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University Mohamed Kheider, Biskra. Second Year Master. Faculty of Arts and Languages. Applied Linguistics. Department of foreign Languages.English Branch.Communicative Syllabus Design.Communicative.The items that should be incorporated in the syllabus have been chosen fordifferent bases: selected for their functions not forms (take into consideration) theneeds of the learner.Problems of the Procedure to be Adopted.What basis to decide what the learners need? Needs Analysis cannot help ingeneral kind of course because the applied linguist will be in front of a huge list ofneeds.-a- Divide learners: academic- professional.-b- Decide exactly (in a precise way) what is to be required of the student.-c- Exhaustive list of functions: what kind of language to be used.-d- Question of organization: problem concerning what to include or not to includeunder each heading, for instance a short piece of language may express manyfunctions.-e- There cannot be one to one relationship between form and function: we shouldcope with the question of overlapping; different forms in various places in thesyllabus but the function must be kept apart.-f- A communicative syllabus is much easier if it is designed in very limited areas. However, if it is general the syllabus will be far more difficult. Even if the cursus iswithin the context of ESP and ELT, it is hard to decide which functions should be defined.Comparison between Grammatical Syllabus and Communicative Syllabus (and its difficulties).-a- Grammatical syllabus teaches usage not use: a special emphasis is assigned to form; therefore, it might be a fruitful idea to replace form by functions, notions and situations.-b- There are difficulties in defining functions and notions in a totally explicit way, especially in general education. The more restrictive the area is defined, the easier it will be, however, its effectiveness is reduced.-c- How does the definition of needs work: difficulty of application of needs analysis.-d- By placing the emphasis on function not form we may end up with learners who produce utterances but cannot understand the linguistic system.General Recommendations for Communicative Syllabus Design.-a- It is highly undesirable that people learn like ‘robots’, but if they are exposed to language, they might be able to produce their own functions.-b- In this kind of syllabus, learners are immediately ‘doing things’ with language.-c- It is preferable to divorce needs analysis from a particular theory concerning language learning.-d- Communicative syllabus has to ensure that learners go beyond the sentence to situations.。
初中英语说课稿（英文版）一、说教材（教材分析）Analyzing teaching material1. 说课型lesson type (Dialogue/ reading/ listening/ revision)2. 本课在教材中的地位status and functionLesson 33 Saving the Earth is a dialogue. The lesson is focused on the topic of the problems of the earth and the functional items of Supposition/ Intentions/ conjecture/ Prohibition. Since it is a dialogue / reading. It’s helpful to improve the Ss communicative/ reading ability.3. 说教学指导思想teaching guideline(Teaching syllabus: Language is for communication, develop their four skills, lay special emphasis on reading; Grellet put it well in his book developing reading skills: develop reading skill/ discourse analysis; get them to understand the western culture better; improve the ability to discover, analyze & solve the problems; Reading is for information, for fun; Use Top- down model or Bottom- up model to activate Ss schemata; Interactive model)4. 说教学目标和要求Teaching aims and demands (…be intended for Ss in key schools)1）认知目标knowledge objectsa. Enable the Ss to remember the following new words & phrases:Damage, lecture, pollute, pollution, room, standing room, be fit for, hear about, turn intob. Get the Ss to be familiar with this sentence pattern:If the population keeps growing so quickly, there will only be standing room left…Give the Ss a reinforced practice on the functional item Supposition.c. Activate Ss schemata regarding the topic of pollution and help Ss to know more about the problem of pollution.2）智能目标ability objectsa. Ask the Ss to make up a similar dialogue.b. Help them to understand the dialogue better and improve the four skills.c. Develop their ability of thinking independently.d. Cultivate their ability to discover, analyze and solve problems.e. Train them to collect information from the Internet.f. Train them with some effective learning methods to optimize Ss’ learning results.3）德育目标moral objectsa. Arouse their interest in learning English;b. Help them to understand the background of pollution.c. Enable the students to love our earth and the nature.d. Be aware of the importance of stopping pollution & protecting out environment.e. Encourage the Ss to do something to save the earth.5. 说教学重点teaching important points (生词、句型；培养阅读技能)a. New words and phrasesb. Sentence pattern: If- clausec. improve their reading skills.d. Talking about problems of the Earth.6. 说教学难点teaching difficult points (语法；发展交际能力)a. functional item: Supposition.b. Develop their communicative ability. Act out their own dialogue.7. 说教具teaching aids (multi-media computer, software, OHP)The teaching syllabus says that it’s necessary for teachers to use modern teaching facilities. It’s of great help to increase the class density and improve our teaching result. It can also make the Ss reach a better understanding of the text by making the classes lively and interesting. At the same time, it arouses the Ss’ interest in learning English.二、说教法Teaching methodsFive step method; audio-video; communicative approach;Task-based learning: New Syllabus Design encourages teachers to use this teaching method. TBLT can stimulate Ss’ initiative in learning and develop their ability in language application. Make the Ss the real masters in class while the teacher himself acts as the director and bring their ability into full play.三、说学法Study methods1. Teach Ss how to be successful language learners.2. Teach Ss how to develop the reading skill — skim & scan; how to communicate with others; how to learn new words; how to learn independently;3. Get the Ss to form good learning habits.四、说教学过程Teaching proceduresI. 复习(Revision) 5min (Daily report; 词汇diagram; brainstorming; activate schemata)Activity 1: Imagination1). Suppose a bottle of ink is turned over and dirties your white shirt, what is to be done? (Wash it? Or throw it away?)2). Suppose you catch a bad cold, what’s to be done?3). Suppose your bike is broken, what’s to be done?4). And suppose the earth, on which we all live, is damaged, what’s to be done?* What can you think of when you see “pollution” this word?(waste, environment, air, water, factory, desert, climate... Try to activate the Ss schemata regarding the topic of pollution.)II. 呈现(Presentation) 5minActivity 2: PresentationPlay the song “Earth Song” sung by Michael Jackson. (Create a n atmosphere)A lot of pictures and video clips about the causes and results of the three problems mentioned in this lesson will be shown on the screen with the help of the computer.Ss’ presentation on pollution. Attract their attention, arouse their inte rest, and create a good atmosphere for communication.* Activate their schemata and cultivate their ability in collecting information from the Internet and develop their ability in thinking independently.III. 对话/ 阅读(Dialogue)18m1. Pre- readingActivity 3: Prediction1st listening/ fast reading, one guided Q to help Ss to get the main idea:What do you think is discussed at the conference?2. While- readingActivity 4: Read and answer2nd listening/ careful reading, more Qs to get the detailed information. Develop their reading skills: skim & scan. Pay attention to the pronunciation, stress & intonation.* 阅读: Pre-reading; while-reading; post-reading (fast reading/ careful reading; skim/ scan; 识别关键词key words；确定主题句；创设信息差information gap；T or F; 填表格chart/diagram; Predicting; Make a timeline; Make a story map。
syllabus词根词缀解析一syllabus词根的含义和来源syllabus词根来源于古希腊语，意为“课程提纲”或“大纲”。
在现代英语中，syllabus已经成为一个专门的词汇，用来指代一份详细说明课程安排、内容和要求的文档。
二、syllabus词缀的含义和功能syllabus词缀通常用于构成与课程相关的词汇，如“syllabus”、“syllabi”等。
这些词缀具有明确的意义和功能，使得词汇的含义更加具体和准确。
例如，“-syllabi”后缀用于表示“课程提纲”或“教学大纲”的复数形式。
三、syllabus词根和词缀的组合规则和变化规律syllabus词根和词缀的组合具有一定的规则和变化规律。
一般来说，词根可以与其他前缀或后缀结合形成新的词汇。
例如，“syllabi”就是由“syllabus”加上后缀“-i”构成的。
同时，词缀的添加也会引起词性的变化，如“syllabus”是名词，而“syllabi”则是名词的复数形式。
四、syllabus词汇的语义和语用特点syllabus词汇的语义通常与课程安排、内容和要求相关。
在语用方面，Syllabus 词汇通常用于描述课程的具体安排、内容和要求，为教师和学生提供明确的指导。
同时，Syllabus词汇也具有一定的专业性和正式性，通常出现在教育领域的正式文档中。
五、syllabus词汇与其他相关词汇的辨析和区分在英语中，与syllabus相似的词汇还有许多，如“outline”、“course description”等。
这些词汇的含义和用法都有所不同，因此在使用时需要仔细区分。
例如，“outline”通常用于描述一个项目或计划的框架或结构，而“course description”则用于详细描述一门课程的内容和要求。
因此，在使用这些词汇时需要根据具体的语境和需求进行选择和使用。
Industrial design工业设计Conspectus design设计概论Aesthetics of design设计美学Principle of design设计原理History of design设计历史Criticism of design设计批评Environmental design环境设计Function功能Form形式Model造型，模型Creativity创造性Theory on design设计理论Procedure of product design产品设计程序Human requirement人的需要Redesign from original product从产品入手开展重新设计developmental design开发性设计Design language设计语言Perceptual感性的Lifeblood生命力的Design comment设计评价Design culture设计文化Color material surface色彩材料表面肌理Texture材质、肌理Drawing制图Orientation定位Design history设计史Craftsman工匠Decorate装饰Symbol符号Ergonomics人机工程学Product semantics产品语义学Human-machine interface人机界面Methodology方法论Handicraft手工艺的Metallic金属性的style风格Streamline流线型Clay油泥sterling character品位Consumption消费A generalized design通用设计“off–line”machine非通用设计Sketch草图draft out起草Foam泡沫材料Tendency趋势Standard标准Accessory附件Part零件Finished product成品Design requirement设计需求Conception概念conceptual design概念设计Product property analysis产品属性分析People using analysis使用分析System design系统设计Design target设计目标Function definition功能定义Function analysis功能分析Principle of formal aesthetics形式美学的原则VI(visual identity)视觉识别Communication传播、信息传播Hearing design听觉传播Comformity design整合传播Design exploitation设计开发Produce manufacture生产制造Sale销售Reclaim回收Recycle重复利用constituent element要素Environment analysis环境形式系统分析Total value整体价值Man-machine system analysis人机系统分析Marketing市场营销传播Mass design大众传播Visual design视觉传达Design conception设计理念Communication design传播设计Intelligent智能性Interactive交互性Symbol符号性Systematization系统性Modular design模块化设计Ecosystem design生态系统设计Virtual design虚拟设计Envrionmen tvaule anaylssi环境价值系统分析Usev alue使用价值spritiv aule精神价值Dgitia lage数字化时代nIformationI ndusrty(IT)信息产业nIformationsim信息论Anaylssi分析Benefti-cos tAnaylssi效益-成本分析BusniessA naylsis商业分析Requriemen tAnaylsis需求分析SaelsA nalyssi销售分析ShapeA nalyssi形式分析Satitstica lAnaylsis统计分析VauleA nalyssi价值分析Synhteszied Anaylsis综合分析DecsiionA naylsis决策分析DemandA naylsis需求分析DesignA naylsis设计分析DeatiledA naylsis详细分析DynamicA naylsis动态分析FactorA naylsis动态分析Feasbiiltiy Anaylsis可行性分析Fniancai lAnaylsis财务分析Marke tAnaylsis市场分析SystemA naylsis系统分析Predicitve Anaylsis预测分析PrcieA nalyssi价格分析ProcedureA naylsis过程分析Produc tAnaylsis产品分析Quanittaitve Anaylsis定量分析GerrtiT homasR iertedi格里特托马斯里特维尔WatlerG ropius沃尔特格罗皮乌斯Ramonal oewy雷蒙罗维Pou lHenningSen保罗汉宁森Lugi iColani卢吉科拉尼Robert Venturi罗伯特文丘里Arne Jacobsen阿纳雅各布森JohnR uskni约翰拉斯金Mcihae lGraves米歇尔格雷夫斯Aeshtetic美学的Brandsa nd marks商标与标志Confgiuraiton结构Srtucutrailsm结构主义Deconsrtuciton解构主义。
Curriculum and syllabus are sometimes used interchangeably, sometimes differentiated, and sometimes misused and misunderstood.An effective syllabus conveys what the class will be like, what student will do and learn, as well as what they can expect of you.Initial contact between the instructor and students.Provides a comprehensive overview of the course, including description, goals, objectives and expectations...Components of Syllabus1.General description and goal of course:General statements about what must be accomplished by the end of the course.2.Course objectives/ targets/ requirementsSpecific statements about what content or skills that students must master in order to attain the goals.3.Non-language outcomesAffect cultivation, such as confidence, motivation, interest.Learning strategies, thinking skills, interpersonal skills...Cultural understanding.4.Learning contentsKnowledge: vocabulary list, grammar itemsSkills: listening, speaking, reading and writingFunctions and notionsTopicsCulture5.ImplementationApproaches/ methodologiesTeaching principlesTeaching suggestionsRecommendation of textbooks/ materials6.Assessment/ Evaluation: Who, what, how, and for what purposeWho should carry out assessment/ evaluationWhat should be evaluated?How is evaluation best done?For what purposes should evaluation be done.Proficiency tests.Structural Syllabus:The major drawback of structural syllabus is that it concentrates only on the grammatical forms and the meaning of individual words, whereas the meaning of the whole sentence is thought to be self-evident.Student trained by such a syllabus often prove to be communicative incompetent.A notional/ functional syllabus(意念功能大纲）意念功能教学大纲最早被提出是根据学生要用语言表达的意思和要发挥的语言功能来安排教学内容。
胡壮麟语言学修订版笔记Chapter11Chapter 11 Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching11.1 T he relation of linguistics to foreign language teaching1. Both linguistics and foreign language teaching take language as their subject.Linguistics is the scientific study of language, so it is clearly related withlanguage teaching. However, linguistics and language teaching differ in theirattitudes, goals and methods towards language.2. Linguistics regards language as a system of forms, while the field of foreignlanguage teaching considers it as a set of skills. Linguistics research isconcerned with the establishment of theories which explain the phenomenaof language use, whereas foreign language teaching aims at the learners’mastery of language.3. Applied linguistics serves to reconcile and combine linguistics and foreignlanguage teaching.(1) Applied linguistics extends theoretical linguistics in the direction oflanguage learning and teaching, so that the teacher is enabled to makebetter decisions on the goal and content of the teaching.(2) Applied linguistics states the insights and implications that linguistictheories have on the language teaching methodology.11.2 V arious linguistic views and their significance in language learning and teaching11.2.1 Traditional grammarTraditional grammar, as a pre-20th century language description and a pre-linguistic product of research, was based upon earlier grammars of Latinor Greek, and laid emphasis on correctness, literary excellence, the use ofLatin models, and the priority of written language. Prescription was its keytone.11.2.2 Structuralist linguisticsModern linguistics, in spite of theoretical diversities, is primarily descriptive. Structuralist linguistics describes linguistics features in terms ofstructures and systems. It describes the current spoken language, whichpeople use in daily communication. Its focus, however, is still ongrammatical structures.11.2.3 Transformational-generative (TG) linguisticsTG grammar sees language as a system of innate rules. A native speaker possesses a linguistic competence, or a language acquisition device.Although Chomsky does not intend to make his model a representation ofperformance, i.e., the language actually used in communication, appliedlinguistics find TG grammar useful in certain aspects. Butbecause it is aformal and abstract grammar, it remains limited in language teaching.11.2.4 Functional linguisticsTaking a semantic-sociolinguistic approach, M. A. K. Halliday’s systemic-functional linguistics sees language as an instrument used toperform various functions in social interaction. It concerns not only with theformal system of language but also the functions of language in society, andits scope is wider than that of former theories.11.2.5 The theory of communicative competenceThe concept competence originally comes from Chomsky. It refers to the grammatical knowledge of the ideal language user and has nothing to do withthe actual use of language in concrete situations. This concept of linguisticcompetence has been criticized for being too narrow. To expand the conceptof competence, D. H. Hymes (1971) proposes communicative competence,which has four components:1. Possibility – the ability to produce grammatical sentences;2. Feasibility – the ability to produce sentences which can be decodedby the human brain;3. Appropriateness –the ability to use correct forms of language in aspecific socio-cultural context;4. Performance – the fact that the utterance is completed.What is the role of grammar in language teaching?Currently, the general consensus is that although language learning should be meaning-focused and communication-oriented, it is still necessary and beneficial for language learners to pay a certain degree of attention to the study of grammar.Research in second language acquisition has indicated that grammar has its due value in the process of language learning. The study of grammar facilitates the internalization of the structures of the target language. The problems unsolved are what grammar or what aspects of grammar learners should learn and how they can learn them.11.3 S yllabus design11.3.1 What is syllabus?Syllabus is the planning of a course of instruction. It is a description of the course content, teaching procedures and learning experiences.11.3.2 Major factors in syllabus design1. Selecting participants2. Process3. Evaluation11.3.3 Types of syllabus1. Structural syllabus: Influenced by structuralist linguistics, thestructural syllabus is a grammar-oriented syllabus based on a selection of language items and structures. The vocabulary and grammatical rules included in the teaching materials are carefully ordered according to factors such as frequency, complexity and usefulness. The major drawback of such a syllabus is that it concentrates only on the grammatical forms and the meaning ofindividual words, whereas the meaning of the whole sentence is thought to be self-evident, whatever its context may be. As a result, students trained by a structural syllabus often prove to be communicatively incompetent.2. Situational syllabus: The situational syllabus does not havea stronglinguistic basis, yet it can be assumed that the situationalists accept the view that language is used for communication. The aim of this syllabus is specifying the situations in which the target language is used. The selection and organization of language items are based on situations. Because it relies on structuralist grammar, it is essentially grammatical. The situations described in a textbook cannot be truly “authentic.”Moreover, the arrangement of the situations is not systematic.3. Notional-functional syllabus: Notional-functional syllabus is directlyin fluenced by Halliday’s functional grammar and Hymes’s theory of communicative competence. Notion refers to the meaning one wants to convey, while function refers to what one can do with the language. Its problems are: first of all it is impossible to make an exhaustive list of notions and functions, and it is hard to order them scientifically. Secondly, there is on one-to-one relationship between notions / functions and language forms. Thirdly, the notional-functional syllabus treats language as isolated units, only they are notional rather than structural isolates. Such a syllabus cannot achieve the communicative competence which it aims at.4. Communicative syllabus: The communicative syllabus aims at thelearner’s communicative competence. Based on a noti onal-functional syllabus, it teaches the language needed to express and understand different kinds of functions, and emphasizes the process of communication.5. Fully communicative syllabus: The communicative syllabus stressesthat linguistic competence is only a part of communicative competence. If we focus on communicative skills, most areas of linguistic competence will be developed naturally. Therefore, what we should teach is communication through language rather than language for communication.6. Communicative-grammatical approach (only cases, so this part isomitted.)11.4 L anguage learning11.4.1 Grammar and language learning1. Focus on form: Although language learning should generally bemeaning-focused and communication-oriented, it is still necessaryand beneficial to focus on form occasionally.2. Universal grammar: A theory which claims to account for thegrammatical competence of every adult no matter what language heor she speaks. It claims that every speaker knows a set of principleswhich apply to all languages and also a set of parameters that canvary from one language to another, but only within certain limits.11.4.2 Input and language learningThe Input hypothesis is a theory proposed by Krashen (1985) to deal with the relationship between language input and learner s’acquiringlanguage. According to this hypothesis, learners acquire a language as aresult of comprehending input addressed to them. Krashen brought forwardthe concept of “i + 1” principle, i.e. the language that learners are exposed toshould be just far enough beyond their current competence that they canunderstand most of it but still be challenged to make progress. Input shouldneither be so far beyond their reach that they are overwhelmed, nor so closeto their current stage that they are not challenged at all.11.4.3 Interlanguage in language learningInterlanguage is a language system between the target language and the learner’s native language. It formed when the learner attempts to learn a newlanguage, and it has features of both the first language and the secondlanguage but is neither.11.5 E rror analysis11.5.1 Errors, mistakes, and error analysis[In this part, there is difference between my understandings (according to the reference book I used) of errors and mistakes. According to IntroducingLinguistics by Professor Yang Zhong, errors and mistakesmean differentlyfrom what they mean in Professor Hu’s book. Refer to section 9.3“Analyzing learn ers’language”on pages 122~123 of Yang’s book. –icywarmtea]1. Error: Error is the grammatically incorrect form.2. Mistake: Mistake appears when the language is correctgrammatically but improper in a communicational context.3. Lapse: Lapse refers to slips of the tongue or pen made by eitherforeign language learners or native speakers.4. Error analysis: Error analysis is the study and analysis of error and isconfined to the language learner.11.5.2 Attitudes to errors1. The structuralist view2. The post-structuralist view11.5.3 Procedure of error analysis1. Recognition2. Description3. Explanation11.5.4 Contrastive analysis and non-contrastive analysis1. Contrastive analysis (CA): CA is the comparison of the linguisticsystems of two languages. E.g. the comparison of the sound or thegrammatical system.2. Transfer: Transfer refers to the carrying over of learned behaviorfrom one situation to another.(1) Positive transfer (facilitation): Positive transfer is learning inone situation which helps or facilitates learning in another latersituation. E.g. when the structures of the two languages are similar, we can get positive transfer.(2) Negative transfer (interference): Negative transfer is learning inone situation which interferes with learning in another later situation.3. Overgeneralization: A process common in both first and secondlanguage learning, in which a learner extends the use of agrammatical rule of linguistic item beyond its accepted uses, generally by making words or structures follow a more regularpattern. E.g. in the sentence “* He speaked English.”, “speaked” iswrong (overgeneralized).4. Hypercorrection: Overgeneralization of a rule in language use. E.g.some learners constantly miss the articles in English, and after theyare corrected, they tend to overuse them.11.6 T esting11.6.1 Two different approaches to testing1. Psycholinguistic-structuralist approach2. Psycholinguistic-sociolinguistic approach11.6.2 Types of test1. Aptitude test: Aptitude tests attempt to measure the learner’saptitude or natural abilities to learn languages. This type of testusually consists of some different tests which measure respectivelythe ability to identify and remember sound patterns in a new language, etc. In order to assess these abilities, artificial languagesare often employed.2. Proficiency test: The purpose of proficiency tests is to discover whatthe testee already knows about the target language. Proficiency testsare not concerned with any particular course but the learner’sgeneral level of language mastery. An example of proficiency tests isthe American TOEFL.3. Achievement test: Achievement tests assess how much a learner hasmastered the contents of a particular course. Clearly, the items insuch tests should be based on what has been taught. The midtermand final term exams held in schools and colleges are often typicaltests of this kind.4. Diagnostic test: Diagnostic tests are designed to discover mainlywhat the testee does not know about the language, e.g. a diagnosticEnglish pronunciation test may be used to show which sounds astudent is and is not able to pronounce. A test of such kind can helpthe teacher to find out what is wrong with the previous learning andwhat should be included in the future work.11.6.3 Requirements of a good testValidity and reliability are the two basic requirements for a good test, as was proposed by R. Lado (1961).1. Validity is the degree to which a test measure what is meant to. If thecandidates know some items before the exam the validity will bereduced. There are four kinds of validity.(1) Content validity refers to the extent to which the test adequatelycovers the syllabus area to be tested.(2) Construct validity requires the test to prove the theoreticalconstruct whereupon it is based.(3) Empirical validity demands the results of the test to correlatewith some external criteria.(4) Face validity is based on the subjective judgment of an observer,unlike the other forms of validity. If the test appears to bemeasuring what it intends to measure, the test is consideredtohave face validity.2. Reliability can be defined as consistency. If a test produces the sameresults when given to the same candidates twice in succession orgraded by different people, it is regarded as having a high degree ofreliability. There are two kinds of reliability.(1) Stability reliability is estimated by testing and retesting the samecandidates and ten correlating their scores.(2) Equivalence reliability means that a measuring device isequivalent to another if they produce the same results when used on the same objects and subjects.11.6.4 Test contents and test form1. Structural tests2. Communicative tests11.6.5 Marking and interpretation of scores 11.7 S ummary(Omit.)。
外语教学Chapter 2 Aspects of Foreign Language TeachingTeaching GuideThis chapter contains 7 parts and the main content is almost the same as that of Chapter 2 in Students’ Book except the content about syllabus design in section 2.3.2 and three new parts added. In the original chapter 2, the content concerning syllabus design (section 2.2.2) is more abstract and more macro, but the relevant content in this book is introduced in a more specific and more micro way, which can help readers to conduct the practices in a more operational way. For example, in “Implementation”we provide three activities concerning syllabus design, syllabus identification and FLT principles.2.1 Teaching ObjectivesThrough the study of this chapter, students should be able to:1. understand views of language and foreign language teaching.2. understand foreign language teaching syllabus.3. understand foreign language teaching principles.4. understand aims and objectives of foreign language teaching and learning.2.2 Interpreting Chapter ContentThis chapter mainly deals with the following four issues:2.2.1 Two Views of Language and Foreign Language Teaching1. The Structural ViewThis view sees language in terms of the bits and pieces by means of which it is put together (see the diagram on P 13 Students’ book).2. The Functional ViewThis view is concerned with language as an instrument of social interaction rather than as a system that is viewed in isolation. It considers the individual as a social being and investigates the way in which he or she acquires language and uses it in order to communicate with others in his or her social environment.According to the functionalists, language has three main functions: descriptive, expressive and social.1). The descriptive function of language is to convey factual information. This is the type of information which can be stated or denied and in some cases even tested.e.g. It must be well below ten degrees outside.2). The expressive function of language is to supply information about the speaker, his or herfeelings, preferences, prejudices, and past experiences.e.g.I’m not inviting the Smiths again.3). The social function of language serves to establish and maintain social relations betweenpeople.e.g. Will that be all, Sir).If language teaching follows a functional view, the language content of a course will be arranged in terms of functions together with the language items needed for them.2.2.2 Foreign Language Teaching Syllabus1. Definition of SyllabusThe syllabus is a description of the contents of a course and the order in which they are to betaught. It provides the overall organizing principle for what is to be taught and learned. It may be based on grammatical items and vocabulary, the language needed for different types of situations, or the meanings and communicative functions which the learner needs to express in the target language.2. Types of SyllabusThere are many types of syllabuses such as grammatical syllabus, task-based syllabus,skill-based syllabus, topic-base syllabus, content-based syllabus, lexical syllabus, product-oriented vs. process-oriented syllabus, synthetic vs. analytic syllabus, even integrated syllabus (multi-syllabus). Of these various types, each has its own characteristics and may be applied to different courses. However, some of these different types may be overlapped in some aspects (i.e. situational vs. topic-based syllabus), and the syllabus for a course is usually based on a combination of two or more of these types. There are generally five broad types of syllabuses for foreign language teaching: A. grammar or structural; B. functional-notional; C. situational; D. skill-based; E. topic-based.A: Grammar or Structural (organized according to a list of grammatical structures and one that will readily be recognized by most English language teachers.)B: Functional-notional (based on the communicative and interpersonal uses to which language is put and, in contrast to the formal structural system of the first type, highlights what people do through language. )C : Situational (presents a set of everyday situations or settings.)D: Skill-based (focuses on language skills, and concerned with what learners do as speakers, listeners, readers, and writers.)E: Topic-based(uses topics or themes as its starting point.)3. Design of SyllabusesThe important thing to do in syllabus design is to decide what to include in the syllabus. Below is a list of possible components of syllabuses.Aims/GoalsGeneral statements about what must be accomplished by the end of the course.Objectives/Targets/RequirementsSpecific statements about what content or skills that students must master in order to attain the goals.Non-language outcomesAffect cultivation, such as confidence, motivation, interestLearning strategies, thinking skills, interpersonal skills, etc.Cultural understandingLearning contentsKnowledge: vocabulary list, grammar itemsSkills: listening, speaking, reading and writingFunctions and notionsTopicsCultureImplementationApproaches/methodologiesTeaching principlesTeaching suggestionsRecommendation of textbooks/materialsAssessment/Evaluation: Who, what, how and for what purposesWho should carry out assessment/evaluation?What should be evaluated?How is evaluation best done?For what purposes should evaluation be done?Proficiency tests4. Changes in Foreign Language Teaching and the ImplicationsThe major shifts in foreign language teaching are summarized in the diagram on P. 20. (Students’ book)These changes have the implication that the integration of the four skills is the most plausible approach to take within a communicative or interactive framework. Usually a lesson in an integrated English class might include:1) a pre-reading discussion of the topic to activate schemata;2) listening to a lecture or a series of informative statements about the topic of a passage to beread;3) a focus on a certain reading strategy, e.g. scanning;4) writing a paragraph of a section of the reading passage.2.2.3 Principles of Foreign Language TeachingTeaching and learning are interrelated with each other. Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning. Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning. Our understanding of how the learner learns will determine our philosophy of education, our teaching style, our approach, methods, and classroom techniques.According to H. D. Brown (1994), for foreign language teaching there are three broad set of principles which include 12 specific principles (see the following diagram):Cognitive principles: relate mainly to mental and intellectual functions, including automaticity, meaningful learning, the anticipation of reward, intrinsic motivation and strategic investment. Affective principles: more central to the emotional processing of human beings, including language ego, self-confidence, risk-taking and the language-culture connection.Linguistic principles:center on language itself and on how learners deal with these complex linguistic systems, including the native language effect, interlanguage and communicative competence.2.2.4 Aims and Objectives of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning1. General Aim --- to develop student’s communicative competenceForeign language teaching and learning used to focus on imparting the language knowledge to the language learners, but now its general aim is to develop students’communicative competence in the target language, which demonstrates a shift of emphasis from a narrow focus on language as a formal system to the social and cultural k nowledge which speakers need in order to understand and use linguistic forms (Hedge, 2002: 45).According to Hymes (1972), communicative competence consists of linguistic / grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociocultural competence, and strategic competence.Linguistic/Grammatical Discourse Sociocultural StrategicLinguistic competence refers to the ability to recognize the lexical, morphological, syntactic, and phonological features of a language, the sentence-level grammatical forms, and to make use of these features to interpret and form words and sentences.Discourse competence is concerned, in oral texts, with the ability to perform the turns in discourse, to maintain the conversation and to develop the topic; while in written context, theability to understand and interpret the relationships through formal devices and to create coherent written texts.Social-cultural competence refers to an ability to interact effectively with people of different social and cultural backgrounds. Socio-cultural competence comprises four components:1) Awareness of one's own socio-cultural world view;2) Attitude towards cultural differences;3) Knowledge of different social and cultural practices and worldviews;4) Cross-cultural skills. Developing cultural competence results in an ability to understand,communicate with, and effectively interact with people across culturesStrategic competence is defined as the ability to cope with authentic communicative situations and to keep the communicative channel open by using some cooperation, communicative and affective strategies.The key components of communicative competence, as identified by a number of researchers, could also be listed as: linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and fluency (Hedge, 2002: 46-56).Linguistic Pragmatic Discourse Strategic Fluencycompetence competence competence competence Chomsky's view of linguistic competence, however, was not intended to inform pedagogy, but serve as part of developing a theory of the linguistic system itself, idealized as the abstract language knowledge of the monolingual adult native speaker, and distinct from how they happen to use and experience language.Canale and Swain (1980) defined communicative competence in terms of four components:1) grammatical competence: words and rules2) sociolinguistic competence: appropriateness3) discourse competence: cohesion and coherence4) strategic competence: appropriate use of communication strategiesCanale and Swain's definition has become canonical in applied linguistics.A more recent survey of communicative competence by Bachman (1990) divides it into the broad headings of "organizational competence," which includes both grammatical and discourse (or textual) competence, and "pragmatic competence," which includes both sociolinguistic and "illocutionary" competence.Through the influence of communicative language teaching, it has become widely accepted that communicative competence should be the goal of language education, central to good classroom practice (e.g. Savignon, 1998). This is in contrast to previous views in which grammatical competence was commonly given top priority. The understanding of communicative competence has been influenced by the field of pragmatics and the philosophy of language concerning speech acts as described in large part by John Searle and J.L. Austin.2. Aims:Aims are descriptions of the overall purpose of a course (ie. the teaching intention and course intention), and are long-term and open-ended. The general aim of language teaching is to develop students’ communicative competence and language awareness is essential. Aims are often affected b y the following factors beyond the teacher’s control:--- community attitudes to learning English;--- educational policy within a state;--- importance of exams;--- time allotted to teaching foreign language (hours per week)--- place within curriculum (compulsory, optional, or taught only at certain level)--- students’ needs: why do they need English?--- students’ level: what level of English do they require?The following guidelines could be used in making aims more concrete:1. Indicate which observable activity or task the students can carry out when he has achieved theaims.2.Indicate the subject matter (learning content) with respect to which the students can carry outthe task described.3.Indicate the conditions under which the student can carry out the tasks described.4.Indicate the criteria for acceptable performance.3. Objectives:Objectives are descriptions of the steps a learner must take in order to achieve the aim. They are specific and realizable, even within one lesson. They are written in general terms (e.g. the objective is to relax the students), in terms of skills (e.g. to give students practice in extracting specific information from a text) and in terms of language ( e.g. to give students practice in the use of the past simple tense using regular and irregular verbs, questions and answers). The written objectives will be more or less specific depending on how specific the teacher’s aims are.Aims and objectives are closely related. If you want to achieve the aim, your objectives must be for the realization of it.However, defining foreign language teaching objectives is no easy matter, it entails at least: 1. specifying what students can do in the target language (behavioral specification) e.g. the students can read novels in the original, non-adapted versions; or the students can call the railway station for information about departure time.2. specifying the linguistic elements ( language forms) necessary to carry out the tasksspecified (linguistic specification). This could for instance include: providing phonetic/phonological information about the target language; compiling a vocabulary list; compiling a list of structure: etc.3. specifying the level of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing.2.3 ImplementationActivity 1 When a syllabus is designed, which of the following aspects of the intended learner should be taken into account:a. the learner’s previous knowledgeb. the learner’s attitude and motivationc. the learner’s past experience of languag e learningd. the learner’s present mastery of the languagee. the learner’s goal of studyf. the gap between the learner’s present mastery of the language and his/her goalReference:Generally speaking, all of the above-mentioned aspects should be taken into account in designing a syllabus.Activity 2 The following is an excerpt from a textbook written on the basis of situational syllabus. Study the excerpt carefully and then try to describe the difference between the situational syllabus and the grammatical syllabus.Talking about WeatherWang: Oh, it is raining outside. Mark, the weather is quite different in different places. What is the weather in your hometown?Jones: It is very hot. The temperature is sometimes over 40C.Wang: Do you like the weather in Beijing?Jones: Well, I like Beijing in autumn and summer, but I don’t like it in spring.Wang: Why?Jones: It’s very windy and cold in spring.Wang: What about the weather in your wife’s hometown?Jones: It changes very quickly. A sunny day will probably become very rainy and cold.Wang: Really?Jones: One day last week, we went for walk in the country. When we started in the morning, the sky was blue and it waswarm and sunny. There were no clouds at all. But at midday, a sudden rain came. There was a strong wind, too.Wang: Oh, that’s terrible. Did you bring any raincoats?Jones: No, we didn’t bring any raincoats or umbrellas. There were no houses nearby. We walked in the rain for about half an hour.Wang: Did you catch cold in the rain?Jones: Yes, I had a bad cold after that. So people sometimes say that you can have four seasons in one day. Reference:As for the situational syllabus, the fundamental principle for the organization of the contents is situation, instead of grammar items, although which will also appear in the syllabus. Situational syllabus attaches much importance to the context within which the theme and the linguistic topics are presented; more often than not there would be a list of useful situations which learners would encounter during the course. On the contrary, a grammatical syllabus is based on the structures of a language. Learners learn grammatical structures in a sequence that reflects their complexity, rather than their use in communication. And also learners are not usually exposed to more difficult structures than the ones they are learning. The whole purposes of the grammatical syllabus was to control input to the learner so that only one item was presented at a time. Activity 3 Match Column A with Column BColumn A Column BCognitive principles risk-takingmeaningful learning,the anticipation of reward,intrinsic motivationstrategic investment.Affective principles the native language effect,the language-culture connectioncommunicative competence.Linguistic principles language ego,self-confidence,automaticityinterlanguage.Reference:1.Cognitive principles include automaticity, meaningful learning, the anticipation of reward,intrinsic motivation and strategic investment.2.Affective principles includes language ego, self-confidence, risk-taking and thelanguage-culture connection.3.Linguistic principles includes the native language effect, interlanguage and communicativecompetence.2.4 Suggested A nswers to the “Questions and T asks”(Page 28-29)1. How do you understand the two approaches to language study, the structural and the functional? How do they respectively contribute to language teaching?As for these two approaches to language study, it is not the matter of right or wrong. Both of them are contributable tolanguage. The structural approach mostly stresses the importance of all the aspects of language (i.e. word, phrase, clause, etc.) but it just considers language within language system itself and ignores the social aspects of language. The functional approach is concerned with language as instrumental of social interaction rather than as a system that is viewed in isolation, but it does not mean that it ignores the importance of the eight aspects of language, any kind of function is expressed by language items.2. Must we pay equal attention to all the eight aspects of language in teaching? Why or Why not?No, it is not necessary. The eight aspects of language are equally importance in terms of language itself, but it does not mean that we should pay equal attention to all of them in teaching. How much attention should be paid to the eight aspects in language depends on many factors such as the materials, the teaching objectives, the levels of learners, etc.3. How do you understand the last feature of language-“language and language learningboth have universal characteristics”?There are numerous kinds of languages in the world such as Chinese, English, Japanese, etc. and every kind of them has its own special features. However, according to Chomsky, there is a set of rules that are shared by all languages in the world. In other words, they share some universal characteristics. For example, they are mainly used for communications, for expressing personal ideas, feelings, etc. Thus accordingly, the ways of learning one language(i.e. Chinese) will be probably suitable to learning another language (i.e. English), though thelanguages themselves do differ from each other in many aspects.4. Of the 12 teaching principles specified by Brown, which do you think have been implemented in your teaching or/ and learning experience? Which should get more attention from you as a pre-service (or in-service) teacher？Why?Different language learners may have different experiences. According to my own experiences, among the 12 teaching principles, the anticipation of reward, self-confidence, the language-culture connection, the native language effect and communicative competence have been implemented in my teaching and learning, and the rest should be given more attention. For example, as a teacher, strategic investment should be paid more attention in teaching practices, that is, we should help learners become autonomous learners, letting them “invest” certain time, effort and attention in language learning according to their own situations.5. The aims and objectives of a certain course should be made clear to both the teacher and the student. Think of a course you like, say “Advanced Reading and Writing”, and specify the aims and objectives of the course in the position of a teacher. This is for open discussion.6. If you were asked to design a syllabus for a new English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) course, what are some of the first things you would do as preparation？If I were in such a situation, some of the first things I would do as preparation are as the follows: a. the objectives of the course; b. the situations of learners; c. the situations of teachers, and etc.7. Locate three different EFL textbooks. Study the introduction and a chapter or two in each. What are some of the obvious differences in the goals of each book? In other words, what does the author of each book intend for the student to learn through the use of the book? What kinds of activities does the author provide? After studying the books, get together with a friend who has also reviewed a few texts. Take turns showing the text materials and discuss the goals of each book.This is for open discussion.2.5 Technical TermsAutomaticity: the ability to use a language using automatic processing which refers to the performance of a task without conscious or deliberate processing.Curriculum: an educational programme which states (a) the educational purpose of the programme; (b) the content, teaching procedures and learning experience which will be necessary to achieve this purpose; (c) some means for assessing whether or not the educational ends have been achieved.Interlanguage: the type of language produced by second-and foreign-language learners who are in the process of learning a language and it differs form both the mother tongue and the target language.Language ego: (in SL or FL learning) the relation between people’s feelings of personal identity, individual uniqueness, and value (i.e. their ego) and aspects of their first language.Objective: a goal of a course of instruction. Two different types of objectives may be distinguished. General objectives, or aims, are the underlying reasons for or purposes of a course of instruction; specific objectives are descriptions of what is to be achieved in a course.Risk-taking: a personality factor which concerns the degree to which a person is willing toundertake actions that involve a significant degree of risk. It is said to be an important characteristic of successful SLL, since learners have to be willing to try out hunches about the new language and take the risk of being wrong.Syllabus design: the procedures for deciding what will be taught in a language programme. Syllabus: a description of the contents of a course of instruction and the order in which they are to be taught. Language-teaching syllabuses may be based on (a) grammatical items and vocabulary;(b) the language needed for different types of situations; (c) the meanings and communicative functions which the learner needs to express in the target language.2.6 Further readingBreen, M.P. (1987) “Contemporary paradigms in syllabus design” (Part I and II). Language Teaching (20.2): 81-92;(20.3):157-174.Brown, H.D. (2002) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Crombie, W. (1985) Discourse and Language Learning: A Relational Approach to Syllabus Design. Oxford: Pergamon. Nunan, D. (1988) Syllabus Design. OUP.Widdowson, H. (1990) Aspects of Language Teaching. Oxford OUP.Wilkins, D. A. (1976) Notional Syllabuses. Oxford OUP.Willis, D. (1990)The Lexical Syllabus. London: Collins Cobuild ELT.Yalden, J. (1987) The Communicative Syllabus: Evolution, Design and Implementation. Prentice-Hall International (UK).。
胡壮麟《语言学教程》（修订版）第一部分各章节提纲笔记Chapter 1 Invitations to Linguistics1.1 Why study language?1. Language is very essential to human beings.2. In language there are many things we should know.3. For further understanding, we need to study language scientifically.1.2 What is language?Language is a means of verbal communication. It is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.1.3 Design features of languageThe features that define our human languages can be called design features which can distinguish human language from any animal system of communication.1.3.1 ArbitrarinessArbitrariness refers to the fact that the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meanings.1.3.2 DualityDuality refers to the property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.1.3.3 CreativityCreativity means that language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness.Recursiveness refers to the rule which can be applied repeatedly without any definite limit. The recursive nature of language provides a theoretical basis for the possibility of creating endless sentences.1.3.4 DisplacementDisplacement means that human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of conversation.1.4 Origin of language1. The bow-wow theoryIn primitive times people imitated the sounds of the animal calls in the wild environment they lived and speech developed from that.2. The pooh-pooh theoryIn the hard life of our primitive ancestors, they utter instinctive sounds of pains, anger and joy which gradually developed into language.3. The “yo-he-ho” theoryAs primitive people worked together, they produced some rhythmic grunts which gradually developed into chants and then into language.1.5 Functions of languageAs is proposed by Jacobson, language has six functions:1. Referential: to convey message and information;2. Poetic: to indulge in language for its own sake;3. Emotive: to express attitudes, feelings and emotions;4. Conative: to persuade and influence others through commands and entreaties;5. Phatic: to establish communion with others;6. Metalingual: to clear up intentions, words and meanings.Halliday (1994) proposes a theory of metafunctions of language. It means that language has three metafunctions:1. Ideational function: to convey new information, to communicate a content that is unknown to the hearer;2. Interpersonal function: embodying all use of language to express social and personal relationships;3. Textual function: referring to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken and writtendiscourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences.According to Hu Zhuanglin, language has at least seven functions:1.5.1 InformativeThe informative function means language is the instrument of thought and people often use it to communicate new information.1.5.2 Interpersonal functionThe interpersonal function means people can use language to establish and maintain their status in a society.1.5.3 PerformativeThe performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, and the cursing of enemies.1.5.4 Emotive functionThe emotive function is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is so crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something.1.5.5 Phatic communionThe phatic communion means people always use some small, seemingly meaningless expressions such as Good morning, God bless you, Nice day, etc., to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without any factual content.1.5.6 Recreational functionThe recreational function means people use language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a baby’s babbling or a chanter’s chanting.1.5.7 Metalingual functionThe metalingual function means people can use language to talk about itself. E.g. I can use the word “book” to talk about a book, and I can also use the expression “the word book” to talk about the sign “b-o-o-k”itself.1.6 What is linguistics?Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It studies not just one language of any one community, but the language of all human beings.1.7 Main branches of linguistics1.7.1 PhoneticsPhonetics is the study of speech sounds, it includes three main areas: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics.1.7.2 PhonologyPhonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.1.7.3 MorphologyMorphology studies the minimal units of meaning – morphemes and word-formation processes.1.7.4 SyntaxSyntax refers to the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences.1.7.5 SemanticsSemantics examines how meaning is encoded in a language.1.7.6 PragmaticsPragmatics is the study of meaning in context.1.8 MacrolinguisticsMacrolinguistics is the study of language in all aspects, distinct from microlinguistics, which dealt solely with the formal aspect of language system.1.8.1 PsycholinguisticsPsycholinguistics investigates the interrelation of language and mind, in processing and producing utterances and in language acquisition for example.1.8.2 SociolinguisticsSociolinguistics is a term which covers a variety of different interests in language and society, including the language and the social characteristics of its users.1.8.3 Anthropological linguisticsAnthropological linguistics studies the relationship between language and culture in a community.1.8.4 Computational linguisticsComputational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which centers around the use of computers to process or produce human language.1.9 Important distinctions in linguistics1.9.1 Descriptive vs. prescriptiveTo say that linguistics is a descriptive science is to say that the linguist tries to discover and record the rules to which the members of a language-community actually conform and does not seek to impose upon them other rules, or norms, of correctness.Prescriptive linguistics aims to lay down rules for the correct use of language and settle the disputes over usage once and for all.For example, “Don’t say X.” is a prescriptive command; “People don’t say X.” is a descriptive statement.The distinction lies in prescribing how things ought to be and describing how things are. In the 18th century, all the main European languages were studied prescriptively. However, modern linguistics is mostly descriptive because the nature of linguistics as a science determines its preoccupation with description instead of prescription.1.9.2 Synchronic vs. diachronicA synchronic study takes a fixed instant (usually at present) as its point of observation. Saussure’sdiachronic description is the study of a language through the course of its history. E.g. a study of the features of the English used in Shakespeare’s time would be synchronic, and a study of the changes English hasundergone since then would be a diachronic study. In modern linguistics, synchronic study seems to enjoy priority over diachronic study. The reason is that unless the various state of a language are successfully studied it would be difficult to describe the changes that have taken place in its historical development.1.9.3 Langue & paroleSaussure distinguished the linguistic competence of the speaker and the actual phenomena or data of linguistics as langue and parole. Langue is relative stable and systematic, parole is subject to personal and situational constraints; langue is not spoken by an individual, parole is always a naturally occurring event.What a linguist should do, according to Saussure, is to draw rules from a mass of confused facts, i.e. to discover the regularities governing all instances of parole and make them the subject of linguistics.1.9.4 Competence and performanceAccording to Chomsky, a language user’s underlying knowledge about the system of rules is called the linguistic competence, and the actual use of language in concrete situations is called performance.Competence enables a speaker to produce and understand and indefinite number of sentences and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. A speaker’s competence is stable while his performance is often influenced by psychological and social factors. So a speaker’s performance does not always match his supposed competence. Chomsky believes that linguists ought to study competence, rather than performance.Chomsky’s competence-performance distinction is not exactly the same as, though similar to, Saussure’s langue-parole distinction. Langue is a social product and a set of conventions of a community, while competence is deemed as a property of mind of each individual. Saussure looks at language more from a sociological or sociolinguistic point of view than Chomsky since the latter deals with his issues psychologically or psycholinguistically.1.9.5 Etic vs. emicBeing etic means researchers’ making far too many, as well as behaviorally and inconsequential, differentiations, just as often the case with phonetics vs. phonemics analysis in linguistics proper.An emic set of speech acts and events must be one that is validated as meaningful via final resource to the native members of a speech community rather than via appeal to the investigator’s ingenuity or intuition alone.Following the suffix formations of (phon)etics vs (phon)emics, these terms were introduced into the social sciences by Kenneth Pike (1967) to denote the distinction between the material and functional study of language: phonetics studies the acoustically measurable and articulatorily definable immediate sound utterances, whereas phonemics analyzes the specific selection each language makes from that universal catalogue from a functional aspect.Chapter 2 Speech Sounds2.1 Speech production and perceptionPhonetics is the study of speech sounds. It includes three main areas:1. Articulatory phonetics – the study of the production of speech sounds2. Acoustic phonetics – the study of the physical properties of the sounds produced in speech3. Auditory phonetics – the study of perception of speech soundsMost phoneticians are interested in articulatory phonetics.2.2 Speech organsSpeech organs are those parts of the human body involved in the production of speech. The speech organs can beconsidered as consisting of three parts: the initiator of the air stream, the producer of voice and the resonating cavities.2.3 Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription2.3.1 Segments and divergencesAs there are more sounds in English than its letters, each letter must represent more than one sound.2.3.2 Phonetic transcriptionInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): the system of symbols for representing the pronunciation of words in any language according to the principles of the International Phonetic Association. The symbols consists of letters and diacritics. Some letters are taken from the Roman alphabet, some are special symbols.2.4 Consonants2.4.1 Consonants and vowelsA consonant is produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some places to divert, impede,or completely shut off the flow of air in the oral cavity.A vowel is produced without obstruction so no turbulence or a total stopping of the air can be perceived.2.4.2 ConsonantsThe categories of consonant are established on the basis of several factors. The most important of these factors are:1. the actual relationship between the articulators and thus the way in which the air passes throughcertain parts of the vocal tract (manner of articulation);2. where in the vocal tract there is approximation, narrowing, or the obstruction of the air (place ofarticulation).2.4.3 Manners of articulation1. Stop/plosive: A speech sound which is produced by stopping the air stream from the lungs and thensuddenly releasing it. In English, [] are stops and[] are nasal stops.2. Fricative: A speech sound which is produced by allowing the air stream from the lungs to escapewith friction. This is caused by bringing the two articulators, e.g. the upper teeth and the lower lip,close together but not closes enough to stop the airstreams completely. In English,[] are fricatives.3. (Median) approximant: An articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without thevocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced. In English thisclass of sounds includes [].4. Lateral (approximant): A speech sound which is produced by partially blocking the airstream fromthe lungs, usually by the tongue, but letting it escape at one or both sides of the blockage. [] is theonly lateral in English.Other consonantal articulations include trill, tap or flap, and affricate.2.4.4 Places of articulation1. Bilabial: A speech sound which is made with the two lips.2. Labiodental: A speech sound which is made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth.3. Dental: A speech sound which is made by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth.4. Alveolar: A speech sound which is made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge.5. Postalveolar: A speech sound which is made with the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge.6. Retroflex: A speech sound which is made with the tongue tip or blade curled back so that theunderside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar ridge or the hardpalate.7. Palatal: A speech sound which is made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate.8. Velar: A speech sound which is made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate.9. Uvular: A speech sound which is made with the back of the tongue and the uvula, the shortprojection of the soft tissue and muscle at the posterior end of the velum.10. Pharyngeal: A speech sound which is made with the root of the tongue and the walls of the pharynx.11. Glottal: A speech sound which is made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards eachother.2.4.5 The consonants of EnglishReceived Pronunciation (RP): The type of British Standard English pronunciation which has been regarded as the prestige variety and which shows no regional variation. It has often been popularly referred to as “BBC English” or “Oxford English” because it is widely used in the private sector of the education system and spoken by most newsreaders of the BBC network.A chart of English consonantsPlace of articulationManner ofarticulation Bilabial Labio-dentalDental AlveolarPost-alveolarPalatal Velar GlottalStop NasalFricative Approximant LateralAffricateIn many cases there are two sounds that share the same place and manner of articulation. These pairsof consonants are distinguished by voicing, the one appearing on the left is voiceless and the one on the right is voiced.Therefore, the consonants of English can be described in the following way:[p] voiceless bilabial stop[b] voiced bilabial stop[s] voiceless alveolar fricative[z] voiced alveolar fricative[m] bilabial nasal[n] alveolar nasal[l] alveolar lateral[j] palatal approximant[h] glottal fricative[r] alveolar approximant2.5 Vowels2.5.1 The criteria of vowel description1. The part of the tongue that is raised – front, center, or back.2. The extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate. Normally, three or four degreesare recognized: high, mid (often divided into mid-high and mid-low) and low.3. The kind of opening made at the lips – various degrees of lip rounding or spreading.4. The position of the soft palate – raised for oral vowels, and lowered for vowels which have beennasalized.2.5.2 The theory of cardinal vowelsCardinal vowels are a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and unchanging, intending to providea frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.By convention, the eight primary cardinal vowels are numbered from one to eight as follows: CV1[],CV2[], CV3[], CV4[], CV5[], CV6[], CV7[], CV8[].A set of secondary cardinal vowels is obtained by reversing the lip-rounding for a give position: CV9 –CV16. [I am sorry I cannot type out many of these. If you want to know, you may consult the textbook p. 47.2.5.3 Vowel glidesPure (monophthong) vowels: vowels which are produced without any noticeable change in vowel quality.Vowel glides: Vowels where there is an audible change of quality.Diphthong: A vowel which is usually considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular language but really involves two vowels, with one vowel gliding to the other.2.5.4 The vowels of RP[] high front tense unrounded vowel[] high back lax rounded vowel[] central lax unrounded vowel[] low back lax rounded vowel2.6 Coarticulation and phonetic transcription2.6.1 CoarticulationCoarticulation: The simultaneous or overlapping articulation of two successive phonological units.Anticipatory coarticulation: If the sound becomes more like the following sound, as in the case of lamp, it is known as anticipatory coarticulation.Perseverative coarticulation: If the sound displays the influence of the preceding sound, as in the case of map, it is perseverative coarticulation.Nasalization: Change or process by which vowels or consonants become nasal.Diacritics: Any mark in writing additional to a letter or other basic elements.2.6.2 Broad and narrow transcriptionsThe use of a simple set of symbols in our transcription is called a broad transcription. The use of more specific symbols to show more phonetic detail is referred to as a narrow transcription. The former was meant to indicate only these sounds capable of distinguishing one word from another in a given language while the latter was meant to symbolize all the possible speech sounds, including even the minutest shades of pronunciation.2.7 Phonological analysisPhonetics is the study of speech sounds. It includes three main areas: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. On the other hand, phonology studies the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables. There is a fair degree of overlap in what concerns the twosubjects, so sometimes it is hard to draw the boundary between them. Phonetics is the study of all possible speech sounds while phonology studies the way in which speakers of a language systematically use a selection of these sounds in order to express meaning. That is to say, phonology is concerned with the linguistic patterning of sounds in human languages, with its primary aim being to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur.2.8 Phonemes and allophones2.8.1 Minimal pairsMinimal pairs are two words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound and which also differ in meaning. E.g. the English words tie and die are minimal pairs as they differ in meaning and in their initial phonemes /t/ and /d/. By identifying the minimal pairs of a language, a phonologist can find out which sound substitutions cause differences of meaning.2.8.2 The phoneme theory2.8.3 AllophonesA phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning. Any of thedifferent forms of a phoneme is called its allophones. E.g. in English, when the phoneme // occurs at thebeginning of the word like peak //, it is said with a little puff of air, it is aspirated. But when // occursdin the word like speak //, it is said without the puff of the air, it is unaspirated. Both the aspirate[ ] in peak and the unaspirated [ =] in speak have the same phonemic function, i.e. they are both heardand identified as // and not as //; they are both allophones of the phoneme //.2.9 Phonological processes2.9.1 AssimilationAssimilation: A process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring sound.Regressive assimilation: If a following sound is influencing a preceding sound, we call it regressive assimilation.Progressive assimilation: If a preceding sound is influencing a following sound, we call it progressive assimilation.Devoicing: A process by which voiced sounds become voiceless. Devoicing of voiced consonants often occurs in English when they are at the end of a word.2.9.2 Phonological processes and phonological rulesThe changes in assimilation, nasalization, dentalization, and velarization are all phonological processes in which a target or affected segment undergoes a structural change in certain environments or contexts. In each process the change is conditioned or triggered by a following sound or, in the case of progressive assimilation, a preceding sound. Consequently, we can say that any phonological process must have three aspects to it: a set of sounds to undergo the process; a set of sounds produced by the process; a set of situations in which the process applies.We can represent the process by mans of an arrow: voiced fricative → voiceless / __________ voiceless.This is a phonological rule. The slash (/) specifies the environment in which the change takes place. The bar (called the focus bar) indicates the position of the target segment. So the rule reads: a voiced fricative is transformed into the corresponding voiceless sound when it appears before a voiceless sound.2.9.3 Rule ordering2.10 Distinctive featuresDistinctive feature: A particular characteristic which distinguishes one distinctive sound unit of a language from another or one group of sounds from another group.Binary feature: A property of a phoneme or a word which can be used to describe the phoneme or word. A binary feature is either present or absent. Binary features are also used to describe the semantic properties of words.2.11 SyllablesSuprasegmental features: Suprasegmental features are those aspects of speech that involve more than single sound segments. The principal suprasegmental features are syllables, stress, tone, and intonation.Syllable: A unit in speech which is often longer than one sound and smaller than a whole word.Open syllable: A syllable which ends in a vowel.Closed syllable: A syllable which ends in a consonant.Maximal onset principle: The principle which states that when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, itis put into the onset rather than the coda. E.g. The correct syllabification of the word country should be //.It shouldn’t be // or // according to this principle.2.12 StressStress refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. In transcription, a raised vertical line [] is used just before the syllable it relates to.Chapter 3 Lexicon3.1 What is word?1. What is a lexeme?A lexeme is the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language that can be distinguished from other similarunits. It is an abstract unit. It can occur in many different forms in actual spoken or written sentences, and is regarded as the same lexeme even when inflected. E.g. the word “write” is the lexeme of “write, writes, wrote, writing and written.”2. What is a morpheme?A morpheme is the smallest unit of language in terms of relationship between expression and content, a unitthat cannot be divided into further smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning, whether it is lexical or grammatical. E.g. the word “boxes” has two morphemes: “box” and “es,” neither of which permits further division or analysis shapes if we don’t want to sacrifice its meaning.3. What is an allomorph?An allomorph is the alternate shapes of the same morpheme. E.g. the variants of the plurality “-s” makes the allomorphs thereof in the following examples: map – maps, mouse – mice, ox – oxen, tooth – teeth, etc.4. What is a word?A word is the smallest of the linguistic units that can constitute, by itself, a complete utterance in speech orwriting.3.1.1 Three senses of “word”1. A physically definable unit2. The common factor underlying a set of forms3. A grammatical unit3.1.2 Identification of words1. StabilityWords are the most stable of all linguistic units, in respect of their internal structure, i.e. the constituent parts of a complex word have little potential for rearrangement, compared with the relative positional mobility of the constituents of sentences in the hierarchy. Take the word chairman for example.If the morphemes are rearranged as * manchair, it is an unacceptable word in English.2. Relative uninterruptibilityBy uninterruptibility, we men new elements are not to be inserted into a word even when there are several parts in a word. Nothing is to be inserted in between the three parts of the word disappointment: dis + appoint + ment. Nor is one allowed to use pauses between the parts of a word: * dis appoint ment.3. A minimum free formThis was first suggested by Leonard Bloomfield. He advocated treating sentence as “the maximum free form” and word “the minimum free form,” the latter being the smallest unit that can constitute, by itself, a complete utterance.3.1.3 Classification of words1. Variable and invariable wordsIn variable words, one can find ordered and regular series of grammatically different word form; on the other hand, part of the word remains relatively constant. E.g. follow – follows – following – followed.Invariable words refer to those words such as since, when, seldom, through, hello, etc. They have no inflective endings.2. Grammatical words and lexical wordsGrammatical words, a.k.a. function words, express grammatical meanings, such as, conjunctions, prepositions, articles, and pronouns, are grammatical words.Lexical words, a.k.a. content words, have lexical meanings, i.e. those which refer to substance, action and quality, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, are lexical words.3. Closed-class words and open-class wordsClosed-class word: A word that belongs to the closed-class is one whose membership is fixed or limited. New members are not regularly added. Therefore, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. are all closed items.Open-class word: A word that belongs to the open-class is one whose membership is in principle infinite or unlimited. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and many adverbs are all open-class items.4. Word classThis is close to the notion of parts of speech in traditional grammar. Today, word class displays a wider range of more precisely defined categories. Here are some of the categories newly introduced into linguistic analysis.(1) Particles: Particles include at least the infinitive marker “to,” the negative marker “not,” and thesubordinate units in phrasal verbs, such as “get by,” “do up,” “look back,” etc.(2) Auxiliaries: Auxiliaries used to be regarded as verbs. Because of their unique properties,which one could hardly expect of a verb, linguists today tend to define them as a separateword class.(3) Pro-forms: Pro-forms are the forms which can serve as replacements for different elements ina sentence. For example, in the following conversation, so replaces that I can come.A: I hope you can come.B: I hope so.。
Language Teaching:A Scheme. for Teacher Education Editors: C N Callan and H G WiddowsonSyllabus Design David NunanThe author and series editors vi Introduction viiSection One: Defining syllabus design1 1The scope of syllabus design3 1.1Introduction3 1.2 A general curricnlum model4 1.3Defining 'syllabus'5 1.4The role of the classroom teacher7 1.5Conclusion8 2Points of departure10 2.1Introduction10 2.2Basic orientations11 2.3Learning purpose13 2.4Learning goals24 2.5Conclusion25 3Product-oriented syllabuses27 3.1Introduction27 3.2Analytic and synthetic syllabus planning27 3.3Grammatical syllabuses28 3.4Criticizing grammatical syllabuses30 3.5Functional-notional syllabuses35 3.6Criticizing functional-notional syllabuses36 3.7Analytic syllabuses37 3.8Conclusion39 4Process-oriented syllabuses40 4.1Introduction40 4.2Procedural syllabuses42 4.3Task-based syllabuses444.4Content syllabuses48 4.5The natural approach51 4.6Syllabus design and methodology52 4.7Grading tasks54 4.8Conclusion60 5Objectives615.1Introduction61 5.2Types of objective61 5.3Performance objectives in language teaching63 5.4Criticizing performance objectives67 5.5Process and product objectives69 5.6Conclusion71Section Two: Demonstrating syllabus design73 6Needs and goals75 6.1Introduction75 6.2Needs analysis75 6.3From needs to goals79 6.4Conclusion84 7Selecting and grading content85 7.1Introduction85 7.2Selecting grammatical components86 7.3Selecting functional and notional components87 7.4Relating grammatical, functional, and notionalcomponents87 7.5Grading content92 7.6Conclusion95 8Selecting and grading learning tasks96 8.1Introduction96 8.2Goals, objectives, and tasks96 8.3Procedural syllabuses98 8.4The natural approach102 8.5Content-based syllabuses104 8.6Levels of difficulty107 8.7Teaching grammar as process118 8.8Conclusion1219Selecting and grading objectives122 9.1Introduction)122 9.2Product-oriented objectives122 9.3Process-oriented objectives131 9.4Conclusion133Section Three: Exploring syllabus design135 10General principles137 10.1Curriculum and syllabus models137 10.2Purposes and goals140 10.3Syllabus products144 10.4Experiential content147 10..5Tasks and activities149 10.6Objectives153Glossary158Further reading160Bibliography161Index166SECTION ONEDefining syllabus designThe scope of syllabus design1.1 IntroductionWe will start by outlining the scope of syllabus design and relating it to the broader field of curriculum development. Later, in 1.4, we shall also look at the role of the teacher in syllabus design.Within the literature, there is some confusion over the terms 'syllabus' and 'curriculum'. It would, therefore, be as well to give some indication at the outset of what is meant here by syllabus, and also how syllabus design is related to curriculum development.• TASK 1As a preliminary activity, write a short definition of the terms'syllabus' and 'curriculum'.In language teaching, there has been a comparative neglect of systematic curriculum development. In particular, there have been few attempts to apply, in any systematic fashion, principles of curriculum development to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of language programmes.Language curriculum specialists have tended to focus on only part of the total picture — some specializing in syllabus design, others in methodolo nfragmented approach has been criticized, and there have been calls for a more comprehensive approach to language curriculum design (see, for example, Breen and Candlin 1980; Richards 1984; Nunan 1985). The present book is intended to provide teachers with the skills they need to address, in a systematic fashion, the problems and tasks which confront them in their programme planning.Candl in (1984) suggests that curricula are concerned with making general statements about language learning, learning purpose and experience, evaluation, and the role relationships of teachers and learners. According to Candlin, they will also contain banks of learning items and suggestions about how these might be used in class. Syllabuses, on the other hand, are more localized and are based on accounts and records of what actually happens at die classroom level as teachers and learners apply a given curriculum to their own situation. These accounts can be used to make subsequent modifications to the curriculum, so that the developmental process is ongoing and cyclical.1.2 A general curriculum modelTASK 2Examine the following planning tasks and decide on the order inwhich they might be carried out.—monitoring and assessing student progress— selecting suitable materials—stating the objectives of the course—evaluating the course—listing grammatical and functional components—designing learning activities and tasks—instructing students—identifying topics, themes, and situationsh is possible to study 'the curriculum' of an educational institution from anumber of different perspectives. lo the first instance we can look at curriculum planning, that is at decision making, in relation to identifying learners' needs and purposes; establishing goals and objectives; selecting and grading content; organizing appropriate learning arrangements and learner groupings; selecting, adapting, or developing appropriate mate-rials, learning tasks, and assessment and evaluation tools.Alternatively, we can study the curriculum 'in action' as it were. This second perspective takes us into the classroom itself. Here we can observe the teaching/learning process and study the ways in which the intentions of the curriculum planners, which were developed during the planning phase, are translated into action.Yet another perspective relates to assessment and evaluation. From this perspective, we would try and find out what students had learned and what they had failed to learn in relation us what had been planned. Additionally, we might want to find out whether they had learned anything which had not been planned. We would also want to account for our findings, to make judgements about why some things had succeeded and others had failed, and perhaps to make recommendations about what changes might be made to improve things in the future.Filially, we might want to study the management of the teaching institution, looking at the resources available and how these are utilized, hose the institution relates to and responds to the wider community, how constraints imposed by limited resources and the decisions of administra-tors affect what happens in the classroom, and so on.All of these perspectives taken together represent the field of curriculum study. As we can see, the field is a large .d complex one.It is important that, in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a given curriculum, all elements be integrated, so that decisions made at onelevel are not in conflict with those made at another. For instance, in courses based on principles of communicative language teaching, it is important that these principles are reflected, not only in curriculum documents and syllabus plans, but also in classroom activities, patterns of classroom interaction, and in tests of communicative performance.1.3 Defining 'syllabus'There are several conflicting views on just what it is that distinguishes syllabus design from curriculum development. There is also some disagreement about the nature of 'the syllabus'. In books and papers on the subject, it is possible to distinguish a broad and a narrow approach to syllabus design.The narrow view draws a clear distinction between syllabus design and methodology. Syllabus design is seen as being concerned essentially with the selection and grading of content, while methodology is concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities. Those who adopt a broader communicative language teaching the distinction between content and tasks is difficult to sustain.The following quotes have been taken from Brumfit (1984) which provides an excellent overview of the range and diversity of opinion on syllabus design. The broad and narrow views are both represented in the book, as you will see from the quotes.■ TASK 3As you read the quotes, see whether you can identify which writersare advocating a broad approach and which a narrow approach.1 . . .I would like to draw attention to a distinction . . . betweencurriculum or syllabus, that is its content, structure, parts andorganisation, and, . . t.vhat in curriculum theory is often calledcurriculum processes, that is curriculum development, imple-mentation, dissemination and evaluation. The former is con-cerned with the WHAT of curriculum: what the curriculum is likeor should be like; the latter is concerned with the WHO andHOW of establishing the curriculum.(Stern 1984: 10-11)2 [The syllabus] replaces the concept of 'method', and the syllabusis now seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with the helpof the syllabus designer, can achieve a degree of 'fit' between theneeds and aims of the learner (as social being and as individual)and the activities which will take place in the classroom.(Yalden 1984: 14)3 ... the syllabus is simply a framework within which activities canbe carried mit: a teaching device to facilitate learning. It onlybecomes a threat to pedagogy when it is regarded as absolute rulesfor determining what is to be learned rather than points ofreference from which bearings can be taken.(Widclowson 1984: 26)4 We might . .. ask whether it is possible to separate so easily whatwe have been calling content from what we have been callingmethod or procedure, or indeed whether we can avoid bringingevaluation into the debate?5 Any syllabus will express—however indirectly—certain assump-tions about language, about the psychological process of learn-ing, and about the pedagogic and social processes within aclassroom.(Breen 1984: 49)6 . . . curriculum is a very general concept which involvesconsideration of the whole complex of philosophical, social andadministrative factors which contribute to the planning of aneducational program. Syllabus, on the other hand, refers to thatsubpart of curriculum which is concerned with a specification ofwhat units will be taught (as distinct from how they will betaught, which is a matter for methodology).(Allen 1984: 61)7 Since language is highly complex and cannot be taught all at thesame time, successful teaching requires that there should be aselection of material depending on the prior definition ofobjectives, proficiency level, and duration of course. Thisselection takes place at the syllabus planning stage.(op. cit.: 65)As you can see, some language specialists believe that syllabus (the selection and grading of content) and methodology should be kept separate; others think otherwise. One of the issues you will have to decide on as you work through this book is whether you thi iik syllabuses should be defined solely in terms of the selection and grading of contera, or whether they should also attempt to specify and grade learning tasks and activities.Here, we shall take as our point of departure the rather traditional notion that a syllabus is a statement of content which is used as the basis for planning courses of various kinds, and that the task of the syllabus designer is to select and grade this content. To begin with, then, we shall distinguish between syllabus design, which is concerned with the 'what of a languageprogramme, and methodology, which is concerned with the 'how'. (Later, we shall look at proposals for 'procedural' syllabuses in which the distinction between the 'what' and the 'how' becomes difficult to sustain.) One document which gives a detailed account of the various syllabus components which need to be corisidered in developing language courses is Threshold Level English (van Ek 1975). van Ek lists the following as necessary components of a language syllabus:1 the situations in which the foreign language will be used, includ-ing the topics which trill be dealt with;2 the language activities in which the learner will engage;3 the language functions which the learner will fulfil;4 what the learner will be able to do with respect to each topic;5 the general notions which the learner will be able to handle;6 the specific (topic-related) notions which the learner will be ableto handle;7 the language forms which the learner will be able to use;8 the degree of skill with which the learner will be able to perform.(van Ek 1975: 8-9)•TASK 4Do you think that van Ek subscribes to a 'broad' or 'narrow' view ofsyllabus design?Which, if any, of the above components do you think are beyond thescope of syllabus design?1.4 The role of the classroom teacherIn a recent book dealing, among other things, with syllabus design issues, Bell (1983) claims that teachers are, in the main, consumers of other people's syllabuses; in other words, that their role is to implement the plans of applied linguists, government agencies, and so on. While some teachers have a relatively free hand in designing the syllabuses on which their teaching programmes are based, most are likely to be, as Bell suggests, consumers of other people's syllabuses.•Study the following list of planning tasks.In your experience, for which of these tasks do you see the classroomteacher as having primary responsibility?Rate each task on a scale from 0 (no responsibility) to 5 (totalresponsibility).—identifying learners' communicative needs0 1 2 3 4 5—selecting and grading syllabus content0 1 2 3 4 5— grouping learners into different classesor learning arrangements0 1 2 3 4 5— selecting/creating materials and learningactivities0 1 2 3 4 5—monitoring and assessing learner progress0 1 2 3 4 5—course evaluation0 1 2 3 4 5 In a recent study of an educational system where classroom teachers are expected to design, implement, and evaluate their own curriculum, one group of teachers, when asked the above question, stated that they saw themselves as having primary responsibility for all of the above tasks except for the third one (grouping learners). Some of the teachers in the system felt quite comfortable with an expanded professional role. Others felt that syllabus development should be carried out by people with specific expertise, and believed that they were being asked to undertake tasks for which they were not adequately trained (Nunan 1987).■ TASK 6What might be the advantages andlor disadvantages of teachers inyour system designing their own syllabuses?Can you think of any reasons why teachers might be discouragedfrom designing, or might not want to design their own syllabuses?Are these reasons principally pedagogic, political, or administra 1.5 ConclusionIn 1, I have tried to provide some idea of the scope of syllabus design. I have suggested that traditionally syllabus design has been seen as a subsidiary component of curriculum design. 'Curriculum' is concerned with the planning, implementation, evaluation, management, and administration of education programmes. 'Syllabus', on the other hand, focuses more narrowly on the selection and grading of content.While it is realized that few teachers are in the position of being able to design their own syllabuses, it is hoped that most are in a position to interpret and modify their syllabuses in the process of translating them into action. The purpose of this book is therefore to present the central issues and options available for syllabus design in order to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills for evaluating, and, where feasible, modifying and adapting the syllabuses with which they work. At the very least, this book should help you understand (and therefore more effectively exploit) the syllabuses and course materials on which your programmes are based.■ TASK 7Look back at the definitions you wrote in Task 1 and rewrite these in the light of the information presented in 1.In what ways, if any, do your revised definitions differ from the onesyou wrote at the beginning?In 2, we shall look at some of the starting points in syllabus design. The next central question to be addressed is, 'Where does syllabus content come from?' In seeking answers to this question, we shall look at techniques for obtaining information from and about learners for use in syllabus design. We shall examine the controversy which exists over the very nature of language itself ancl how this influences the making of decisions about what to include in the syllabus. We shall also look at the distinction between product-oriented and process-oriented approaches to syllabus design. These two orientations are studied in detail in 3 and 4. The final part of Section One draws on the content of the preceding parts and relates this content to the issue of objectives. You will be asked to consider whether or not we need objectives, and if so, how these should be formulated.2 Points of departure2.1 IntroductionIn 1 it was argued that syllabus design was essentially concerned with the selection and grading of content. As such, it formed a sub-component of the planning phase of curriculum development. (You will recall that the curriculum has at least three phases: a planning phase, an implementation phase, and an evaluation phase.)The first question to confront the syllabus designer is where the content is to come from in the first place. We shall now look at the options available to syllabus designers in their search for starting points in syllabus design.■ TASK 8Can you think of any ways in which our beliefs about the nature oflanguage and learning might in fl uence our decision-making on whatto put into the syllabus and how to grade it?If we had consensus on just what it was that we were supposed to teach in order for learners to develop proficiency in a second or foreign language; if we knew a great deal more than we do about language learning; if it were possible to teach the totality of a given language, and if we had complete descriptions of the target language, problems associated with selecting and sequencing content and learning experiences would be relatively straight-forward. As it happens, there is not a great deal of agreement within the teaching profession on the nature of language and language learning. As a consequence, we must make judgements in selecting syllabus components from all the options which are available to us. As Breen (1984) points out, these judgements are not yalue-free, but reflect our beliefs about the nature of language and learning. In this and the other parts in this section, we shall see how value judgements affect decision-making in syllabus design.The need to make value judgements and choices in deciding what to include in (or omit from) specifications of content and which elements are to be the basic building blocks of the syllabus, presents syllabus designers with constant problems. The issue of content selection becomes particularly pressing if the syllabus is intended to underpin short courses. (It could be argued that the shorter the course, the greater the need for precision in content specification.)2.2 Basic orientationsUntil fairly recently, most syllabus designers started out by drawing up lists of grammatical, phonological, and vocabulary items which were then graded according to difficulty and usefulness. The task for the learner was seen as gaining mastery over these grammatical, phonological, and vocabulary items.Learning a language, it was assumed, entails mastering the elementsor building blocks of the language and learning the rules by whirlsthese elements are combined, from phoneme to morpheme to wordto phrase to sentence.(Richards and Rodgers 1986: 49)During the 1970s, communicative views of language teaching began to be incorporated into syllabus design. The central cpiestion for proponents of this new view was, 'What does the learner wantineed to do with the target language?' rather than, 'What are the linguistic elements which the learner needs to master?' Syllabuses began to appear in whirls content was specified, not only in terms of the grammatical elements whirls the learners were expected to master, but also in terms of the functional skills they would need to master in order to communicate successfully.This movement led in part to the development of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Here, syllabus designers focused, not only on language functions, but also on experiential content (that is, the subject matter through which the language is taught).Traditionally, linguistically-oriented syllabuses, along with many so-called communicative syllabuses, shared one thing in common: they tended to focus on the things that learners should know or be able to do as a result of instruction. In the rest of this book we shall refer to syllabuses in which content is stated in terms of the outcomes of instruction as 'product-oriented'.As we have already seen, a distinction is traditionally drawn between syllabus design, which is concerned with outcomes, and methodology, which is concerned with the process through which these outcomes are to be brought about. Recently, however, some syllabus designers have suggested that syllabus content might be specified in terms of learning tasks and activities. They justify this suggestion on the grounds that communica-tion is a process rather than a set of products.In evaluating syllabus proposals, we have to decide whether this view represents a fundamental change in perspective, or whether those advocating process syllabuses have made a category error; whether, in fact, they are really addressing methodological rather than syllabus issues. This is something which you will have to decide for yourself as you work through this book.■ TASK 9At this stage, what is your view on the legitimacy of defining syllabuses in terms of learning processes? Do you think that syllabuses should list and grade learning tasks and activities as well as linguistic content?A given syllabus will specify all or some of the following: grammatical structures, functions, notions, topics, themes, situations, activities, and tasks. Each of these elements is either product or process oriented, and the inclusion of each will be justified according to beliefs about the nature of language, the needs of the learner, or the nature of learning.In the rest of this book, we shall be making constant references to and comparisons between process and product. What we mean when we refer to 'process' is a series of actions directed toward some end. The 'product' is the end itself. This may be clearer if we consider some examples. A list of grammatical structures is a product. Classroom drilling undertaken by learners in order to learn the structures is a process. The interaction of two speakers as they communicate with each other is a process. A tape recording of their conversation is a product.Did you find that some elements could be assigned to more than one orientation or point of reference? Which were these?2.3 Learning purposeIn recent years, a major trend in language syllabus design has been the use of information from and about learners in curriculum decision-making. In this section, we shall look at some of the ways in which learner data have been used to inform decision-making in syllabus design. In the course of the discussion we shall look at the controversy over general and specific purpose syllabus design.Assumptions about the learner's purpose in undertaking a language cosiese, as well as the syllabus designer's beliefs about the nature of language and learning can have a marked influence on the shape of the syllabus on which the course is based. Learners' purposes will vary according to how specific they are, and how immediately learners wish to employ their developing language skills.■ TASK 11Which of the following statements represent specific language needsand which are more general?'I want to be able to talk to my neighbours in English.''I want to study microbiology in an English-speaking university.''I want to develop an appreciation of German culture by studyingthe language.''I want to be able to communicate in Greek.''I want my daughter to study French at school so she can matriculateand read French at university.''I want to read newspapers in Indonesian.''I want to understand Thai radio broadcasts.''I need "survival" English.''I want to be able to read and appreciate French literature.''I want to get a better job at the factory.''I want to speak English.''I want to learn English for nursing.'For which of the above would it be relatively easy to predict thegrammar and topics to be listed in the syllabus?For which would it be difficult to predict the grammar and topics?Techniques and procedures for collecting information to be used in syllabus design are referred to as needs analysis. The se techniques have been borrowed and adapted from other areas of training and development, particularly those assoeiated with industry and technology.• TASK 12One general weakness of most of the literature on needs analysis is the tendency to think only in terms of learner needs. Can you think of any other groups whose needs should be considered? Information will need to be collected, not only on why learners want to learn the target language, but also about such things as societal expectations and constraints and the resources available for implementing the syllabus.Broadly speaking, there arc two different types of needs analysis used by language syllabus designers. The first of these is learner analysis, while the second is task analysis.Learner analysis is based on information about the learner. The central question of concern to the syllabus designer is: Tor what purpose or purposes is the learner learning the language?' There are many other subsidiary questions, indeed it is possible to collect a wide range of information as can be seen from the following data collection forms.1* TASK 13Which of the above information do you think is likely to be most useful for planning purposes?What are some of the purposes to which the information might be put?The information can serve many purposes, depending on the nature of the educational institution in which it is to be used. In the first instance, it can guide the selection of content. It may also be used to assign learners to classgroupings. This will be quite a straightforward matter if classes are basedsolely on proficiency levels, but much more complicated if they are designed to reflect the goals and aspirations of the learners. In addition, the data can be used by the teacher to modify the syllabus and methodology so they are more acceptable to the learners, or to alert the teacher to areas of possible conflict.•TASK 14What sort of problems might the teacher be alerted to?HOW, in your opinion, might these be dealt with?With certain students, for example older learners or those who have only experienced traditional educational systems, there are numerous areas of possible conflict within a teaching programme. These potential points of conflict can be revealed through needs analysis. For example, the data might indicate that the majority of learners desire a grammatically-based syllabus with explicit instruction. If teachers are planning to follow a non-traditional approach, they may need to negotiate with the learners and modify the syllabus to take account of learner perceptions about the nature of language and language learning. On the other hand, if they are strongly committed to the syllabus with which they are working, or if the institution is fairly rigid, they may wish to concentrate, in the early part of the course, on activities designed to convince learners of the value of the approach being taken.•TASK 15Some syllabus designers differentiate between 'objective' and 'subjective' information.What do you think each of these terms refers to?Which of the items in the sample data collection forms in Task 12 relate to 'objective' information, and which to 'subjective' informa-tion?'Objective' data is that factual information which does not require the attitudes and views of the learners to be taken into account. Thus, biographical information on age, nationality, home language, etc. is said to be 'objective'. 'Subjective' information, on the other hand, reflects the perceptions, goals, and priorities of the learner. It will include, among other things, information on why- the learner has undertaken to learn a second language, and the classroom tasks and activities which the learner prefers. The second type of analysis, task analysis, is employed to specify and categorize the language skills required to carry out real-world communica-tive tasks, and often follows the learner analysis which establishes the communicative purposes for which the learner wishes to leant the。
