywent nto classroomso teachwith n/f textbooks.Box 11.9eivestwo anecdoteso illustrateheseproblems.

11.9Downwith not ions nd funct ions: wo anecdotesSome ime in the early1980s, was nvited to sit in on a planningmeetin at amajor anguageeachingnstitution in Italy.Thepurposeof the meetingwas oselecthe teaching ooks or the coming year.Becauset was he ear$ 19g0s,wasconfident hat fashionwould dictate hat all the chosenbooks would benotional/functional. ut i waswrong,and in theeventalmostall thebookswerestructuralllr-based.ne teacher,who had beenusingn/f books or a number ofyears'explained:in n/f books he students earn ots of phrases, ut they don'tcomeout of the essonwith onemajor thing learned. n structural eachingheydoi This objection s grounded n the fact that it is difficult to makeclearandstrong generalizationsbout languageuse.So if you are not careful,your nlf.lesson nds p providing ot verymuchmore hanan elaboratehrase ook(tenwaysof inviting, ivewaysof makingplans,andsoon). The problemwith phrase

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books s that you are not taugh arrygeneral nowledge hat enablesyou to gobeyondthe phrasesgiven-The phras.Look rnay ell you how to ask for a cup o{tea,but what happensf you want a cup of hot chocolate?The second necdotemakes he samepoint. In the late l97}s a colleague ndI were wri.tingn/ f materials o be taughton a pre-sessionalol-lrse'bOne essondealtwith one of thoseurgent activiti"es op.ttittg a bank account' The campusbanksetasidea lunch hour for arriving overseastudents o open accounts, ndin themorningof that daywe taughto* gro.rpof recently-arrived students omelanguage ppropriate o that activity.One sequence e introduced and drilledwasGoodmorning. 'd like to openabank accointplease.Ltlunch time I thoughtI would go to thebank and eavesdrop n the results f the morning's lesson'Oneshort dialogueoverheardwas most depressing.he bank clerk knew of coursethat the studentsall wanted o openaciounts,so hey said to one student:Hello'youwant to openan account expect. he reply that came back was the drilledone;Goodmorning, 'd like to opena bank account lease.Hardly a successfulpieceof diaioguelThe learnerhad produced,parrot-iike, exactLywhat theyhadLeen aught.They did not have he knowledge o handle the unexpected'

The bubble may haveburst. But n/f neverdisappeared, nd indeed it is almostinconceivableoday to produce a syllabuswithout a notional/functional dimension'The headydaysof 'notions and functions and nothing else'may have gone'But themovementhas eft an indelible mark.

THEMULTIDIMENSIONALYLLABUSSyllabusdesigners nd textbook writers today commonly follow similar proceduresto van Eks,producing heir own syilabusnventories. ut becauseof the burstbubble'the resuitingsyllabusesre rarelyexclusivelyotional/functional'They aremoreoftenhrybrids, r mixtures. These are sometimescalledmultidimensional syllabuses' hebasisof themultidimensionalsyilabussthat t hasniirre han one 'unit of otganization'(the phrasewas used by MAVID earlier).There aretwo main ways thesesyllabusescan be produced rom an i.nventory ike the T-Level. n the first, you can shift thefocusat differentpoints in the course.You might for examplehave somestructuralunits followedby the occasionalunit dealingwith a situation; later you might changethe focusyet againwith some functional units.Morrow and Johns n (1979)useshismethod.The second uy is very common nowadays.t is to havemore than one tocusoper-ating n eachpart of the course.A widely-usedextbookwhich follows this solution sSwanand Waltef (1990). The table below is an incompleteversion taken from whattheycall he'map'of their Book 2. It showswhat is covered'n the first fiveunitsof thecourse.Youwill recognizemost of the item fypes isted n the fi-rst ow:236

l l! t

l rL*


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'a

I

-

a

s. - lt ' -2 + ' ; : : I- - = - ; a L: J . ^ -' - > h !- r - ! 2- - - - + : .a ^ J ; : '4 - . ) h -. , _, . z

i x L t ir . = ' t J ri n = i = ' , 2- u t ; 44 ? P = a- = r > !r : = ) =2 - ; ; i 74 .4 / * i .3

. 2 e- ' - : ' ,=r = : /' - = . = h h =' ! " . - . * h = = c

7 = \ | - * 4 7 ,-V ? .: =-i. r; ,,, ^ = ; ! 1 ; . =- ) ; 1 ' ) J = -2 z = ; \ ? += = : - : i -; - " ? i . ' ,1 " = E 2 : :P .= ' z . " = ' a . ! )4 - > l j . ? ^ i' - : ^ . - i : ' 4 >= : i ' .= .= -z4 F . Z - : a ; -y i - E = f ; Y A, = 7 1 2 i 3 a .

t? - ^ ; := 2 = , - =i i = ? , :1 ? E z a= - 3 = : ^ . : iE 1 = . ! i a . . a' 6 . r i . = 4 P G' 2 ) r T - = =: t a - ; a - a4 - - + > . - . h

- t - = ' ' - !

= t ! 4 2 ? 7> = \ j : i : ;. = = ; - , ^ a a- = a t = ; - 7i ? ' = = r . j =? ) - ^ ! ' , a 2 J> . = ; i : : - . : a ). 2 Z : . : r - i , ! - .' = - 4 - a > a - ' a< 4 4 2 4 : - =

- - Z =. ^ = a ' . i. h - - / =7 * t Z . a 7' = . == ? = : -: - 1 7 - = > f , 2 ?- - ; Z - a . - . ! h- - ! - - . ; L' 4 ? l E 1 a . : ;i ! . : = ' 2 ' ; ZU - - - u t J = ; . !;= ;= *4 z"= : .Z 2 = " n ? ' . i 72 ? ' = - J - - ^ = = == * a - . . : = . = . .h 7 = 1 . = : r . p > t= = ' J . i = = - = Zi iz ' ,^c;= 7,t - ' = a a ' = : \ ?i a ? r ' ; 2 i . ; i! . d ^ - ^ / - - t J -t l ? = j l z i / i :- ^ , : v , r - - . - , J

^ . , : E j j :4 , . 'I a D ) : t ,- : a F - . ^; : * j , i a = =. 1 : = + ? . ' 2 . :

= a = 4 , " 1 8 *1 " i , ^ = = . == i : - . 2 = 3 = =.: ) ., 4

! - i = - z ' = =4 i * ' l t , a z a'i '1. :: )-.= = 4 ; 1j- ' J

= -= 2 F Z = A ' a i] ; i . ? ' ; - ' = . = 2' ; = . ! 3 ! : ? 4 !- ^ - -E = A = + l = =2 a ' = ; 4 = l z i ,

46

t x . ^ =' ; x t? " / r' x : - 2? :;.. l. ::? = - = - 4= . 4 ' = I : I' i 8 o Z e 2 =t , ^ ^ . - 2 ? r .1 a ; = \ . Z ia a 9 v 7n .i .- :^ l. -,t' n b ! ; . b !d ; > * z . '

! i i . : :, ^ ' r : ^ 4 v ,rr Q ; t , = t )Xi * i ' 2 6 Z ;E q { 4 ? 3! r I 6 o : i T "-" ,i 2! 'E r.r- - ! ^ . 2 e 4 = -! ! " . ) ' i = zk ! - ^ = A ^

V 4 l U . F U 6

I l = . a> - . : : ; = ? :i i E ' Y j - : 1f i+ : - > 3 : e , r FE c t 'A i * vaE E E z \ , i E '- - - ! # l l i , c; f rEgn_E;.r ea ; * iE i .' a 4 4 - EE l? i ?^. ? ; h ; ; ? l iE : s - f r 2 ; 3 { Ei g ra :E+

. ) ,- - ! a F =. Y = 4 9 . 2 . 9?i1i7z=. a a s : - l ' 6? = . 4 , ; 3 : t I FI e . r - t = . . 4- a D Y a : : c o ) F

= : F E i ; EE , r 9 : l u = j ' 'E 7 a * i : , t ^ 3 ^a P ! : x - = " i+ 3 C . ] 9 o 5 o ? ^ F: 2 a Z a f i 5 ;i 4 + a g i =\ e 6 ! 6 x F du ' , u , i i l ; 6 ! i ^3ZEl[ tE-t ,

, - a= ,; cF,,E.7; = ! : ; *; : i = I ' aL : - U r r4 ! 4 4 ' ; x ia " _ u Z 9 - - ^. ^ 1 l ^ ) 2 d9 . ' A : ' , : ) - : :+ d ? ' r :I d x ; i J r' . ; l X X - a i : :EEEE$2"^ , i : 4 i = ' h E

# e 9 ? E " t r. ^ a A a E ao . i ; m . ^ P. 2 > | - 9 a : + e z i i "< u v - ! . : d

i . ^ { - :" ? , i " i &X : > U ! :J i u - ' ; ' 4 ,= 4 8 . 9 . 2F 2 - . ' A ; 4a . " ' l ; ; ' -) ;.(8 e = .^ ?i *a go;o.>- u 5 - l E. ! ^ : . A ! !o . 9A i E .a o u L !6 r . 2 ; i 3 - 7 *a , i ' Q 4 U- : s ' E i . =i . 7 E a i 3 ii i = r i - 6 o =- n 9 a l . = i lA = P : ! f i

} E

6 d 1

E

: : F; i E :

ts.?: e :f - a. - : :: - \! : 4 . -F , : \

= - a ' ,E 9 * \

aU

, a+ - t : : : 9 -d i 6 o ! := . i \ e :. t r E E t s r .: q | 6 , t. = : > ! ] ) g :- i , - : o ^; ; U r . 5 . ;9 ! L < : lc . : ? : " :; o . i : : =o J i i ! i . ; 90 c ! - \ r :5 T ! E 69 . r , x 2 = =v ; v ; i t =

x3 h z; \ -E , j 61 9 J -v ; ui ! 6.' J .; >. ! E 1 lz r '- - 6 ^! - : 9

J ? : t - .

j ^9 \,a :p {o 3 : a= > l I CQ . i . 2t s = ?7 ' l c - uV i 7 - c l ! .' = 7 : : . = =. ^ . t & > qn i . ? r EP E ; : 3G ? ? ! o n{ ' - i a: a 2 2 : ^F : ^ i : e! e r _ v -u !" : ' l Z = :d d ; . i z

\ - :> : r t! # L & . ' a : ^

H = : r j* ! = . 3 : ;; .^ l^ : : ii 3 u ' x ; r- ; : : Jc FYE=: : . t i : U: : i E l i ?E ! 9 E i r . =i - ; s 5 ! t . p- c . J i - c : : { 3v ! z . = , - =6E S i E v ,I e"E; '5s ? ; t : E " ; : 3 ! a 9 rq l i + : E3 i l! c E , ; . c \ l i\ , . 2 ; 5 . = & 2

L L, : #i . , r t r , / , 9,i i , .- q )_v , ' i E 6 t -: a - ! u : ( EE f i= E

! j . 6 H i= u H r ' 6i > q P . -; i ' id i , ii t : : Ei ^ 9 9 = " .: ! r . ! 3' : E u J g< o - ^t e { 3 ;

a : = > >= i h t ' i i- ! E ; i qi . 4 : , ; : . . \: - - r X m- i a ; ' Z

EE -o . t r? P . . ? i z; : i e - ; ; E+ : : i : . - o . : := s : : ! 2 o = -! r ? i 2 > ^ ii .n+ . ;+i i := F " E A i E i :r < l l z i . ; t E; : e l : , . 2 E ' E8 " r . iE : * f +} 6E t F + E. : ! j I i . d E e{ j s g i i E S ;! 9 : . 4 - d . : ^f ; E X : E? 9. ^ ! . ^ ! ^ = - . -* u a - < T : E] ; ; s * = F zP 2 ? . 4 ; 2 1 1 ' =5fg,E5:?^ A r - > : ^

:( :: ; a ^; ' : 6 e a - 2i > i ? : : o? . a i f 5 . t l . ES i t 3 d t ' = pi ' i 5 9 : ! d: 3 i - ! E i E 3E . ; 5 F 9 Y : C: * i : g * E Es : i 5 b i 9 * lB O i >v t r p E 3 u 3 : '+. 'E , ia :? fi y i i i z : +e;{ii; ; E : : } 9 " 4 E{ 5 I F : ? ' . ii : ' i ; * 2 , 3.- a. : u ; u :i ;1= = X . = a = F i

IIIiiIIiI:III

i i :

c d6a

-{(Do,(.)='

GI


24/24

A i \ ] i \ ITRODIJCT iC I \ iO FOREiGi ' ]A i \ JGUAGI iAR I \ i I i \ . JGi \ JD [AC I -J ING

This table shor,vsha tent wayslSo there are neach of these s-vilabusesplanning.

involves some !'ery complex and clever,the contentof eachunir hasbeenmappedout in four differ:,effe t fo ur s1zl1absesis properll i overed

To ensure that over the course_sa

11 .10 po t t ing owa tex tbook s organ izedYou might think it easy o tell just by a quick giancehow a textbook s reallyorganized.But it can n factbe very difficult. As we haveseen,he contents agecan heip, but often it will tell you very little, because nit namesdo not alwaysrevealmuch about organization.Column 1 of Nowfor English's ontentspage(in 11.1) s a good example. he units have names ike Oh Sally!andWat amess!,hat arenot very revealing.Bewarealso of what a book saysabout tself.Many books say hey are functional,and contain units bearing unctional itleslike 'Describingpeople'or 'Introducing yourself'. But the unit on 'Describingpeople'may n factbe a unit about he verb BE followedby an adjective, s n He'stall, andShe'shin.Similarly, Introducing yourself may ust consistof BEplusaname |m Keith.The organizationmay, in other words, eal1y estructural.How to tell the true from the false?The secret ies n the conceptof 'unit oforganization'.ouneed o look cioselyat the lessons hemselves,o seewhat heyarereally covering. f there s a clear structural thread running througha unit,while the functionswithin it seem o be disorganized, hen that unit at leastsastrueturally-basedne. Lookingat all the units in a book shouldenable ou tosaysomething ertainabout ts underlying syllabus.You are nvited to look closelyat a textbook that you know. Try to work outwhat kind of syllabust is basedon. This may takeyou some ime!

TEC NOLOGY.ASSSTED OURSEStl .S. lA vir tual earning nvironment

This chapterconcludeswith consideration of a rather different type of course, newhich is definednot by the type of learnerswho follow it or by how its contentsorgarized, ut by the resourcest uses.Because f what distinguisheshis courseype,our discussionwill be essabout organizationalprinciplesand more to do with whathappens n the classroom.Or, more accurately, n the computer room, becausehecourses e areconsidering re echnology-assistednes.It is certainlynot surprising that modern technology - computers,emails, heInternet evokes uitedifferent reactions n people. At one end of the scaleherearethe Luddites defined n the BBC EnglishDictianary as'peoplewho stronglyoppose

. . . the introductionof new machines nd modern methods').At the otherare hose238

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