FOCUSING ON
LANGUAGE CONTENT IN A COMMUNICATIVE SYLLABUS
Overview
In a communicative syllabus, the language content
dimension has expanded to include notional and functional meaning along with
structures, situation, and themes. In section 61, integrating national and
functional meaning with grammar, thematic content, and lexis, suggestions are
presented on how to integrated the various elements o the expanded content of
communicative syllabus.
What is needed is to develop
separate inventories of form, notions, functions, themes and lexis for a
particular audience. In section 62, Discrete and holistic view: The horns of a
dilemma it is pointed out that the dilemma exists in ail three of dimensions of
a syllabus: language content, process, and product. Further, this dilemma has
implications which go far beyond the field of language pedagogy.
A. Integrating Notional and Functional
Meaning with Grammar, Thematic Content And Lexis
A
major difficulty in syllabus design is the fact that learning a language can
not be explained as learning single unit of any kind, be they notions, functions,
structures, or lexis. It is some combination of all these together, along with
the earlier experience that the learners brings to the task which accounts for
language learning. ESL/EFL learners already posses a solid knowledge of
notions, functions, & lexis which underlie their first language. What seems
important to teach, therefore as Refers (1980) points out are the inter lingual
contrast between the notions in L1 & the target language.
The
idea of gender, for example, possibly understood both by a speaker of English
as well as a speaker of French, yet the way gender is used in these language is
so different that learners from both backgrounds have difficulties adjusting to
the technique used in another language. The information about how the new
language works is significant & can not be taken lightly in designing the
coursework. This is true even if the scholars final aim for the coursework of
study is not ideal accuracy in the new language but only interpretive ability.
Similarly,
the way time is marked in a language by the tense process perhaps different o
cause difficulty for the learner. In English, for example, there is a basic,
comprehensive distinction between action & even viewed internally as having
a beginning, middle, & finish (durative or progressive), & events or
actions perceived in their totality (non progressive). Speakers of another
language who understand the basic notion of time & period will have
difficulty with the English aspect process if their language does not make
significant, marked distinction between durative & non-durative. Here,
again, this distinction relates not only to expressing self in language but
also to interpreting language to produce by others. As refers (1980:53) claims
much more attention ought to be paid in classroom teaching to the comprehensive
& through assimilation of these essential conceptual differences between
language so that students are learning to operate within the total language
process, than picking up minor skills in its application.
The
state of the art appears to be such that there is an immediate necessity find
new ways of teaching form & use together (Eskey 1983). Coursework designers
require to the following:
·
Present
linguistic form systematically to enable learners to express the basic notions
of language. Furthermore, special emphasis needs to be placed on Interlingua
differences relating to the realization of notions.
·
Use
communicative context to permit learners to interact within a variety of
communicative language function. Here again, emphasis must be placed on social cultural
language specific features in order to produced utterances which are appreciate
to the cultural setting among the lots of feasible choice available for
expressing functions material must start with those which are highly frequent
in native speech & only gradually expanded to include the less frequent two
times (Canale & Swain 1980).
·
Use
a variety of text types both in the oral & written form in order to create
communicative proficiency in all language skills, unless a specific calls for
emphasis on or language skills than on all.
A. 1. Developing Inventories
What is needed for
course development is to combine forms, notions, functions, lexis and language
skills.
1.
Inventory
A: Notions and Grammar
Inventory A consist of two separate
lists:
a)
All the grammatical topics to be thought
during the course,organized in a sequence suitable for systematic learning and
for generalization that can be developed along the way.
b)
A list of notional categories to be
thought during the course.
These two separate
lists are then combined into units comprising notion and structures in a way
that allow us to show how notional categories and grammatical categories
interact.
As an example of a
combined teaching unit of notions and grammar, consider the notion time and its
interaction with the tense-aspect system in English. This unit has to be broken
down into teachable portions which may have to spread throughout the course, creating
a type of spiraling plan where the unit of time and tense-aspect recurs within
expanded topics every few weeks or so. Thus the planes might decide that the
most logical place to begin this unit is with the durative aspect which in
English is probably different from all other languages, requiring special focus
in the materials.
Alternatively, planners
may decide to begin with a description of time-less, static statements such as
factual information, routine activities and the like which are non-durative.
The decisions on sequence will be based on both linguistic generalizations,
similarity, difference for L1, and other didactic variables such as teachers’
abilities to provide examples and contexts for the particular topic,
availability of such a relevant context in the immediate environment, and other
similar considerations. The important point is that by working with combined
units of notions and structures, designers should be able to ensure the
inclusion of both types of categories throughout the syllabus.
2. Inventory B: Themes and Topic
Inventory
B is a list of themes and topics. Its main purpose is twofold:
- to provide appropriate cultural
contextualization for the language material in the syllabus;
- to motivate interest by using topics that are
relevant and appealing to a particular group of learners.
This inventory is of vital importance and may
ultimately make or break the course in terms of its success in the classroom.
The topics to be included may come from questionnaires administered to
potential students of similar age groups and interests as well as from open
discussions with students at a similar level.
Another strategy for topics selection is to
integrate content from other subject matter areas in the course curriculum. For
example, major topics in history, geography, social studies, or sciences. In
the language pedagogy literature, this approach has been called 'language in
the content area'.
3.
Inventory
C: Sociocultural Function
Inventory C is a
list of communicative, sociocultural functions which the planners decide to
include in the course of study. However, planners are faced with serious
difficulties since there is no reference text that provides a comprehensive
description of speech act behavior in English much less for the first languages
of the learners. What designers would need to know from such a reference text
would be following information about each speech act that they decide to
include in the course plan:
v The
typical situations in which each speech act is used by native speakers. For
example, what are some typical situations in which native speakers of English
tend to apologize, complain, or compliment the hearer?
v The
extent to which the speech act changes in form / selection of particular
utterance according to the participants taking part.
v The
most frequent utterances that native speakers use to carry out this speech act
in formal and informal settings.
Sociolingustic research
seems to be a long way from having comprehensive answers to these questions.
Designers may have to consult their intuitions about these matters or consult
with native speakers, if they are not themselves speakers of the TL. What is important,
however, is that planners try to look for answers to these questions before
embarking on incorporating speech acts into materials.
Too many recent texts
have devoted long pages to 'making suggestions' or 'giving advice', randomly
listing dated or infrequently used forms along with useful ones. But learners
have no way of distinguishing among them; moreover, such units often contain
endless list of options when learners have no tools or criteria for making
choices the way native speakers do. Although there are no perfect answers today
on speech act behavior, by trying to answer the above three questions for every
speech act that is included in a syllabus, designers may be able to come up
with more useful materials.
4.
Combining
The Three Inventories
The most
difficult task in focus selection is combining the three inventories. The goal
is to create course plans which will consist of a theme (including related
sub-topics), a list of notions and grammatical structures, and a selection of
functions. The first concern is: which inventory should be the basic one? Here
the answer depends entirely on course goal: the linguistic inventory has
traditionally been organized in a certain sequence so it fits everyone’s
cultural expectations.
It seems easy, therefore,
to use inventory A for skeletal planning and then provide the padding and the
flesh of the units from inventories B and C. Whether the planners choose to
begin with Inventory A, B, or C as the pivotal core of the course will depend
entirely on the goals and the audiences they have in mind.
A. 2. The Choice of Lexis
In merging
Inventories A and B, an issue arises that has not been discussed so far, namely
the choice of lexis or the stock of vocabulary items. This merger is a crucial
step since from it decisions are made within the thematic unit concerning the
lexical items, to be included. These lexical decisions must override other
considerations, giving lexis the proper emphasis and suitable focus it richly
deserves within the thematic unit, otherwise learners may not be able to take
full advantage of the elements of the theme.
By using the inventory
system, designers are able to choose new lexical items which draw on the
selected theme. As a result, semantically related words can be presented in
varied contexts, all deriving from that theme. Then, when learners come across
unfamiliar words they are able to make hypotheses about their meanings which
they can realistically test. In this way, the lexical content forms the input
upon which learner work. But input alone is far from sufficient. The next task
is for materials writers to produce effective workouts for classroom practice
which foster the mastery of new lexical items.
B.
Discrete
and Holistic View: the horns of a dilemma
B.
1. The Holistic View
The holistic view has been in the limelight in the
recent, communicative period wtih three distinct strands contributing to its
upturn. First, it has gained prominence throigh the influence of a
humanistically- oriented philosophy of education in which the development of
the whole person is stresssed. This view emphasizes the total individual and
his/her needs for using language as the basic goal to be met by the curriculum.
Second, the unit of anlysis of language inself has come to be viewed by linguistic
scholars and those in related disciplones not as a single sentence, but rather
as longer spans of language or discourse.
A third influence which has brought holistic practices
into wide acceptance can be traced to the influence of mother-tongue intruction,
or the language arts field typified by practices which foster language
development in young children. These practices seem 'right' to teachers because
they come closer to real communication. However, they go againts specialists
ideas of what is exact or precise becausse they fail to include discrete
analyses of language.
B. 2.
The Discrete View
In contrast, second and foreign language instruction has
to a great extent, incorporated the discrete elements view of language,
particularly in audiolingual and cognitive-code approach. Even in the recent
period, whether the content has been grammatical sructures or semantic concepts
expressed as notions, we have relied on analyses of language in constructing
inventories which depend for their discovery procedures on processes of
issecting and segmenting into elements : IN linguistic science these discrete
entities are given names such as phonemes, morphemes and sentence. When we work
with illocutionary meaning, speeech acts, or functions in language, we tend to
seek ways of putting such elements into similiar categories. Moreover, the fact
that we lack refernce texts which describe language functions leaves us feeling
dissatisfied.
B. 3.
Evidence of The Discrete vs. Holistic Paradox in Language Content, Process
and
Product
Holistic education is the practice of freedom for creativity
and productivity or
'work'. Work is
meaningful when motivation
is stimulated by
natural curiosity. This makes it Motivating
at all ages. "...
It is in fact
nothing short of
a miracle that
the modern methods
of instruction have
not yet entirely
strangled the holy curiostiy of inquiry;
for this delicate little plant, aside
from stimulation, stands mainly in
need of freedom; without this it goes to rack
and ruin without
fail. "(Albert Einstein).
Holistic education by Jeremy Henzell-Thomas referred to under Latifah (2008) is an
effort to build a full and balanced
on each student
in all aspects of learning, including spiritual, moral,
imaginative, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, emotional,
and physical aspects of directing all -aspects
towards achieving an awareness of the relationship
with God which is the ultimate goal of all life on earth.
Each area, the contents of the language, processes and products
can be viewed both from the point of view of discrete and holistic
perspective, creating a continuum with
discrete perspectives on the end of one and a
holistic perspective on the other. Discrete point
(discrete) focuses on the shape (form), accuracy
and analysis while
the holistic point focuses on the function fluency, and use.
Form and Function
(Sapir
1921), or grammatical form as distinct form function, has been accepted as a
basic understanding about the nature of language for a very long time. Also
from Sapir’s writings, we understand that human languages differ in the manner
in which forms represent functions. In the way we have used the term, language
content includes both formal properties (grammar) and all types of meaning
(notions, functions, social norms for use, etc.)
On
the other hand, topical and thematic approaches to organizing language
instruction appear to be quite holistic, composed as they are stuff which does
not lend itself to being set out in any kind of sequential fashion, based on
criteria of internal organization.
Accuracy and Fluency
Fluency,
on the other hand, has been associated with communicating one’s idea, getting
the meaning across, or in the terms of the dichotomy, using language either
holistically or comprehensively.
Accuracy
process is aspects of language content that are conducive to analysis through
dissection. Holistic process, on the other hand, hold out the promise of
drawing on ways to look at language which are instead based on larger, more
complex systems.
But
it is a mistake to assume that all fluency workouts fail to consider the
systematic properties of language. It is possible to create holistic workouts
which attend to cultural and social norms that are outside the language code,
but which still focus on communicative characteristics of the target language.
Analysis and Use
The
holistic vs. discrete dichotomy appears in the domain of product/out-comes as
the fluctuation between courses which has emphasized analysis and those which
emphasized use, particularly when viewed historically or, as the concept has been personified
recently (Rivers 1981), the dichotomy which exists between the views of
‘formalists’, those who stress knowing the formal properties of language as
proper outcome for learners in a language course, and ‘activist’, those who
stress using language actively.
B. 4.
Reconciling Opposites in The Instructional Plans
Faced with the dilemma of integrating discrete elements or
analyses of language content with holistic, comprehensive use of it, various sequential
plans have been proposed for course designs:
1.
A
holistic approach is adopted with emphasis on thematic, meaningful interaction
which is self-motivating. In addition
to holistic language experiences for the whole group, there are workbooks for use
by individuals which concentrate on grammatical points and specific skills.
2.
A
more structural/notional approach is adopted in the syllabus with emphasis on
the skills that have been selected as most important for the course. To meet
individual needs, other materials are in use in a learning center or a language
laboratory in which there is emphasis on thematic and communicative use of
language.
3.
The
early phase of the course is structural. Later, as learners progress in their
basic acquisition of grammatical competence, they move on to a more holistic
approach, utilizing global language in communicative workouts.
4.
The
course follows a thematic, communicative tone, similar to a language arts
course for native-speaker children. At a later stage, more attention is given
to accuracy and form. In this instance, Gestalt learning comes first and
discrete-point elements are added later.
Which of
these designs seems to be suitable will depend on the particular situation and
the group of students. However, writers who must plan for large numbers of
learners, for example people who write text book series, are faced with serious
questions which, if they are to be successfully answered, require a great deal
of keen intuition, skill, plus a bit of luck at balancing trends in the field
with topical interests and outlooks which will appeal to a maximally general
audience.
B. 5.
Other System, Other Worlds
Are there
additional ways to analyze language that advance the discussion beyond the
issue of the discrete vs. the holistic? Are there other glasses we might try on
through which to perceive things from another perspective? Materials writers
who want to shed the constraints of discrete point analyses, yet who realize
that language content for course design purposes must be based on some kind of
orderly presentation, would do well to look to other fields that study human
language as a communication process.
What are the
complex systems of language which other social have determined? An interesting
trip of the iceberg is mentioned by Morrow (1981:62) regarding ‘information
gaps’, a concept that comes from communication theory. From this source we
realize that our materials might incorporate, through workouts, ways which get
learners to use language holistically by seeking withheld information with
which to successfully accomplish a given task.
Other
suggestions have been made for utilization of language content based on
analyses that are less tied to discreteness since they draw on systemic
characteristics. As already mentioned, from the field of philosophy the
communicative approach has incorporated speech act theory, a way of looking at
categories of language use which relies more on complex relationships than on
discrete elements.
From the field
of ethno methodology have come significant insight into how users employ
language to carry out their everyday, mundane business. For example, ethno
methodology have described how people take turns in conversation, how they
organize their speaking in relation to each other, how they punctuate their
talk through employing tactics for signaling openings and closings, starting
and breaking-off point (Schegloff 1968, Sacks 1972). The starting point for
ethno methodology is not language, per se,
but rather the constructs of sociology: norms, values, roles, interest
coalitions, and the like.
While grappling
with the discrete point vs. holistic dilemma in our work as course designers
and materials writers, we recognize, too, that the questions has a much larger
scope. When we take a moment off to poke out heads outside our own cave, we
note that the issue shows up in many of the disciplines which western science
pursues. From physics to biology to geology, and in other related areas, the
dilemma is a central theoretical issue of recent time. Traditionally, western
science has been largely influenced by a Cartesian view which ‘believed that
complex phenomena could always be understood by reducing them to their basic
building blocks and by looking at the mechanism through which these interacted.
This attitude, known as reductionism, has become so deeply ingrained in our
culture that it has often been identified with the scientific method’ (Capra
1982:47).
Capra goes on to
pint out that ‘in the twentieth century …. the universe is no longer seen as a
machine, made up of a multitude of separate objects, but appears as a
harmonious indivisible whole; a network of dynamic relationships that include
the human observer and his or her consciousness in an essential way.’ Such an
approach to the study of human language might provide course designers a
framework which brings about a synthesis of discrete and holistic views.
Overview
In a communicative syllabus, the language content
dimension has expanded to include notional and functional meaning along with
structures, situation, and themes. In section 61, integrating national and
functional meaning with grammar, thematic content, and lexis, suggestions are
presented on how to integrated the various elements o the expanded content of
communicative syllabus.
What is needed is to develop
separate inventories of form, notions, functions, themes and lexis for a
particular audience. In section 62, Discrete and holistic view: The horns of a
dilemma it is pointed out that the dilemma exists in ail three of dimensions of
a syllabus: language content, process, and product. Further, this dilemma has
implications which go far beyond the field of language pedagogy.
A. Integrating Notional and Functional
Meaning with Grammar, Thematic Content And Lexis
A
major difficulty in syllabus design is the fact that learning a language can
not be explained as learning single unit of any kind, be they notions, functions,
structures, or lexis. It is some combination of all these together, along with
the earlier experience that the learners brings to the task which accounts for
language learning. ESL/EFL learners already posses a solid knowledge of
notions, functions, & lexis which underlie their first language. What seems
important to teach, therefore as Refers (1980) points out are the inter lingual
contrast between the notions in L1 & the target language.
The
idea of gender, for example, possibly understood both by a speaker of English
as well as a speaker of French, yet the way gender is used in these language is
so different that learners from both backgrounds have difficulties adjusting to
the technique used in another language. The information about how the new
language works is significant & can not be taken lightly in designing the
coursework. This is true even if the scholars final aim for the coursework of
study is not ideal accuracy in the new language but only interpretive ability.
Similarly,
the way time is marked in a language by the tense process perhaps different o
cause difficulty for the learner. In English, for example, there is a basic,
comprehensive distinction between action & even viewed internally as having
a beginning, middle, & finish (durative or progressive), & events or
actions perceived in their totality (non progressive). Speakers of another
language who understand the basic notion of time & period will have
difficulty with the English aspect process if their language does not make
significant, marked distinction between durative & non-durative. Here,
again, this distinction relates not only to expressing self in language but
also to interpreting language to produce by others. As refers (1980:53) claims
much more attention ought to be paid in classroom teaching to the comprehensive
& through assimilation of these essential conceptual differences between
language so that students are learning to operate within the total language
process, than picking up minor skills in its application.
The
state of the art appears to be such that there is an immediate necessity find
new ways of teaching form & use together (Eskey 1983). Coursework designers
require to the following:
·
Present
linguistic form systematically to enable learners to express the basic notions
of language. Furthermore, special emphasis needs to be placed on Interlingua
differences relating to the realization of notions.
·
Use
communicative context to permit learners to interact within a variety of
communicative language function. Here again, emphasis must be placed on social cultural
language specific features in order to produced utterances which are appreciate
to the cultural setting among the lots of feasible choice available for
expressing functions material must start with those which are highly frequent
in native speech & only gradually expanded to include the less frequent two
times (Canale & Swain 1980).
·
Use
a variety of text types both in the oral & written form in order to create
communicative proficiency in all language skills, unless a specific calls for
emphasis on or language skills than on all.
A. 1. Developing Inventories
What is needed for
course development is to combine forms, notions, functions, lexis and language
skills.
1.
Inventory
A: Notions and Grammar
Inventory A consist of two separate
lists:
a)
All the grammatical topics to be thought
during the course,organized in a sequence suitable for systematic learning and
for generalization that can be developed along the way.
b)
A list of notional categories to be
thought during the course.
These two separate
lists are then combined into units comprising notion and structures in a way
that allow us to show how notional categories and grammatical categories
interact.
As an example of a
combined teaching unit of notions and grammar, consider the notion time and its
interaction with the tense-aspect system in English. This unit has to be broken
down into teachable portions which may have to spread throughout the course, creating
a type of spiraling plan where the unit of time and tense-aspect recurs within
expanded topics every few weeks or so. Thus the planes might decide that the
most logical place to begin this unit is with the durative aspect which in
English is probably different from all other languages, requiring special focus
in the materials.
Alternatively, planners
may decide to begin with a description of time-less, static statements such as
factual information, routine activities and the like which are non-durative.
The decisions on sequence will be based on both linguistic generalizations,
similarity, difference for L1, and other didactic variables such as teachers’
abilities to provide examples and contexts for the particular topic,
availability of such a relevant context in the immediate environment, and other
similar considerations. The important point is that by working with combined
units of notions and structures, designers should be able to ensure the
inclusion of both types of categories throughout the syllabus.
2. Inventory B: Themes and Topic
Inventory
B is a list of themes and topics. Its main purpose is twofold:
- to provide appropriate cultural
contextualization for the language material in the syllabus;
- to motivate interest by using topics that are
relevant and appealing to a particular group of learners.
This inventory is of vital importance and may
ultimately make or break the course in terms of its success in the classroom.
The topics to be included may come from questionnaires administered to
potential students of similar age groups and interests as well as from open
discussions with students at a similar level.
Another strategy for topics selection is to
integrate content from other subject matter areas in the course curriculum. For
example, major topics in history, geography, social studies, or sciences. In
the language pedagogy literature, this approach has been called 'language in
the content area'.
3.
Inventory
C: Sociocultural Function
Inventory C is a
list of communicative, sociocultural functions which the planners decide to
include in the course of study. However, planners are faced with serious
difficulties since there is no reference text that provides a comprehensive
description of speech act behavior in English much less for the first languages
of the learners. What designers would need to know from such a reference text
would be following information about each speech act that they decide to
include in the course plan:
v The
typical situations in which each speech act is used by native speakers. For
example, what are some typical situations in which native speakers of English
tend to apologize, complain, or compliment the hearer?
v The
extent to which the speech act changes in form / selection of particular
utterance according to the participants taking part.
v The
most frequent utterances that native speakers use to carry out this speech act
in formal and informal settings.
Sociolingustic research
seems to be a long way from having comprehensive answers to these questions.
Designers may have to consult their intuitions about these matters or consult
with native speakers, if they are not themselves speakers of the TL. What is important,
however, is that planners try to look for answers to these questions before
embarking on incorporating speech acts into materials.
Too many recent texts
have devoted long pages to 'making suggestions' or 'giving advice', randomly
listing dated or infrequently used forms along with useful ones. But learners
have no way of distinguishing among them; moreover, such units often contain
endless list of options when learners have no tools or criteria for making
choices the way native speakers do. Although there are no perfect answers today
on speech act behavior, by trying to answer the above three questions for every
speech act that is included in a syllabus, designers may be able to come up
with more useful materials.
4.
Combining
The Three Inventories
The most
difficult task in focus selection is combining the three inventories. The goal
is to create course plans which will consist of a theme (including related
sub-topics), a list of notions and grammatical structures, and a selection of
functions. The first concern is: which inventory should be the basic one? Here
the answer depends entirely on course goal: the linguistic inventory has
traditionally been organized in a certain sequence so it fits everyone’s
cultural expectations.
It seems easy, therefore,
to use inventory A for skeletal planning and then provide the padding and the
flesh of the units from inventories B and C. Whether the planners choose to
begin with Inventory A, B, or C as the pivotal core of the course will depend
entirely on the goals and the audiences they have in mind.
A. 2. The Choice of Lexis
In merging
Inventories A and B, an issue arises that has not been discussed so far, namely
the choice of lexis or the stock of vocabulary items. This merger is a crucial
step since from it decisions are made within the thematic unit concerning the
lexical items, to be included. These lexical decisions must override other
considerations, giving lexis the proper emphasis and suitable focus it richly
deserves within the thematic unit, otherwise learners may not be able to take
full advantage of the elements of the theme.
By using the inventory
system, designers are able to choose new lexical items which draw on the
selected theme. As a result, semantically related words can be presented in
varied contexts, all deriving from that theme. Then, when learners come across
unfamiliar words they are able to make hypotheses about their meanings which
they can realistically test. In this way, the lexical content forms the input
upon which learner work. But input alone is far from sufficient. The next task
is for materials writers to produce effective workouts for classroom practice
which foster the mastery of new lexical items.
B.
Discrete
and Holistic View: the horns of a dilemma
B.
1. The Holistic View
The holistic view has been in the limelight in the
recent, communicative period wtih three distinct strands contributing to its
upturn. First, it has gained prominence throigh the influence of a
humanistically- oriented philosophy of education in which the development of
the whole person is stresssed. This view emphasizes the total individual and
his/her needs for using language as the basic goal to be met by the curriculum.
Second, the unit of anlysis of language inself has come to be viewed by linguistic
scholars and those in related disciplones not as a single sentence, but rather
as longer spans of language or discourse.
A third influence which has brought holistic practices
into wide acceptance can be traced to the influence of mother-tongue intruction,
or the language arts field typified by practices which foster language
development in young children. These practices seem 'right' to teachers because
they come closer to real communication. However, they go againts specialists
ideas of what is exact or precise becausse they fail to include discrete
analyses of language.
B. 2.
The Discrete View
In contrast, second and foreign language instruction has
to a great extent, incorporated the discrete elements view of language,
particularly in audiolingual and cognitive-code approach. Even in the recent
period, whether the content has been grammatical sructures or semantic concepts
expressed as notions, we have relied on analyses of language in constructing
inventories which depend for their discovery procedures on processes of
issecting and segmenting into elements : IN linguistic science these discrete
entities are given names such as phonemes, morphemes and sentence. When we work
with illocutionary meaning, speeech acts, or functions in language, we tend to
seek ways of putting such elements into similiar categories. Moreover, the fact
that we lack refernce texts which describe language functions leaves us feeling
dissatisfied.
B. 3.
Evidence of The Discrete vs. Holistic Paradox in Language Content, Process
and
Product
Holistic education is the practice of freedom for creativity
and productivity or
'work'. Work is
meaningful when motivation
is stimulated by
natural curiosity. This makes it Motivating
at all ages. "...
It is in fact
nothing short of
a miracle that
the modern methods
of instruction have
not yet entirely
strangled the holy curiostiy of inquiry;
for this delicate little plant, aside
from stimulation, stands mainly in
need of freedom; without this it goes to rack
and ruin without
fail. "(Albert Einstein).
Holistic education by Jeremy Henzell-Thomas referred to under Latifah (2008) is an
effort to build a full and balanced
on each student
in all aspects of learning, including spiritual, moral,
imaginative, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, emotional,
and physical aspects of directing all -aspects
towards achieving an awareness of the relationship
with God which is the ultimate goal of all life on earth.
Each area, the contents of the language, processes and products
can be viewed both from the point of view of discrete and holistic
perspective, creating a continuum with
discrete perspectives on the end of one and a
holistic perspective on the other. Discrete point
(discrete) focuses on the shape (form), accuracy
and analysis while
the holistic point focuses on the function fluency, and use.
Form and Function
(Sapir
1921), or grammatical form as distinct form function, has been accepted as a
basic understanding about the nature of language for a very long time. Also
from Sapir’s writings, we understand that human languages differ in the manner
in which forms represent functions. In the way we have used the term, language
content includes both formal properties (grammar) and all types of meaning
(notions, functions, social norms for use, etc.)
On
the other hand, topical and thematic approaches to organizing language
instruction appear to be quite holistic, composed as they are stuff which does
not lend itself to being set out in any kind of sequential fashion, based on
criteria of internal organization.
Accuracy and Fluency
Fluency,
on the other hand, has been associated with communicating one’s idea, getting
the meaning across, or in the terms of the dichotomy, using language either
holistically or comprehensively.
Accuracy
process is aspects of language content that are conducive to analysis through
dissection. Holistic process, on the other hand, hold out the promise of
drawing on ways to look at language which are instead based on larger, more
complex systems.
But
it is a mistake to assume that all fluency workouts fail to consider the
systematic properties of language. It is possible to create holistic workouts
which attend to cultural and social norms that are outside the language code,
but which still focus on communicative characteristics of the target language.
Analysis and Use
The
holistic vs. discrete dichotomy appears in the domain of product/out-comes as
the fluctuation between courses which has emphasized analysis and those which
emphasized use, particularly when viewed historically or, as the concept has been personified
recently (Rivers 1981), the dichotomy which exists between the views of
‘formalists’, those who stress knowing the formal properties of language as
proper outcome for learners in a language course, and ‘activist’, those who
stress using language actively.
B. 4.
Reconciling Opposites in The Instructional Plans
Faced with the dilemma of integrating discrete elements or
analyses of language content with holistic, comprehensive use of it, various sequential
plans have been proposed for course designs:
1.
A
holistic approach is adopted with emphasis on thematic, meaningful interaction
which is self-motivating. In addition
to holistic language experiences for the whole group, there are workbooks for use
by individuals which concentrate on grammatical points and specific skills.
2.
A
more structural/notional approach is adopted in the syllabus with emphasis on
the skills that have been selected as most important for the course. To meet
individual needs, other materials are in use in a learning center or a language
laboratory in which there is emphasis on thematic and communicative use of
language.
3.
The
early phase of the course is structural. Later, as learners progress in their
basic acquisition of grammatical competence, they move on to a more holistic
approach, utilizing global language in communicative workouts.
4.
The
course follows a thematic, communicative tone, similar to a language arts
course for native-speaker children. At a later stage, more attention is given
to accuracy and form. In this instance, Gestalt learning comes first and
discrete-point elements are added later.
Which of
these designs seems to be suitable will depend on the particular situation and
the group of students. However, writers who must plan for large numbers of
learners, for example people who write text book series, are faced with serious
questions which, if they are to be successfully answered, require a great deal
of keen intuition, skill, plus a bit of luck at balancing trends in the field
with topical interests and outlooks which will appeal to a maximally general
audience.
B. 5.
Other System, Other Worlds
Are there
additional ways to analyze language that advance the discussion beyond the
issue of the discrete vs. the holistic? Are there other glasses we might try on
through which to perceive things from another perspective? Materials writers
who want to shed the constraints of discrete point analyses, yet who realize
that language content for course design purposes must be based on some kind of
orderly presentation, would do well to look to other fields that study human
language as a communication process.
What are the
complex systems of language which other social have determined? An interesting
trip of the iceberg is mentioned by Morrow (1981:62) regarding ‘information
gaps’, a concept that comes from communication theory. From this source we
realize that our materials might incorporate, through workouts, ways which get
learners to use language holistically by seeking withheld information with
which to successfully accomplish a given task.
Other
suggestions have been made for utilization of language content based on
analyses that are less tied to discreteness since they draw on systemic
characteristics. As already mentioned, from the field of philosophy the
communicative approach has incorporated speech act theory, a way of looking at
categories of language use which relies more on complex relationships than on
discrete elements.
From the field
of ethno methodology have come significant insight into how users employ
language to carry out their everyday, mundane business. For example, ethno
methodology have described how people take turns in conversation, how they
organize their speaking in relation to each other, how they punctuate their
talk through employing tactics for signaling openings and closings, starting
and breaking-off point (Schegloff 1968, Sacks 1972). The starting point for
ethno methodology is not language, per se,
but rather the constructs of sociology: norms, values, roles, interest
coalitions, and the like.
While grappling
with the discrete point vs. holistic dilemma in our work as course designers
and materials writers, we recognize, too, that the questions has a much larger
scope. When we take a moment off to poke out heads outside our own cave, we
note that the issue shows up in many of the disciplines which western science
pursues. From physics to biology to geology, and in other related areas, the
dilemma is a central theoretical issue of recent time. Traditionally, western
science has been largely influenced by a Cartesian view which ‘believed that
complex phenomena could always be understood by reducing them to their basic
building blocks and by looking at the mechanism through which these interacted.
This attitude, known as reductionism, has become so deeply ingrained in our
culture that it has often been identified with the scientific method’ (Capra
1982:47).
Capra goes on to
pint out that ‘in the twentieth century …. the universe is no longer seen as a
machine, made up of a multitude of separate objects, but appears as a
harmonious indivisible whole; a network of dynamic relationships that include
the human observer and his or her consciousness in an essential way.’ Such an
approach to the study of human language might provide course designers a
framework which brings about a synthesis of discrete and holistic views.
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