Zusammenfassung der Ressource
A DISCUSSION OF
THE NOTIONAL-FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUS
- 1. The notional-functional syllabus
- What is a
syllabus?
- “A specification of the content of a course
of instruction lists what will be taught
and tested”
- What is a notional-functional
syllabus?
- Therefore, it is a syllabus that has a
comprehensible explanation of the
functions and concepts to be cover
- Notion
- “Time, space, movement, cause and
effect”
- Functions
- “The intentional or purposive
use of language.”
- How and why was the notional-functional syllabus
brought about?
- Theories of language
- Richards and Rodgers (2001, p.20) “language is a
system of structurally related elements for the
coding of meaning”
- The notional-functional syllabus’s focus on the
meanings and functions of language was strongly
influenced by functional and communicative views
of language.
- Theories of
learning
- Process oriented theories
- “build on learning processes, such as
habit formation, induction
- Condition-oriented
theories
- “emphasize the nature of the human and
physical context in which language learning takes
place”.
- An analytic approach?
- Language were seen as “building blocks which have to
be carefully accumulated” where there was “careful
linguistic control of the learning environment”.
- 2. Strengths and weakness of the
notional-functional syllabus
- Analytic or synthetic?
- Analytic approach (exposure to raw language and
subsequent induction of forms). Synthetic
approach (exposure to graded language and
gradual accumulation of forms)
- Product or process-based?
- Product-based - that is, focussing on what
language is learned, as opposed to
process-based, focussing on how language is
learned
- Grading
- Structural syllabuses had traditionally been
graded according to frequency of occurrence,
linguistic complexity, and natural order of
acquisition
- Pragmatic
considerations
- “if a structural syllabus and related course units make
explicit use of grammatical concepts and categories, it
enables learners to use formal strategies for acquiring
language, such as analyzing the tense system.”
- 3. Teaching situations and implications for the
notional-functional syllabus
- How do we define teaching
situations?
- We will assume the language being taught is
English. We will also assume that the teacher is
a native speaker of English
- Institutional variables
- Educational environment in
which such teaching can
take place.
- Class size
- A large class – particularly a diverse one – may
not be a suitable target for a
notional-functional syllabus.
- Assessment
- success in such assessment does not depend
on the ability to express notions and
functions but on some other area of
linguistic or communicative ability
- Status
- refers to whether an institution is a private “for
profit” institution or a public “not for profit”
- Socio-cultural
variables
- Individualism
- In collectivist cultures, learners are
more interested in traditional methods
- In individualist cultures, learners are
more open to new methods which focus
on exposure to authentic language
- Gender bias
- Represents a spectrum which ranges from masculine
to feminine perspectives on norms of behavior.
- Learner variables
- Language level
- refers to the level of language ability
demonstrated by a particular
learner, usually classified in TEFL
- Learner styles
- “Concrete” or “communicative” learners
appear to be much more amenable to a
notional-functional syllaus
- “prefer to avoid groups” and conformists
“emphasize learning ‘about language’
- Motivation
- Instrumental and integrative. The former
implies “needing a language as an instrument
to achieve other purposes
- Status of English in
locality
- This includes localities where English is the native
language; localities where English is an official language;
and localities where English is a foreign language.
- 4. The argument for choosing a notional-functional syllabus
- Mixed situations
- Those which tend to create situations where the adoption of a
notional-functional syllabus would be ill-advised.
- The teacher would have to evaluate whether, on balance, a
notional-functional syllabus would generally promote or
diminish the acquisition of English as a second language
- English teaching in Japan: Two scenarios
- In the commercial English school, each chapter in the
text book has been given a functional title, e.g. “asking
for directions”, “expressing opinions” or “checking
information”.
- Language activities focus very much on how
different speaker roles, contexts and statuses
affect
- In the university, the prescribed textbook
includes chapters functionally titled
- More traditional, structurally inspired “language
check” and task-based learning inspired
“ensemble” activities, where learners have to
complete information gap exercises