HBET1503 Principles and Practice of TESL Methodology

HBET1503
PRINCIPLES AND
PRACTICE OF TESL
METHODOLOGY
Assoc Prof Dr Rosli Talif
Assoc Prof Dr Mardziah Hayati Abdullah
Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Project Directors: Prof Dato Dr Mansor Fadzil
Prof Dr Widad Othman
Open University Malaysia
Module Writers: Assoc Prof Dr Rosli Talif

Assoc Prof Dr Mardziah Hayati Abdullah
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Moderator: Assoc Prof Dr Alias Mohd Yatim

Reviewed by: Juraiza A Jamil
Developed by: Centre for Instructional Design and Technology

Printed by: Meteor Doc. Sdn. Bhd.

Lot 47-48, Jalan SR 1/9, Seksyen 9,
Jalan Serdang Raya, Taman Serdang Raya,
43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor Darul Ehsan.
First Edition, January 2004
Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM), October 2011, HBET1503

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the written permission of the President, Open University Malaysia (OUM).

Table of Contents
Course Guides ix xiii
Topic 1 Approaching Curriculum 1

1.1 Defining Curriculum 2
1.2 Defining Syllabus 4
1.2.1 Types of Syllabuses 5
1.3 Curriculum and Syllabus 11
1.4 The Hidden Curriculum 15
1.5 Curriculum as The Boundary Between Formal
and Informal Education 18
1.6 Philosophical Foundations 20
1.7 Curriculum Types 23
Summary 25
Glossary 25
Test 1 29
Test 2 29
Topic 2 Curriculum Development 30

2.1 A Brief History of Curriculum Making 30
2.2 Education in Pre-Independent Malaysia 34
2.3 Curriculum Development in Malaysia 35
2.4 Needs Analysis 38
2.4.1 Goals and Objectives 39
2.5 Implementation of The National Curriculum 41
2.6 Curriculum Evaluation and Review 42
Summary 46
Glossary 46
Test 1 46
Test 2 46
Topic 3 English Language Curriculum 48

3.1 Why Teach English 47
3.2 KBSM: The Original Vs. The Revised Version 48
3.3 The Revised KBSM English: Whats New? 50
3.4 Some Issues in Curriculum Implementation 52
3.5 Creative Thinking Skills 56
3.6 Higher Order Thinking 59
3.7 Comparing Curricula 62
Summary 66
Glossary 66
Test 1 67
Test 2 67

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
Topic 4 Structuralist Approach 68

4.1 Approaches, Methods and Techniques 68
4.2 The Structuralist Approach 70
4.3 Grammar-Translation Method 71
4.4 Audiolingual Method 73
Summary 79
Glossary 80
Test 1 81
Test 2 81
Topic 5 Non-Structuralist Approach 82

5.1 Non-Structuralist Approach 82
5.2 Direct Method 83
5.2.1 Disadvantages of The Direct Method 84
5.3 Suggestopedia 90
5.4 The Silent Way 95
5.5 The Natural Approach 101
5.6 Total Physical Response 104
5.7 Community Language Learning 105
Summary 112
Glossary 113
Test 1 114
Test 2 114
Topic 6 Learner-Centred Approaches 115

6.1 Learner-Centred Approaches 115
6.2 Language Experience Approach 117
6.3 Collaborative and Cooperative Learning 121
6.4 Discovery Learning 125
6.5 Self-Directed Learning 130
6.6 Reflective Learning 136
6.6.1 Benefits of a Reflective Approach
to Learning to Students 140
Summary 142
Glossary 143
Test 1 144
Test 2 144

TABLE OF CONTENTS v
Topic 7 Fundamentals of CALT 145

7.1 The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching:
an Overview 145
7.2 What is Communicative Competence? 146
7.3 Guiding Principles for The Communicative Approach
to Language Teaching 149
7.3.1 Communicative Needs and Areas of Competence 149
7.3.2 Meaningful and Realistic Interactions 150
7.3.3 The Learners Target Language Skill 150
7.3.4 Curriculum Wide Approach 151
7.5 Principles of Communicative Methodology 151
7.6 Activities And Strategies in Calt 155
Summary 156
Glossary 157
Test 1 157
Test 2 157
Topic 8 The Malaysian Communicational Syllabus 158

8.1 The Need for A Communicative Syllabus 159
8.2 Objectives of The Malaysian Communicational Syllabus 159
8.3 Place of The Syllabus in The English Language Curriculum 161
8.4 The Content of The Syllabus 162
8.4.1 The Input-Output Table 162
8.4.2 The List of Learning Areas 164
8.4.3 Examples of Situations and Sample Lesson Plan 164
8.5 Teaching Implications of The Syllabus 166
Summary 167
Glossary 167
Test 1 168
Test 2 168
Topic 9 Issues and Current Trends in CALT 169

9.1 The Role of Grammar in CALT 170
9.1.1 How to Teach Grammar in CALT 171
9.1.2 Guidelines for Teaching Grammar in The
Context of CALT 172
9.2 Uses of Information Technology in CALT 173
9.3 Testing in Calt 175
Summary 178
Glossary 178
Test 1 178
Test 2 178
Answers 179

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

COURSE GUIDE

COURSE GUIDE t ix
COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

You must read this Course Guide carefully from the beginning to the end. It tells
you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through
the course material. It also suggests the amount of time you are likely to spend
in order to complete the course successfully. Please keep on referring to the
Course Guide as you go through the course material as it will help you to clarify
important study components or points that you might miss or overlook.
INTRODUCTION
HBET1503 Principles and Practice of TESL Methodology is one of the courses
offered by the Faculty of Education and Languages, Open University Malaysia.
It comprises 3 credit hours and can be covered in either 8 or 15 weeks. This
is a foundation course in which learners are introduced to various terms and
concepts. These terms and concepts are of utmost importance to would-be
teachers in TESL. They need to know these terms as they would be beneficial
for their teaching career.
COURSE AUDIENCE
This is a compulsory course for all learners of the Bachelor of Education with
Honours (Teaching English as a Second Language) at OUM. Before you begin the
course, please read through the course content, the requirements and how the
course is conducted. You must read this course guide carefully from beginning to
the end.
As an open and distance learner, you should be acquainted with learning

independently and being able to optimise the learning modes and environment
available to you. Before you begin this course, please confirm the course material,
the course requirements and how the course is conducted.
STUDY SCHEDULE
It is a standard OUM practice that learners accumulate 40 study hours for every
credit hour. As such, for a three-credit hour course, you are expected to spend
120 study hours. Table 1 gives an estimation of how the 120 study hours could be
accumulated.

x COURSE GUIDE
Table 1: Estimation of Time Accumulation of Study Hours
Study Activities Study Hours

Briefly go through the course content and participate in
3
initial discussions
Study the module 60
Attend 3 to 5 tutorial sessions 10
Online Participation 12
Revision 15
Assignment(s) and Examination(s) 20
TOTAL STUDY HOURS 120
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
1. Know what is a curriculum and what is a syllabus;

2. Know the various language teaching methodologies;
3. Identify issues and problems in curriculum development;
4. Know the various learner-centred approaches; and
5. Discuss current trends and issues in calt.
COURSE SYNOPSIS
The module Foundations for TESL Methodology is by nature a foundation
course and covers a variety of topics. Specifically the module emphasises
curriculum and syllabus, methods, techniques and approaches to teaching. In
addition, the module also discusses various curriculum and syllabus types,
the structuralist and the non-structuralist methodologies such as the Direct
Method, the Grammar Translation Method, the Total Physical Response,
Suggestopedia and Community Language Learning. Importance of CALT
in language teaching is also given prominence. This course is divided into 9
topics. The synopsis for each topic is presented below:
Topic 1 defines curriculum and curriculum types, syllabus and syllabus types,
curriculum as a boundary between formal and informal education and the
philosophical foundations underlying curriculum and syllabus.

COURSE GUIDE t xi
Topic 2 deals with curriculum development. It begins with a brief history of

curriculum and curriculum development in Malaysia, the implementation of
the national curriculum and discusses the issues and problems encountered in
their implementations.
Topic 3 introduces the English language curriculum, the reason why the
language is taught, the KBSM, old and new versions, issue in curriculum
implementations and the thinking skills.
Topic 4 concerns the structuralist approach. Among the subjects discussed are
the various teaching methodologies, such as the grammar translation method
and the audiolingual method.
Topic 5 deals with the non-structuralist approach. Inclusive are the Direct
Method, Suggestopedia, the Silent Way, the Natural Approach, the Total
Physical Response and the Community Language Learning.
Topic 6 discusses the learner-centred approaches, where teaching/learning

assumes a new role and becomes student-friendly. Topics discussed are
discovery learning, cooperative learning, self-directed learning, reflective
learning and language experience approach.
Topic 7 talks about fundamentals of CALT; it introduces the communicative

approach, its guiding principles, methodology and activities as well as
strategies employed in CALT.
Topic 8 deals with the Malaysian communicational syllabus, its needs,

objectives, content of the syllabus itself and teaching implementations of the
syllabus.
Topic 9, the last topic of the module discusses issues and current trends
in CALT, namely topics like role of grammar, how to teach grammar and
guidelines for grammar teaching using CALT are emphasised.
TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

Before you go through this module, it is important that you note the text
arrangement. Understanding the text arrangement should help you to organise
your study of this course to be more objective and more effective. Generally, the
text arrangement for each topic is as follows:
Learning Outcomes: This section refers to what you should achieve after you
have completely gone through a topic. As you go through each topic, you should

xii COURSE GUIDE
frequently refer to these learning outcomes. By doing this, you can continuously
gauge your progress of digesting the topic.
Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

throughout the module. It is inserted after you have gone through one sub-
section or sometimes a few sub-sections. It usually comes in the form of a
question that may require you to stop your reading and start thinking. When
you come across this component, try to reflect on what you have already gone
through. When you attempt to answer the question prompted, you should be
able to gauge whether you have understood what you have read (clearly, vaguely
or worse you might find out that you had not comprehended or retained the sub-
section(s) that you had just gone through). Most of the time, the answers to the
questions can be found directly from the module itself.
Activity: Like Self-Check, activities are also placed at various locations or

junctures throughout the module. Compared to Self-Check, Activity can appear
in various forms such as questions, short case studies or it may even ask you
to conduct an observation or research. Activity may also ask your opinion and
evaluation on a given scenario. When you come across an Activity, you should
try to widen what you have gathered from the module and introduce it to real
situations. You should engage yourself in higher order thinking where you might
be required to analyse, synthesise and evaluate instead of just having to recall
and define.
Summary: You can find this component at the end of each topic. This component
helps you to recap the whole topic. By going through the summary, you should
be able to gauge your knowledge retention level. Should you find points inside
the summary that you do not fully understand, it would be a good idea for you
to revisit the details from the module.
Key Terms: This component can be found at the end of each topic. You should
go through this component to remind yourself of important terms or jargons
used throughout the module. Should you find terms here that you are not able to
explain, you should look for the terms from the module.
References: References is where a list of relevant and useful textbooks, journals,

articles, electronic contents or sources can be found. This list can appear in a
few locations such as in the Course Guide (at References section), at the end of
every topic or at the back of the module. You are encouraged to read and refer
to the suggested sources to elicit the additional information needed as well as to
enhance your overall understanding of the course.

COURSE GUIDE t xiii
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Learners who have taught in schools before and those who have taken courses
in language teaching methodology will not find this course heavy but helpful.
Prior knowledge in this area will rekindle their old memory and will refresh
whatever knowledge they have on the subject.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Please refer to myVLE.

TOPIC 1 APPROACHING CURRICULUM t 1
Topic Approaching
Curriculum
1
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Clearly distinguish curriculum from syllabus;
2. Differentiate and elaborate on the five curricula specified by Goodlad;
3. Write a clear and short essay on the hidden curriculum with reference
to your teaching experience; and
4. Differentiate and elaborate on the four philosophical foundations
specified by Wiles and Bondi.
XX INTRODUCTION
Topic 1 examines the curriculum theories which curriculum designers must be
familiar with and knowledgeable of, if a sound curriculum is to be designed and
which teachers must appreciate if they are to properly implement the curriculum.

The idea of curriculum is hardly new, but the way we understand and theorise
it has altered over the years and there remains considerable dispute over its
meaning.
In Latin, curriculum means racing chariot; currere means to run. Several

definitions (Richards, 1985; Dubin and Olshtain, 1986; Yalden, 1986; White, 1988;
Nunan, 1988; Johnson, 1989) of the term have been offered but only a few are
worth deliberating on, which we will see in the following sections.

2 TOPIC 1 APPROACHING CURRICULUM
1.1 DEFINING CURRICULUM
SELF-CHECK 1.1
Spend a minute or two consider what you understand by the term

curriculum.
The term curriculum is often used interchangeably with syllabus to signify the
following items.
An instructional plan.
A course of study.
A proposal for action.
The school timetable.
The list of textbooks to be purchased by students at the start of every
academic year.
A certain body of knowledge.
A programme of activities.
An educational proposal for action.
A set of planned learning experience encountered by students.
A set of documents for implementation.
The lack of precision in our everyday use of the term is by no means due to the
lack of effort by curriculum thinkers in coming to conceptual grips with it. If
anything, an over-abundance of definitions have been offered not all of which,
we might add, are in agreement with one another.

Figure 1.1: What is curriculum?
Or is curriculum what Sharifah Noor Puteh (1998) compiled, as shown by the

following.
A functioning instrument of education (Tyler, 1949).
A plan for learning (Taba, 1962).
A set of broad decisions about what to be taught and how it is to be taught,

that determines the general framework within which lessons are planned
and learning takes place (Errant, 1975).
A particular form of specification about the practice of teaching not a

package of materials or a syllabus to be covered. It is a way of translating
any educational idea into a hypothesis testable in practice, [inviting of]
critical testing rather than acceptance (Stenhouse, 1975).
Since it means different things to different people and to different educational

institutions, the meaning of curriculum can be defined as follows:
all the planned learning opportunities offered by the organisation to learners

and the experiences learners encounter when the curriculum is implemented.
These include those activities that educators have devised for learners which are
invariably represented in the form of a written document (Print,1933:9)

1.2 DEFINING SYLLABUS
SELF-CHECK 1.2
Previously, we have looked at the definition of curriculum. Now,

what do you personally understand by syllabus?
Since curriculum and syllabus have been used interchangeably, we feel it

necessary to explain the difference between these two terms.
Etymologically, syllabus means a label or table of contents. The following are

dictionary definitions of syllabus.
The American Heritage Dictionary (2000), defined syllabus as the outline of

a course of study.
The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Summers, 2001:332, 1464),

defined it specifically as the subjects that are taught by a school, college,
etc., or the things that are studied in a particular subject and distinguish
the syllabus as a plan that states exactly what students at a school or college
should learn in a particular subject.
On the other hand, some authors clearly pointed out the differences between
curriculum and syllabus. Figure 1.2 shows the difference between curriculum and
syllabus according to White (1988) and Johnson (1989).
Figure 1.2: Difference between curriculum and syllabus

For White, there seems to be confusion between the two terms since they are used
distinctly in the United States and Britain. He notes that syllabus in the British
sense is similar to what it is called curriculum in the United States.
Without a doubt, if we were to refine the differences, we could say that

curriculum is more comprehensive than the syllabus. A syllabus should contain
an outline, a schedule of topics and many more items of information. This is a
common belief shared by many authors (Krahnke, 1987; Nunan, 1988; White,
1988; Johnson, 1989).
For example, according to Dubin and Olshtain (1986), a curriculum can

generate different syllabuses, determined - among other factors - by
specific needs.
Nunan (1988), on the other hand states that a syllabus is essentially

concerned with the selection and grading of content which might include:
structures;
functions;
notions;
topics;
situations; and
tasks and activities.
As we can see, this specification of a syllabus greatly corresponds to what

we refer to as a course programme in our secondary school education system.
Therefore, by its specific nature, a syllabus implies not only the language content
and its corresponding teaching sequence, but also teacher-student participation
supported by the appropriate resources to successfully achieve the stated
objectives.
1.2.1 Types of Syllabi

Several classifications of syllabi have been worked out (Dunkelman, 1966;EFL
2004). The most popular classifications are into analytic and synthetic syllabi.
J. Wilkins (1976) has made a classic distinction between analytic and synthetic
syllabi which will be further explained in the following paragraphs. Figure 1.3
shows the differences between the synthetic and the analytic syllabi.

Figure 1.3: Classification of syllabuses
(a) Synthetic Syllabus

Synthetic syllabuses include many traditional syllabuses in which the
language learning processes is regarded as a steady accumulation of
linguistic rules arranged in a fixed order. The material is divided into
several parts; each part is taught separately and then accumulated to
acquire the whole structure of the language.
(i) Structural, also called formal or grammatical is defined as a syllabus in

which grammatical structures form the central organising feature. A structural
syllabus proceeds from simple grammatical structure to more complex
grammatical structure (Glossary, 2004). According to A. Jureckov
(1998), this type of syllabus characterises the model of foreign language
teaching at its beginning. It focuses only on one language aspect that is
grammar. The strengths of the structural syllabus are the accessibility
of grammatical material and the generative character of the syllabus.
However, it has failed because there is not much grammar to learn to
set up a syllabus based only on grammar (Skelton and Willis, 1998).
(ii) Notional-functional became recognised during the 1970s. It can be
considered as the most popular alternative to the structural (formal/
grammatical) syllabus because it combines two important elements to
syllabus design:
firstly, a notional or conceptual aspect (time, space, movement, cause and
effect); and

secondly, a functional aspect (intentional or purposive use of language)

(EFL, 2004).

J. Wilkins (1976), describes notional-functional syllabus as a
semantically-based syllabus which identifies the meanings (the notions)
and the communicative acts (the functions). This syllabus was one
of the first syllabi which were based on a communicative teaching/
learning approach. Due to the communication that it involves, notional-
functional syllabus can be considered as a partly analytic one.
(iii) According to J. Skelton and J. Willis (1998), lexical syllabus includes
grammar, expressions of notions and functions but the organizing principle
is lexical. The benefit of lexical syllabus is the fact that it represents
the material (lexis) in an understandable and accessible way but its
drawback is that it can be very long, even several pages per word
because most English words have several meanings.
(iv) Relational syllabus, which was developed in the 1980s, is based
on notional relations such as cause-effect, or discourse relations, such as
question-reply or clause structure (White, 1988:78). This syllabus has not
been very particular because it includes only certain parts of the total
linguistic system.
(v) Skilled-based syllabus can be defined as a specific way of using
language that combines structural and functional ability but existing
independently of specific settings or situations (Ypgor, et. al.,). T. Reilly
(1988), adds that skill-based syllabus combines linguistic competences
(pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc.) and generalised types
of behaviour (socialising, presentations, etc.) The aim of such an
instruction is to learn the specific language skill at the same time
developing professional competence.
(vi) Situational syllabus is not very well known among other syllabi.
According to T. Reilly (1988), the content of language teaching is
formed by real or imaginary situations in which a foreign language is
based. The aim of a situational syllabus is to teach the language that
the learners can come across in different situations. Since it is possible
to set up real-life situations, the situational syllabus promotes students
motivation.
(vii) Topical syllabus uses topics as their units of analysis (EFL, 2004). Many
EFL course books are organised according to these principles but it also
includes a drawback because its use can be quite problematic as it is
difficult to predict what it will contain.

(b) Analytic Syllabus

Analytic syllabuses include a chunk of language that is presented to
the learner in the context of a communicative lesson. The study of
theoretical and methodological literature allows supplementing this list
with relational, natural approach, skill-based, content-based and learner-
centred syllabuses.
(i) Task-based approach has evolved in a response to a better

understanding of the way languages are learnt (Foster, 1999). J. Willis
(1998:1) describes task-based-learning as a communicative language
teaching with a systematic focus on a language form. This allows natural
integration of all skills and encourages in the learner a concern for both
accuracy and fluency
The aim of task-based approach is to compose the language syllabus
that would stimulate real communication in the foreign language. Such
teaching/learning offers a comprehensive exposure to words in use, through
listening and reading and provides opportunities for both spontaneous and
planned speaking and writing (Willis, 1998:1). The task-based learning
framework consists of the following three components:
pre-task (introduction to topic and task);
task cycle, planning and report; and
language focus (analysis and practice).
N. Markee (2000), characterises task-based language syllabus
as a relatively new type of syllabus, which promotes learners
communication in the target language.
(ii) Procedural syllabus, also called communicational syllabus is one of the
latest types of syllabi that focuses on classroom activities that stimulate
internal learning process (Jureckov, 1998). The tasks students do in the
classroom will be carried out later in their life. The procedural syllabus
emerged out of the Bangalore Project in India, which lasted from 1979 to
1984. The project was carried out by Prabhu (1987:89), who considered
that linguistic form is acquired subconsciously while the learner is
focused on meaning.
Procedural syllabus differs from other communicative language
teaching approaches by the fact that the language is taught through
communication not communicatively as in other communicative
language teaching approaches (Markee, 2002).

(iii) Process syllabus was developed at the University of Lancaster where

it was used for teaching ESP. Later, it was used in Europe to teach
English and in Australia to teach migrants (Markee, 2002). Process
syllabus can be described as a quite innovative syllabus as it is largely
based on project work and problem-solving task and activities. In the
process approach, the course materials, content and teaching methods
are negotiated between the teacher and the students, thus ensuring its
innovative nature.
activity 1.1
An ESP syllabus for engineering students may contain the process

syllabus because it is largely based on project work and problem-solving
task. Discuss this with your classmates.
(iv) In the content-based syllabus language is learnt through other subjects

(Glossary, 2004). Thus, the language is no longer the main focus, but
it has the secondary role in the teaching/learning process, giving the
primary role to the information that students acquire in the course.
M.J.L. Marco (2000), admits that content-based syllabus integrates target
language learning and content learning. As it is based on the content
and authentic materials, it takes into account students wishes. The
target benefit of the content-based learning is the use of authentic and
challenging materials, which helps to reach better results and promotes
students motivation. The content-based syllabus allows developing
ESP learners linguistic skills and communicative competence.
(v) Learner-centred syllabus views language acquisition as a process of
acquiring language skills rather than a body of knowledge (Nunan, 1991:21).
Learner-centred syllabus contains the following elements:
Initial planning procedures (needs analysis, goal setting, objective
setting, learner grouping).
Content selecting and gradation.
Methodology (development of teaching aids).
Selection of materials and tasks).
On-going monitoring, assessment and evaluation.
Its aims are to provide learners with efficient learning strategies to fulfil
their aims and to develop self-evaluation skills (Nunan, 1991). The
main difference between a traditional syllabus and a learner-centred
syllabus is that in a learner-centred syllabus, any decision is open to
changes. This means that the content chosen by the students and the
teacher at the beginning of the course can be later changed according to
the learners wishes.
(vi) The natural approach was first developed as a method of foreign
language teaching in USA. Its aim was to meet the adult learners
language learning needs. Now, this approach is considered as a
practical implementation of monitor theory that deals with the
acquisition-learning theories for adults (Markee, 2002). The natural-
approach syllabus focuses on communication; linguistic competence
emerges over a time and stress is on error correction on meaning, not
grammatical form. The drawback of this syllabus is its complex nature.
Another classification for syllabi is along the Type A and Type B syllabi
(White, 1988) as shown in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1: Type A and Type B Syllabuses
Type A Type B
Type A syllabuses focus on content Type B syllabuses focus on an
(what is to be learnt). experiential and natural approach
Synthetic syllabuses are Type A (how it is to be learnt).
syllabuses. Analytic syllabuses are Type B
J.P. Dunkelman (1996), classifies syllabi into two groups as shown in Table 1.2.
Table 1.2: Product-oriented and Process-oriented Syllabuses
Product-oriented Syllabuses Process-oriented Syllabuses

Focus on the knowledge and skills Consist of a specification of tasks and
which learners gain as a result of activities through which learners gain
instruction. knowledge and skills.
Examples include: Examples include:
structural syllabus; and task-based;
notional-functional syllabus. content-based;
situational; and
topical syllabuses.
T. Reilly (1988), stresses the fact that different types of syllabi are usually
combined in more or less integrated ways. One syllabus type is the leading one
around which other types of syllabi are arranged. The main problems are which
types of syllabi to choose and how to connect all the chosen types.

activity 1.2
Situational syllabus can be regarded as the leading one around, which

should act as a yardstick for how other syllabuses should be arranged.
What is your opinion on this?
1.3 CURRICULUM AND SYLLABUS

Although there are conflicting definitions of the terms curriculum and syllabus,
we choose to define curriculum at the level of a whole language programme (i.e.
a six-year English programme of study in the primary school in Malaysia), as
opposed to syllabus which will be considered at the level of an English course
with a duration of one term or year, for example.
A universal definition for syllabus, therefore, seems impractical, since different

educational theories and approaches differ on syllabus goals and functions. What
can be said is that syllabi tend to be representations.
Every syllabus is a particular representation of knowledge and capabilities. And

this representation will be shaped by the designers views concerning the nature
of language, how the language may be the most appropriately taught or presented
to learners and how the language may be productively worked upon during
learning process. (Breen,1987:83).
However, we suggest that the primary purpose of a syllabus is to communicate

to ones students what the course is about, why the course is taught, where it is
going and what will be required of the students for them to complete the course
with a passing grade.
Figure 1.4 provides a list of items of information that might be included in a

syllabus.

Course information
Instructor information
Text, reading materials
Textbooks
Supplementary readings
Information in a Syllabus Materials
Course descriptions / Objectives
Course Calendar / Schedule
Attendance (late for class)
Class participation
Assignments, Projects
Figure 1.4: Items of information in a syllabus
Preparing a good syllabus requires a careful thought and some skill. Figure 1.5
highlights the important points to consider in coming up with a good syllabus.
Judging the amount of time needed for a given topic.
Providing the right amount of background reading.
Considering the best times of the semester for tests and papers are areas that
require careful pedagogical and practical consideration (for example, no exams may
be given during the final week of the semester or during the New Year).
Preparing The teacher who is constantly falling behind in the scheduled work is not doing the
A students a favour; students often see this as an as an indication that they too, can
Good Syllabus fall behind.
Although it is not necessary to be absolutely rigid about sticking to the syllabus,

students appreciate a teacher who is able to organise his or her own and the
students' time effectively.
A teacher must remember at all times that the syllabus is merely a guide, not
something which he or she has to abide or follow blindly.
Figure 1.5: Important points to consider in preparing a good syllabus

Figure 1.6 shows some of the themes cited for a good syllabus.
Figure 1.6: Themes for a good syllabus
Therefore, if one of the main purposes of a syllabus is to communicate to the

students what the course is about, it presumes that we have some idea about
what we think the course should accomplish. Therefore, it is required that we
plan the course.
Consider, as example, the following legal definition of the Malaysian school

curriculum:
The Education Act 1996 and the Education (National Curriculum)

Regulations 1997 define the school curriculum as:
An educational programme that includes curriculum and co-curricular activities
which encompasses all the knowledge, skills, norms, values, cultural elements
and beliefs to help develop a pupil fully with respect to the physical, spiritual,
mental and emotional aspects as well as to inculcate and develop desirable moral
values and to transfer knowledge.
(in Sharifah Nor Puteh, 1998:3)

activity 1.3
In what ways are the above definitions conceptually similar to and/

or different from each other? How do they compare with your own
definition earlier?
It is clear from what we have just discussed that curriculum covers not just the
specification and ordering of course content or input (also conventionally known
as syllabus in the United Kingdom) but everything (from plan and process to
experience) at all levels (individual, community, the nation).
John Goodlad clarified the term curriculum (in McNeil, 1990: 103-4) by dividing
it into the following five groups.
Ideal curriculum: The ideals put forth by a committee set up to examine a
specific curriculum and advise on necessary changes. The actual impact of
the ideal curriculum is contingent upon the adoption and implementation of
the committees recommendations.
Formal curriculum: Officially-approved plans, consisting of a collection
of ideal curricula, a modification of the ideal, or other curriculum policies,
guides, syllabi and sanctioned texts.
Perceived curriculum: What teachers perceive the curriculum to be, which
does not always fully correlate with the formal curriculum.
Operational curriculum: What actually goes on in the classroom, which may
reveal discrepancies between what teachers know about the curriculum and
what they actually do.
Experiential curriculum: What learners get from and think about the
operational curriculum. The assumption here is that learners respond to the
same instruction in unique ways because of their different backgrounds and
life experiences.
Goodlads five-curricula proposition helps us differentiate the many dimensions

of the term curriculum. It reminds us of the fact that there is no fail-proof way to
directly translate the objectives of an educational plan into concrete reality. What
is planned, in other words, does not always commensurate with what is actually
experienced.
references
Read Chapter 5 of Tanner & Tanner (1995). The chapter provides a useful
overview of the changing conceptions of curriculum.
1.4 THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM

In contrast to Goodlads experiential curriculum which learners consciously
experience, there is also what is commonly known as the hidden curriculum (or
collateral curriculum or collateral learning of attitudes), that is, unanticipated
learning outcomes which occur at the level of the untaught which may well be of
long-range importance than the explicit school curriculum (1938:48).
A fairly standard (product) definition of the hidden curriculum was given by Vic
Kelly (1988). He argues it is those things which students learn, because of the way
in which the work of the school is planned and organised but which are not in themselves
overtly included in the planning or even in the consciousness of those responsible for the
school arrangements (p.8).
Specifically, hidden curriculum may be referred to as the unplanned

learning in which meaning are conveyed indirectly by the way
language is used, the interactions that occur in the classroom and
assessment methods.
The hidden curriculum can have negative outcomes where the indirect meanings
conveyed are in conflict with explicit intentions. When taking a strategic approach
to their studies, some students are quick to determine the hidden curriculum. For
example, anything that will be examined is likely to be seen as included in the
curriculum; anything that is not to be examined is considered superfluous and
unlikely to be learned. However, hidden learning is not all negatives and can be
potentially liberating.
In so far as they enable students to develop socially valued knowledge and

skills or to form their own peer groups and subcultures, they may contribute
to personal and collective autonomy and to possible critique and challenge of
existing norms and institutions (Cornbleth, 1990:50).
In this context, social milieu has a role to play in determining the end product
of schooling. By paying attention to milieu, we can begin to get a better grasp
of the impact of structural and socio-cultural process on teachers and students.
As Cornbleth (1990) argues, economic and gender relations, for example, do not
simply bypass the systemic or structural context of curriculum they are mediated by
intervening layers of the education system (p.7).

Educationists sometimes tend to underestimate the power of the hidden

curriculum which, according to Dewey (in Tanner & Tanner, 1995:183-4), may be
and often is much more important than the spelling lessons or lesson in geography or
history that is learned. For instance, within the school environment, students may
unconsciously internalise norms, beliefs, values and assumptions expressed as
rules, rituals and regulations (Seddon in Marsh, 1992:20). They may develop an
inexplicable liking for a subject (for instance, music appreciation or moral studies)
even though the school covertly discourages the pursuit of non-core subjects.
They may be able to enumerate and expound on the characteristics of a good
citizen, but grow to be more racist each day. They may score an A for English
in the final exam and, at the same time, acquire a negative attitude toward the
language without being aware of the underlying reasons. They may take on
the teachers xenophobic attitude toward all things colonial. They may even
develop the said attitude despite the teachers kind attention and best intentions.
At any rate, students are unlikely to progress as far as they would have had they
been positively disposed toward the subject.
The term hidden curriculum, was originally coined by Phillip Jackson in 1968.
It was first used to designate three core features of the socially-complex classroom
life, as shown in Figure 1.7.
Figure 1.7: Three core features of the socially-complex classroom life

However, many more critical perspectives have emerged to shed light on how
the hidden curriculum operates as a form of political control and an agent of
legitimisation, production and reproduction of the values and beliefs of the
hegemonic group.
Bowles and Gentis said that schools reproduce the consciousness necessary
for the maintenance of the capitalist system.
Michael Apple posits that the school is structured in such a way as
to privilege the dominant class and marginalise the poor and the
disadvantaged. The poor and the disadvantaged have access to low-
status curriculum knowledge. However, they are excluded from high-
status (technical) knowledge, which is used as a devise to filter for economic
stratification and future career prospects (March, 1995:21). In addition, says
Apple, the school (re) produces culture in forms which are either accepted (by
career-oriented bourgeoisie) or contested and resisted (by lower classes).
From within the same Marxist tradition, Lynch (1989), argues in her book The
Hidden Curriculum, that inequality is reproduced because schools have a
variety of universalistic (equalising) features (at the level of service provision)
which offsets its (in-egalitarian) particularistic effects (at the level of service
consumption ) (1989:xi).
In Lynchs (1989) conception, schools share a universal set of organisational

features which are identical for all students. Figure 1.8 shows the common
features shared by schools.
Figure 1.8: Common features shared by schools

These universalistic features, hides the schools particularistic features. As

an illustration, the school may follow the common practice of streaming
and banding students. It may do so according to students scholastic ability
with the aim of achieving variability in the type of knowledge distributed to
upper and lower steams.
At a glance, there seems nothing wrong with the streaming and banding since it
allows smarter students to progress uninterruptedly and the slower ones to
learn and catch up at their own pace. Probe a little deeper and we will find that,
in laces where working class are disproportionately over-represented in the lower
streams, the universal practice of streaming actually reproduces existing social
class divisions. Schools, as Lynch (1989), puts it, are a class particularistic in this
ability-grouping (p:31).
activity 1.4
In your opinion, do hidden curriculum elements assume greater

importance in formal or informal learning situations? Why? What are the
implications for teachers (of English)?
references
Read Lynch (1089:1-28). The suggested pages provide a comprehensive

critical reappraisal of reproduction theories by Bowles and Gentis, Apple,
Giroux, Boudieu and others.
1.5 CURRICULUM AS THE BOUNDARY

BETWEEN FORMAL AND INFORMAL
EDUCATION
Jeffs and Smith (1990; 1999), have argued that the notion of curriculum provides a
central dividing line between formal and informal education. They contend that
curriculum theory and practice was formed within the school context and that
there are major problems when it is introduced into informal forms of pedagogy.
The adoption of the curriculum theory and practice by some educators appears
to have arisen from a desire to be clear about content. Yet, there are crucial
difficulties with the notion of curriculum in this context. This centre around the
extent to which it is possible to have a clear idea, in advance (and even during
the process) of the activities and topics that will be involved in a particular piece
of work.
At any one time, outcomes may not be marked by a high degree of specificity.
In a similar way, the nature of the activities used often cannot be predicted. It
may be that we can say something about how the informal educator will work.
However, knowing in advance about broad processes and ethos is not the same
as having knowledge of the programme. We must, thus conclude that approaches
to the curriculum which focuses on objectives and detailed programmes appear
to be incompatible with informal education (Jeffs and Smith, 1990:15).
In other words, they are arguing that a product model of curriculum is not
compatible with the emphasis on process and praxis within informal education.
However, process and praxis models of curriculum also present problems in the
context of informal education. If we were to look back at our models of process
and compare them with the model of informal education presented above, then it
is clear that we can have a similar problem with pre-specification.
One of the key features that differentiate the two is that the curriculum
model has the teacher entering the situation with a proposal for action
which sets out the essential principles and features of the educational
encounter. Informal educators do not have and do not need this element.
They do not enter with a clear proposal for action. Rather, they have an
idea of what makes for human well-being and an appreciation of their
overall role and strategy. They then develop their aims and interventions
in interaction.
Other key difference is context. Even if we were to go the whole state of affairs
and define curriculum as process, there remain substantive problems. As
Cornbleth (1990), and Jeffs and Smith (1990; 1999) have argued, curriculum
cannot be taken out of context and the context in which it was formed was the
school. Curriculum theory and practice only make sense when considered
alongside notions like class, teacher, course, lesson and so on. You only have to
look at language that has been used by our main proponents, Tyler, Stenhouse,
Cornbleth and Grundy, to see this. It is not a concept that stands on its own.
It developed in relation to teaching and within particular organisational
relationships and expectations. Alter the context and the nature of the process
alters. We then need different ways of describing what is going on.
What is being suggested here is that when informal educators take on the
language of curriculum, they are crossing the boundary within their chosen
specific fields and the domain of formal education. This, they need to do from
time to time. There will be formal interludes in their work, appropriate times for
them to mount courses and to discuss content and method in curriculum terms.
Education is something more than schooling. We need not be mislead just how
powerful the idea of schooling is.
activity 1.5
As a teacher of English, do you see the need for a separate curriculum,

one formal and the other informal, in the teaching of the language to your
students? Why?
1.6 PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS

references
Read Wiles and Bondi (1993: Chapter 2) before proceeding. The chapter
explores the roles of philosophy in curriculum planning.
It is hardly surprising hat the curriculum is a site of heavy contestation,

considering the direct and profound impact it has on society. Every curriculum
(more so national curriculum), is directed by a core philosophy which explicitly
or implicitly answers such value-laden questions such as the following.
What is the purpose of education?
What knowledge is of most worth?
What methods of instruction are likely to produce the desired results?
Obviously, not everyone shares the same set of values and convictions. Some
may feel that schools ought to emphasise the memorisation of holy verses and
the Arabic script. They might, like certain ulamas (knowledgeable people in
Islam), perceive worldly subjects like geography and mathematics as a threat
to society and their authoritative position, as was the case when the British
introduced the Malay vernacular school system in Malaya in the latter half of the
nineteenth century (Mok, 2002:5). Some may be of the opinion that mathematics
and science (and all other subjects presently taught in Malaysian schools) should
be instructed entirely in English. Others may utterly reject the suggestion, citing
national integration as a reason.
Wiles and Bondis (1993), classification of four major philosophies in Figure 1.9
is useful in clarifying how critical decisions are made on what schools should be
and do. Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)
Perennialism Idealism
Major Philosophies
Experimentalism Existentialism
Figure 1.9: Four major philosophies
(a) Perennialism
Of the four philosophies, perennialism is the most unpromising.
Education evolves around reason and/or God and is seen as
preparation for life.
Students are treated as passive recipients of unchanging truths and are
taught through highly disciplined drills and behaviour control.
Eternal truths are found in study and sometimes through divine acts.
The teachers role is to interpret and impart knowledge rather than
facilitate learning.
(b) Idealism
Idealism espouses the refined wisdom of men and women.
The function of the school is to sharpen intellectual processes and
present the wisdom of the ages.
Teachers are models of ideal behaviour.
Students are passive participants in the study of things.
Like nature, classrooms are highly ordered and disciplined.
(c) Experimentalism
In the eyes of experimentalists, the eyes are forever changing; reality
is what is actually experienced, truth is what presently functions, and
goodness is what is accepted by public test.
Change is embraced and new ways of improving on society is
continuously sought after.
The experimentalists school emphasises social subjects and experiences.
Learning is conducted through problem-solving.

(d) Existentialism
Existentialists share a concern for the individual and for personal
responsibility. They tend to be suspicious of or hostile to the submersion
of the individual in larger public groups.
In the face of objective uncertainty, truth is subjective, while goodness is
a matter of individual free choice and freedom from external coercion.
The school is where students learn to know themselves and their place
in society, rather than the place where societal beliefs are internalised.
Favoured subjects are those which call for interpretation, including arts,
ethics and philosophy.
The teachers role is to assist students in their personal learning
journeys.
However, the four philosophies delineated by Wiles and Bondi are not strict
categories which educationists must necessarily and exclusively follow. In fact,
neither are they united movements. Many existential philosophers (including
Soren Lierkergard, Jean Paul Sarte and Fiedrich Nietzsche) do not even see
themselves as part of the same group. Notwithstanding, Wiles and Bondis point
remains: any curriculum worth its salt will be informed and directed by an overarching
philosophy which engages with the question of what constitutes its overall strengths.
references
For a good introduction to philosophy, try David Wests An Introduction
to Continental Philosophy (1996) and Nigel Warburtons Philosophy: The
Classics (1998).
activity 1.6
What is your philosophy? Consider the following statements and indicate

how strongly you agree or disagree with them. Then, try to match each
item to one of the five philosophies identified by Wiles and Bondi.
1. Ideal teachers are constant questioners.
2. Schools exist for societal improvement.
3. Teaching should centre on the inquiry technique.
4. Demonstration and recitation are essential components of learning.
5. Students should always be permitted to determine their own rules in
the educational process.
(Adapted from Wiles & Bondi, 1993:48)
1.7 CURRICULUM TYPES

The relation between societal ideals and curriculum is also dealt with at
some length by Mc Neil (1990), who delineates four categories of curriculum
conceptions:
humanistic;
curriculum reconstruction;
academic; and
technological.
The first three are summarised as follows. As you go through the following main
points, try to draw connections between them and the five philosophies discussed
earlier.
(a) The Humanistic Curriculum

The goals of education are related to the ideals of personal growth,
integrity and autonomy.
Students are not seen as empty receptacles waiting for facts to be
poured into them but rather as individuals with potential for self-
actualisation.
Learning has to be made meaningful and the subject matter must be
brought to life by demonstrating its relevance to the students personal
lives.
The curriculum features activities that are exploratory, playful and
spontaneous all of which are vital for innovation and self-renewal.
Emphasis is placed on process instead of product.
The humanistic teacher creates opportunities for the learners to deal
with their affective contents.
(b) The Social Reconstruction Curriculum

Social re-constructionists focus on the relationship between curriculum
and the social, political and economic development of society.
Paulo Freire, a leading social re-constructionist argues that the aim of
education is not to adjust students to the existing social system but to
free them from slavish adherence to it.
The teachers role is to impress upon the student that content is never
neutral and that it is necessary to continually ask in whose favour and
for what reasons do we use our knowledge?
The instructional sequence typically includes identifying problematic

issues, linking issues to institutions in the larger society, relating social
analysis to the ideals students have for the world and for themselves,
and taking some responsibility for realising the ideals.
(c) The Academic Curriculum

The goals of the academic curriculum are to develop rational minds, to
train some students to do research and to establish a residual societal
meaning or tradition.
Academic disciplinarians want students to think like professionals of
specific fields, for instance, as economists, historians, mathematicians
and so forth.
Understanding the disciplines mode of operation is as important as its
conclusions.
Expositions and enquiry are techniques commonly used.
EXERCISE 1.1
The National Philosophy of Education states that:

Education in Malaysia is an ongoing effort towards further developing the
potentials of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner so as to produce
individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced
and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is
designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent,
and who possess high moral standards, and who are responsible and capable of
achieving a high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute
to the betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large. (in CDC,
2001a:5)
1. Should teachers support the educational system and the wider
society within which they are located, or should they critique it? On
what theoretical grounds would you substantiate your answer?
2. It is well-known that colonial policies sought to keep rural Malays

backward and docile. Higher education was made available only
to sons of Malay aristocrats and royalty so that they could later
be absorbed into the Malay Administrative Service. The rest had
to contend with training that only went so far as to their lot as
agriculturists (Cheah, 1996:45).
Tamil-medium plantation schools were worse off. Their role was to
prepare students for manual jobs, serving as they did as an agent

of social control and meeting the manpower needs of the plantation

economy (Marimuthu, 1993).
In your opinion, which educational philosophy underpins the
curriculum of the type of schools mentioned by Cheah and
Marimuthu? How would you go about subverting the curriculum
if you were an English teacher (in one of the schools) who secretly
sympathised with social reconstructionism?
SUMMARY
In this topic, we have looked at various aspects of the all-encompassing

curriculum. As we saw, the concept is far from clear cut; a hidden curriculum
is always present within the formal curriculum. In the following topic, we
will examine how thinkers and specialists go about designing a curriculum
and addressing the issues we have raised.
Academic A type of curriculum which deals solely on academic

matters relating to instruction, teaching and pedagogical
matters.
Content-based In this syllabus, learners are helped to acquire language

through a study of a series of relevant topics; each topic
exploited in systematic ways and from different angles.
Content syllabus gives learners a lot of exposure to the
language where the purpose of instruction is to teach some
content or information using the language that the students
are also learning.
Curriculum A course of study often in a particular field (American

Heritage, 1985: 350). We often refer to the linguistic
curriculum or the science curriculum when describing a
set of lessons within a specific class or form.
Experientialism Experientialism is the epistemological underpinnings

or foundation for many worldviews. The term denotes
experience which may be special of general, private or
available generally. It relates to ones unique experience(s)

that is, subjective experiences that one has had arbitrator or

determiner of truth. Examples of this subjective experience
include but are not limited to, emotions, feelings, intuition
and altered state of consciousness.
Experimentalism It is a kind of curriculum which denotes an\empirical

doctrine that advocates experimental principles. It could
also be an orientation that favours experimentation and
innovation; the children of psychologists are often raised
in an atmosphere of experimentalism.
Formal The content of language teaching is a collection of the

forms and structures, usually grammatical of the language
being taught. Examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives,
statements, questions, subordinate clauses and so on. This
refers to all the planned experiences provided by schools
for their pupils. This mainly involves the teaching of
various subjects (English, Math, Geography, History, etc) as
part of the formal system of learning.
Hidden There are many terms and expressions which relate closely
to the term hidden curriculum, including unwritten
curriculum and null curriculum. This is implied by the
very nature of schools, much of what revolves around daily
or established routines. Examples of hidden curriculum
might include the messages and lessons derived from the
mere organisation of schools the emphasis on: sequential
room arrangements, the cellular, timed segments of formal
instruction; an annual schedule that is still arranged to
accommodate students interest, disciplined messages,
etc. Factors involved in the value of teaching hidden
curriculum include: social acceptability, vulnerability,
safety, anxiety, self-image.
Humanistic A curriculum which emphasises subjects or topics which is

humane in nature; more societal or human friendly, that is,
topics specifically chosen to instill a sense of place in the
world, derived from examining compelling expressions of
the human experience. It is, in fact, a curriculum for ethics
and humanities.
Ideal An effective syllabus design is a characteristic of quality

teaching. Good teachers typically have a clearly thought-
out course plan and they communicate that plan to students
through a clear and detailed syllabus. So, there is no single
ideal syllabus. A syllabus will be ideal only if what has

been transplanted have been delivered and achieved. An
ideal curriculum is a curriculum that is consistent with the
outcomes we expect for our students. It is achievable and
commensurate with what has been predicted. It should
be competencybased and the competencies should be
evaluated. The curriculum should be organised to support
a certain mission and it should encourage active learning
and should be student-centred.
Learner-centred A syllabus which looks at learners in every aspect: that

is learner-friendly and learner-focused syllabus. To be
learning-centred is to consider how each and every aspect
of your course can most effectively support student learning
. Your syllabus can be an important point of interaction
between you and your students, both in and out of class.
An effective learning syllabus should accomplish the
following basic goals: define student responsibilities,
define tutor role(s) and responsibilities to students, provide
a clear statement of intended goals and student outcomes,
establish standards and procedures for evaluation, establish
pattern of communication between tutor and students.
Lexical A lexical syllabus can be derived from a detailed analysis

of a carefully selected corpus of language of the target
discourse community. A lexical syllabus includes grammar,
expressions of notions and functions, and an inventory
of words with their collocations, meanings and typical
patterns.
Natural approach A syllabus which looks at things/subjects in a natural

setting. What to be taught and what not to be taught
depends on the nature of things.
Operational A syllabus which is used at a given moment; that is, it is in

operation. The outcome may or may not be achievable. The
curriculum which is functional at a given period of time.
It comprises subjects/ things/ topics planned and to be
implemented.
Perceived A curriculum perceived or seen in certain respects, how

one looks at it; ones beliefs, value system, agreement
or disagreement. Questions often asked are like What
should be taught? Whats the situation? What are the perceived
goals? Whom does it concern? What do they propose?
As with curriculum, this type of syllabus perceives

things or looks at things along certain categories, either
positive or negative; there are areas for improvement,
recommendations for improving the behaviours etc.
Procedural Also known as task-based, Prabhu (1979). In this syllabus,

the question concerning what? becomes subordinate to
the question concerning How? The focus shifts from the
linguistic element to the pedagogical with an emphasis on
learning and learner. With such a framework, the selection,
ordering and grading of content is no longer wholly
significant for the syllabus designer.
Process A syllabus that is largely based on project work, task or

activities and can be, to some extent, negotiated by the
learners. In some cases learners are encouraged to choose
for themselves, albeit wit guidance, which pathways
to follow through banks of activities and materials,
motivated by their own interest.
Skills-based It is a kind of syllabus which lists the skills and micro-skills

to be practiced. The content of the language teaching is a
collection of specific abilities that may play a part in using
language. Skills are things that people must be able to do
to be competent in a language, relatively independently
of the situation or setting in which the language use can
occur.
Social This type of curriculum features social studies programme.

It compliments the academic curriculum and helps
maintain a healthy social and learning environment.
An integral part of the social curriculum is fostering
interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Interpersonal
skills are defined as the ability to work with others and
develop friendships through communication, cooperation,
negotiation, sharing, emphasising and integrity.
Intrapersonal skills are defined as the ability to understand
personal emotions and to use that understanding to
develop self-discipline and self-control.
Syllabus Etymologically syllabus means a label or table of

contents. A course syllabus is summary of the course. An
American Heritage Dictionary defines syllabus as outline
course of study. It usually contains specific information
about the course; information on how to contact the
instructor, an outline of what to be covered in the course

for the duration of the semester , a document stating
the expected learning outcomes, including the goals,
objectives, concepts, skills and understanding of a given
subject and so forth.
Task-based The content of teaching is a series of complex and

purposeful tasks that the student wants or needs to
perform with the language they are learning. The tasks
are defined as activities with a purpose other than
language learning, but as in a content-based syllabus, the
performance of the tasks is approached in a way that is
intended to develop second language ability. Language
learning is subordinate to task performance and language
teaching occurs only as the need arises during performance
of a given task. Tasks integrate language (and other) skills
in specific settings of language use.
test 1
What is curriculum? Are they planning endeavours which take place prior to
instruction? Is it a whole language programme of study? State your stand.
test 2
What is a syllabus? How does it differ from curriculum? What should a syllabus
contain? What are the different types of syllabus?

Topic Curriculum
Development
2
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Identify the key features of the schools of thought discussed;
2. Illustrate answers to Tylers four fundamental questions;
3. Analyse similarities and differences between the curriculum
development processes adopted by the Curriculum Development
Centre of Ministry of Education Malaysia and the Tylers model; and
4. Discuss the issues and problems faced in curriculum development
implementation.
XX INTRODUCTION
Is curriculum development an art or a science? How does one go about
developing one for the school or more arduously, the nation? This topic examines
the history of curriculum thought and practice, the process involved and some
issues and problems inherent in the field.
2.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF CURRICULUM

MAKING
In Topic 1, we have explored the various definitions of curriculum, curriculum
philosophical foundations and types. In this topic, let us now overview the
history of curriculum thought and practice in general, as well as in the Malaysian
context. There are several good reasons for undertaking this action. As scholars
like McNeil (1990) and Marsh (1992), have pointed out, studies of curriculum
history has value because they:

TOPIC 2 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT t 31
help identify the same problems with which others have been and are still
struggling;
provide insights into the processes of curriculum making;
help us make decisions about the present and inform our future goals; and
enable us to better appreciate current models of curriculum.
By the late nineteenth century, with the advent of industrial modernity, western
Europe and the US were in the process of creating a new division of labour and a
uniform school-transmitted culture so as to allow the workforce to communicate
competently (Gellner, 1988: 36). In the field of education, the period was marked
by struggles between different interest groups over what ought to be taught
in schools. The following are some of the major schools of thought, derived
primarily from McNeil (1990) and Tyler (1949):
(a) Herbartism
(i) Herbartism is founded upon the pedagogical theories of Johann
Herbart, and is defined as a rationalized set of philosophical and
psychological ideas applied to instructional method (McNeil, 1990: 371).
(ii) The assumption was that only large, connected units of subject matter
were able to arouse and maintain a childs interest and attention.
(iii) It stressed the doctrine of concentration (the minds immersion in
one interest to the exclusion of everything else) and the doctrine of
correlation (the ability to see interrelations between different subjects).
(iv) Followers of Herbartism believed that moral action was the highest
educational goal and that education should prepare a person for life
with the highest ideals of culture.
(b) Deweys School

(i) John Dewey disagreed with Herbartisms emphasis on the teaching
of societal values which does not take into consideration the students
individuality. He proposed instead a paradigm in which the learner
becomes the link between knowledge and conduct.
(ii) The goal of the curriculum was not limited to the acquisition of
specialised knowledge. What was more important was that the latter
became a tool for understanding and ordering experience.
(c) Bobbitts Scientism

(i) Franklin Bobbitt is the author of The Curriculum (1918), the first formal
textbook on curriculum as a specialised area of study.
(ii) Bobbitt argued that school systems could operate more efficiently and
economically if they borrowed the principles of scientific management.
32 TOPIC 2 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
(iii) He argued that professional agreement on a method of discovery was

more important than agreement on the details of curriculum content.
(d) Tylers Rationale

(i) In his lucidly-written book Basic Principles of Curriculum Making (1949),
Ralph Tyler proposed his famous model of curriculum building which
today continues to be used by curriculum specialists.
(ii) The model is commonly referred to as the means-end model (also
known as objectives and rational) because of its emphasis on the
systematic working-out of valid and workable educational objectives.
As Tyler stressed, if an educational program is to be planned and if efforts
for continued improvements are to be made, it is very necessary to have some
conception of the goals that are being aimed at (Tyler, 1949: 3).
(iii) Tyler proposed that four fundamental questions be answered in
developing any curriculum or plan of instruction, as shown in Figure
2.1.
Figure 2.1: Tylers four fundamental questions (1949: 1)
The selection of educational objectives should be guided not just

by one source but many. He suggested that curriculum makers
first study the learners themselves, that is, identify needed changes
in behavior patterns of the students which the educational institution
should seek to produce (1949: 6).
Studies of contemporary life outside the school should also be
undertaken in order to identify the validity of particular items of
knowledge or particular skills and abilities.
Subject specialists should be consulted. The questions to ask here

are What can your subject contribute to the education of young people
who are not [necessarily] going to be specialists in your field; what can
your subject contribute to the layman, the garden variety of citizen?
(1949: 26).
The use of philosophy in selected objectives is unavoidable.
The educational and social philosophy to which the school is
committed can serve as the first screen (34). As Tyler illustrated,
If the school believes that its primary function is to teach people to
adjust to society, it will strongly emphasize obedience to the present
authorities, loyalty to the present forms and traditions, skills in
carrying on the present techniques of life; whereas if it emphasizes
the revolutionary function of the school it will be more concerned
with critical analysis, ability to meet new problems, independence
and self-direction, freedom, and self-discipline (36).
Lastly, Tyler proposed the use of a psychology of learning in
selecting objectives. This, he argued, should be used as a second
screen through which educational ends be passed. Unless these
ends are in conformity with conditions intrinsic in learning, they are
worthless as educational goals, he wrote (37-8).
Educational objectives are to be attained through the active
behaviour of the student. In other words, what the student learns
is more important than what the teacher does.
On organisation, Tyler suggested that learning experiences be built
upon earlier activities, and that there should be an interrelating or
integrating of experiences across subjects.
Evaluation is an important part of curriculum because it is a
way of finding out how far the learning experiences as developed and
organized are actually producing the desired results (105). It involves
identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the plans.
Tylers rationale for curriculum-making is not failproof. For
instance, no explicit guidelines are provided on why certain
objectives should be chosen over others. Furthermore, it
overlooks how information collected from needs analysis is
never not biased.
activity 2.1
In what ways are the key ideas of the schools of thought discussed earlier
relevant to education in Malaysia? In your opinion, why is it important for
teachers to reflect on this?

references
For an in-depth discussion on curriculum history and its turning points,
read McNeil (1990:Chapter 14), Tyler (1949) and Tanner and Tanner (1995:
Part 1).
activity 2.2
Identify the key features of the schools of thought which were discussed
previously, as well as others you may have come across in your readings.
Which of them are still relevant and being debated today?
2.2 Education in Pre-Independent

Malaysia
Self-Check 2.1
How do you think education in pre-independent Malaysia was like?
To a large extent, the radical transformations of education in Malaysia resulted

from its collision with colonial modernity. In pre-colonial Malaysia, education
in the Malay community was informal and religion-oriented. Children were
taught Arabic words and script so that they could read and memorise lines from
the Quran. Subsequently, with the arrival of colonial Britain in the nineteenth
century, the Malay vernacular schooling system was introduced, along with such
subjects as reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, and geography. The system
was initially regarded with suspicion by parents who were reluctant to let their
children attend the vernacular school. They doubted the value of the new system,
especially since Quranic studies were not part of the curriculum. It was not until
A.M. Skinnner revamped the system and introduced the said subject that Malay
vernacular schools started gaining community acceptance (Mok, 2002: 6-7).
At around the same time, Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools were established.
The former, mostly set up and maintained by the Chinese community itself,
concentrated on subjects like Chinese classics, history, geography, mathematics,
art and physical education. Certain schools received funding from the Chinese
government which had then hoped to capture the support of overseas Chinese.
The British authorities adopted a liberal policy towards the setting up of Chinese
schools until some schools were found spreading anti-British sentiments. In 1920,
regulations were put in place to curb potential subversive activities.
Of the vernacular schools, Tamil (or plantation schools) were the smallest and
poorest in the entire educational system. According to Marimuthu (1993: 469),
they were an educational as well as economic cul-de-sac, as they prepared pupils for
nothing other than manual jobs. Instead of trained teachers, kangany (foremen),
dispensers, conductors, clerks and even labourers were left in charge of the
school for a few hours in the day. Indian parents who were status dissenters and
those from an urban middle-class background took full advantage of the English
schools in town.
In Malaysia, the first English school set up with British supervision and financial
backing was Penang Free School (1816). Similar free (i.e., open to all ethnic
groups, not fees-free) followed. They include Raffles Institution (Singapore),
Malacca Free School, Victoria School (Kuala Lumpur) and King Edward VII
(Taiping). In comparison to other vernacular schools, English-medium schools
(both government-funded and private) had the lowest enrolment rate. It was not
that there was no interest in what English schools offered. As Mok explains, one
of the reasons had to do with the fact that the schools were located in urban areas
a factor which deterred those from out of town from enrolling.
2.3 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

IN MALAYSIA
references
Read Chapter 3 of Wiles and Bondi (1993) before proceeding. The chapter
covers the basic tasks of curriculum development. Then, as you read the
following section on curriculum development in Malaysia, try to draw
connections between the two.
Malaysias centralised education system has its origins in the Educational Act of
1961 which incorporated recommendations of the Razak Report (1956) and the
Rahman Talib Report (1960). The Act empowered the Ministry of Education to
make decisions on all policies related to education. By the late 1960s, there was
a growing recognition that apart from the content to be learned, other aspects of the
curriculum, such as teaching methods and learning materials, were also equally important
if one was to improve on the programmes in schools (Sharifah Maimunah, 1991:
233). One of the concrete results of that realisation was the establishment of the
Curriculum Development Centre (CDC; Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum) in
1973.
Today, CDC undertakes most of the curriculum development activities in the

Ministry of Education. The following are its original functions:
(a) to identify national needs and aspirations and apply them as a basis for
curricular specifications;
(b) to conduct research and to plan and develop curricular programmes for
continuous, systematic and qualitative development in education;
(c) to develop and produce curriculum materials such as syllabuses, teachers
guide, pupil learning materials, evaluation instruments, audio-visual aids
and prototype equipment for teaching and learning;
(d) to disseminate information on curricular innovations and practices to
teachers in schools and others in the community;
(e) to organise in-service courses to communicate innovation, changes and
revisions so that teachers will be able to implement them effectively in the
class; and
(f) to conduct surveys and analyses of significant trends and development in
curricular specifications and teaching practices (Sharifah Maimunah, 1991:
233).
In carrying out its activities, CDC consults with various agencies at the national
and state levels, as well as with professional bodies and stakeholders. However,
decisions related to curriculum matters at the national level ultimately rests
with the Central Curriculum Committee. Chaired by the Director General of
Education, the Committee comprises heads of all professional divisions and
certain administrative divisions of the Ministry of Education (MOE), selected
State Education Directors and Deans of the faculties of education of local
universities. In addition, there is the Educational Planning Committee whose
approval is required when significant financial implications are involved. Figure
2.2 illustrates the parties involved in curriculum development processes.

Figure 2.2: Flowchart of curriculum development process in Malaysia

Source: CDC, 2001b: 10
As explained in the CDC National Report (2001b) for the International Bureau
of Education, CDCs current process of curriculum development is based
on a cyclical model beginning with a needs analysis, followed by planning,
development, piloting, dissemination and implementation, evaluation and then
back to the identification of needs, as shown in Figure 2.3.
The cycle is not a smooth flow, the Report qualifies. In practice, there is a lot of
back and forth in between the stages (2001b: 24). For instance, a draft curriculum
may need to be referred back to the Central Curriculum Committee a second or third time
for consideration when problems in its specification become apparent as a result of detailed
work (Sharifah Maimunah, 1991: 236).

Figure 2.3: Curriculum cycle

Source: CDC, 2001b: 25
2.4 NEEDS ANALYSIS
Self-Check 2.2
Based on your experience as a teacher, what do you think are your

students needs?
Needs analysis appears in the first stage of the curriculum process. An important
question we should ask here is: Whose needs are we talking about, the students
particular want or those set up by society? Obviously both, since on the one hand,
the demands in the labour market determined by local employers should be
established by society and on the other, the students specific needs are also
evident in furthering higher education.

There seems to be a consensus among local employers, teachers and students that
our foreign or second language teaching programmes in secondary schools seem
to be divorced from societal needs. To have more solid evidence, it is imperative
to devise a set of surveys aimed at gathering information about:
(a) job openings and the corresponding requirements in the field of foreign/
second languages;
(b) the opinions of secondary school students who are involved in foreign/
second languages in their activities;
(c) the opinions of the teachers working in the field of foreign languages; and
(d) secondary school students who want to further their education.
In short, needs analysis implies gathering data from various sources to find out,
for example, the sort of language skills employers look for in secondary school
students, the activities they are expected to carry out in the foreign language,
the type of situations in which learners will be using it and the skills needed for
further education.
2.4.1 Goals and Objectives

Goals for foreign language learning differ among nations according to the needs
of the population to communicate in another tongue. In Malaysia, the people feel
the need to study a foreign language for a variety of reasons. The Curriculum
Development Centre uses the terms aims instead of goals to signify the same
thing. In the United States, for example, the population does not seem to have a
strong motivation to learn a foreign language because it is their economic power
that sets the conditions for other nations to learn English.
Brown (1995:21), explains that goals are general statements about what
must be accomplished in order to attain and satisfy students needs.
The process for which goals are divided among smaller units and applied
to an instruction programme is known as the setting of objectives.
Objectives specify precisely what the learner should be able to do after
a unit or period of instruction. They may be defined with reference to a
unit of work within a course or to a course as a whole, and they serve to
present the aims of the course in a form that can be taught, observed and
tested.

Whereas, the goals of a course in spoken English might be described simply, as

to teach basic conversational skills, the corresponding objectives would specify
precisely what those basic conversational skills should include.
There is, in many foreign-language teaching programmes, a sort of universal

goal, which is the development of the four basic skills, namely:
understanding;
speaking;
reading; and
writing.
The teachers task is to help the students achieve those general objectives by
separating them into specific behaviours that are observable and measurable.
If we read the objectives the foreign language learning objectives issued by

the Ministry of Education to our secondary schools, we will find that we have
to develop in our students the ability to understand and produce the spoken
language, understand written material and write correctly in the target language.
Though these objectives are dealt with (though not attained) in most of the
schools, the reality shows that in some of them, the general objective is to develop
one of the four basic skills or a combination of two or three of them.
Since we are talking about foreign language teaching within an educational

setting, we then need to devise a set of goals along this approach. Some of the
educational goals for the teaching of English, for example, should be:
(a) to develop the skill of using English for purposes of communication;
(b) to develop the learners understanding of a foreign culture;
(c) to stimulate the necessary attitudes for further education;
(d) to motivate the learning of other subjects though English; and
(e) to develop language skills as a means to technological advancement.
In order to know what are the activities to engage in to fulfill the major goals, it is
advisable to break them down into specific objectives. Then, if we were to focus
on the first goal, we may see that a set of objectives are derived from it.
Objective framing means the formulation of a set of instructional

objectives that we expect to achieve at the end of a teaching period. Not
only could they be stated in the order of natural acquisition, but also
taking into account an order of priority of the objectives within a course.

For example, if the main goal of a course lays phases on the development of the
ability to read in English without neglecting other skills, then we will frame the
corresponding objectives as shown in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.4: Stating objectives according to the order of priority
activity 2.3
What is the purpose of a needs analysis? What follows needs analysis in

the process of curriculum development?
2.5 Implementation of the National

Curriculum
The National Curriculum is implemented in the decentralised mode. Curriculum
implementation activities (e.g., the new KBSM to be implemented progressively
starting 2002, as will be discussed in Topic 3) are generally carried out
concurrently on all levels, as Figure 2.5 illustrates.

Figure 2.5: Curriculum implementation process

Source: CDC, 2001a: 19
2.6 CURRICULUM EVALUATION AND

REVIEW
Another important element that we need to deal with is evaluation. Evaluation
is present in every stage of the curriculum element. The most appropriate
interpretation is that evaluation is not only considered summative, but also and
primarily formative so that changes can be made during the process.
According to Johnson (1989:223), evaluation is the systematic collection and

analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a
curriculum and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the participants
attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved.
Since we are dealing with all the possible elements (the curriculum included)
which affect foreign language, evaluation will be concerned with the results of
the whole, which is usually called product or summative evaluation. It will also
be related to each of the elements proposed in the model, which is known as
process formative evaluation.
Summative evaluation will serve to make final suggestions and changes at the
end of the teaching planning, after determining whether the goals have been
attained. On the other end, the purpose of formative evaluation is to provide
information that may be used as the basis for future planning and action. It is formative
since it aims to strengthen and improve the curriculum. (Rea-Dickins and Germaine,
1992:26).
Although both kinds of evaluation are important to the model proposed, we

prefer to think in terms of process evaluation since the feedback seems to be
more effective during the process than at the end of it. In addition, feedback offers
more opportunities for immediate remedial action, avoiding the tribulations of
going through the whole process before effective changes can take place. At the
levels of goals, objectives, syllabus and methodology, we may say that intuition
and experience, backed up by research, indicates that the immediacy of the action
is more effective for the elements participating in the process.
In Malaysian school setting, although there are no formal arrangements in place

for the evaluation of curriculum implementation in schools, feedback is usually
reported by the School Inspectorate and State/District Education Departments
(CDC, 2001a:27). MOE occasionally commissions local universities to carry out
evaluation studies, while CDC conducts evaluation studies from time to time on
specific aspects of the national curriculum. Results from formative evaluation
are used by CDC to revise and improve the implementation of a curriculum.
Findings from summative evaluation are used to decide whether to continue/
modify or terminate a particular curriculum.

Figure 2.6: Curriculum review process

Source: Adapted from CDC, 2001b: 47
activity 2.3
As a teacher of English, what do you think are some of the educational

goals for the teaching of English in Malaysia?
2.7 Issues and Problems in Curriculum

Development and Implementation
As you would no doubt have experienced in the course of your teaching career,
curriculum (as a process) is neither straightforward nor unproblematic. Some
of the issues and problems identified in Sharifah Maimunah (1991) and CDC
National Reports (2001a, 2001b) are related to:
(a) The Politics of Curriculum Development

Given the political nature of curriculum decisions, it is no surprise that CDC
should at times find itself in a dilemma over choosing what is appropriate
in terms of curriculum scope. As education matters to everybody, there is

always demand and sometimes pressure from interest groups to include

many things in the curriculum. Some of these demands may not concur with
national priorities and classroom limitations.
(b) Curriculum Developers Level of Expertise

Curriculum development demands specialised skills that are not acquired
overnight but cumulatively, through years of experience in the classroom.
It demands sound knowledge of curriculum theory and learning theories.
It requires expansive knowledge of world events. Furthermore, it calls
for a sense of alertness to scenarios that have implications on the school
curriculum. Not everyone involved in curriculum development have these
prerequisites (CDC, 2001b: 19).
(c) The Dissonance between Intentions and Outcomes

A common problem facing centrally-prepared curriculum is the lack of
congruity between intended educational objectives and those realised during
implementation. Key causal factors which have been identified include:
(i) Weaknesses in the dissemination strategy
(e.g.: insufficient time allocated to train teachers before the curriculums
introduction).
(ii) Varied interpretations of the curriculum concept and philosophy
(e.g.: ambiguity over the meaning of integration in KBSM).
(iii) The advocacy of teaching-learning strategies that are unfamiliar and
not readily grasped by teachers
(e.g.: group-work in KBSM turning into a reorganisation of seating
plans).
(iv) Difficulties in accomodating differing school environments
(e.g.: wealthy urban schools against schools in remote areas).
(v) Problems with support mechanisms necessary for the curriculums
sustenance.
(e.g.: weaknesses in in-service courses; the cascade system of training
key personnel to train their subordinates ends up diluting the
message);
(vi) Teachers attitude. It has been found that Most teachers prefer traditional
approaches despite having been exposed to new curricular concepts and
student-centred teaching approaches (CDC, 2001b: 50). To some teachers,
change equals the unlearning of new skills, equals additional work.
(vii) Overdependence on commercially produced materials which may not
be suitable to students ability.

(viii) School constraints. For various reasons, teachers are sometimes

assigned by their headmasters to teach subjects in which they have
not been trained. Due to their lack of knowledge and skills in teaching
those subjects, they may not be able to teach effectively.
(ix) Overemphasis on examination results. As a result of pressures from the
headmaster and parent concerned with test scores, teachers may find
him/herself directed by the examination formats rather than by the
curriculum specifications.
(x) Large classes hamper effective group work and teaching.
SUMMARY
It is not necessary to memorise by rote the steps required in curriculum

development. What is important is for you to have a clear understanding of
what is involved, and what issues and problems are inherent in the process.
Towards this end, revise this topic as many times as necessary.
Dissemination To disseminate information or knowledge means to distribute

it so that it reaches many people or organisations.
Dissenters Dissenters are people who say that they do agree with
something that other people agree with or that is official
policy.
Dissonance Dissonance is a lack of agreement or harmony between things.
test 1
As a teacher of English, what do you think are some of the educational goals for
the teaching of English in Malaysia?
test 2
State Tylers four fundamental questions pertaining to curriculum development

and planning, and relate them to the teaching of English in Malaysia.

TOPIC 3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM t 47
Topic English
Language
3 Curriculum
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain on the difference between goals, aims and of objectives of
teaching English in Malaysia;
2. Enumerate on the five innovations of the revised KBSM;
3. Enumerate on the three new features of the revised KBSM English;
and
4. Analyse several key differences between the revised KBSM English,
Singapores English syllabus and the ACT English language
framework.
XX INTRODUCTION
Building on the curriculum theories, practice and issues explored in the first
two topics, Topic 3 examines (English Language) curriculum development and
implementation in Malaysia. Emphasis is placed on the revised KBSM English
which was implemented in 2002.
3.1 WHY TEACH ENGLISH
SELF-CHECK 3.1
What do you think constitures English Language learning?

48 TOPIC 3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
references
Read Brown (1995:Chapter 1), before proceeding. Chapter 1 gives an

overview of language curriculum.
Just as the National Philosophy of Education informs the way in which

curriculum specialists go about developing a national curriculum, your
expectations of language learning will provide a focus for what should be studied,
along with a rationale of how that content should be selected and ordered (McKay, in
Brown, 1995:7).
As illustration, if the ultimate goal of learning a foreign language is to read its

literature or to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that results
from foreign language study (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:5), you will make your
students work on meticulous translations and on memorising words found in
the reading texts used. That approach is known as the Grammar-Translation
Method.
If the desired goal is communicative competence, then you might take the
Communicative Approach. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which
will be discussed in a subsequent topic, advocates interaction (group and pair
discussion, role play, simulations and so forth) in the classroom.
3.2 KBSM: THE ORIGINAL VS.

THE REVISED VERSION
The new KBSM curriculum was implemented in stages nationwide in 2002.
Figure 3.1 shows the changes to be seen in the revised national curriculum,
according to CDC (2001b:44).

Figure 3.1: Changes in the revised National Curriculum
A CDC National Report, Analysis of the National Curriculum for Basic Education
(2001a: 37), explains that the basis for the revised curriculum took into
consideration the following factors:
Factors Considered in Revised Curriculum
National Development
Individual Development
(economy, unity, science and
(human/personal, citizenship).
technology, socio-cultural, K-economy).
Learning Theories (multiple intelligences,

The National Philosophy of Education
emotional intelligence, mastery learning,
(life-long learning, integrated
contextual learning, constructivism)
and holistic development)
UNESCOs four pillars of learning

(learning to know, learning to do, learning to be
and learning to live together)
Figure 3.2: Factors considered in revising the curriculum
activity 3.1
Has information on the revised KBSM been disseminated to you and your
colleagues? Skills-wise, are you prepared to implement the curriculum?
How do you feel about the proposed innovations? Are they new to you,
or are they perhaps already being implemented in your school?
3.3 The Revised KBSM English:

Whats New?
The revision of KBSM has not left English untouched. Differences between the
old and the revised KBSM English are obvious even from a quick scan of the
stated aims and objectives:
Sukatan Pelajaran KBSM Bahasa Inggeris

Original Revised
Aims The syllabus aims to build upon The syllabus aims to extend learners
and extend the proficiency of the English language proficiency in order
students from the primary schools, to meet their needs to use English
so as to equip them with the skills in everyday life, for knowledge
and knowledge of English to acquisition, and for future workplace
communicate in certain everyday needs.
activities and certain job situations; (CDC, 2000: 3)
and also to provide points of take-
off for various post secondary
school needs.
(CDC, 1987: 2)
Objectives At the end of the secondary school The English language curriculum
English Language Programme, the enables learners to:
students should be able to: 1. form and maintain relationships
1. listen to and understand spoken through conversation and
English in the school and in real correspondence; take part in
life situatiopns; social interaction; and interact to
2. speak effectively on a variety of obtain goods and services.
topics; 2. obtain, process and use
3. read and understand prose information from various audio
and poetry for information and visual and print sources; and
enjoyment; and present the information in
4. write effectively for different spoken and written form;
purposes. 3. listen to, view, read and respond
(CDC, 1987: 2) to different texts, and express
ideas, opinions, thoughts and
feelings imaginatively and
creatively in spoken and written
form; and
4. show an awareness and
appreciation of moral values and
love towards the nation.
(CDC, 2000: 3)

From the extracts mentioned, it is clear that English under the revised KBSM
has expanded in function and gained greater recognition as a global and an ICT
language. Students are not just expected to be able to use the language in certain
everyday activities and certain job situations. They should now be able to use it in
everyday life, for knowledge acquisition and future workplace needs.
In addition, objective specifications in the revised KBSM English are phrased

differently, emphasising learning outcomes (the ability to do things with
language, e.g., interact to obtain goods and services) instead of the four
isolated language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), as in the original
curriculum.
A small literature component comprising poetry and prose (novels, short stories)
has also been added, giving students exposure to works by R.L. Stephenson
(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), W.B. Yeats (The Lake Isle of Innisfree) and K.S. Maniam
(The Return).
New Features in the Revised KBSM English
Has expand in Emphasis on As a literature

function. Should be learning outcomes. component.
used in evry day life Students should Comprising poetry
for all purposes be able to use the and prose.
language effectively.
Figure 3.3: Revised features of KBSM English

The following extract illustrates the content organisation of the revised KBSM
English.
KBSM ENGLISH
(Revised for 2002 onwards)
Curriculum Content
I. Learning Outcomes
1.0 Language Use for Interpersonal Purposes
2.0 Language Use for Informational Purposes
3.0 Language Use for Aesthetic Purposes
II. Language Content
1.0 Grammar
2.0 The Sound System
3.0 The Word List
4.0 Literature Component
III. Educational Emphases
1.0 Thinking Skills
2.0 Learning How to Learn Skills
3.0 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Skills
4.0 Values and Citizenship
5.0 Multiple Intelligences
6.0 Knowledge Acquisition
7.0 Preparation for the Real World
activity 3.2
Examine the aims and objectives of the old and the revised KBSM
English curriculum. How are they different from one another in terms of
scope and emphases?
3.4 SOME ISSUES IN CURRICULUM

IMPLEMENTATION
It is encouraging that thinking skills are finally receiving formal recognition in
Malaysias educational system and that literature is being employed as one of
the means of inculcating thoughtfulness in students. However, the following
questions need to be answered.

Are teachers and students able and prepared to engage in higher order
thinking?
Can critical thinking be taught in a political climate where controversial
ideas are seen as seditious by the law?
Here, we need to point out that critical thinking, once described as one of the
most abused educational terms, is neither the same as everyday thinking nor as
natural as walking.
By Newmans (in Wilen, 1998:55) definition, critical thinking is what

occurs when a person must interpret, analyse or manipulate information,
because a question to be answered or a problem to be solved cannot be done
through the routine application of previously learned information. It demands
self-reflexivity and the willingness to interrogate the foundations of
ones cherished and most sacred beliefs. An enquiring mind is needed
so that questions are asked. The quantity and quality of questions asked
are, according to Hunkins (in Wilen, 1998: 56), the most distinguishing
characteristics of the productive thinker.
In order to elicit specific responses from the students, a teacher may consider
whether he or she is asking closed or open questions. A close question is one
in which there are a limited number of acceptable answers, most of which
will usually be anticipated by the instructor. An open question is one in which
there are many acceptable answers, most of which will not be anticipated by
the teacher. Higher order questions tend to be open and encourage divergent
thinking. Questions which bring about ideas or opinions that would trigger
further questions and some more answers and which are of the following types:
(a) Application Questions

These questions ask students to apply essential knowledge to new settings
and contexts. For example:
(i) How could you apply these grammar and usage principles to your essay?
(ii) How could you demonstrate the use of this concept?
(iii) How would you illustrate this process in action?
(iv) What can you generalise from these facts?
(b) Analytical Questions

These questions ask students to dissect key information and analyse
essential concept themes and processes. For example:
(i) How are these characters alike and different?
(ii) What is an analogy that might represent this situation?

(iii) How could you classify these literary works?
(iv) What are the major elements that comprise this sequence of events?
(v) What are the major causes of this situation?
(c) Synthesis Questions

These questions require students to formulate a holistic summary of key
ideas, make references or create new scenarios. For example:
(i) What would you hypothesise about these unusual events?
(ii) What do you infer from her statements?
(iii) Based upon these facts, what predictions would you make?
(iv) How do you imagine the spaceship would look?
(v) What do you estimate will be the costs for the project?
(vi) How might you invent a solution to this ecological problems?
(d) Interpretive Questions

These are open-ended questions that require students to formulate opinions
in response to ideas presented in a print or non-print (e.g., art work, audio-
visual) medium. Students must support their opinions with direct textual
evidence. For example:
(i) What does Frost mean when he says: I have miles to go before I sleep!
(ii) Why does the photographer emphasise only his subjects eyes?
(e) Evaluative Questions

These questions require students to formulate and justify judgments and
criticisms based upon clearly-articulated evaluative criteria. For example:
(i) Why did you decide to choose that course of action?
(ii) How would you rank these choices?
(iii) How might you defend that characters actions?
(iv) How would you verify that conclusion?
(v) What is your critique of that work of art?
To get in-depth discussions on the preceding type of questions, you can surf the
following website:
http://www.pgcps.pg.k12.md.us/~elc/isquestion2.html
It would be a challenge to the students if we are able to link these kinds of

questions to the classroom situations and take note of the following:
Are they being challenged to make meaning rather than remember the
meaning of others?
Are they encouraged to learn for the sake of learning facts, or to pass
examinations?
Do the following interview comments of an English teacher speak to you?
Many teachers teach what is being tested - that is something that cannot be
reputed by any teachers, educationists or parents in Malaysia. The people
here are very exam-oriented. When the test was based on objective questions,
teachers taught only using the Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) format.
Workbooks were full of exercises using MCQ. All classroom assignments
followed the test format. And because the 1322 format did not emphasise
writing, teachers too did not teach writing skills. Students did not know how to
construct sentences or use punctuation. You cant blame the teachers-they have
a lot of work and parents and the ministry want results so the easiest way out
would be to teach exactly what is tested (in Khatija Mohamed Tahir, 1997: 83).
We all want our students to do well in exams so of course I gear my teaching

toward getting them to pass the exams. In my case, my Form Five students use a
workbook for Paper 1 the comprehension paper. Theres no time to prepare my
own materials for comprehension, so I just use a workbook. In fact, Im glad we
can use workbooks - otherwise . .. another thing is the essay my students really
arent ready for that. They can hardly write nor correct sentence, so can we
expect them to write a 350 word essay? They cant write proper sentences, they
cant spell, they cant punctuate correctly. And suddenly we are testing them.
(in Khatija Mohamed Tahir, 1997: 75)
activity 3.3
In your own words, what challenges and obstacles do you personally

anticipate when implementing the revised KBSM English curriculum?
How would you address them?
3.5 CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS
SELF-CHECK 3.2
As a teacher, how would you encourage creative thinking among

your students? Ponder on the classroom activities which may encourage
this.
Creative thinking is essential and must be taught. Recent findings of cognitive

research provide a better understanding of how people learn and how they solve
problems, from which new teaching strategies are emerging. The ability to think
creatively, make decisions, solve problems, visualise, reason, analyse, interpret
and know how to learn these are the skills which are most often mentioned in
definitions of critical thinking.
Figure 3.4 highlights the characteristics of critical thinking according to Lee (1989).
Figure 3.4: Characteristics of critical thinking
This is actually a list that resembles many descriptions of the desirable qualities
of the future work force. As the nature of work changes and people live and
work longer, it is clear that the skills needed for a 40 to 50 year work life are
the capacities to learn continuously through thinking and reasoning, problem-
solving, decision-making and interpersonal competence. These skills are not only
critical to work; they are also needed to deal with the increasing complex spheres
of family, community and society.
Thomas (1992), identifies three types of cognitive strategies which are useful and
essential in developing thinking skills and they are as follows.
(a) Information Processing Strategy
Information processing explains how the mind takes in information.
(b) Knowledge Structure Strategy
Knowledge structure depicts how knowledge is represented and organised
in the mind.
(c) Social History Strategy
Social history explains the vital role of cultural context in the development
of individual thinking.
Figure 3.5 indicates teachers behaviours which promote cognitive development

(Calupa, 1992; Lee, 1989; Thomas, 1992).
Figure 3.5: Teachers behaviours which promote cognitive development

Figure 3.6 indicates certain characteristics of classroom environments which can

assist in the development of creative as well as higher order thinking according
to (Stasz et. al 1990; Thomas, 1992).
Figure 3.6: Characteristics of classroom environments which

can assist creative and higher order thinking
Assessing the achievement of creative and higher order thinking skills is a

challenge because the qualities of learners thinking and knowledge must be
observed, not just their results of products (Thomas, 1992). Assessing right and
wrong answer approaches to testing are clearly inadequate. In fact, assessment
rather than testing is recommended (Thomas, 1992). Existing methods such as
true/false, multiple choices and essay writing can be adapted by having students
indicate why an answer is false, asking how two things are similar or different, or
requiring evaluation or critique (Chalupa, 1992). Scoring can involve giving credit
for reasoning (Heyman and Daly, 1992).

3.6 HIGHER ORDER THINKING

Higher order thinking, like ordinary walking, is a natural performance we all
pick up. However, good thinking, like running the 100 meter dash, is a technical
performance. Sprinters have to be taught how to run the 100-meter dash; good
finishing is the result of good thinking, which includes much practice. Students
can answer low level questions without thinking and they enter or exit classrooms
with no more understanding of what they have learned. However, if teachers
were to put forward a variety of probing questions and with enough time given
to students to respond and with the use of higher order activities (for example,
cooperative learning; critique of others process, products, activities or ideas;
laboratory activities), teachers might be able to obtain the required responses.
It is important to develop higher order thinking skills for our students. In our
increasingly complex and specialised society, it is becoming more imperative that
individuals are capable of thinking divergently and creatively. It is also important
that individuals see the relationships between seemingly diverse concepts.
Current brain research also indicates that there are neurological differences
for learning and thinking differences among individuals. Some of the most
creative and influential thinkers of out time (Einstein, Churchill, Rockefeller,
Da vinci, etc.) have had characteristics of learning differences, including
difficulty in completing simple, repetitive activities.
The ability to construct lessons which include higher order questioning is

catching up among our classroom teaching-learning situations, and teachers
are beginning to see their importance in encouraging students to participate in
classroom activities.
Teachers can foster higher order thinking in the classroom by setting a classroom
environment and activities which are conducive to high-level thinking. For
example, such activities include:
multi-level materials;
flexible grouping;
accept and celebrate diversity;
print-rich environment;
high expectations; and
teacher as co-learner and nurture risk-taking.

Those activities which may be regarded as high-level may be as follows.

Collaborative group activities in which students can communicate with
others in a variety of ways.
Problem-solving activities that require more than routine calculations.
Open-ended activities with more than one right answer.
Activities which accommodate multiple intelligences.
Activities in which both genders participate freely.
Figure 3.7 shows the different types of thinking that comes under higher order
thinking.
Figure 3.7: Higher order thinking
Critical thinking is convergent thinking and it assesses the worth and validity
of something in existence. This type of thinking involves precise, persistent and
objective analysis. When teachers try to get several learners to think convergently,
they actually try to help develop a common understanding. Creative thinking, on
the other hand, is divergent thinking. It generates something new or different. It
involves having a different idea that works as well or better than previous ideas.
Figure 3.8 shows the difference between convergent thinking and divergent
thinking.

Figure 3.8: Convergent thinking vs divergent thinking
Inductive and deductive thinking are in the opposite poles as shown in Figure
3.9.
Figure 3.9: Inductive thinking vs deductive thinking
Finally, close and open type questions, which were discussed earlier, may be
grouped in the higher order thinking types. Close questions are questions asked
by teachers that have predictable responses. These types of questions almost
always require factual recall rather than higher levels of thinking. Open question
types are questions that do not have predictable answers, but they almost always
require higher order thinking.
Thinking activities need to be planned and scaffold. Students need to be

aware that they are thinking (meta-cognition), and that different strategies
are required for different problems.

3.7 COMPARING CURRICULA

It is important for professional teachers to not only know the national curriculum
they are teaching, but to also get acquainted with the curricula used in other
countries. By doing so, they will be able to locate themselves within a global
picture of language teaching.
You can download the following document files from the Internet.
1. English Language Curriculum Framework (Department of Education and
Training, Australia Capital Territory) at:
http://www.decs.act.gov.au/pulicat/pdf/fore d.pdf
2. English Language Syllabus 2001 for primary and secondary school (Ministry
of Education, Singapore )at:
htpp://www1. moe.edu.sg/syllabuses/doc/English.pdfnotes
Note:The files to be downloaded are saved in PDF format. To open and read
them, you will need Acrobat Reader, a free software from Adobe which can be
downloaded at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
If the above links are inaccessible, you can go to myLMS to download the
PDF files.
activity 3.4
Skim through the two curriculum documents to get their general

impression. Then study the aims, objectives and learning outcomes of the
three curricula: Singapores English syllabus, the ACT (Australia) English
Language Framework and the newly revised KBSM English (Sections
of the first two are reproduced below). What are their similarities and
differences in terms of scope and emphases?
Needless to say, you will have to peruse the curriculum documents
thoroughly in order to draw accurate comparisons. Nonetheless it should
be immediately obvious that the aims, objectives and learning outcomes
of the three curricula vary quite significantly in terms of specificity.

English Language Syllabus for Primary and Secondary School

(Ministry of Education Singapore: 2001)
Aims of the Syllabus
At the end of their primary and secondary education, pupils will be able to
communicate effectively in English. They will be able to:
1. listen to, read and view with understanding, accuracy and critical
appreciation, a wide range of fictionn and non-fiction texts from print non-
print and electronic sources.
2. speak, write and make presentations in internationally acceptable English*
that is grammatical, fluent and appropriate for purpose, audience, context
and culture. At higher levels of proficiency, pupils will speak and write for
academic purposes and creative expression, using language that is inventive
and imaginative.
3. think through, interpret and evaluate fiction and non-fiction texts from print
and electronic sources to analyse how language is used to evoke responses and
construct meaning; how information is presented; and how different modes of
presentation create impact.
4. interact effectively with people from their own or different cultures.
* Internationally acceptable English that is grammatical, fluent and appropriate for

purpose, audience, context and culture refers to the formal register of English
used in different parts of the world, that is, standard English.

English Language Syllabus for Primary and Secondary School

(Ministry of Education Singapore: 2001)
Learning Outcomes by the end of Secondary Four S/E or Secondary Five
N(A)
Pupils will be able to:
1. respond to a variety of texts and demonstrate a positive attitude towards
reading and language;
2. listen for information from a variety of sources;
3. speak fluently and expressively on range of topics;
4. present and develop ideas effectively in speech/writing for a variety of
purposes and audiences;
5. write legibly, coherently and cohesively for different purposes and audiences;
6. demonstrate knowledge about language and text types from print/nonprint/
electronic sources;
7. use reading strategies to construct meaning;
8. listen to/read/view a variety of texts and demonstrate understanding of
content in oral or written form;
9. listen to/read/view a variety of texts and demonstrate in oral or written form
the ability to acquire and use knowledge for a variety of purposes; and
10. interact effectively with people from own or different culture(s)/religion(s).
Interact effectively with people from own or different culture(s)/religion(s).

ACT English Language Curriculum Framework (Department of

Education and Training, Australian Capital Territory, Australia)
Broad Outcomes
In the English Language curriculum, students learn language, learn through
Language and learn about language in order to be literate people able to:
1. be enthusiastic and discriminating users of spoken, written and visual
language;
2. speak, listen, read, view and write with purpose, effect and confidence
in a wide range of contexts to meet their own needs and the varying
demands of a changing society;
3. understand the ways in which language varies according to
sociocultural and situational context, purpose, audience and content,
and the ability to apply this knowledge when speaking, listening,
reading, viewing and writing;
4. be independent, responsible, active learners of spoken, written and
visual language, able to make decisions about their own language
learning strategies and aware of their own progress;
5. use a variety of suitable strategies to compose and comprehend texts,
experience texts, and creatively and imaginatively respond to a wide
range of texts;
6. discuss and analyse spoken, written and visual texts and language
critically and with appreciation;
7. demonstrate a knowledge of the ways in which textual interpretation
and understanding may vary according to cultural, social and
personal differences and the capacity to develop reasoned arguments
about interpretation and meaning;
8. understand linguistic structures and features and effectively use them
when speaking, listening, reading, viewing and writing for different
purposes; and
9. recognise the connections between language and power and the
relevance of this to dominant and marginal groups in society.
EXERCISE 3.1
How would you incorporate the innovations of the revised KBSM

English into your actual teaching?

SUMMARY
This topic discusses KBSMs English language curriculum. It visited the

old version and compares it with the current one used in schools. The
importance in teaching the language is highlighted. Other aspects discussed
include issues in curriculum implimentation, creative thinking skills and
higher order thinking. Comparison between various forms and kinds of
curricula are also made to find issues of commonality between them.
Cognitive Development of the mental processes involved in

development understanding and knowing things.
Convergent It is a type of thinking which processes information

thinking cognitively around a common point, attempting to
bring thoughts from different directions into a union or
common conclusion.

Creative thinking The ability to think creatively means the ability to
make decisions, solve problems, visualise, reasoning,
analysing, interpreting and knowing how to learn.
Creative thinking is divergent thinking which generates
something new or different.
Critical thinking The kind of thought processes which persevere, problem

orientate, open-mindedness, independence, flexible
and ability to transfer knowledge. Critical thinking
is convergent thinking and it assesses the worth and
validity of something in existence.
Deductive It is the process of reasoning which moves from the

thinking whole to its parts, namely from generalising to
underlying concepts to examples.
Divergent This type of thinking starts from a common point and it

thinking moves outward into a variety of perspectives. When
fostering divergent thinking, teachers use the content as
a vehicle to prompt diverse or unique thinking among
students rather than a common view.

Higher order The thought processes which enable learners to think,

thinking reflect, collaborate, encourage and respond well above
ones common viewpoints. This type of thinking
includes critical, creative, convergent, divergent,
inductive, deductive, close and open question types.

Inductive thinking It is the process of reasoning from parts to the whole.
test 1
What is the relationship between thought and action? Do we think before we

act or vice versa? How is critical thinking related to our action and can they be
taught to our school children? State your stand and cite examples.
test 2
As a teacher, how would you encourage higher order thinking among secondary
school students? Do the kind of activities or questions currently used by teachers
contribute to the development of those skills? Elaborate.

68 TOPIC 4 STRUCTURALIST APPROACH
Topic Structuralist
Approach
4
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Explain the relationship between approaches, methods and techniques;
2. State the basic principles of the Structural Approach;
3. Describe the features of the 2 methods of teaching; and
4. Analyse the strengths or shortcomings of each method.
XX INTRODUCTION
This topic begins by providing a definition of the terms approach, method and
technique as they are used in language teaching. It then states the basic tenets
of the Structural Approach, followed by a description of two language-teaching
methods based on this Approach.
4.1 APPROACHES, METHODS AND

TECHNIQUES
Language teaching came into its own as a profession in the last century.
Central to this phenomenon was the emergence of the concept of methods of
language teaching. The method concept in language teaching the notion of a
systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and
language learning - is a powerful one and the quest for a better method was a
preoccupation of teachers and applied linguists throughout the 20th century.
Howatts (1984), overview of the changes of practice in language teaching
throughout history and the notion of methods was studied in great length.

TOPIC 4 STRUCTURALIST APPROACH t 69
Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001), have also studied in great length the concept
of language teaching methodology. According to Rodgers (2001:1), methodology
in language teaching has been characterised in a variety of ways. A more or
less classical formulation suggests that methodology is that which links theory
and practice. Theory statements would include theories of what language is
and how language is learned, or more specifically, theories of second language
acquisition. Such theories are linked to various design features of language
instruction. According to Rodgers (2001), these design features might include
stated objectives, syllabus specifications, types of activities, roles of teachers, learners,
materials and so forth. Design features in turn are linked to actual teaching and
learning practices as observed in the environments where language teaching and
learning take place. This whole complex of elements defines language teaching
methodology.
Rodgers (2001), stated that within methodology itself a distinction is often

made between methods and approaches, in which methods are held to be fixed
teaching systems within prescribed techniques and practices, whereas approaches
represent language teaching philosophies that can be interpreted and applied in
a variety of different ways in the classroom. This distinction is probably most
usefully seen as defining a continuum of entities ranging from highly prescribed
methods to loosely described approaches.
Specifies principles in language teaching that are drawn

APPROACH from theories about the nature of language and language
learning.
A broad plan for presenting language material, based on a

METHOD particular approach.
A particular procedure or activity used to accomplish a

TECHNIQUE particular objective.
Based on these definitions, the relationship between approach, method and

technique may be represented diagrammatically as shown in Figure 4.1.

Approach
Method A Method B
Technique 1 Technique 2 Technique 1 Technique 2
Figure 4.1: Relationship between approach, method and technique
This topic, as well as the following topic of this subject, will provide a brief survey
of language learning approaches and methods that have been or are currently in
use. It is up to you, the teachers, to consider the merits or disadvantages of each
approach and decide what is best to be used with your students.
Self-Check 4.1
Based on your experience, what do you think is the difference between
approaches, methods and techniques in language teaching?
4.2 THE STRUCTURALIST APPROACH

There are two principles to which the Structuralist Approach holds:
(a) This approach sees language as a complex of grammatical rules, and

language learning as the acquisition of language forms, which are to be
learned one at a time in a set sequence. Hence, a typical syllabus based on
this approach would advocate that the Simple Present Tense be taught before
the Present Continuous Tense, on the assumption that the former is easier to
learn than the latter.
(b) The approach attends to structure and form more than meaning; thus,
grammatical accuracy is important, and errors are not tolerated. Hence drills
that present target structures in the target language are used extensively
for practice in this approach. This is due to the assumption that repetitive
practice helps learners remember language forms and patterns necessary for
the successful production of target structures.
Two methods that fall under the category of this approach will be focused on in the
next section. The two methods are the Grammar-Translation and Audio-Lingual.

4.3 GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD

The grammar-translation method started around the time of Erasmus (1466-
1536), which required learners to develop the ability to read classical literary texts
in Greek and Latin. It gathered momentum and strengths in the 19th century
as a traditional approach. Its primary focus is on the memorisation of word
paradigms, grammar rules and vocabulary. Application of this knowledge was
directed on translation of literary texts focusing on students appreciation of the
target languages literature as well as teaching the language. It is hoped that the
study of the grammar of the target language is able to aid the students in coming
more familiarwith the grammar of malive language. Thus will become a better
speaker and writer in retive language. (Lansen Freeman, 2003) Activities utilised
in todays classrooms include:
questions that follow a reading passage;
translating literary passages from one language to another;
memorising grammar rules; and
memorising native language equivalents of target language vocabulary.
Specifically, this method is modelled on the teaching of the classical languages

which underlines the notion and claims that studying (learning) modern
languages can have the same or comparable educational value as studying
(learning) the classical ones and to capitalise on the knowledge of the classical
languages that learners of modern languages tend to have. The aim of this
method is to understand the grammar of the language studied; to understand the
structure of language, i.e. the way in which the language is organised; to develop
the mind by rational thinking (about language) and to read and understand the
classical authors; to understand the reasons for their eminence; and to benefit from
the ideas and values expressed by them. A teachers role is very traditional, as an
authority in the classroom who supllies answers to errors made by the students.

In simple terms, the method involves:

Materials (that is the language input) were mainly done in written
format.
Classroom language is the mother tongue as the medium of
instruction.
Main learning technique and classroom activity was translation
(predominantly out of, to a lesser extent into, the foreign language).
Main skill practiced is translation and was used extensively as
translation exercises.
Explicit study of grammatical rules.
Detailed analysis of the written form of the target language, especially
its grammar.
Little or no attention paid to speaking or listening skills. Students
work on reading an writing skills.
Learning of vocabulary from word lists in two languages.
Figure 4.2 and 4.3 present the assumption underlying this method, an example
of a technique employed, and the shortcomings of the method.
This method assumes that language consists of words that

exist in isolation, that words are individual bricks that can
Assumption be translated one by one into their foreign equivalents,
and then used to build sentences according to grammatical
rules in the target language. Learners thus have to practice
translating material in both languages.
Readings in the target language are translated directly and

then discussed in the native language. Thus, grammar is
taught with extensive explanations in the native language,
Technique and very little teaching is done in the target language.
Grammatical rules are later applied in the production of
sentences through translation from one language to the
other. Students are assumed to have learnt the language if
they can translate the texts well. Thus, the students were
almost exclusively tested on translation.
Figure 4.2: Assumption and a technique of the Structural Approach

Gives pupils the wrong idea of what language is and of

the relationship between languages. Language is seen as
a collection or words that are isolated and independent,
and it is assumed that there must be a corresponding
word in the native tongue for each foreign word.
Erroneously assumes that language is only acquired
through translation skills.
Focuses almost exclusively on the translation of written
Shortcomings
texts and sacrifices oral skills.
Students are not given an opportunity to produce their
own sentences or develop their own style.
There is often little contextualization of grammar,
although the passages may provide some context.
The classroom experience generally does not support
a personal relationship between the learner and the
target language.
The extensive correction of errors required in this
method can also discourage students.
Figure 4.3: Shortcomings of the Structural Approach
In spite of these shortcomings, the approach may appeal to students who respond
well to rules, structure and correction. The grammar-translation method can
provide a challenge for such learners. For those students who do not respond
well to a strong focus on structures, however, the grammar-translation method
must be used alongside other methods.
4.4 AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD
Self-Check 4.2
What do you think does the audiolingual method refer to?
It is worth considering for a moment what goes on in

the typical language learning classroom. Do you ever ask
your students to repeat phrases of whole sentences, for
example? Do you drill the pronunciation and intonation
of utterances? Do you ever use drills? What about choral
drilling? Question and answer? If the answer to any of
these questions is yes, then consciously or unconsciously, you are using

techniques that are features of the audiolingual approach.
This method has its root in the USA during WW II, when there was a pressing
need to train key personnel quickly and effectively in foreign language skills.
The results of the Army Specialized Training Program are generally regarded to
have been very successful, with the caveat that the learners were in small groups
and were highly motivated, which undoubtedly contributed to the success of the
approach.
The approach was theoretically underpinned by structural linguistics, a

movement in linguistics that focused on the phonemic, morphological and
syntactic systems underlying the grammar of a given language, rather than,
according to traditional categories of Latin grammar. As such, it was held that
learning a language involved mastering the building blocks of the language and
learning rules by which these basic elements are combined from the level of
sound to the level of sentence. The audiolingual approach was also based on the
behaviourist theory of learning, which held that language, like other aspects of
human activity, is a form of behaviour.
In the behaviourist view, language is elicited by a stimulus and that stimulus

triggers a response. The response in turn then produces some kind of
reinforcement, which if positive, encourages the repetition of the responses in
the future, or if negative, its suppression. When transposed to the classroom,
this gives us the classic pattern drill-model:
She went to the cinema yesterday.

Stimulus: Theatre.
Response: She went to the theatre yesterday.
Reinforcement: Good!
In its purest form, audiolingualism aims to promote mechanical habit formation

through repetition of basic patterns. Accurate manipulation of structure leads to
eventual fluency. Spoken language comes before written language. Dialogues
and drills are central to the approach. Accurate pronunciation and control of
structure are paramount.
While some of this might seem amusingly rigid in these enlightened times, it
is worth reflecting on actual classroom practice and noticing when activities
occur that can be said to have their basis in the audiolingual approach. Most
teachers will at some point require learners to repeat examples of grammatical
structures in context with a number of aims in mind: stress, rhythm, intonation,

consolidating the structure, enabling learners to use the structure accurately
through repetition, etc. Question and answer in open class or closed pairs to
practice a particular form can also be argued to have its basis in the audiolingual
approach, as can without doubt, any kind of drill.
A teacher in the classroom is a model of the target language who can easily be
mimicked by the students. She directs and guids the language behaviour of her
students. (Larsen-Freeman, 2003)
Although the audiolingual approach in its purest form has many weaknesses
(notably the difficulty of transferring learnt patterns to real communication), to
dismiss the audiolingual approach as an outmoded method of the 1960s is to
ignore the reality of current classroom practice which is based on more than 2000
years of collective wisdom.
Phonemes
Morphemes
Language Words
Structures
Sentence Types
Figure 4.4: Structural organisation of language
Linguists held the view that language samples could be exhaustively described at
any structural level of description (phonetic, phonemic, morphological, etc.), and
language elements were thought of as being linearly produced in a rule-governed
(structured) way.
Another important tenet of structural linguistics was that the primary medium
of language is oral. It was argued that language is primarily what is spoken and
only secondarily what is written. Therefore, it was assumed that speech should
be given priority in language teaching.
At the same time that structures were given importance, a prominent school
of American psychology - known as behavioural psychology - saw learning
as a process of habit or behaviour formation that occurred through the use of
external reinforcement. Proponents of this theory, such as B.F. Skinner, believed
that learners habits or behaviours could be formed by training them to give
conditioned responses to selected stimuli. The formation of these habits or
behaviours is dependent upon three crucial elements in learning:
a stimulus, which serves to elicit behaviour;
a response triggered by a stimulus; and
a reinforcement or reward, which serves to tell the learner that the response
is appropriate, thus encouraging the repetition of the response in the future.
Reinforcement is an important element in the learning process because it

increases the probability that the behaviour will occur again and eventually
becomes a habit. An important figure in behavioural psychology is B.F. Skinner.
According to this theory, learning is not a mental process, but a mechanical one.
Thus, learners are expected to learn by making connections between selected
stimuli and desired responses. Conditioning the desired responses depended
upon providing immediate and appropriate reinforcement. Students are to
respond actively and your role as a teacher is to reinforce the correct response.
Thus, the Audio-Lingual Method is characterised by the following features

shown in Table 4.1.
Table 4.1: Features of the Audio-Lingual Method
Features Shortcomings (if any)

Language learning is learning structures, It has been suggested that the sequences
sounds, or words. Structures are may be contrived and not reflective of the
sequenced, and taught one at a time. The natural order of acquisition.
sequence of units is determined solely
by principles of linguistic complexity.
Language items are not necessarily
contextualised.
Learners depend on mimicry, Learners may not be able to communicate
memorisation of set phrases, and over- effectively in an actual situation if it
learning. Structural patterns are taught involves phrases they are not familiar with.
using repetitive drills. Communicative
activities only come after a long process
of rigid drills and exercises.
There is little or no explicit grammatical Some teachers feel that if students are left
explanation; learners are supposed to to infer on their own, they may end up
infer grammatical rules. with wrong grammatical rules.
Skills are sequenced in this order: This is easy for teachers to follow, but in
listening, speaking, reading, writing. real life, the skills are often developed at
the same time.
Great importance is attached to An over-emphasis on native-like
pronounciation, with special attention pronunciation may cause teachers and
being paid to intonation. Native- learners to disregard meaning.
speaker-like pronounciation is sought.
Vocabulary is strictly limited and In real language situations, we are not
learned in context. restricted to learning only particular
vocabulary.
There is much use of tapes, language
labs, and visual aids.
There is an extended pre-reading period
at the beginning of the course.
The cultural background of the target
language is stressed.
Some use of the mother tongue by This constraint placed on learners may
teachers is permitted, but learners are seem artificial and unnecessary to some
not allowed to use it at all. teachers.
There is a great effort to prevent student A focus on errors can be discouraging to
errors. learners.
Successful responses are immediately
reinforced through praise or other
forms of reward.
There is a tendency to manipulate Language use is not contextualised.
language and disregard content.
An example of a technique used in this method is as follows:
Learners are exposed to short dialogues in the target language that they have to
listen to and practice orally. Here is an example of a dialogue that is presented to
learners:
Suzie : Good morning, Ali.

Ali : Good morning, Suzie.
Suzie : How are you?
Ali : Im fine, thanks. And you?
Suzie : Fine. Where are you going?
Ali : Im going to the market.
Suzie : Im going there too. Shall we go together?
Ali : Sure. Lets go.

Procedure
1. The teacher presents the dialogue (introduction).
2. Students listen to the dialogue again (motivation).
3. Students listen and repeat (practice).
4. Teacher takes the students through a backward build-up drill (expansion
drill).
Example: Im going to the market.
Teacher : market
Student : market
Teacher : to the market
Student : to the market
Teacher : going to the market
Student : going to the market
Teacher : Im going to the market
Student : Im going to the market
5. Students repeat the target pattern several times (more practice).

6. Role play (using the same dialogue) between two parties: e.g.
Teacher Students
Girls Boys
7. Select two students to perform the entire dialogue.
8. Chain drill (simple communication drill)
Teacher to Student #1: Good morning, Zali.
Zali: Good morning, Teacher.
Teacher: How are you?
Zali: Im fine, thank you.
Zali to Student #2: Good morning, Swee Lin.
Student #2 to Student #3, Student #3 to Student #4, etc.
9. Substitution drills (using tables).

Parts of a sentence are substituted with different words, and students read the
possible combinations, e.g.,
Im going to the market

walking post office
driving bookshop
office
activity 4.1
Based on your understanding, explain the relationship between

approaches, methods and techniques.
We have reached to the end of this topic. It is hoped that you have understood
the two methods described. Attempt the following exercise to check your
understanding.
EXERCISE 4.1
What do you see to be the possible strengths of the Audio-Lingual

Method that might make you consider using in your ESL classroom?
SUMMARY
A language learning or teaching approach is a way of looking at language

instruction that considers beliefs about:
the nature of language and
language learning.
A method is a plan for teaching based on a particular approach. It
determines how lessons will be designed and the design in turn determines
the learning objectives and the actual pedagogical techniques or learning
activities for achieving those objectives.
This topic introduced two methods based on principles of the Structural
Approach that emphasise language structure and form more than meaning.
Both methods aim for the learners to learn grammatical correctness. The
techniques used support this objective. However, there are also differences
between the methods; for example, grammar is taught explicitly in the
Grammar-Translation Method, but not in the Audio-Lingual Method. Each
method obviously has its own strengths and shortcomings that individual
teachers have to consider before deciding whether the method is appropriate
for use.
Approach Specifies principles in language teaching that are drawn

from theories about the nature of language and language
learning. In simple terms, in an approach there is a method
and several techniques.
Audiolingual It is a language teaching method which is based on learning

method structures, sounds and words. Structures are sequenced
and taught one at a time. Learners depend on mimicry.

Grammar This is a no-communicative approach that relies heavily on
translation reading and translation, mastery of grammatical rules and
method accurate writing.

Method A broad plan for presenting language material based on a
particular approach.
Reinforcement A reinforcement or reward serves to tell the learner that the

response is appropriate, thus encouraging the repetition of
the response in the future.
Response A response is triggered by a stimulus.
Stimulus A stimulus serves to elicit behaviour.
Technique A particular procedure or activity used to accomplish a

particular objective.

test 1
Based on your understanding, explain the relationship between methods,

techniques and approaches.
test 2
What do you see the possible strengths of the audiolingual method that might be
of use in the teaching of English in secondary schools in Malaysia?

82 TOPIC 5 NON-STRUCTURALIST APPROACH
Topic Non-
Structuralist
5 Approach
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. State the basic principles of a non-structuralist approach;
2. Describe the features of the six methods; and
3. Analyse strengths and shortcomings of each method.
XX INTRODUCTION
In Topic 4, we looked at two language teaching methods that viewed successful
language learning as the mastery of language structures. In this topic, we will
consider methods that do not hold this view. The methods presented here
may be categorised under a variety of approaches, or may even be referred to
as approaches themselves, in other books. However, as they are all based on
assumptions and beliefs about language learning that are different from those
held by structuralists, let us group these methods under the broad term non-
structuralist approach.
5.1 NON-STRUCTURALIST APPROACH

The non-structuralist approach was a reaction against the idea that a language
could be learned by continual reference to ones native tongue, as advocated in
the Grammar-Translation method. Although the reliance on memory was still
seen to be one of the keys to mastery, the approach rejected the structuralist idea
that language learning constitutes memorising lists of vocabulary and grammar
rules.

TOPIC 5 NON-STRUCTURALIST APPROACH t 83
In addition, observations of children learning their first language (L1) led to

criticism of the structuralist approach to language teaching. Children do not
learn language by having language structures presented to them in particular
sequences, nor are they drilled so that they can memorise the structures. Instead,
they acquire language through listening to it being used and using it themselves
to achieve some purpose. People learning foreign languages in non-instructional
settings also learn in a similar manner. These observations led to the view that
second language (L2) learning should be more like first language learning, with
little or no analysis of grammatical rules.
These observations led to the development of methods that attempted to make

language learning less structured and more like the natural process of language
acquisition.
Non-structuralist Approach
Against the idea that language can Rejects the idea of memorising vo-
be learned by continual reference to cabulary and grammatical rules.
ones native tongue.
Proposes that L2 learning practices Asserts that language learning oc-

should reflect the natural processes curs by listening to it being used and
involved in L1 acquisition. using it to achieve some purpose.
Figure 5.1: Non-structural approach
5.2 DIRECT METHOD

This method was developed initially as a reaction to the grammar-translation
approach in an attempt to integrate more use of the target language in instruction.
Since the objective of learning another language should be the ability to
communicate with speakers of that language, rather than the ability to read
literary works, it was felt that the grammar translation methods was inadequate
and may not be able to produce the required speakers, so it was criticised and no
longer considered a suitable method to be used exclusively as a teaching method.
Thus, in the 1920s and 1930s, it became important to try to place learners in direct
contact with the speakers of the target language or with situations that were as
authentic as possible.
Lessons using this approach begin with a dialogue using a modern conversational
style in the target language. Material at first presented orally with actions or
pictures. The mother tongue is never, never used. There is no translation. The
preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in the target language based

on the dialogue or an anecdotal narrative. Questions are answered in the target
language. Grammar is taught inductively rules are generalised from the practice
and experience with the target language. Verbs are used first and systematically
conjugated only much later after some oral mastery of the target language.
Advanced students read literature for comprehension and pleasure. Literary texts
are not analysed grammatically. The culture associated with the target language
is also taught inductively. Culture is considered an important aspect of learning
the language. Accuracy in pronunciation and oral expression became vital.
Direct method is based on the belief that:

Knowing a language was being able to speak it! Primacy of spoken
word. New methods laid great stress on correct pronunciation and
use of the target language from outset. Advocated the teaching
of oral skills at the expense of every traditional aim of language
teaching.
Second language learning must be an imitation of first language
learning, as this is the natural way humans learn any language and
so the mother tongue has no place in foreign language lesson. (A
baby
Printed words must be kept away from the second language learner
for as long as possible (same as the first language learner, who does
not use the printed word until he has a good grasp of speech).
The written word/writing should be delayed until after the printed
word has been introduced.
The learning of grammar/translating skills should be avoided
because they involve the application of the mother tongue.
All the above items must be avoided because they hinder the
acquisition of a good oral proficiency.
5.2.1 Disadvantages of the Direct Method

(a) A major fallacy of the direct method was the belief that the second language
should be learned in a way in which the first language was acquired by
total immersion technique. However, there are obviously far less time and
opportunity in schools, as compared to a small child learning his mother
tongue.
(b) Is the first language learning process really applicable to foreign language
learning at a later stage?
First language learning is an essential part of a childs total growth of

awareness of the world around him. He starts off with a blank sheet,
then starts collecting/selecting, organising the experience of a totally
new world, perceived through his senses by formulating a variety of pre-
verbal concepts.
Subsequently, part of the process of learning how to live is the acquisition
of skills to verbalise his desires and aversions and to label his concepts, so
as to make living more efficient and secure.
Effectiveness of these verbalising skills depends on the maturity level of
the child and on the type of environment on intelligence.
Language is part of an intrinsic process through which the child learns to
recognise or deal with new situations.
(c) Compare the learning of a second language.

At 11 years of age, the child is not interested in recognition of new
living situations; the child has normally learned the basic concepts and
can handle situations for ordinary living purposes. So as far as learning
to live is concerned, no similarities between two processes of learning
(not the case for immigrant children in England they need to learn
English for survival purposes therefore motivating force is totally
different).
The older child already has a first language at his disposal, which is
securely fixed to the universe of things; he/she is equipped with this
advantage; the first language learner does not have this.
The older child is more mature and it would seem nonsensical to
imitate first language learning processes totally for learning additional
language, (think of contact hours needed); this is the argument for using
mother tongue (an anti direct method).
What does the foreign language learner wish to know first? To know the
foreign language equivalent of mother tongue sentences/words used in
hitherto familiar situations.
To learn how to handle certain known/recurring situations through the
medium of foreign language. He does not wish to handle completely
new situations in foreign language terms.
(d) The direct methods reject the use of the printed word but this objection is
illogical since the second language learner has already mastered his reading
skills.
(e) Later disciplines of direct method take it to the extremes and refuse to speak
a single word of English in lessons. To avoid translating new words, they
search for an association between new words and the idea it stands for.
(f) A successful teacher of the direct method needs to be competent in his

language/ stamina/energy, imagination/ability and time to create own
materials and courses beyond capacity of all except for the gifted few.
The method by its very nature presupposes a teacher of immense vitality,

of robust health, one endowed with real fluency in the modern language
he teaches. He must be resourceful in the way of gesture and tricks of
facial expression, able to sketch rapidly on the board and in the language
teaching day, he must be proof against linguistic fatigue.
(g) Direct methodologists have also failed to grade and structure their materials
adequately no selection, grading or controlled presentation of vocabulary
and structures. They have plunged pupils into flood of living language
quite bewildering for pupils.
However, many teachers did modify the direct method to meet practical
requirements of their own schools, implemented main principles, i.e. teaching
through oral practice and banning all translation into target language. Obviously,
compromise was needed.
Direct method did pave the way for more communicative, oral based approach
and as such represented an important step forward in the history of language
teaching.
For detailed comparison between first and second language learning processes
(Language Teaching and the Bilingual Method, C.J. Dodson, Pitman Publishing,
1967, ISBN 0 273 31665 6), please refer to Table 5.1.

Table 5.1: Comparison between First and Second Language Learning Processes
First Language Learner Second Language Learner

1. He has no command of another 1. He has command of another
language before learning the Target language before learning the Target
Language (TL). Language (TL).
2. He is neurologically immature, thus 2. He is neurogically mature, thus his
his Mother Tongue (MT) is not fixed. mother tongue (MT) is fixed.
3. He learns to recognise and cope 3. He learns to recognise and cope with
with reality through the TL. reality through the MT, not the TL.
4. He requires high contact frequency 4. He already knows that all things
with the TL to learn that all things have names.
have names.
5. He requires a high contact 5. He has already experienced the
frequency with the TL to recognise process, involving high contact-
the meaning of sounds representing frequency and maturation of
the names of things, because he is recognising the meaning of sounds
neurogically immature as his range representing the names of things in
of outside world is limited and he his MT. As he is now neurogically
has no knowledge of the equivalent mature, he need not be subjected a
meaning of sounds from another second time to the same process. The
language for the same things. new TL is merely to recognise the
equivalent meaning of TL sounds
for the same things.
6. He requires a high contact frequency 6. He has already established
to establish integration of mother integration of mother tongue
tongue sounds with things. sounds with things, but requires
high contact frequency to establish
new integration of TL sounds with
the same things.
Figure 5.2 shows the basic premise of the Direct Method.
Basic premise of the Direct Method:

L2 learning should be more like the L1 acquisition process.
There should be little There should be abundant There should be no

or no analysis of oral interaction and translation between
grammatical rules. spontaneous use of the L1 and L2.
language. Oral skills are
stressed.
Figure 5.2: Basic premise of the Direct Method

Next, we are going to look at Figure 5.3, which will look at the assumptions
underlying the method, the implications of these assumptions for teaching a
target language, and the features of the Direct Method.
If learners do not translate, they link the target language

word directly with the object that it represents, just as first-
language learners link their native language words with
objects.
Assumption Knowing a language is to be able to speak it.
Just as it is for children and people learning a foreign
language in non-school situations, learners learn to
pronounce by imitating and repeating what they hear, and
by trying to approximate a model. This model may be the
language teacher or an audio recording.
1. Learners must be allowed to listen to the target sound

system without pressure. Supporters of this method
maintain that the initial focus on listening without
pressure to speak gives learners the opportunity to
Implications internalise the target sound system. These supporters
for language claim that these learners acquire good pronunciation
teaching despite their never having received explicit pronunciation
instruction.
2. Since first-language learners do not master written
language until they have a good grasp of speech, this
method advocates that second-language learners be kept
away from the printed word in the target language for
as long as possible. The learning of writing should be
delayed until after the learners have been introduced to
the printed word.

Instruction is conducted exclusively in the target

language; no translation is used. Learners are encouraged
to speak and think in the target language.
Oral and listening comprehension are taught. Oral
communication skills are organized around question-
and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in
small, intensive classes.
Speaking styles (such as pitch, speed and posture) are
emphasized. Correct pronunciation is emphasized.
Grammar is emphasised but taught implicitly. There is
Features little attempt to construct a grammatical syllabus.
The language taught (vocabulary and sentences) is
ordinary, everyday language. Materials are based on
ordinary situations in which learners might expect to find
themselves, e.g., conversations on the weather, money
and work; conversations they might encounter in a bank,
a restaurant, or hotel.
Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration,
objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary is taught
through association of ideas.
New items are taught through modelling and practice.
Figure 5.3: Assumptions, implications and features of the Direct Method
Principles of the Direct Method still form the basis of the approach used today by
the Berlitz language schools. Language is seen as being fundamentally a means of
communication. Teachers should preferably be native speakers of the language,
and they must take active roles in the learning process, as shown in Figure 5.4.
1. Ask and answer questions, and read aloud.

2. Present the language, and to direct classroom activities.
3. Present the language through speech as well as the use of
realia (real objects and actions), or representations of the
objects and actions.
Teachers
Role 4. Encourage learners to become independent as quickly as
possible, train learners to correct themselves if they have
uttered something that contains an error.
5. Offer the learners a choice between what they have just
said and another utterance.
6. Alternatively, signal the mistake by repeating the utterance
in a rising tone, or by stopping the repetition just before
they get to the error.
Figure 5.4: Teachers role

activity 5.1
Based on your understanding, what are the differences between first

language learning and second language learning?
5.3 SUGGESTOPEDIA
SELF-CHECK 5.1
What do you think the term suggestopedia refers to? Try to look up
for the meaning in the dictionary or on the Internet to find out more.
Often considered to be strangest of the so-called humanistic approaches,

because it respects studentsfeelings suggestopedia was originally developed in
the 1970s by Bulgarian educator and psychologist Georgi Lazanov. Extravagant
claims were initially made for the approach by Lazanov himself declaring that
memorisation in learning through suggestopedia would be accelerated by up to
25 times over that in the conventional learning methods. This approach attracted
both wild enthusiasm in some quarters and received scorn from others. In other
words, it is probably fair to say that suggestopedia has had its day but certain
elements of the approach still survive in todays good practice.
However, suggestopedia has not been as successful as community language

learning (CLL).
The idea brought by Lazanov was that people should be able to learn
a lot more when the right conditions for learning would be set. Drawn
from insight of Soviet psychological research of extra sensory perception
and from yoga, suggestopedia capitalised on relaxed states of mind for
maximum retention of material.
The followers would experiment the foreign language with the presentation
of vocabulary, readings, dialogues, role-plays, and a variety of other typical
classroom activities.
The approach was actually based on the power of suggestion in learning, the
notion being that positive suggestion would make the learner more receptive and
in turn, stimulate learning. Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)
Lazanov believes that a relax but focused state is the optimum state of
learning. In order to create this relax state in the learner and to promote
positive suggestion, suggestopedia makes use of music, a comfortable and
relaxing environment and a relationship between the teacher and the
student that is akin to the parent-child relationship.
Music, with specific rhythm in particular, is central to the approach. Unlike

other methods and approaches, there is no apparent theory of language in
suggestopedia and no obvious order in which items of language are presented.
The original form of suggestopedia presented by Lazanov consisted of the use of

extended dialogues, often several pages in length, accompanied by vocabulary
lists and observations on grammatical points. Typically these dialogues would
be read aloud to the students to the accompaniment of music. The most formal of
these readings, known as correct reading, would typically employ a memorable
piece such as a Beethoven symphony. This would not be in the form of
background music but would be the main focus of the reading, with the teachers
voice acting as a counterpoint to the music. Thus, the concert reading could be
seen as a kind of pleasurable event, with the learners free to focus on the music,
the text or a combination of the two. The rhythm and intonation of the reading
would be exaggerated in order to fit in with the rhythm of the music.
A second, less formal reading would employ a lighter, less striking piece of
music, such as a piece of classical music and this would take less prominent
role. During both types of reading, the learners would sit in comfortable seats,
armchairs rather than classroom chairs, in a suitably stimulating environment
in terms of dcor and lighting. After the readings of these long dialogues to the
accompaniment of music, the teacher would then make use of the dialogues
for more conventional language work. In theory, at least, large chunks of the
dialogues would be internalised by the learners during readings, both due to the
relaxed and receptive state of the learners and the positive suggestion created by
the music.
There is, however, little evidence to support the extravagant claims of success.
The more obvious criticisms lie in the fact that many people find classical music
irritating rather than stimulating, the lengths of the dialogues and the lack of a
coherent theory of language may serve to confuse rather than to motivate and
for purely logistic reasons, the provision of comfortable armchairs and a relaxing
environment will probably be beyond the means of the most educational
establishments.
In addition, the idea of a teacher reading a long (and often, clearly inauthentic)
dialogue aloud, with exaggerated rhythm and intonation, to the accompaniment
of Beethoven or Mozart may well seem
Copyright ridiculous
Open to Malaysia
University many people.
(OUM)
This is not to say, however, that certain elements of the approach cannot be
taken and incorporated into the more eclectic approach to language teaching
widely used in evidence today. The use of music in the background and as an
accompaniment to certain activities can be motivating and relaxing. Attention to
factors, such as dcor, lighting and furniture is surely not a bad thing. Dialogues
too have their uses. Perhaps, most importantly of all the ideas, creating conditions
in which learners are alert and receptive can only have a positive effect on
motivation. Whether these conditions are best created by the use of classical
music and the reading of dialogues is open to questions, but there is no doubt
that suggestopedia has raised something interesting questions in the areas of both
learning and memory.
The method holds the beliefs that the starting point in all learning is the students
deep-rooted attitude to the subject matter and to him/herself. Therefore, by
having a teacher creating a pleasant, relaxing and stimulating environment,
where all information has a positive emotional content, he/she can help the
students create pleasant associations with the new material and thus remember it
longer.
As people like recalling situations in which they felt good, they will be likely to
recall the enjoyable classroom situation during which they heard key phrases and
expressions being used. If students discover they can remember spontaneously,
they will quickly develop more positive expectations of themselves and their
learning capacities.
Figure 5.5 looks into the hypothesis underlying the method, the purpose of
the method and its target group, instructional strategies, the features of a
Suggestopedic classroom and the teachers role.
Suggestopedia incorporates the hypothesis that if students can

Hypothesis
overcome psychological barriers to learning, they will learn
successfully.
This method is designed to help students eliminate negative

feelings through the power of suggestion. Students must
Purpose believe in the method, and there must be good rapport
and between teacher and students. Thus the students may be
target group screened before being accepted. This practice itself makes a
suggestion to the student: the institute accepts only those students
who will learn, so I will learn because I was accepted.
1. In the classroom, the students take on the names,

professions and personalities of native speakers. This
strategy suggests to the student: since I am now a native
speaker, I can speak and understand the language.
2. Each student is individually and ceremoniously presented
Instructional with the text to be learned; this action suggests that the
Strategy text contains everything the student needs to know, and
that if I have learnt the text, I know the language.
3. The text becomes easier and introduces less new material
as the course progresses. This arrangement suggests to the
learner: since the material is getting easier, I must be learning.
4. A special graduation ceremony is held at the end of the
course, suggesting to the learner that since I have successfully
graduated from a language course, I can use the language.
1. The suggestopedic classroom should ideally be a large

room with twelve or fourteen comfortable armchairs in a
semi-circle.
2. The teacher sits in a similar chair in the open part of the
semi-circle, with a flip chart and a small table with stereo
equipment beside or behind him or her.
A Suggestopic
Classroom 3. The atmosphere in a suggestopedic classroom should
contrast sharply from the traditional classroom with
rows of desks, hard floors, blackboards and chalk dust.
4. It should have pictures on the walls, flowers on the table
and soft lighting which suggests relaxation.
5. Such a surrounding suggests comfort and success, and
avoids associations with negative images of school.

The teacher is central to the success or failure of suggestopedia.

He or she is the architect of an environment in which students
Teachers constantly inspire each other through the creativity they
Role share and continually amaze themselves with their newly
discovered capacities. The teachers task is to bring about a
tension-free and joyful atmosphere.
Figure 5.5: Hypothesis, purpose, instructional strategies and features

of a Suggestopedic classroom
The two key features in Suggestopedic teaching are memorisation and

integration, as shown in Figure 5.6.
Memorizing is accomplished through hypnotic sessions. Here

is how one such session may be carried out:
the teacher may read a text to the accompaniment of soft,
emotional classical music. The teachers voice harmonizes
with the music, while the students follow along in their text,
underlining, highlighting, or making notes as they wish.
Later, the students close their eyes and listen to the teacher
who reads more or less normally to the accompaniment of
Memorisation philosophic classical music. Before the concert session, the
student is told by an authoritative figure that the session will
result in the memorisation of the material.
Research by Lozanov has shown that there is a positive effect
when classical music is used during efforts to memorize, even
without suggestion. So, when it is suggested to students that
they will be able to memorise some material, they accept the
statement of the authority, setting off a chain that results in a
huge increase in memorization power. Lozanov has reported
classes where the students achieved a memorization rate of
1000 words an hour.
After the students have learned the text, the language must be
integrated into the students personality. To do this, the students
read the text aloud, stopping here and there for activities. The
teacher carefully structures the activities so that the language
used by the students comes mainly from the present text. The
Integration
activities consist of acting out portions of the text, singing
specially prepared songs and playing games, telling stories,
carrying on short conversations, and role plays in which the
students become emotionally and psychologically involved
in the action. The teacher then introduces additional activities
that allow the students to integrate the present language with
that from previous lessons.
Figure 5.6: Key features in Suggestopedic teaching

Not everyone can reach the levels of Lozanovs classes, but it may be possible to
accelerate students progress through the power of suggestion.
activity 5.2
Based on your own perception, list out the strengths and shortcomings
of the Direct Method and Suggestopedia.
If you are a language teacher interested in suggestopedia, you may

wish to try this approach but at the same time you may be wondering
whether and how you can use it. What are the essential elements of
suggestopedia? What do suggestopedic teachers really do? What are the
requirements to become a suggestopedic teacher?
5.4 THE SILENT WAY

The Silent Way is the pedagogical approach which originated in the early 1970s
and was the brainchild of Caleb Gattegno. The three basic tenets of the approach
are:
learning is facilitated if the learner discovers rather than remembers or
repeats;
learning is aided by physical objects; and
problem solving is central to learning.
The use of the word silent is also significant, as the silent way is built on
the premise that the teacher should be as silent as possible in the classroom
in order to encourage the learner to produce as much language as possible.
The teacher speaks very little during the lesson; the teachers role is not to
transmit knowledge, to act as a model, nor to provide answers. However,
the teacher intervenes, if necessary, to draw the learners attention to the
way they are going about the act of learning.
Relying on the students mental capacities, their experience and acquired skills,
the teacher endeavours to ensure that they make their own discoveries, gain
their own insights into the functioning of the language, establishing their own
criteria for rightness, acquire a know-how and above all, become autonomous as
learners and speakers of the language.
As silent way teachers speak so little, they are free to observe their students
carefully and be available to them. The teacher remains the indispensable
guarantor of the correctness of the language (the sounds, prosody, vocabulary,
syntax, register,) and of its appropriateness to the situation.
As far as the presentation of language is concerned, the silent way adopts a highly
structural approach, with language taught through sentences in a sequence based
on grammatical complexity, described by some as building block approach.
The structural pattern of the target language are presented by the teacher and
the grammar rules of the language are learnt inductively by the learners.
Small coloured blocks of varying sizes originally intended for the teaching of
mathematics are often used to illustrate meaning (the physical objects mentioned
above). New items are added sparingly by the teacher and learners take these
as far as they can in their communication until the need for the next new item
becomes apparent. The teacher then provides this new item by modelling it very
clearly just once. The learners are then left to use the new item and to incorporate
it into their existing stock of language, again taking it as far they can until the
next item is needed and so on.
This is perhaps best illustrated by an example. Let us say that the teacher has
introduced the idea of pronouns as in Give me a green rod. The class will then
use this structure until it is clearly assimilated, using, in addition, all the other
colours. One member of the class would now like to ask another to pass a rod
to a third student but she does not know the word her, only that it cannot be
me. At this point the teacher would intervene and supply the new item: Give
her the green rod and the learners will continue until the next few item is needed
(probably him). This minimal role of the teacher has led some critics to describe
silent way teachers as aloof and, indeed, this apparently excessive degree of
self-restraint can be seen as such.
Giving learners the opportunity to explore and capitalise on their mistakes

enables them to work both on the language and on their own functioning as
learners, and encourages confidence and the expansion of their know-how.
This is an intrinsically interesting experience as it is visible and audible in the
intense involvement of students in silent way classes. The fun students have in
this type of class is not derived from extraneous activities imported into language
classrooms (games, songs, role-plays) but on the sheer pleasure of self-
discovery through the exercise of their mental capacities (imagination, intuition,
sensitivity, etc) on the task of language learning itself.
The fun for the teachers is in having to think on their feet to see that their
students are constantly faced with doable linguistic challenges.
However, the prominent writer of language teaching, Earl W. Stevick, has

described the role of the teacher in silent way as teach, test, get out of the way.
The apparent lack of communication in the approach has also been criticised,
but some argue that it is difficult to take the approach beyond the very basics
of the language, with only highly motivated learners being able to generate real
communication from the rigid structures illustrated by the rods. The fact that, for
logistical purposes, it is limited to relatively small groups of learners is also seen
as a weakness.
Richards and Rodgers (1986:99), describe the key theories underlying the silent
way as follows:
Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than
remembers and repeats what is to be learned.
Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.
Learning is facilitated by problem-solving involving the material to be
learned.
As with other methods and approaches, however, aspects of silent way can be
observed in many lessons in the modern classroom. In the 1980s and early 1990s,
for example, it became fashionable in some quarters to argue that excessive
teacher talking time was something to be discouraged. Coloured rods are also
popular with some teachers and can be used extremely creatively for various
purposes from teaching pronunciation to story-telling. The idea of modeling a
new structure or item of vocabulary just once may also have some justification
as its encourages learners both to listen more carefully and then to experiment
with their own production of the utterance. Lastly, the problem-solving feature of
silent way may well prove to be its most enduring legacy as it has led indirectly
to both the idea of task-based learning and to the widespread use of problem-
solving activities in language classrooms.
Therefore, the silent way method is based on the premise that:

learners are solely responsible for what they learn;
learners should work with resources and nothing else;
students rely on their mental capacities, experience and acquired skills;
teachers remain silent and merely act as a guide or motivator; and
the teachers role is not to transmit knowledge, to act as model nor to
provide answers.
Like almost all methods, this one has had its share of criticisms. The method
encourages the teacher to assume a distance that prevents him/her from
providing direct guidance when at time such guidance without doubt is very
helpful. It is criticised as being too focused on building structure and misses
out on cultural input through using the language and the silence of the teacher

can prevent students from hearing many active models of correct language usage
that they may find useful. In trying to create a less teacher-oriented classroom,
many say that the silent way goes too far to the opposite extreme.
Another problem is that it is less practical in nature. Getting together the pre-
requisite materials can take a lot of time and money - there is the sound-colour
chart, 12 word charts each containing 500 words (if we were to adopt wholly
Gattegnos method) and other charts for the English language alone. And do not
forget the actual Cuisinere rods aw well! In order to maximise the learning
potential of students using the silent way, teachers would have to be prepared to
invest quite heavily in materials.
A lot can be taken from the method, however, if adapted and combined with
elements from other methodologies. This approach view language learning as
an exploratory process for students, of hypothesis building and trying out very
valuable teaching principle. Having tried various silent waystyle techniques with
young learners, some teachers say that they are amazingly effective and students
appear to enjoy the learning process which is much more relaxed since they have
an active role in it.
For further information on the Silent Way, you can surf the following websites:
http://www.englishraven.com/method_silent~ns4.html
http://www.cuisenaire.co.uk/languages/sawy.htm
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/une.education.pour.demain/sw/swprese.htm
The teacher should therefore be silent as much as possible, and the learners
should be encouraged to produce language as much as possible. The learners are
constantly engaged in a hypothesis-testing process, and the teachers role is to
guide them during the process. Errors be considered important and necessary to
learning as students learn onto word and therefore able to learn new things.
Gattegno stated that learning is facilitated if learners discover or create what is

to be learned, and that learning is facilitated by putting together physical objects
and problem solving, involving the language material to be learned. The silent
way (SW) views learning as a problem solving, creative, and discovery activity,
with the learner as a principal actor rather than a listener.

A learner has to participate actively in the learning

process rather than be a listener.
Learning is seen as a problem-solving, creative and

discovery based activity.
The Silent Way [SW]
Teachers role is to facilitate learning and should be
silent as much as possible.
Learning is facilitated by the use of coloured rods and

charts in which sounds are associated with colours.
Figure 5.7: Features of the Silent Way
The use of colour rods and colour charts provide physical focus for students
and creates memorable images for students to recall. The procedure begins with
the teacher being silent, or at least holding verbal input to a bare minimum,
while eliciting and subtly reinforcing verbal output from the students. Teachers
use Fidel Charts, which colour-code all pronunciation possibilities uniformly,
regardless of spelling, as well as gesture cues and other kinds of hints.
An example of a SW procedure for teaching pronunciation is as follows:

(a) Five colour blocks represent five vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. The
teacher points at each block and says the vowels in turn, and the whole class
repeats in unison.
(b) The teacher uses gestures to work with the students pronunciation.
(c) The teacher assigns two students to elicit articulation of these vowels. The
assigned students point to the colour blocks on the chart and the other
students say the vowels.
(d) The teacher uses one students name, e.g., Suzie /suzi/, and introduces
consonants /s/ and /z/. Then the teacher points to the location of these
two sounds on the colour chart and the students remember these colour
locations.
(e) The teacher teaches other sounds based on other students names. Again
the teacher assigns a student to tap the colour blocks so that the students
practice the combination of these sounds.
A session on teaching grammar may proceed as follows:

(a) The teacher puts two differently coloured rods on the blackboard to
represent two phrases:

Example: Red for have lunch; Green for wash my hands.

The students repeat the phrases once.
(b) Teacher puts the coloured rods (e.g., here, R is for a red rod, G for green) into
the target sentence structure, and uses an indicator to show the connection
between the phrases and the coloured rods. (? represents I.) Teacher is silent.
Example: ? R before? G (I have lunch before I wash my hands.)
(c) Teacher reverses the rods to make another sentence, still keeping silent:
Example: ? G before? R (I wash my hands before I have lunch.)
(d) Teacher uses a yellow rod (Y) to represent negative (not) and white (W)
to symbolise a yes-no question. Teacher puts the coloured rods into the
sentence structure, and silently uses an indicator to show the connection
between the phrases and the coloured rods:
Example: ? Y G before? R (I dont wash my hands before I have lunch.)
? Y R before ? G (I dont have lunch before I wash my hands.)
W ? G before ? R (Do I wash my hands before I have lunch?)
W ? R before ? G (Do I have lunch before I wash my hands?)
(e) Teacher lets students correct each others errors in pronunciation or
structure.
The SW places emphasis on learners cognitive processes and the unusual

procedures in the SW are designed to help students discover pronunciation,
vocabulary and structures by making associations. Based on this method, precise
and complex sets of instructions can be given or written by the student.
Learners do not work with authentic, culturally based

materials, nor do they hear authentic native speech, at least
in the early phases of instruction.
The SW does not set out to provide learners the language
they need for communicative tasks, such as to apply for a
job, or ask for directions.
Drawbacks In addition, the whole learning process might be inefficient
because the teacher offers neither praise nor criticism and
does not allow questions.
Recourse to the native language is also disallowed.
Another disadvantage is the large gap between the teacher
and students because of the silence.
It is also difficult to get the teaching tools, such as the
coloured rods and charts.
Figure 5.8: Drawbacks of the Silent Way

Despite the drawbacks and irrelevance to normal social discourse in the

beginning stages, and the concentration on building linguistic rather than
communicative competence first, many learners find the experience of SW
exciting. Some learners are alert and receptive to input, and enjoy the sense of
self-created, internally motivated discourse and self-discovered rules that guide
their creation of meaningful word strings.
activity 5.3
In your opinion, is this approach applicable in Malaysian classrooms?

Why or why not?
5.5 THE NATURAL APPROACH
The Natural Approach is similar to the direct method, concentrating

on active demonstrations to convey meaning by associating words and
phrases with objects and actions. Associations are achieved via mime,
paraphrase and the use of manipulatives.
Originally developed by Tracy Terrell (1977, 1983 ), who focused on the principles
of meaningful communication, comprehension before production and indirect
error correction, while Stephen Krashen (1980) includes the input hypothesis
in the Natural approach. Terrell believed that the learners would benefit from
delaying production until speech emerges, that learners should be as relaxed
as possible in the classroom and that a great deal of communication skills, that,
everyday language situations like conversations, shopping, listening to the radio
and so forth, be put on hold until learners are ready for it. This acquisition-focused
approach sees communicative competence progressing through three stages:
Aural comprehension.
Early speech production.
Speech activities, all fostering natural language acquisition, much as a
child would learn his/her native tongue.
The following are the tenets of the natural approach:

Following an initial silent period, comprehension should precede
production in speech,as the latter should be allowed to emerge in natural
stages or progressions.
Lowering of the affective filter is of paramount importance. Only the target

language is used in class now, introducing the total immersion concept for
the very first time with auditory input for the student becoming paramount.
Errors in speech are not corrected aloud.
The era of glossy textbooks, enclosed with varied cultural information,
glossaries, vocabularies and glazed photographs.
A deliberate, conscious approach to the study of grammar is considered to
have only modest values in language learning process.
Pairing off students into small groups to practice newly acquired structures
becomes the major focus.
Visualisation activities that often make use of a picture file, slide
presentations, and word games.
Dialogues, contests, recreational activities, empirical utterances and realia
provide situations with problem-solving tasks, which might include the use
of charts, maps, graphs and advertisements, all to be performed on the spot
in class.
The classroom becomes more student-centred with the teacher allowing for
students to output the language more often on their own. Formal sequencing
of grammatical concepts is kept to a minimum.
references
For further information, read Krashen, Stephen D. and Tracy D. Terrell,

1983, The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom.
Hayward, California: Alemany Press.

Figure 5.9 highlights the ideas proposed by the Natural Approach.
Ideas Proposed by the Natural Approach
Probably the most important view that the

Natural Approach offers us is that there is a
difference between language acquisition and
Difference between
language learning.
language acquisition
and language learning 1. Language acquisition is an unconscious
process developed through using language
meaningfully.
2. Language learning is a process of consciously
learning or discovering rules about a
language.
Conscious learning operates only as a monitor or

Monitor Hypothesis editor that checks or repairs the output of what
has been acquired, a notion called the monitor
hypothesis.
Grammatical structures are acquired in a

predictable (natural) order and it does little
Natural Order
good to try to learn them in another order, a
Hypothesis concept called the natural order hypothesis. (Read
Language Acquisition by H. Douglas Brown, 1983
or reprints).
People acquire language best from messages that

Comprehensible Input are just slightly beyond their current competence,
Hypothesis a concept referred to as the comprehensible input
hypothesis.
The learners emotional state can act as a filter

Affective Filter
that impedes or blocks input necessary to
Hypothesis
acquisition, a notion called the affective filter
hypothesis.
Figure 5.9: Ideas proposed by the Natural Approach

The instructional principles employed in this method are as shown in Figure 5.10.
The Natural Approach holds the view that language

instruction should support the acquisition of language
in as natural a manner as possible.
Instructional
Principles It also emphasises the introduction of target language
material that is just beyond the current level of the
learner, to enable acquisition. The approach thus
advocates designing instruction according to a learners
needs.
Figure 5.10: Instructional principles in the Natural Approach
The Natural Approach adopts techniques and activities from different sources but
uses them to provide comprehensible input. For example, for learners who are
not ready to talk, comprehensible input may be presented in the target language
using techniques such as mime and gesture. The learners will talk when they
are ready. Total Physical Response would be a method that would support this
approach. The group techniques used in Communicative Language Teaching
would also be consistent with the Natural Approach. These two methods are
considered next.
5.6 TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

This approach, also known as TPR, was founded by James Asher (1979). In this
method, both language and body movement are synchronised through action
responses and the use of imperatives (direct commands).
James, J. Asher (1979) defines the Total Physical Response (TPR) method
as one that combines information and skills through the use of the
kinesthetic sensory system. This combination of skills allows the student
to assimilate information and skills at a rapid rate. As a result, this success
leads to a high degree of motivation.
The basic tenets are:

Understanding the spoken language before developing the skills of
speaking.
Imperatives are the main structures to transfer or communicate information.
The student is not forced to speak, but is allowed an individual readiness
period and allowed to spontaneously begin to speak when the student feels
comfortable and confident in understanding and producing the utterances.
Total Physical Response is built on the premise that the human brain has a
biological programme for acquiring any natural language on earth - including the
sign language of the deaf. The process is visible when we observe how infants
internalise their first language. Before the infant speaks, he silently internalises
the patterns and sounds of the target language. When the child has decoded
enough of the target language, speaking appears spontaneously. The speech may
not be perfect, but the utterances will gradually approximate that of the people
around him. If adults apply this process to their language learning, they could
also learn successfully.
Asher applied this theory to language learning and called it Total Physical
Response. More details can be found at this Website (http://www.tpr-world.com)
One of the primary objectives underlying Ashers TPR methodology was that
learning needs to become more enjoyable and less stressful. According to Asher,
a natural way to accomplish this is to create the natural way children learn their
native language, most notably through facilitating and appropriate listening
and comprehension period and encourage learners to respond using right-
brain motor skills rather than left brain language processing.
The basic idea behind TPR is that a language learner learns to hear something
in the language and then physically respond to it. That is in TPR, a beginner or
a more advanced language learner learned to comprehend things said in the
language by a teacher, tutor or friend. In the beginning, these things are often
commands such as stand up , sit down, walk, touch your nose, and so on.
However, TPR is easily extended to other verb tenses and more complicated
sentence patterns. By using gestures and props, the tutor is able to add enough
non-linguistic context to his speech to convey meaning to the leaner.
For example, you want to begin learning Bahasa Melayu and you have a
Malay friend who wants to trade an hour of Bahasa Melayu for an hour of
English a couple of times a week. During your first hour of Bahasa Melayu,
your Malay friend could say bangun as he stands up and gestures for
you to stand up. Then. He could say duduk as he sits and gestures for
you to sit and then he could go through bangun and duduk a couple
more times while modelling it for you.
At some point fairly soon, your friend just says stand up without himself
standing up, but you now know to stand up when you hear that, so you
do. You just responded to your first word of Malay for which you no longer
need help. (Of course you will have to remember it, and of course you
probably cannot say it, but those things will come in handy in the future).

The success of TPR is built upon these foundational principles of second language
acquisition theory:
Languages are best learned when the learner receives lots of comprehensible
(understandable) input. In other words, for a true beginner, listening to a
radio broadcast in the simple language is not only as effective as listening to
simple here and now talk directed to the learner.
Beginning language learners can benefit greatly from a silent period in
which they learn to understand and respond to parts of the language without
attempting to speak it. This is also referred to as delayed production and
of course reflect that path that children follow when learning their first
language.
Benefits of TPR include:

instant understanding of Tl, regardless of academic aptitude and attitude;
high speed long term retention; and
stress free.
The following are some key features of the TPR method:

The teacher directs and students act in response The instructor is the
director of a stage play in which the students are the actors (Asher,1977:43).
Listening and physical response skills are emphasised over oral production.
The imperative mood is the most common language function employed,
even well into advanced levels. Interrogatives are also heavily used.
Whenever possible, humour is injected into the lessons to make them more
enjoyable for learners.
Students are not required to speak until they feel naturally ready or
confident enough to do so.
Grammar and vocabulary are emphasised over other language areas. Spoken
language is emphasised over written language.
The secret of TPR is to make it a regular, ongoing part of your language study
programme, with great emphasis at the beginning but continued use throughout
language learning days.
The ability to learn thirty new words in any given hour is fun, but the cumulative
effects of learning thirty new words each hour for many, many hours is where
real language ability develops.
TPR beliefs and assumptions are presented as follows.

Most of the grammatical structures and vocabulary of the

target language can be learned from the skilful use of the
imperative by teachers.
A language is composed of abstractions and non-
abstractions, and that abstractions should be delayed until
students have internalised a detailed cognitive map of the
target language. Once the students have internalised the
code, abstractions can be introduced and explained in the
target language.
TPR also adopts the belief that the less the stress one
experiences in learning, the more successful learning will
be. Once the learners stress or nervousness is relieved, he
can concentrate on the language learning itself.
Instructional
Principles Second language learning should proceed along the same
naturalistic processes as first language learning.
Listening should develop before speaking. Once listening
comprehension has been developed and the patterns
of the target language have been internalised, speech
develops naturally and effortlessly.
Children respond physically to spoken language; adult
learners would learn better if they learnt in a similar
manner.
Delaying speech reduces stress.
Adults should use right-brain motor activities, while the
left hemisphere watches and learns.
Figure 5.11: Instructional principles of Total Physical Response (TPR)
Presented in Figure 5.12 is the TPR syllabus, teachers role and teaching
procedures in this method.
TPR syllabus is a sentence-based one, with grammatical

and lexical criteria being primary in selecting teaching
items. Grammatical features and vocabulary items are
selected not according to their frequency of need of use in
TPR target language situations, but according to the situation in
Syllabus which they can be used in the classroom and the ease with
which they can be learned. Asher also suggests that a certain
number of items be introduced at a time, as he postulates
that it is possible for students to assimilate between 12 and
36 new lexical items in an hour.

Initially, teachers are required to perform a lot of actions

to introduce basic vocabulary. These initial steps are
Teachers crucial because the only way language acquired is through
Role comprehensible input. Actions also enhance understanding,
organization and storage of linguistic input. Asher suggests
that if an item is not learned rapidly, it means that the
students are not ready for that item. Teachers should therefore
abandon the item and try it again later.
Figure 5.12: TPR syllabus and teachers role
After learning basic vocabulary and sentence structures of the target language,
the students can then be introduced more complex grammatical structures, longer
sentences and texts, and stories. At this stage, acting out an action may not be as
frequent as was required as in the TPR classroom.
A TPR procedure may proceed as follows:

(a) To teach vocabulary and structures, such as Im walking towards the door,
teacher presents and performs the action.
(b) Students produce and practice vocabulary by imitating what the teacher has
performed.
(c) Teacher presents (with actions) part of story which students then retell
(recreate).
(d) Teacher presents the whole story which students then retell.
(e) Students use new and old vocabulary to create original stories.
These steps show us that TPR focuses mainly on developing two skills: listening
and speaking. Grammar is acquired through internalisation by the students
as they encounter the structures in the listening and speaking activities. Asher
believes that in the TPR classroom, students are always exposed to correct
grammar in the target language as the teacher is the model, so grammar
instruction is not urgently needed. Students first need to develop an ear for what
sounds right, and only then are they formally taught the grammar rules. He
also suggests that formal teaching of grammar is delayed as much as possible, a
suggestion that is consistent with the Natural Approach.

5.7 COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING
SELF-CHECK 5.2
The superior teacher has regularly gotten superior results regardless of the
method. What do you personally think of this statement?
This methodology is not based on the ususal methods by which languages are
taught. Rather, the approach is patterned upon counselling techniques and
adapted to the peculiar anxiety and threat as well as the personal and language
problems a person encounters in the learning of foreign languages. Consequently,
the learner is not taught of as a student but as a client. The native instructors of
the language are not considered teachers, but rather, are trained in counselling
skills adapted to their roles as language counsellors.
LEARNERS = CLIENTS
TEACHERS = COUNSELLORS
The language-counselling relationships begin with the clients linguistic confusion

and conflict. The aim of the language counsellors skill is first to communicate an
empathy for the clients threatened inadequate state and to aid him linguistically.
Then, slowly the teacher counsellor strives to enable him to arrive at his own
increasingly independent language adequacy. This process if furthered by the
language counsellors ability to establish a warm, understanding and accepting
relationship, thus becoming an other-language self for the client.
This creative, dynamic and non-directive approach to language learning was

first elaborated by Charles Curran (1976). It is designed to ease the learner into
gradual independence and self-confidence in the target language. This is also
known as Counselling Learning Method because it takes its principles from
the Counselling Learning Approach that he developed. Curran is a specialist in
counselling and a professor of psychology at Loyola University and he applied
counselling learning theories to language learning.
Currans approach is beyond simply a methodical pedagogy, but is rather

a veritable philosophy of learning which provides profound, even quasi-
theological reflections on mankind. It encourages holistic learning, personal
growth and self-development. Learning a language is not viewed necessarily as
an individual accomplishment but rather as a collective experience, something to
be disseminated out into the community at large at a later stage in the second
language acquisition process. Its basic premise can be found in the acronym
SARD (William E. Bull, 1965).
S stands for security (to foster the students self-confidence).
A represents attention or aggression (the former an indication of the
learners involvement, the latter their frustration level).
R equals to retention and reflection (what is retained is internalised and
ultimately reflected upon).
D denotes discrimination (the learner can now discriminate through
classifying a body of material, seeing how one concept interrelates to another
previously presented structure).
Student participants are thus allowed to register abstracted grammar both

peripherally and semi-consciously.
activity 5.4
In your opinion, what are some of the situations where Community

Language Learning can be effectively carried out?
We will now focus on the target group of this method, the teachers roles and the
principles and characteristics of CLL.
Curran found that adults often feel threatened in a new

Target
learning situation. This method was created especially for
Group
adult learners who might fear to appear foolish.
1. The teacher takes the role of a language counsellor who

understands the learners and helps them overcome their
fears.
2. The teacher gives advice, assistance and support to the
students, dealing with their fears and reducing their
anxiety.
Teqachers 3. The teacher must be a keen observer and helper. He must
Role establish a good relationship with the students by being
sensitive to their reactions and requests, as well as their
abilities and shortcomings in language learning.
4. The teacher must also be a capable guide who knows
when and how he can introduce new patterns and
vocabulary, or identify an error.
5. The teacher encourages learners to be in control of their
own learning.
Copyright
Figure 5.13: Target group and teachers in
role Open University Language
Community Malaysia (OUM)
Learning
The principles and characteristics of CLL are as follows:

Learning is more important than teaching. Learning develops itself, and
students only need occasional help.
CLL provides students with opportunities to guide their own learning, to
decide what they want to learn, and to learn at their own pace. The teacher
is not in control of the class.
Cooperation is important. Small-group activities encourage interaction
among learners. Learning is achieved through cooperation, not competition.
Focus is on fluency rather than proficiency. The purpose of using language is
to convey messages and develop creative thinking. Grammatical correctness
is less important.
The teacher does not correct errors immediately. When a student produces
an incorrect utterance, the teacher provides a model by producing the correct
utterance.
An example of a CLL session is as follows:

6 to 12 students sit in a circle around a table with a tape recorder on it. The
teacher stands outside the circle.
The teacher uses the learners native language to explain that they are
going to have a conversation in the target language with his help. He
means that he will translate their conversation into the target language and
the conversation will be recorded. This strategy creates a non-threatening
atmosphere in which the students feel safe and ready to proceed with their
learning.
The group goes through the following stages of learning:
(a) The students decide on a topic. Student 1 (S1) asks the teacher in the
native language how to say something that he wishes to say. The
teacher stands behind him, placing hands on his shoulders, and
translates it into the target language in a warm, accepting tone. The
translation is simple and comprehensible. S1 repeats the translated
sentence and delivers it to S2. At the same time, the teacher records S1s
repetition. The tape-recorded script will be used later as materials for
the analysis and practice of grammatical items.
(b) The conversation proceeds in the same way. However, the students now
talk directly to each other and the teacher provides assistance when he
is called upon.
(c) The students now feel more confident in the group, and begin to talk
freely in the target language. The teacher may step in to model correct
structures or pronunciation.

(d) Finally, students become psychologically and linguistically mature

enough to accept new sentence patterns or grammatical points as well
as error correction from the teacher.
activity 5.1
1. What skill is emphasised in the Direct Method? What may be the

argument against this method?
2. If you select material for a lesson based on the Natural Approach,
what important principle must you follow with regard to the level
of the material?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the CLL method?
SUMMARY
Except for the Silent Way, non-structuralist language-teaching methods

hold the view that language learning is not a matter of being drilled on
language structures. The Natural Approach in particular asserts that second
language learning is parallel to first language learning, that is, acquiring a
second language is similar to acquiring the first, and should therefore reflect
the same naturalistic processes. Thus, language learning is no longer seen
to be the practice of drilling students on artificially sequenced structures or
literary classics. Over the years, the ability to communicate using language
has taken precedence over the mastery of structures, and preference is given
to the learning of ordinary, everyday language structures and vocabulary.
The Direct Method, Suggestopedia and Total Physical Response emphasise
learning the target language without translation, as first-language learning
does not involve translation. Suggestopedia, TPR and the Natural Approach
advocate procedures that allow learners to acquire the target language like
first-language learners do: in natural, stress-free ways, and learning from
models who speak the target language.
Teachers still take centre stage in ensuring the success of most of these
methods. They have to be creative and careful planners of syllabuses and
lessons, determining the content to be learnt and the procedures to be
followed, to a large extent. They are also the models of correct language
usage and the resource persons for learners. In the next unit, we will look
at methods that de-centre the teacher and give the learners more autonomy
over their learning.
Community It takes its principles from the Counselling Learning

language learning Approach developed by Charles a. Curran. It was created
especially for adult learners who might fear to appear
foolish; so the teacher becomes a language counsellor; he
understands them and leads them to overcome their fears.
This method follows Krashens monitor theory (affective
filter hypothesis) and the cognitive theory where the
human mind is active.
Fallacy A fallacy is an idea which many people believe to be true

but which in fact is false because it is based on incorrect
information or reasoning.
Memory Our memory is our ability to remember things or

something that we remember from the past.
Optimum The optimum or optimal level or state of something is the

best level or state that it could achieve.
Silent way Started by Gattegno. It is a communicative approach that

makes learner responsible for own learning and makes
extensive use of the Cuisenare rods, colour-coding and
other manipulatives.
Suggestopedia Synonymous with Lazanov. It is a communicative approach

that uses Baroque music (in the session phase of the lesson)
and stresses a welcoming atmosphere and natural settings.
A suggestopedia lesson has three phases: (1) possession, (2)
session, (3) postsession.
Total physical Synonymous with Asher. It is a communicative approach

response where students respond with actions, not words first.
Instruction is concrete and can be introductory to reading/
writing experiences.

test 1
What is the difference between first language learning and second language
learning? Cite examples to substantiate your claim.
test 2
What do you think the term suggestopedia refers to? What are the key features in
Lazanovs suggetopedic teaching?

TOPIC 6 LEARNER-CENTRED APPROACHES t 115
Topic Learner-
Centred
6 Approaches
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. State the basic principles of a learner-centred approach;
2. Describe the principles and features of the 5 approaches; and
3. Analyse the strengths or shortcomings of each approach.
XX INTRODUCTION
A learner-centred approach in language instruction is based on the concept that
the learner is central in the learning process. This view of learners casts them
as active participants in the learning process as opposed to passive recipients of
knowledge. The approach also decentralises the teachers role. This change in the
learner and teachers roles will be reflected in the 5 approaches considered in this
topic. The approaches are:
6.1 LEARNER-CENTRED APPROACHES
SELF-CHECK 6.1
What do you think learner-centred approaches refer to?

116 TOPIC 6 LEARNER-CENTRED APPROACHES
While structuralist approaches focused on the language structures and on

learning as behaviour formation, non-structuralist approaches paid greater
attention to the cognitive aspect of learning. Both of these approaches were then
criticised for having neglected the most important component of the learning-
teaching process: the learner. It was proposed that language pedagogy also takes
into account what learners bring to their classroom experience. This orientation
calls for a consideration of the learners perceived needs and motivations,
interests, past experiences and background knowledge, and creative skills.
The approach also calls for a change in the roles played by teachers and learners.
Learners are given a bigger voice and more responsibility, as outlined in Figure
6.1.
1. Learners assume a decision-making role in the

classroom, which will allow them to determine what is
to be learned, the type of activity through which it may
be done, and at what pace. When learners are involved
in making such decisions, the learning process becomes
more meaningful for them, thus enhancing their
motivation and improving their chances at achieving
Learners their learning objectives.
Role 2. The practice of peer teaching and peer coaching among
learners is encouraged, increasing group solidarity.
3. Learners can even be involved in producing materials
and providing realia for the learning process. This
approach thus offers benefits for the classroom teacher
in terms of reduced preparation time through the use of
student-generated materials and peer support.
Figure 6.1: Learners role in Learner-centred Approaches
In a learner-centred approach, teachers are seen as facilitators, helpers, and

resources, with a decentralised role. A learner-centred approach does not,
however, make the teacher invisible, superfluous or dispensable. On the contrary,
such an approach demands that the teacher employ a different mind-set to
teaching that can prove to be challenging.

1. The teacher often has to be more active, and better

prepared, and work harder than in more teacher-centred
approaches.
2. He should create conditions in which learners can
collaborate with each other, ask their own questions about
the target language, evaluate their own language learning
goals, and better understand their own preferred styles of
teaching and learning.
Learners
Role 3. The teacher has to know when to offer help, when to
provide guidance, and when to step aside and allow
learners to learn from each other.
4. He has to be able to point learners to relevant resources
and teach them strategies for seeking resources on their
own.
5. He has to be sensitive to students needs and interests
more than in other kinds of approach.
Figure 6.2: Teachers role in Learner-centred Approaches
Despite the challenges, a learner-centred approach can be very rewarding

for both teacher and learner. If applied successfully, its outcome is a group of
independent learners who have gained increased maturity and responsibility
through the learning process. Let us look at some approaches that can make this
outcome possible. These are considered to be approaches rather than methods
because they provide broad frameworks rather than detailed designs for making
the language learning process learner-centred.
6.2 LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE APPROACH

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) is an approach to reading instruction
that makes use of stories developed from the personal experiences of the learners
as reading materials.
The learners stories are written down by a teacher and read together by teacher
and learner until the learner associates the written form of the word with the
spoken. Activities are based on the materials developed. Although the approach
was initially developed for use with young children, adult ESL learners can also
benefit from it.
The materials that teachers need for the LEA classroom or session will depend on
the experience being narrated and used for reading. The activities are carried out
either as a whole class or in small groups.
Table 6.1 shows some of the most common materials used and the activities the
learners are involved in. Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)
Table 6.1: Materials Required and Activities in the LEA Classroom
Materials Used Activities

Audiotapes and tape recorders Recording an experience
Books, poems, songs, and/or chants Discussing the experience
Related to the theme/focus Using the record of the experience
for reading and writing activities
Materials for writing and bookmaking
Whiteboard /blackboard and markers/
chalk
Chart paper and flip-chart board
Computers
Cameras and film for taking pictures of
the experience for use in
Developing memory books and memory
Walls.
Table 6.2 shows an example of how a LEA class may proceed.
Table 6.2: Example of How a LEA Class May Proceed
Step 1
Procedure Themes
Teacher and learners A. Possible themes include:
decide on a theme a favourite story that the learners have heard or
or focus for creating viewed.
LEA reading a favourite dish the learners have tasted or prepared.
materials based on (Teacher records the recipe or procedure for
learners personal preparing the dish.)
experiences. One a person the learners admire.
or more learners a frightening experience.
narrate or describe a cultural event or party the learners have attended.
the experience, and
B. Themes can also revolve around activities that the
the teacher or other
learners are planning, in which case the materials could
adult helpers write
also take the form of How to charts with visuals.
it down, creating
Possible themes include:
a print record or
an experiment.
document.
an arts-and-craft project
an agricultural project
a field trip (making lists of things to bring, drawing
and labelling maps, stating regulations to be
followed)
Step 2
Procedure
As learners narrate experiences or discuss plans, teachers or helpers record what

they say. They demonstrate the print concepts as they record the experience.
Initially, it is the teacher who does the recording because the approach is intended
to demonstrate to learners the match between what they say and its written form,
and to develop other print concepts. The teacher should draw attention to these
aspects of print while writing the content on a whiteboard / blackboard /chart
paper so that it is visible to all the learners. The advantage of writing on chart
paper is that the teacher will immediately have a permanent record. A whiteboard
/blackboard allows changes to be made easily, but the contents need to transferred
to paper. A computer, if available, would allow both flexibility and permanence
of record, but there must be an LCD projector to make the contents visible to the
whole class, or there should be several computers that can be used by smaller
groups of learners.
Procedure
Teachers must record the learners own language as far as possible. The most
important aspect of recording is to use the learners own words. Keeping the
match between what the learners say and what the teacher writes. However,
while first-language learners have an intuitive knowledge of the grammar of the
language, second-language learners may not have such tacit knowledge of the
target language. Thus, when working with ESL learners, it may be necessary for the
teacher to make some changes to what the learners say.
Teachers should use childrens names as much as possible because ones own
name is one of the first words young children in particular learn to recognise.
This practice also helps to maintain the learners connections to the experience in
subsequent readings of the material.
The records should take a variety of forms. Some of the forms the written product
could take are:
big books that the whole class can see when the teacher is holding them up
smaller books for individual reading
displays for the bulletin board
illustrated charts like flow charts or
class albums containing pictures that capture an experience. Learners can
suggest captions for each photograph and teachers can discuss concepts of
print while recording.
learners illustrations of part of the experience. They can dictate the
accompanying text for the teacher to write.

Step 3
Procedure Ways in which records can be used
The class uses the Shared Reading - The teacher holds up a Big Book
records for further and the whole class follows as the teacher points to the
literacy activities. words while reading them aloud.
The main purpose
Independent and Take Home Reading - Each learner
of the LEA is to
is given a copy of the record to illustrate, use for
provide meaningful
independent reading, or to take home to read to his or
texts for students
her family.
to read either with
the support of Child-led Reading Activities - Learners become
others or alone. teachers and lead other learners through the materials.
To facilitate this, They may point out words they know, or read aloud
the records should specific sections they choose.
be displayed
Matching exercise. Teacher or other learners read
in a prominent
aloud a word or sentence from the record and other
place for several
learners point it out.
weeks following
their creation
and referred to
regularly.
It is often not possible to record a statement from every learner every time a
language experience record is recorded. Thus attention should be paid to those
who have not had an opportunity to narrate their experiences, in subsequent
sessions. The discussion and recording that goes on in each recording session
should also be stopped before the learners lose interest.
The LEA benefits learners in the following ways:

It is learner-centred and demonstrates that the learners experiences and
language are valued.
It involves learners in planning, participating in, responding to, recording
and retelling experiences.
It helps learners understand that what they think and say can be written,
thus promoting awareness that print conveys meaning, and that everyones
thoughts and ideas can be expressed in spoken and written language.
It provides reading material that is predictable and readable because it uses
the learners natural language as far as possible.
It brings together writing, reading, art, and language.
It develops learners ability to tell and retell personal experiences, and
extends the learners creativity in storytelling through writing.
It develops learners ability to report factual information using various

formats such as written reports, pictures and charts.
In short, the LEA supports learners concept development and vocabulary growth
while offering many opportunities for meaningful reading and writing activities.
It also supports the development of shared experiences that extend learners
knowledge of the world around them while building a sense of classroom
community.
6.3 COLLABORATIVE AND COOPERATIVE

LEARNING
Collaborative and cooperative learning differ from traditional teaching
approaches because students work together rather than compete with each other
individually.
Collaborative learning can take place any time students work together for
example, when they help each other with homework. Cooperative learning takes
place when students work together in the same place on a structured project
in a small group. Mixed-skill groups can be especially helpful to students in
developing their social abilities.
Panitz, T. (1996), states that collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and

personal lifestyle, where cooperation is a structure of interaction designed to
facilitate the accomplishment of an end product or goal.
Collaborative learning (CL) is a personal philosophy, not just a classroom

technique. In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests
ways of dealing with people with respect and highlights individual group
members abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and
acceptance of responsibility among group members for the group actions.
The underlying premise of collaborative learning is based upon

consensus building through cooperation by group members, in contrast
to competition in which individuals beat other group members.
Collaborative practitioners apply this philosophy in the classroom, at
committee meetings, with community groups, within their families and
generally as a way of living with and dealing with other people.
Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students

team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project.
A group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools

working together over the internet on a shared assignment are both examples of
collaborative learning.
John Myers (Cooperative Learning, vol. 11 #4 July,1991), points out that the
dictionary definitions of collaboration, derived from its Latin root, focus on the
process of working together. Collaborative learning has British roots, based on the
work of English teachers exploring ways to help students respond to literature by
taking a more active role in their own learning. The collaborative tradition takes
a more qualitative approach, analysing student talk in response to a piece of
literature or a primary source of history. According to Myers (1991), collaborative
learning advocates distrust structure and allows students more say in forming
friendship and interest groups. Student-talk is stressed as a means of working
things out. Discovery and contextual approaches are used to teach interpersonal
skills.
Cooperative learning is a specific kind of collaborative learning. In cooperative

learning, students work together in a small group on a structured activity. They
are individually accountable for their work and the work of the group as a
whole is also assessed. Cooperative group work face-to-face and learn to work
as a team. In small groups, students can share strengths and also develop their
weaker skills. They develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to deal with
conflict. When cooperative groups are guided by clear objectives, students engage
in numerous activities to improve their understanding of the subjects explored.
In order to create an environment in which cooperative learning can take place,

three things are necessary.
Firstly, students need to feel safe but also challenged.
Secondly, groups need to be small enough that everyone can contribute.
Thirdly, the tasks students work together on must be clearly defined.
As for cooperative learning, Panitz (1996), defined it as a set of processes which

people help interact together in order to accomplish a specific goal or develop
an end product which is usually content specific. It is more directive than a
collaborative system of governance and closely controlled by the teacher. While
there are many mechanisms for group analysis and introspection, cooperative
approach is fundamentally teacher-centred whereas collaborative learning is
more student-centred.
Spencer Kagan in an article in Educational Leadership (Dec/Jan 1989/90),

provides an excellent definition of cooperative learning by looking at general
structures which can be applied to any situation. According to him:

The structural approach to cooperative learning is based on the

creation, analysis and systematic application of structures, or content-
free ways of organizing social interaction in the classroom. Structures
usually involve a series of steps with prescribed behaviour at each step.
An important cornerstone of the approach is the distinction between
structures and activities. To illustrate, teachers can design many
excellent cooperative activities, such as making a team mural or a quilt.
Such activities almost always have a specific content-bound objective
and thus cannot be used to deliver a range of academic content.
Structures may be used repeatedly with almost any subject matter, at a
wide range of grade levels and at various points in a lesson plan.
In cooperative learning, small groups provide a place where:

learners actively participate;
teachers become learners at times and learners sometimes teach;
respect is given to every member;
projects and questions interest and challenge students;
diversity is celebrated and all contributions are valued;
students learn skills for resolving conflicts when they arise;
members draw upon past experience and knowledge;
goals are clearly identified and used as a guide;
research tools such as internet access are made available; and
students are invested in their own learning.
Research suggests that cooperative and collaborative learning bring positive

results such as deeper understanding of content, increased overall achievement
in grades, improved self-esteem and higher motivation to remain on task.
Cooperative learning helps students become actively and constructively involved
in content, to take ownership of their own learning and to resolve group conflicts
and improve teamwork skills.
Other more important attributes of collaborative and cooperative learning are

shown in Figure 6.3.

Figure 6.3: Important attributes of collaborative and cooperative learning
Despite the positive nature of group work, some critics, such as Vicki Randall
(1999), cautions against abuse and over-use of group work. According to her the
many benefits of cooperative learning sometimes blind us to its drawbacks. She
identifies the following practices as common weaknesses:
Making members of the group responsible for each others learning. This
can place too high a burden on some students. In mixed-ability groups,the
result is often that stronger students are left to teach weaker students and do
most of the work.
Encouraging only lower-level thinking and ignoring the strategies necessary
for the inclusion of critical or higher-level thought. In small groups, there is
sometimes only enough time to focus on the task at its most basic level.
Some critics cite the mix of students as a source of potential difficulties, although
they disagree on which types or groups that are problematic. Other dissenters
highlight the overuse of cooperative groups to the detriment of students who
benefit more from learning alone. Yet, others recommend that we negotiate more
with students how they learn best and apply these ideas to the way we structure
classes.
Others point to problems related to vague objectives and poor expectations for
accountability. Small group work, some claim, is an avoidance of teaching.
According to these critics, dividing the class into small groups allows the teacher
to escape responsibility.
Although group learning may vary in certain aspects, effective group learning
should include the following practices as shown in Figure 6.4.
Group Learning Practices
Grouping procedures. (Groups may Group goal setting. Groups should

be homogenous or heterogeneous have a clear understanding of the
groups, determined by ability level, group task and goal or objective.
interest, role assignment, etc.).
Division of tasks. Each group

member has to be clear about his / her
Resource sharing. Group members assignment in relation to the task.
need to understand that they are
working as a team, and there is no
rivalry within the team, only rivalry Development of cooperative skills.
with other teams, if any. Resources There should be team-building
should therefore be shared. activities, usually initiated by the
teacher, as well as reflection on group
dynamics. Learners reflect on their
own contributions and the way the
Evaluation procedures. Learners have
group is worked / has worked.
to be clear about how evaluation will
be carried out. Evaluation may be in
the form of a group grade assigned
by the teacher based on the groups Definition of the teachers role.
performance, peer evaluation, or self- The teachers role is complex and
reflection. may differ in various phases of the
group learning activity. For example,
the teacher may be a facilitator, a
supervisor, a resource, an evaluator, an
intermediary or simply a supportive
observer.
Figure 6.4: Group learning practices
activity 6.1
Based on your understanding, how do collaborative and cooperative

learning differ?
6.4 DISCOVERY LEARNING

Jerome Bruner (1960, 1962, 1966), was influential in defining discovery learning.
It uses cognitive psychology as its base.
Discovery learning is an approach to instruction through which students

interact with their environment - by exploring and manipulation of objects,
wrestling with questions and controversies or performing experiments
(Ormrod, 1995:442). The idea is that students are more likely to remember
concepts they discover on their own.
Teachers have found that discovery learning is most successful when students
have prerequisite knowledge and undergo some structured experiences (Roblyer,
Edwards and Havruluk, 1997: 68). Other terms to label and characterise such
approaches include interactive engagement (Hake, 1997) and guided discovery
(Novak, 1979).
Discovery learning has various definitions. Here are some definitions of discovery
learning:
Making Sense Experimentation Discovery
At one end of the spectrum we find discovery learning in its simplest form.
The tools and information needed to solve a problem or learn a concept are
provided and the learner makes sense of them.
Another definition is discovery learning as experimentation with some
extrinsic intervention clues, coaching and a framework to help learners get
to a reasonable conclusion.
At the other end of the continuum is the expository teaching model of
discovery learning where the learner discovers what the teacher decides
he is to discover using a process prescribed by the teacher.
Discovery learning is used interchangeably with inquiry learning. One distinction

often made between the two is as follows:
In discovery learning the students are provided with the data. By
questioning the teacher, they are expected to ascertain the particular
principle hidden in the lesson objective.
In inquiry learning, the goal is for students to develop their own strategies
to manipulate and process information.
Discovery learning is one of the oldest and most common form of learning.
Adults apply this principle daily although they are not aware of it. So do
children in different stages of their development. Toddlers discover words and
their meanings accidentally. They become aware of the relations between words
and physical quantities and in particular, between cause and result. Children
and young adults pick up a lot without effort. Piaget (1977) and Papert (1980),
wrote extensively about this in the seventies. As early as the sixties, discovery
learning was officially promoted by educationists in the United States as a

method of learning. Cathy Greenblatt (1979), for example, talks a lot about the
effect of games, simulations and role plays, while Vygotsky (1981) and Dicheva
and Kommers (1999), deal around micro-worlds, constructivism and concept
mapping which linger around discovery learning.
Discovery learning encompasses the scientific model. Students identify problems,

generate hypotheses, test each hypotheses against collected data and apply
conclusions to new situations. The purpose of this type of instruction is to teach
students thinking skills.
In discovery learning, the teacher must carefully plan the questions that should
be asked in order to help students to attain the principle of abstraction being
taught. The teacher must order the examples in the lesson and be certain that
the reference materials and equipment are readily available. Otherwise, valuable
class time will be wasted.
Discovery learning encourages students to actively use their intuition,

imagination and creativity because the approach starts from the specific and
moves to the general. The teacher presents examples and the students work with
the examples until they discover the interrelationships. Bruner (1962), believes
that classroom learning should take place through inductive reasoning, that is, by
using specific examples to formulate a general principle. For instance, if students
are presented with enough examples of triangles and non-triangles, they will
eventually discover what the basic properties of triangle must be.
Proponents of discovery learning suggest that when students are asked to

discover information within the context of a discipline, they will be better able
to remember and apply what they have learned. The contention is that when
students are engaged in discovering meaning and in learning materials, it is
more meaningful than if they were to rely on others. Bruner (1966), believes that
for learning to be meaningful, students must actively be engaged in identifying
principles, riles, etc. for themselves, rather than relying on a teachers
explanations. Therefore, learning environments must provide situations in
which students are called upon to question, explore or experiment.
Inductive reasoning is a highly important aspect of discovery learning. In

a typical learning environment, information and examples are presented
to the students and the students work with the information and examples
until they discover the interrelationships.
Inductive approaches to learning require intuitive thinking. In many

discovery learning environments, the teacher can encourage intuitive
thinking by having students make guesses based on incomplete evidence
and then having them confirm or disprove the guesses.
As stated earlier, discovery learning is most noticeable in problem solving

situations. The learner calls on their past experience and prior knowledge to
discover the new information of skills. It is a personal, internal, constructivist-
style learning environment. Bruner (1962), states that emphasis on discovery in
learning has precisely the effect on the learner of leading him to be a constructionist, to
organize what he is encountering in a manner not only designed to discover regularity
and relatedness, but also to avoid the kind of information drift that fails to keep account of
the uses to which information might have to be put.
Learning by discovery is centred around a series of problem-solving

investigations that actively involve students. A general pattern can have the
following elements:
A question or a series of questions is raised and through discussion, a
problem is identified (a question to be answered).
With the help of the teacher, the students propose ways to investigate the
problem and gathering data.
Working either individually or in small groups, the students conduct
investigations in which they manipulate phenomena, make observations,
gather and interpret data and draw inferences.
At the end of the activity, students figure out what their data mean or say,
draw conclusions, make generalisations and answer the questions.
Discovery learning has the following benefits:

While you are participating, you are paying more attention.
The activities focus your attention on the key ideas or techniques that are
being examined.
Active involvement forces you to construct a response and this results in
processing of information deeper than mere memorisation.
Discovery learning provides you with an opportunity to get early feedback
on your understanding: gaps in your understanding cannot be ignored.
Active learning results in a deeper kind of memory specific to an event
so that if you cannot at first remember the idea or technique, you can
reconstruct it from the event.
Discovery learning can be more motivating, incorporating the pleasures of
solving puzzles and controlling an environment.
You can visit: http://www.hood-consulting.com/amazingh/discovery/

discovery.html for more information.

Students must remember that discovery learning is not a method but an

approach. It is a way of viewing learning, on how it takes place and can be
applied to different subject areas, including language.
In order to understand the concept of discovery learning, it would be proper to

ask ourselves the following questions:
When did you most enjoy learning?
Was it when material was presented using the discovery approach?
Or was it when you work independently to solve a given problem?
Or when you were able to discover the information while going through a
problem solving process?
Since this is an approach to instruction through which students interact with their
environment by exploring and manipulating objects, wrestling with questions
and controversies, students would be more likely to understand and remember
concepts they discovered.
This cognitive theory rests almost completely upon the notion that students
have an internal desire to learn by wanting to accommodate and assimilate
new information. According to this cognitivist view, the human mind seeks
equilibrium. Thus, when students are posed questions or situations that cause a
sense of disequilibrium, the students will want to find answers in order to reach
equilibration. This desire for new information is what motivates students to learn.
The teachers role is to provide opportunities for exploring and to instill within
their students a sense of confidence in their ability to learn, and to learn how to
learn.
However, although the approach encourages students to explore, Bruner does

not propose that students need to discover every little bit of information by
themselves; rather, they are to discover the inter-relatedness between new ideas
and concepts and old ones by using what they already know. To encourage
students to discover principles by themselves, the instructor and student should
engage in socratic learning, that is, the teacher asks questions that the learners try
to answer until they discover a concept or idea.
Learners should not be left completely to their own wiles either. Indeed, teachers
have found that discovery learning is most successful when students have
prerequisite knowledge and undergo some structured experiences. The task of
the instructor is to translate information to be learned into a format appropriate
to the learners current state of understanding. Curriculum should be organised
in a spiral manner so that the student continually builds upon what they have
already learned. This is the principal underlying the design of the Kurikulum Baru
Sekolah Menengah or KBSM.
Instruction in the discovery learning approach needs to be:

concerned with experiences and contexts that make the student willing and
able to learn, that is, the learner is in a state of readiness for learning;
spirally structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student; and
designed to facilitate extrapolation (going beyond the information provided)
and filling in gaps (desire for equilibration).
activity 6.2
What are the merits and disadvantages of the LEA, Collaborative and
Cooperative Learning, Discovery Learning and SDL?
6.5 SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

The concept of self-directedness in learning was first discussed in educational
literature as early as 1926 (Brookfield, 1984). From these studies and writings,
a preliminary description of self-directed learning emerged. According to
Lindemans (1926: 16): adults are motivated to learn as they experience needs and
interests that learning will satisfy that have a deep need to be self-directing; therefore,
the role of the teacher is to emerge in the process of mutual inquiry.
Self-directed learning actually has a long and rich history. Kulich (1970) noted that
prior to the evolution of formal schools, self-education was the primary means
individuals had of dealing with the changes going on about them. Self-education,
for example, has been an important tool in the lives of scholars throughout the
history of Western civilisation- Socrates and Aristotle, for example (Tough, 1967).
Fundamental to contemporary studies of self-directed learning was the

pioneering work of Houle (1961), who has used an interview technique with adult
learners to develop a motivational typology of learning styles. He discovered that
people generally were either goal-oriented, activity-oriented or learning-oriented.
To add to the typology posited by Houle (1961), Hiemstra (1976:36), has added a
fourth category identified as self-reliant autonomous and independent learner.
However, several things are known about self-directed learning:

individual learners can become empowered to take increasingly more
responsibility for various decisions associated with the learning endeavour;
self-direction is best viewed as a continuum or characteristic that exists to
some degree in every person and learning situation;
self-direction does not necessarily mean that all learning will take place in
isolation from others;
self-directed learners appear able to transfer learning, in terms of both
knowledge and study skill, form one situation to another;
self-directed study can involve various activities and resources, such as
self-guided reading, participation in study groups, internships, electronic
dialogues and reflective writing activities; effective roles for teachers in
self-directed learning are possible, such as dialogue with learners, securing
resources, evaluating outcomes and promoting critical thinking;
some educational institutions are finding ways to support self-directed
study through open learning programmes, individualised study options,
non-traditional course offerings and other innovative programmes.
In essence, much of this learning takes place at the learners initiative, even
if available through formal settings. It is seen as any study form in which
individuals have primary responsibility for planning, implementing and even
evaluating the effort. Participants engaged in self-directed learning normally can
be categorised into three main areas:
goal-oriented, who participate mainly to achieve some end goals;
activity-oriented, who participate for social or fellowship reasons; and
learning-oriented, who perceive of learning as an end in itself.
However, Knowles (1975) , in his research on self-directed learning has provided

us with some fundamental definitions and assumptions that have guided much
subsequent research on the subject. He reiterates that:
self-directed learning assumes that humans grow in capacity and need to be
self-directing;
learners experiences are rich resources for learning;
individuals learn what is required to perform their evolving life tasks;
an adult natural orientation is task or problem-centred learning; and
self-directed learners are motivated by various internal incentives, such
as need for self-esteem, curiosity, desire to achieve and satisfaction of
accomplishment.
Nevertheless, with the development of many new ideas, self-directed learning

has created some confusion in that many related concepts are often used
interchangeably or in similar ways. Examples include self-directed learning, self-
planned learning, learning projects, self-education, self-teaching, autonomous
learning, independent study and open or distant learning. Yet, these terms
typically offer varied, though sometimes subtly different emphases.
Despite the differences, several tenets are central to the approach, as shown in
Figure 6.5.
SDL Tenets
SDL views learners as responsible owners and

managers of their own learning process. The
Self-Management approach integrates self-management (management
and of the context, including the social setting, resources,
Self-Monitoring and actions) with self-monitoring (the process
whereby the learners monitor, evaluate and regulate
their cognitive learning strategies).
SDL recognizes the significant role of motivation

Role of Motivation and volition in initiating and maintaining learners
and efforts. Motivation is what drives the learners
Volition decision to participate, and volition is what sustains
the learners will to see a task through to the end so
that his or her goals are achieved.
Control gradually shifts from teacher to learner

Shift of Control From in SDL. Learners exercise a substantial amount of
Teacher To Learner independence in setting learning goals, deciding
what is worthwhile learning, and how to approach
the learning task. The guiding framework for doing
all this, however, is usually provided by the teacher.
The teacher scaffolds learning by making learning

Scaffolding visible. The teacher models learning strategies, such
as how to think through problems, and works with
students so that they develop the ability to use them
on their own.
SDL is, ironically, highly collaborative. Learners share

Collaborative ideas and resources with peers, and respects different
learning goals and perspectives. They also work
collaboratively with the teacher to achieve specified
objectives.
Domain-Specific SDL seeks to develops domain-specific knowledge as

Knowledge well as the ability to transfer conceptual knowledge
to new situations. By considering how people learn
in real life, it aims to bridge the gap between school
knowledge and real-world problems.
Figure 6.5: Self-directed learning tenets
Next, we will examine learner characteristics and the teachers role in SDL, as
shown in Table 6.3.
Table 6.3: Learner Characteristics and Teachers Role in SDL
Learner Characteristics Teachers Role

Self-directed learners demonstrate One of the most important tasks of the teacher in
a greater awareness of their own the SDL approach is to raise student awareness
responsibility in making learning of their roles in learning. One way in which
meaningful for themselves. They awareness can be raised is by asking students
are motivated and persistent, to evaluate themselves in terms of their desire
independent, self-disciplined, self- and ability to learn, and their attitudes towards
confident and goal-oriented. These problems. Similar discussion can be generated
characteristics make them more in language classrooms through the use of
effective learners and social beings. questions designed to help learners become
Self-directed learners have been aware of what good language learners do and
observed to possess the ability to how to become one. For instance, teachers can
search for information in multiple encourage readers to ask themselves questions
texts, employ different strategies to such as: Did I read better today than yesterday?
achieve goals, and represent ideas in Could I keep the ideas in the book straight in my
different forms (drawing and writing). mind? Were there words I did not know? How did I
figure them out? By becoming aware of successful
learning strategies, learners can apply them to
new situations.
Self-directed learners are curious Teachers who want to encourage SDL must
and willing to try new things, view free themselves from a preoccupation with
problems as challenges, desire change, tracking and correcting errors, as it is a practice
and enjoy learning. They also monitor that threatens learners egos and confidence.
themselves. Teachers need to exercise greater tolerance of
uncertainty and encourage risk-taking. It is
also important to capitalise on learners strong
points instead of focusing on weaknesses, as it
is more beneficial for learners to achieve a few
objectives of importance to them than it is to
fulfil all the objectives that are important to the
teacher. Allowing learners to explore ideas is
also encouraged in SDL, as peer discussions
- even without complete answers - can yield
new and valuable insights.
Learner participation in decision- Teachers should invite learners to formulate
making is another fundamental aspect learning goals, activities and assessment
of the SDL approach. The approach criteria. When learners work toward goals
advocates involving students in they set themselves, and are assessed based on
decisions concerning what is to be criteria they themselves specify, the learning
learned, when and how it should experience becomes more meaningful, and
be learned, and how it should be they will be more committed. Teachers may be
evaluated. Learners should thus be pleasantly surprised at how insightful learners
allowed to collaborate with the teacher can be in making decisions.
in determining deadlines and other
regulations. With proper planning
and implementation, self-directed
learning can encourage students to
develop their own rules and leadership
patterns.

In addition, every proponent of SDL emphasises the importance of allowing

learners to pursue their own interests so that learning becomes more meaningful.
Research has shown that when writers are allowed to choose their own topics,
they write more often and they write longer pieces. Students do not have
to be given total freedom, however. Teachers could, for instance, establish a
thematic framework within which students are given choices. This approach
can be applied to reading, writing or speaking activities, as well as projects that
incorporate all three skills.
The SDL approach suggests allowing learners to pursue personal interests

without the threat of formal evaluation. Even if they make mistakes while doing
so, the activities will sustain their interest, transcend frustration, and eventually
break barriers to achievement. Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading may be
one way of accomplishing this objective in the reading classroom. Learners are
allowed to choose their own books to read silently without the teacher checking
on his pronunciation, reading speed or comprehension.
To establish the habit of self-monitoring, teachers need to encourage learners

to reflect on what they did and to revise attempted work. Getting students to
keeping personal journals is one way of maintaining a record of the learning
process.
Since SDL stresses meaningful learning, it advocates a situated learning

approach, in which teachers bring real-life problems into the classroom for
learners to work on. Work need not be sugar-coated so that it is presented as
fun; if the tasks are meaningful, learners will work on them willingly.
Finally, teachers need to model learning strategies such as predicting,

questioning, clarifying, and summarising, so that students will develop the
ability to use these strategies on their own. Teachers also need to allow individual
learners to approach a task in different ways using different strategies.
Researchers have found that as children grow, they have an increasing desire for
autonomy. SDL may be one way of harnessing that natural desire to help achieve
a meaningful learning experience that will last through adulthood.
The SDL approach is consistent with the Whole Language philosophy, which
is a set of beliefs about how language learning happens. These beliefs and
principles guide classroom practice. The Whole Language philosophy asserts
that the function of language is to construct meaning, and that language is both
personal and social. Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are all learned
best in authentic speech and literacy events, and learners achieve expressive and
communication purposes in a genuine social context. Lets look at what happens
in Whole Language Classrooms and the lesson procedures as shown in Figure
6.6.
In Whole Language classrooms, writers choose their own

purposes as they write for various audiences, such as
Whole themselves, peers, parents, and teachers; the goal is to make
Language sense out of their experience and imagination. Learners
Classrooms choose their own reading material much of the time. Skills are
acquired naturally in the context of meaningful oral interaction
and literacy events.
Teachers assemble classroom libraries of trade books

representing unabridged literature, and children have
daily opportunities for uninterrupted reading.
Teachers model the act of reading and writing by reading
and writing themselves while the learners do so.
hey also model reading by choosing high-interest,
predictable Big Books, pointing out the words as the
children read along with the teacher.
Lesson
Procedure The teachers sometimes guide childrens reading, showing
them how to predict, ask appropriate questions, and map
what they have read.
Discussions of books are sometimes carried out,
encouraging learners to talk about the moral and ethical
issues presented in literature, or to connect fiction with
their own lives.
The learners often participate in literature circles in which
they share and talk about books they have read.
Figure 6.6: Whole language classrooms and lesson procedures
Teachers support student-centred learning by creating a literate environment,

stimulating interest by helping children connect new experience with previous
experience, and facilitating the learners achievement of their own intentions.
activity 6.3
Develop the lesson plans based on any of the approaches discussed.

Try them out in class. What successes did you encounter? What
improvements would you make?

6.6 REFLECTIVE LEARNING

SELF-CHECK 6.1
Think of some reflective questions that you might want to pose to your
students:
In its simplest definition, reflection can be seen as consciously thinking about

and analysing what one has done (or is doing). Of course, everyone does this to
an extent. However, what structured approaches which exist that enable students
to reflect upon their learning, to understand their learning processes and thus
allow them to become more autonomous ?
What are some of things you can do to enable reflection?

Ask questions that do not have a pre-determined answer.
Ask questions that lead to personal evaluation.
Use personal reflection to guide your preparation.
Reflection may be viewed as an approach to learning or a method or technique or

an activity that is commonly learned by educational professionals in the teaching
of adults. It requires an investment in terms of time and a willingness to
approach the classroom with a degree of flexibility. Reflection most likely will not
happen in a teacher-centred classroom where lecture is the primary methodology.
Having language learners think about language learning, that is, their own beliefs
about learning and their preferred learning strategies and raising their awareness
of the language learning process all these could be done through the learners
own reflection and how they learn. Reflection makes learners active in a sense that
they learn to analyse their own strategies and make their own decisions, whether
to improve them or not and in what way. By doing so, reflection may transform
failure into feedback where mistakes are treated as source of information for
progress. Generally, learners are not expected to reflect upon their own learning
process, analysing and evaluating their classroom language learning experience.
Reflection also refers to thinking about and analysing the results of observations.
Reflective learning thus, involves getting learners to reflect on what they have
observed about their own behaviour, performance and underlying reasons
for the behaviour, as a critical aspect of development. The practice of reflection
encourages students to be aware of their own learning and to evaluate
themselves as learners, so that they know what worked for them and how they
should approach value-learning tasks. When applied to group activity, reflection

motivates learner to think about the circumstances or actions that made their
group efforts successful of less effective.
When delving into the literature to learn more about reflection, one tends to be
confronted with a great deal of background theory, that is both complex and
wide-ranging with various disciplines presenting multiple interpretations of
the processes involved? Most of these theories see reflection as a cycle. It may
be viewed in terms of reflection-in-action (where understanding of new
concepts occurs through improvisation and experimentation during an exercise
or experience) or reflection-on-action (where the learner looks back over an
experience and review what was learnt). It seems that the latter view is the one
that we are dealing with at this juncture.
Figure 6.7, espoused by McPartland (2003), clearly delineates the need to raise the
awareness strategies of reflection.
Figure 6.7: Strategies of reflection
activity 6.4
Reflecting is a skill which has to be learnt and practiced (Robles, 1988).

What is your opinion of this statement?
Soulier.S (2004), has come up with six step model which might be utilised to
encourage high levels of reflection, as shown in Figure 6.8.

Figure 6.8: Steps to encourage high levels of reflection
(a) Acquisition and Selection

(i) What standard, competency or concept am I trying to demonstrate?
(ii) How does the competency or standard I am being asked to demonstrate
really mean to me?
(iii) How would I restate it so that it reflects my own personal believes and
values?
(iv) What evidence is available to me to demonstrate my ability to meet the
required standard, competency or concept?
(v) Why is the best of the available evidences?
(b) Context / Purpose

(i) What did the instructor intend for me to learn from this experience
(purpose/ goal)?
(ii) What did you hope to learn from this experience?
(iii) What was the learning context for this particular learning experience,
i.e. who was involved?
(iv) What were the circumstances / When did it occur ? Where did it occur?
(v) Why was this particular instructional practice utilised?
(vi) How does this learning experience fit into other related learning
experience?
(vii) What prior experience did I bring that might have influenced what you
learned?

(c) Analyse
(i) What did I learn from this experience?
(ii) Why did I learn what I did from this experience?
(iii) Did other students learn the same things I did? If not, what do I think
they learned and why?
(iv) What are some of the other things I have learned that are closely
related to the thing you learned from this experience?
(v) How was what I learned changed by prior experience / knowledge?
(d) Impact
(i) How does this experience relate to my personal learning goals?
(ii) How effective was the experience in helping me learn?
(iii) What impact will this experience have on learning other related
concepts?
(iv) What was the impact of this experience on others beside me?
(v) How will this new knowledge help me impact others?
(e) Project / Transform

(i) How would I change the experience to improve it? Why?
(ii) How would I change my approach as a learner? Why?
(iii) How would these changes be better?
(iv) What additional related experience would I seek to continue the
learning process?
(f) Self-assessment
(i) How well do my artifacts and reflections demonstrate the competences
and standards I am to be asked to meet?
(ii) Is my presentation logical and accurate?
(iii) If I were an outside evaluator, would I evaluate my demonstrated
competencies as being excellent, fair or poor?
(iv) What changes and improvements would I suggest to improve both
my competencies and the presentation of those competencies to other
colleagues and professionals?
The questions listed are some of the samples of questions that could be asked
to get the learner to elaborate those competencies on their feelings and personal
learning experiences.
6.6.1 Benefits of a Reflective Approach to Learning

to Students
Most aspects of learning are common to all disciplines but different subject
areas naturally place more emphasis on certain learning skills than on others.
Consequently, the benefits of reflective practice mirror the particular skills that
characterise that subject. For example, in disciplines like mathematics, science,
and engineering, more emphasis is placed on the understanding of methodology
and the processes of problem-solving where solutions are mostly defined by laws.
In subjects where there is close interaction between academic work and practical
experience like health care, teaching and social work, the emphasis is on personal
competence or craft knowledge as much as technical expertise. Whichever way
reflection interacts with this discipline, it is fundamental in allowing students
the opportunity to understand their own thinking and influence their learning,
which in turn encourages autonomy and provides opportunities for them to
identify and record their progression.
Another benefit of a reflective approach is that it encourages students to look

beyond their academic accomplishments to recognise the depth and range
of other transferable skills learnt. As teachers of English with vast and wide
experiences in teaching the subject and in dealing with students behaviours,
needs and interests, reflection thus provides structured opportunities for you and
the students to fully recognise and value past experiences and the complete range
of skills developed at the schools, colleges, universities and beyond.
When should you carry out this procedure? What are the steps to be followed by
learners? The answers are in Table 6.4.
Table 6.4: Steps of Reflective Learning to be followed by Learners
Reflection is often thought of as an Reflect on what happened or is

activity to be engaged in following a happening (this could be a reading
learning task. Indeed, it is important for or writing task; a project involving
learners to reflect on what they did and reading, writing and interviewing; a
how they did it. However, reflection grammar exercise, etc.). Describe it.
can also be carried out while learners
are engaged in a task. The advantage of Reflect on thoughts and ideas,
doing this is that learners can think about behaviour, lessons learnt.
whether their present course of action is
Plan any action(s) required to further
effective, or whether they need to make
develop ideas, change behaviour,
changes to improve their performance.
improve performance, etc.
The teacher may have to be the one who
calls a time-out at certain stages of the
learning process or task activity, in order
for the learners to think consciously
about what they are doing, how they
are doing it, and whether to stay on the
present course of action.
Figure 6.9 highlights the most important activity in Reflective Learning.
The most important activity in reflection is CAPTURING the

Most learning in a WRITTEN document so that the learners can see
Important trends that may be developing, and also refer to them again
Activity later on. Learners can use special forms or simple exercise
books or diaries to write their personal reflections.
1. This practice of keeping personal journals or logs can

become a routine and a valuable source of development
for learners.
2. What happens after learners write their journals or logs?
Teachers can read them at periods and respond to the
entries. It is imperative for the teacher to remember that
the purpose of this exercise is not to look for errors in the
writing, but to highlight points made by the learners that
should be viewed as important lessons.
Why
3. In addition to the benefit of raising learner awareness, the
practice of documenting reflections has obvious benefits
for language development as well. When learners can
write about their own learning in the target language
and know that the content of their writing will not be
treated as material for teacher correction. Where every
grammatical mistake or lack of organisation pointed out,
they will be motivated to express themselves more freely
in the target language. This increased writing activity
can help develop the learners willingness and ability to
write.
Figure 6.9: The most important activity in Reflective Learning
EXERCISE 6.1
How would you describe the teachers role in learner-centred approaches

to language learning and teaching?
To summarise, reflective approach to learning fulfils several functions:

It makes use of and builds on the existing experience of learners and
enriches existing knowledge.
The social context is part of the learning process itself and provides the
milieu for dialogue which is central to reflective learning.
It does accept that individuals are confined to a single preferred style of

learning.
It allows analysis of an individuals experiences and facilities like learning
from this experience.
It encourages critical thinking, a questioning attitude and leads potentially
to greater learner autonomy.
It promotes professional competence by encouraging the recognition of
mistakes and weaknesses.
If logged, it provides written proof of an individuals progression in thinking
and deeper understanding for use at the end of their degree to enhance
employability.
It has the added value of promoting adult relationships; that is, an adult
learning model which is perhaps what we aspire to have in schools, colleges
and universities.
SUMMARY
Learner-centred approaches to language teaching are aimed at strategies and

procedures that are believed to maximise language learning. Central to these
approaches is a consideration of the preferred learning processes, interests
and concerns of the learner.
The main goal of learner-centred approaches is to shape language learning
as far as possible in accordance with the needs of individual learners. Such
a goal places less focus on the teachers judgment of those needs and an
increased understanding of student concerns and problems. The approaches
described in this unit share this goal. The Language Experience Approach
and Self-Directed Learning in particular value learners interests and
experiences.
Learner-centred approaches also aim to make learning as close to real-
life learning as possible. On one hand, language learners have to learn
to be autonomous, independent learners who can monitor their own
performances and manage their own learning efforts. Self-Directed Learning
and Reflective Learning encourage students to be aware of how they go
about accomplishing a task, and to be aware of what works best for them.
On the other hand, collaborative and cooperative learning approaches reflect
the collaborative practices learners will have to participate in when they
operate in the real world.
Preparing learners for real-life learning also includes using language
materials and tasks that are to be found in the world outside school. For
example, Whole Language classes use unabridged reading texts instead

of simplified ones that may sound artificial. The Self-Directed Learning

approach suggests real-life tasks without trying to turn them into fun
activities. These tasks, however, must be meaningful to the learners, so that
they are motivated to work on them.
The Discovery Learning approach also encourages learners to become
motivated, independent language users by allowing them to explore
situations, form new ideas and concepts, and obtain new information. These
are skills they will have to put into practice later in the real world.
Attributes If you attribute something to an event or situation, you think

that it was caused by that event or situation.
Autonomous An autonomous person makes their own decisions rather

than being influenced by someone else.
Collaborative A teaching method in which students of varying abilities and

interests
learning work together in small groups on a specific task or project.
Students complete assignments together and receive a
common grade.
Cooperative This term is used to describe structured group work in which

learning students work together and direct their own learning; the
teacher acts as a facilitator of learning. Students are frequently
assigned roles within their groups.
Discovery If someone makes a discovery they become aware of

something that they did not know about before.
Inductive Induction is a method of reasoning in which you use

individual ideas
reasoning or facts to give you a general rule or conclusion. Inductive
reasoning is based on the process of induction.
Reflection Reflection is careful thought about a particular subject. Your

reflections are your thoughts about a particular subject.
Self-reliant If you are self-reliant you are able to do things and make
decisions by your self, without needing other people to help
you.

test 1
Reflection is a skill which has to be learnt and practiced. What is your opinion of
this statement?
test 2
Define the term learning, cooperative learning and collaborative learning? Are
these terms related to one another? If they are, how do you pratice them in an
ESL lesson?

TOPIC 7 FUNDAMENTALS OF CALT t 145
Topic Fundamentals
of CALT
7
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. List and describe the fundamental characteristics of Communicative
Approach to Language Teaching;
2. Identify and discuss the four principles of CALT;
3. Describe the five principles of communicative methodology; and
4. Provide examples of activities used in CALT.
XX INTRODUCTION
Previously you were introduced to various approaches and methodologies in
second or foreign language teaching. One of the teaching approaches that has
gained popularity in the last four decades is the Communicative Approach
to Language Teaching (henceforth, CALT). This approach, which began in the
1970s is a replacement for the earlier methods of foreign language instruction:
audiolingual and grammar-translation methods, which emphasises the mastery
of language structures. This topic will introduce you to the Communicative
Approach to Language Teaching. The topic begins by providing you with
an overview of what CALT is, followed by the discussion of the notion of
Communicative Competence, guiding principles of CALT and communicative
methodology.
7.1 THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO

LANGUAGE TEACHING: AN OVERVIEW
In the 1960s, various developments have been noted in language teaching. One
such development can be seen in the development of a new teaching approach,
which was labelled, as the Communicative Approach to Language Teaching
146 TOPIC 7 FUNDAMENTALS OF CALT
[CALT]. The Communicative Approach was due to dissatisfaction with some

linguistic interpretations on the nature of language and the methods of teaching
it. In particular, it is a reaction to the earlier structural method known as
Structural Language Teaching.
The following is a description of events that has led to the development of CALT.
A Change In Emphasis On The Study Of Language

The years culminating up to the 70s have witnessed a change in emphasis
on the study of language. The once widely assumed grammatical structure,
which was held, as the principal foundation of language teaching was no
longer regarded to be most essential. The outcome of this particular type of
language teaching is that usually students know their grammar well, their
pronunciations are reasonably good, however, they appear to be incapable in
communicating effectively.
Newmarks Study
Newmark (1966) expressed his discontent when he pointed out that
most students were structurally competent, that is they have developed
the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences, however, they
are unable to perform a simple communicative task like asking for a
light from a stranger. Expressions such as Have you fire? were used by
them for making such request In other words, the students are said to be
communicatively incompetent.
The New Emphasis

Achieving communicative competence became the main focus in CALT.
The change in emphasis in teaching thus, has been directed towards the
use of language for communication, in particular towards appropriacy
(Johnson, 1981). This new emphasis provides the theoretical background for
CALT. It aims at teaching communicative competence.
7.2 What is Communicative Competence?
Self-Check 7.1
What do you understand by the term communicative competence?

In discussing what communicative competence is, it is essential to first make a

distinction between competence and performance. Linguists appear to have varying
views of these two terms. In this module, however, it is sufficient to consider
Chomskys view of the notions, as shown in Table 7.1.
Table 7.1: Chomskys Distinction between Linguistic Competence and Performance
Chomskys distinction between linguistic competence and performance
Linguistic competence refers to knowledge Linguistic performance refers to the

or rules of grammar and language system. actual use of the language.
Chomskys well-known distinction between linguistics competence and

performance has provided a powerful stimulus for the development in language
learning and teaching.
Hymes takes communicative competence a step further in which socio-cultural

features were incorporated in its definition. He emphasises the need for
communicative competence by which he implies the knowledge of when and
how and to whom it is appropriate to use these forms. His assertion that there
are rules of use without which the rule of grammar would be useless stresses
that contextual appropriacy is essential in communicative competence. For
instance, there are various ways of saying be silent, and a person uses one way
rather than another according to its appropriateness for the real situation.
Hymes Definition
Incorporates socio- Stresses on contextual

cultural influences approriacy
Figure 7.1: Hymes definition of communicative competence
In the same vein, Canale (1985: 5), argues that communicative competence is:

Canales Definition
Communicative competence is the underlying system of knowledge

and skills required for communication.
Knowledge Skills
By knowledge, he refers to By skills, he refers to how well

what one knows about the one can exploit this knowledge
language. in actual communication.
Figure 7.2: Canales definition of communicative competence
Canale views communicative competence as minimally including four areas of

knowledge and skills: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence,
discourse competence, and strategic competence.
The theory of communicative competence therefore implies that in language

teaching, teachers should not just provide learners with various language
structures to manipulate but also demonstrate how language items are used and
the situations where they are appropriate in. In short, learners ought to be shown
language use as well as its usage (Widdowson,1972). In language teaching, it
is fundamental to include the four components of communicative competence,
namely grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse
competence, and strategic competence.
So, in teaching communicative competence, it was proposed that the revision

was affected at the level of the syllabus design the level at which the teaching
content is specified (Johnson and Morrow,1981). Yalden (1983) further adds that
in order to overcome the weakness of earlier syllabus and to ensure that learners
acquire the ability to communicate in a more appropriate and efficient way, a
large number of components must be injected into the make-up of the syllabus.
An example of this is reflected in the Malaysian Communicational Syllabus,
which will be discussed in Topic 8.
activity 7.1
Get hold of the English Language Syllabus that is currently taught in

Malaysian schools (primary and secondary level). Scrutinise the syllabus
and see whether its contents reflect what is prescribed in CALT. If you
are an English Language teacher in school, have you taught a syllabus of
this nature? Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)
EXERCISE 7.1
1. What is Communicative Approach to Language Teaching and when

did it start?
2. What do you understand by the notion communicative
7.3 Guiding Principles for the

Communicative Approach to
Language Teaching
Canale (1984) argues that to teach a language skill successfully (precisely,
communicative skills), it is essential to have the knowledge in the first place. He
emphasises the need for having knowledge orientation. In relation to this, he
introduces four guiding principles for a communicative approach to language
teaching as shown in Figure 7.3.
Communicative Needs and

Areas of Competence
Meaningful and Realistic Interactions

4 Guiding Principles
The Learners Target Language Skill
Curriculum Wide Approach
Figure 7.3: Four guiding principles introduced by Canale
7.3.1 Communicative Needs and Areas of Competence

To achieve communicative competence, its four components should be taken into
account:
grammatical competence;
sociolinguistics competence;
discourse competence; and
strategic competence.
Therefore, in language teaching programmes, for instance, in the implementation

of the Communicational Syllabus, a balance should be taken into consideration
without emphasising only one area of competence at the expense of the others. In
fact, the primary goal of a communicative approach is to facilitate the integration
of the various types of competence for the learner.
Learners communication needs and interests are fundamental aspects in

constructing a communicative approach. These include the four components of
communicative competence proposed by Canale, as shown in Figure 7.4.
Canales 4 Components
Grammatical Sociolinguistics Discourse Strategic

Competence Competence Competence Competence
Such as the For example the For instance, Where

degree of various settings, when dealing learners may
linguistic topics or roles with oral or paraphrase
accuracy that learners written texts. lexical items or
in various encounter grammatical
situations. frequently. structures
that have not
yet been fully
acquired.
Figure 7.4: Canales four components
7.3.2Meaningful and Realistic Interactions

To build a learners ability to take part in genuine communication, opportunities
for taking part in meaningful communicative interaction with speakers who have
mastered the language should be provided (Canale, 1983). Thus, in implementing
the Communicational Syllabus, teachers (who, presumably have mastered the
language) could participate in the communicative activities carried out.
7.3.3The Learners Target Language Skill

Making use of the communicative skills that the learner has acquired, is what is
addressed here. Canale suggests that:
It is particularly important that the more arbitrary and less universal aspects
of communication in the second language (for example, certain feature of

the grammatical code such as vocabulary) be presented. While the practical

in the context of less arbitrary and more universal ones (such as the basic
sociolinguistics rules) involved in greeting a peer in French or English. (1983, p.
19)
7.3.4 Curriculum Wide Approach

When communicating in a foreign language (especially with a native speaker
or in a foreign language country) a learner need not only be competent from the
linguistic viewpoint, but also be aware of the culture. Widdowson (1978) and
Canale (1983), both in different ways, suggest exposing the learner to this through
other subjects.
The above guiding principles may have interesting implications in four areas of
second or foreign language pedagogy. The four areas are shown in Figure 7.5.
Implications
Syllabus Teaching Teacher Materials

Design Methodology Training Development
Figure 7.5: Implications in areas of second or foreign language pedagogy
We will now look at the Principles of Communicative Methodology.
7.4 Principles of Communicative

Methodology
A consistent methodology is more than just a collection of activities or techniques.
It requires an underlying set of principles in the light of which specific
procedures, activities, or techniques can be evaluated, related and applied.
(Morrow, 1981: 59)
The above underlying principles are summarised under five main points:

The 5 Principles
Know what you are The whole is the sum The processes are as
doing. of the part. important as the forms.
Mistakes are not

To learn it, do it.
always mistakes.
Figure 7.6: Five principles of communicative methodology
(a) Principle One: Know What You are Doing

An aim gives attention to the lesson. Both teacher and students alike should
thus understand and be synonymous with the aim of the lesson. Otherwise,
communicative activities can become pointless. Thus, it is desirable (though
not always feasible) to steer the aims of the classroom language activities to
the learners needs.
In relation to this, Asmah Hj. Omar (1978: 14) points out that:
teaching the students how to express themselves in English, say, in
the buying of stamps or in getting a taxi will be a futile exercise, because
they surely find it easier to do such things in Bahasa Malaysia. Hence
the language (English) will fall into disuse the moment the make believe
classroom ends at the end of the selected hour.
Thus, a Communicative Language Teaching teacher should aim at capturing
and enhancing a learners interest by providing classroom activities, which
makes practical use of the language.
(b) Principle Two: The Whole is The Sum of the Part

In communication, we notice that it does not occur in terms of individual
words or isolated sentences, but as a whole discourse. A vital feature of the
communicative method of language teaching is thus to break the sentence
barrier and attempt to push beyond the sentence level and discover how
discourse is constructed from larger units of language (Bell, 1981). In other
words, what is required is the ability to work in the context of the whole
(Morrow, 1981). This requires the use of language in real situation. Thus in
CALT, it is essential that lessons focus on real-life simulated activities
(c) Principle Three: The Processes are as Important as the Forms

In aiming at developing the students ability to communicate in a target
language (English), we need to let our methods determine our goals, that
is, through practising the forms of the target language in a communicative

framework. In teaching procedures of CALT, Morrow suggested the use of
three processes:
The 3 Processes
Communication being purposeful by its very nature

indicates that it takes place between two participants (or
more), one of whom has the information and the other(s)
Information does/do not. This information gap can be bridged by
gap means of communication activities such as Treasure
Hunt, whereby one person withholds the information
from the other. This provides meaningful interaction for
the students.
In real life communication, people produce authentic

language according to the meanings they wish to con-
vey. Thus, the language used is highly unpredictable, as
one never knows exactly what the others will say. This
implies that in the classroom situation, teachers should
Choice not be too rigid with the kind of language used: students
should be given the flexibility and opportunity to explore
the use of authentic language. Thus it is advisable that
teachers control activities when necessary sufficient for
the purpose of lubricating the communication process.
Ones interaction in communication depends not only on

what the other person says, but also on what he wishes
to extract from the conversation. In carrying out commu-
nicative activities in the classroom, teachers should thus
Feedback
provide sufficient feedback to the learners since feedback
are useful in the learning process; it provides the learner
with information on how the learner is progressing and
how successful he/she has been.
Figure 7.7: Three processes in the teaching procedures of CALT
(d) Principle Four: To Learn It, Do It

A teacher can only guide the learner, teach him/her as well as provide him/
her with opportunities to use the language, but only the learner will learn
what has been taught in class. However, this does not necessarily take place;
indeed teaching would be a simple task if this were so.
Table 7.2 is the description of a Communicative Language Teaching [CLT]

classroom and teacher.
Table 7.2: Description of a Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Classroom and
To provide a room, which allows flexibility and one that does not
CLT classroom restrict students movements in carrying out the tasks required.
Regimented rows, under a dictatorial or magisterial teachers
control may destroy all hopes for communication to take place.
Has a smaller role he/she will be talking less and listening more.
In a typical CALT classroom, the role of the teacher is to facilitate
CALT Teacher students learning. Students must therefore take the central role
and participate in communicative activities in order to learn how
to communicate.
(e) Principle Five: Mistakes are Not Always Mistakes

The proponents of CALT emphasise that errors should be viewed in a more
positive light, just like symptoms as fever and pain assist a physician in her
diagnosis. While phonological mistakes and pidginised forms of language
may seriously impair communication, grammatical imperfections may
also lead to a breakdown in communication. Although it is important for
teachers to correct students mistakes, as they may affect the meaning of
the intended message, niggling criticisms of what the students produce will
ultimately destroy the students confidence in using the language. Thus
teachers should face students errors or mistakes with less alacrity.
activity 7.1
Assuming that you are an English Language teacher, what are some
activities/strategies that you can employ in your classroom? Besides
those discussed, consider other types of activities and strategies that can
be used in CALT classrooms.
Lets test our understanding on what we have discussed earlier by answering

the following exercise.
EXERCISE 7.2
1. List and briefly describe the four guiding principles for CALT.
2. Identify the fundamental characteristics of CALT.

7.5 Activities and Strategies in CALT

Some of the common activities and strategies that can be used in communicative
language teaching classrooms are shown in Figure 7.8.
Activities and Strategies in CALT
1. Poetry, music, and drama provide ample and maximum

opportunities for a CLT teacher to conduct lessons, which
emphasise integrated language skills.
2. For example, using music in the classroom is a strategic
technique for a listening activity the use of the right song
with well-written lyrics will create a students interest in the
The use of learning of a foreign language.
poetry, music, 3. Besides enhancing the students interest, it will also provide
and drama material for vocabulary enhancement and the teaching of
certain grammatical items.
4. Activities such as recitation of poetry necessitate
pronunciation practices, and the poetry itself will expose
students to the use of creative language.
5. Dialogues extracted from drama or plays will provide them
with meaningful interaction activities; whereby they can role-
play and engage in simulation activities.
1. These types of activities provide opportunities for learners to

engage in real communication with one another.
Problem- 2. Teachers can set up real-life situations that necessitate
solving communication, where students are able to interact in the
activities and target language.
role-play 3. This is seen as a breakaway from the traditional repetition
and drill exercises and the opportunities to participate in
meaningful communication activities will motivate students
to learn the target language.
1. Appropriate holiday brochures or any interesting printed

The use of material that will cultivate students interest in language
authentic learning can be a useful source of material for the teaching of
visual and reading and writing skills and vocabulary enhancement.
printed
2. It will also be suitable for information-gap exercises.
materials
Students can be exposed to authentic language use.
Figure 7.8: Activities and strategies in CALT

The details mentioned earlier are some of the activities and strategies that can be
adopted in the CALT classrooms. These activities will enable a teacher to conduct
lessons that incorporate simple or more challenging tasks, in accordance with the
level of his/her students proficiency. In addition, reinforcement activities can
also be incorporated into the lessons. It is thus left to the creativity of a teacher to
make his/her language classroom interesting, conducive, challenging, and more
rewarding for the students.
activity 7.2
Consider other types of activities and strategies that can be used in CALT
classrooms. Remember the focus of CALT. Assuming that you are an
English Language teacher, what are some activities/strategies that you
have employed in your classrooms?
SUMMARY
In this topic, you have learned about the Communicative Approach to

Language Teaching. You have discovered that CALT is an approach that was
introduced in the 1960s and is currently widely used in foreign language
teaching throughout the world. You have also learned that the notion of
communicative competence is the essence of CALT. It includes other types
of competence such as grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic
competence.
By now, you should have understood the underlying principles of CALT. To
help you understand the CALT, the fundamental characteristics of CALT are
summarised below:
Emphasises communication rather than structure.
Stresses functional uses of language in different social contexts.
Focuses on meaningful tasks.
Emphasises meaning and fluency.
Classroom activities focus on language forms and functions.
Collaborative work between students.
Meaningful and purposeful interaction.
Focuses on the learner; the teacher is a facilitator, counsellor and
organiser.

Provides learner with opportunities to share and explore their attitudes,

feelings and opinions.
Use of authentic, from life materials/language.
Creates genuine, realistic learning situations.
Creates a secure, non-threatening learning atmosphere.
Uses a variety of materials, topics, activities and ways of interacting.
Emphasises acquisition of cultural knowledge.
Tolerance of errors.
Linguistic It refers to knowledge or rules of grammar and language

competence system. Hymes incorporates socio-cultural influences and
stresses on contextual appropriacy. Canale (1985) argues
that communicative competence is the underlying system of
knowledge and skills required for communication.

Linguistic It refers to the actual use of the language in daily interactions.
performance
Strategic Where learners paraphrase lexical items or grammatical

competence structures that have not yet been fully acquired.
test 1
What should you do to teach language skills successfully? What are your guiding
principles which will make you achieve this result?
test 2
Morrow (1981) uses 5 (five) underlying principles to guide him when he uses the
communicative methodology. Name the principles and state their importance in
communicative language teaching.

158 TOPIC 8 THE MALAYSIAN COMMUNICATIONAL SYLLABUS
Topic The
Malaysian
8 Communicational
Syllabus
learNiNg ouTComeS
1. Understand why there was a need for a communicative syllabus;
2. identify three factors that influenced the introduction of the Malaysian
Communicational Syllabus;
3. State three objectives of the syllabus; and
4. Identify the content of this syllabus and be able to apply it in your
teaching.
iNTroduCTioN
In the previous topic, you were introduced to one of the language teaching
approaches that has a great impact on foreign language teaching the
Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. This chapter will provide you
with an example of the approach, which was first implemented in Malaysia in the
1980s as reflected in the Malaysian Communicational Syllabus.

TOPIC 8 THE MALAYSIAN COMMUNICATIONAL SYLLABUS t 159
8.1 The Need for a Communicative

Syllabus
In Malaysia, much of the recreational and professional materials in the job market
are in English. The school leavers ability to use English will therefore increase
his/her value to his/her potential employer. However, it has been observed
that the majority of these school leavers seemed to lack the ability to manipulate
the language (English) in actual communication. Widdowson (1978), points out
that students in developing countries who have learnt English for several years
of formal English remain deficient in the ability to use the language in real
communication. This is central to the problems faced by students in Malaysia.
Realising this, the Curriculum Development Centre of the Ministry of

Education Malaysia has in fact provided courses at school level with a definite
communicative slant (Platt and Weber, 1980: 201). This syllabus is called the
Communicational Syllabus, and was first implemented in 1976 in the Form Four
classes throughout Malaysia. Three factors influenced the introduction of this
syllabus; they are listed as follows:
the change of the medium of instruction from English to Bahasa Malaysia;
the new defined role of English as a result of this change; and
international shifts in pedagogical emphasis.
8.2 Objectives of the Malaysian

Communicational Syllabus
In this section we will examine the target group, objectives and aims of the
Malaysian Communicational Syllabus.
The Malaysian Communicational Syllabus has been

Target particularly designed to cater for the needs of the majority of
Group Form Five leavers and those who are completing their formal
education at the upper secondary level.
The general objective of the syllabus seeks to enable those

General who participate in the education system to utilise the English
Objective language in a meaningful and relevant way. Both in the pursuit of
further knowledge and experience and in the everyday context of a
need to communicate (Malaysian Ministry of Education, 1975).
In view of this, the syllabus has been prepared towards realising the following
objectives:
to enable the students to communicate effectively and be

internationally intelligible in their speech;
Syllabus to help the students understand any form of instructional
Objective or recreational material written in English of a level
relevant to his stage of learning; and
to enable the students to write effectively and with
precision for different purposes.
More specifically, the Communicational Syllabus aims at

helping the student to achieve the four skills in communicative
Aims Language Teaching, namely listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. In other words, the syllabus is geared toward an
integration of these four skills.
It is the Ministrys wish that the terminal outcome of the syllabus is to be

immediately usable in the job market. The practice of activities which point
towards meeting these skills would assist them in preparing for the participation
of the most common language (English) activities that go together with the kind
of jobs they are likely to hold.
In defence of the syllabus objectives, the Ministry of Education points out that
this syllabus has its general utility value, which would also be beneficial to
potential tertiary students. They assert that:
Communicational Syllabus is flexible.

Syllabus specifies a number of language products, and
suggests strategies for realising these products.
While specifying the product, it does not only lay down
the maximum or minimum level to be reached.
Benefits For all practical purposes, the minimum level is simply
where the communicational interest is successfully
conveyed, irrespective of the linguistic finesse.
The maximum level is, of course, native speakers ability.
The focus of attention is on whether the student manages
to communicate, how effectively he does so, and how he
can improve on communication skills that he has.
In addition, the products specified above lead on to the realisation of the final
broad objectives of English language learning:

writing for various purposes;

speaking for different purposes;
reading for understanding; and
reading for pleasure.
They further state that from the implementation of this syllabus, the fear of the
question whether the students could master the required tasks and from them
master the products or not, would be unfounded.
The Ministry attributed this to the assumption that it is highly unlikely that even
the poorest student cannot carry out any of the identifiable task (1975: 8). They believe
that the weaker students would have the ability to perform simpler tasks, which
could be used to lead on to some of the products, although of a less optimum
quality. They finally stress that:
what matters is that they should have learned something that increases their
communicational effectiveness in some of the areasof language use that they
are likely to encounter after leaving school.
(1975: 8)
Before we continue with our lesson, answer the following questions to test your
understanding of what have been learnt so far.
EXERCISE 8.1
1. Why was there a need for a communicative syllabus in Malaysia?

2. Identify three factors that influenced the introduction of the
Malaysian Communicational Syllabus.
3. State the objectives of the syllabus.
8.3 Place of the Syllabus in the

English Language Curriculum
The Communicational Syllabus is viewed as a logical extension to the English
language curriculum in Malaysia. It was introduced on the assumption that the
basic structures have been acquired at the lower levels of schooling:
Primary education focuses on the acquisition of the fundamental grammar
and structures.
Lower secondary syllabus concentrates on attempting to provide the

components of the Primary syllabus with a context of use.
At the Upper secondary level, there should be emphasis upon matching the
component skills of the language to the students expected out-of-school
needs to communicate.
The Communicational Syllabus is thus a suitable extension in determining the

types of linguistic products which the students are expected to handle.
In your opinion did The Communicational Syllabus achieve its target in

Malaysian schools? With all the latest developments in the modern world, do you
think there is a need for a new approach in teaching English?
8.4 The Content of the Syllabus

Here we are going to examine the content of the Malaysian Communicational
Syllabus. The syllabus is made up of three parts:
the input output table;
the list of learning areas; and
examples of situations for realising the products and sample lesson plans.
8.4.1 The Input-Output Table

This section of the syllabus consists of the stimuli, which may be presented to the
student, the mental processes required of the student during the handling of it,
and finally a general description of the resultant linguistic products.
From observing the input-output table, the teachers are required to notice that
different products may result from one stimulus. This in turn, is dependent on
the desired mental processes. Likewise, one product may be realised via various
stimuli.
The purpose of the Input-output table is as follows:

(a) Intended as a guideline for the teacher to plan his/her teaching strategies, to
prepare teaching materials and to structure his/her teaching sequence.
(b) The teacher is not restricted in his/her selection of materials; the same
materials may be used for different classes or different activities within one
classroom as a means of realising various products, or vice-versa.
(c) In addition, no level is stimulated in the input-output table. It is left to the
teachers to determine the level of complexity themselves, and also the level
of the product, which they can most reasonably expect, from the type of
students they have. Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)
An example of the contents of the input-output table is illustrated as follows:

Table 8.1: Input-Output Table
PROCESS INPUT
Stimulus and Stimulus Breakdown Cognitive Ability
Instructions and Directions: Comprehend and recall
Command, orders on what is to be information:
done (everyday tasks in context Remember details, recognise
of time and place); instructions on intent of message.
the carrying out of ample complex
processes and procedures. Comprehend Information:
Sieve for salient points, identify
Mode:
Extended Information: important details, extrapolate and

Oral
News items, talks, stories, descrip- form conclusions.

tions, gossip conversation.
Form personal opinions and
viewpoints. Infer.
General information on How, Comprehend Intent:

What, Where, Why, and When. Recognise implied meaning, sar-
casms, tone & mood. Formulate
Questions, comments, arguments: counter arguments and counter-
Controversial remarks, differing comments. Form personal stand.
points of view, provocations, in- Pinpoint logicalities and trends
sults, propositions, arguments. of thought. Draw from personal
knowledge to form supporting
reasons for personal stand. De-
cide on ways to counter.
Shorter pieces of information: Comprehend Information:

Written
Newspaper articles, bulletins, Intent, main points, gist,

Mode:
memos, notices and circulars, extrapolate, conclude, and form

notes, advertisements, letters. opinions.
(Malaysian Ministry of Education, 1975: 25)

8.4.2 The List of Learning Areas
This is another aid to the teacher in the planning of his/her les-

son. The list consists of the general products, which are in part
Purpose of arranged in order of complexity according to communicational
the list needs, length and pre-requisite skills involved in realising
them. It is specified that teachers should only treat this list as
a blueprint in their teaching plans.
To quote the syllabus designers words:

The teacher is advised not to regard the list as being strictly
Technique hierarchical. The order of complexity given here is merely one
of many possible orders, and teachers are invited to rearrange
the order of the different areas if they feel it is necessary to do
so. (1975: 10)
The one Teachers are subjected to one constraint; for Form Four, they
constraint are required to select from only areas 1 to 13, but for Form Five,
of the list they may proceed to areas 14 to 16 if they feel that their classes
are ready for them.
8.4.3Examples of Situations and Sample Lesson Plan

The final part of the syllabus constitutes examples of situations, which could be
used by teachers in the classroom. Each lesson plan is based upon one situation
from one area. Teachers are greatly encouraged to be innovative, try out new
approaches, as long as they are aware of the required products.
What is a product? The basic definition of a product used in this syllabus is a

piece of comprehensible information; written, spoken or presented in a non-
linguistic form, for instance, a letter, an instruction, a graph etc. could be
products, produced through information gleaned via language.
In the implementation of the syllabus, the two textbooks used, according to Platt
and Weber (1980, 201/2):
have made a very credible move towards giving students and teachers
a framework for creating situations as close to everyday communication
as possible, such as conveying messages, and receiving phone calls, job
interviews, giving instructions and selling products.
In view of the above description of the syllabus, a CALT lesson using the
Malaysian Communicational Syllabus may have the following content and
activities:
Table 8.2: CALT Lesson Using Malaysian Communicational Syllabus
Content and Activities

Form 4 (Lower-intermediate proficiency level)
Area of Area 5 Gathering of information, comments, and ideas.
focus
Skill Integrated skills with an emphasis on the speaking skill.
Aim To provide students with practice in gathering information
and by asking relevant questions.
Specific 1. to formulate relevant questions accurately in obtaining
Objectives information; and
2. to gather accurate information based on the questions
asked.
Content 1. Language functions on seeking information
E.g. To seek clarification
To enquire
To seek confirmation
2. Language functions on giving information
E.g. To explain
To describe
To demand
3. Formulating questions or statements based on the given
functions
E.g. To enquire - How long have you been a
singer?
To explain - Actually I started five years ago.
Teaching Microphone, cassette player, and cassette that contains popular
Aids English songs, flashcards comprising language functions.
Activities 1. Listening to a popular English song at the beginning of
the lesson this kind of activity will attract students
attention and arouse their interest in the language;
2. Asking questions pertaining to the lyrics of the song,
with a focus on meaning and vocabulary development
this can be done in the form of an interview/role-play
via information-gap exercises (speaking skill). This
speaking activity enables students to use language in real
context through simulated activities;
3. Writing sentences based on the language functions
emphasised.

8.5 Teaching Implications of the

Syllabus
In any learning situation, the teacher is viewed as playing a crucial role in
motivating or encouraging the student to produce the required products. The
materials you use and the teaching techniques that you employ could overcome
the weaknesses, which prevent the students from displaying their maximum
communicational impact. Quoting Lado (1964: 5), ...the effectiveness of any
students products depend on the quality of the teacher, the student himself, and the
teaching aids used.
Therefore, it is crucially important that as a language teacher, you understand the

target of language teaching, for instance, when teaching this syllabus, you should
know its objectives so that you can select your materials accordingly. From here,
it entails that a teacher should utilise skills, the materials at hand and knowledge
of the students abilities to make language teaching successful. Although the
syllabus is provided, only individual teachers can visualise the quality of that product
in the context of their classroom (Morrow, 1981: 68).
A vital point that a teacher should note about this syllabus is that it advocates
activity learning, and the emphasis is upon the net gain in learning enjoyed by
the individual student. The teachers task is thus to foster this activity type of
learning; Littlewood (1981: 17-18) states that some of the contribution which
communicative activities can make to language learning are as follows:
they provide whole-task practice;
they improve motivation;
they allow natural learning; and
they can create a context that supports learning.
When practising these communicative activities, the teacher thus requires an

overall method or some overall means of achieving the objectives of the course.
This is why the syllabus makes it imperative for the teacher to have a clear
perspective of what constitutes the anatomy of Communicative Methodology.
In teaching a syllabus such as this, appropriate selection of materials by the

teacher, is vital. Teachers are advised to use teaching materials collected from
sources other than textbooks. Since the learning process is almost exclusively
based, extensive use will have to be made of audio visual stimuli such as
photographs, charts, advertisements, tapes and so on. In selecting materials for
teaching, teachers are reminded to bear in mind the following points:

The materials should:

be deployable to effect maximum learning of a chosen area, that is, its use
should be relevant to the students mastery of the chosen target, and also to
sustaining his interest; and
assist in the stimulation of a real-life situation in the classroom.
(1975: 16)
To conclude, it could be emphasised that the effectiveness of any teaching

situation is determined by the factors listed below:
the students propensity to learn, as determined by his background in the
language;
the teachers exploitation of this propensity; and
the available teaching aids, class time and inter student reinforcement.
SUMMARY
This topic has provided you with an example of a syllabus designed for the
Malaysian upper secondary school English curriculum. The syllabus is known as
the Malaysian Communicational Syllabus. The topic has also taken you through
the reasons for the need of a communicative syllabus in the Malaysian context,
the objectives of the syllabus, place of the syllabus in the English language
curriculum, content of the syllabus, and its teaching implications.
Communicational A syllabus developed by the Ministry of Education in

syllabus 1976. Its aim is to assist students to be competent
and proficient in the language and to use it in real life
communication. Three important factors influenced the
instruction of the syllabus. They are:
1. the change of the medium of instruction from
English to Bahasa Malaysia;
2. the new defined role of English as a result of the
change; and
3. international shifts in pedagogical emphasis.

test 1
What is the general objective for the introduction of the communicational

syllabus for the secondary schools in Malaysia? What do the government expect
to achieve by this decision?
test 2
Write a CALT lesson plan using the Malaysian Communicational syllabus to seek
information and to enquire about a return trip airline ticket to London. In the
lesson plan, come up with activities to arouse interest and attract attention in the
use of the language. Do not forget to include other relevant information in the
lesson plan.

TOPIC 9 ISSUES AND CURRENT TRENDS IN CALT t 169
Topic Issues and

Current
9 Trends
in CALT
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Discuss the role of grammar and how it can be taught in
communicative language teaching;
2. Illustrate five examples of technologies that may be used in the CALT
classroom; and
3. Describe the characteristics of communicative language testing.
XX INTRODUCTION
In the previous topic, you were introduced to a syllabus designed for the
implementation of the Communicative Approach to language teaching in the
Malaysian lower secondary school context. The syllabus is called the Malaysian
Communicational Syllabus.
In this topic, various topics related to communicative language teaching

(hereafter, referred to as CLT) are discussed. The first part of the topic will take
you through the role of grammar in CALT. Then, you will learn about the features
of grammar teaching in CALT and some guidelines for teaching grammar. The
last part of this topic deals with testing in the context of CALT.

170 TOPIC 9 ISSUES AND CURRENT TRENDS IN CALT
9.1 The Role of Grammar in CALT

Since the main principle of CLT is to teach language learners to understand and
use real and purposeful communication, thus, as pointed out in the previous
topics, the focus of CLT is on fluency. Although accuracy is still regarded as an
important aspect of communication, it has a less significant role in CLT.
Bearing this in mind, the question is:
How is grammar taught in a CLT classroom?
In practice, generally, there are two views regarding this matter.
... is concerned with the teaching of accuracy before

emphasising the teaching of fluency. Language teachers who
belong to this school of thought feel that it is crucial that
The First implicit rules of a language (grammar) be explicitly taught first
View followed by the teaching of communication skills. In other
words, a learner must be equipped with a sound knowledge
of the grammatical rules of the language for the basis of
developing fluency in the target language.
... is concerned with the teaching of communication skills prior

to the teaching of the grammatical rules of the target language.
Teachers who uphold this view feel that grammar will be
The Second
eventually acquired through exposure to purposeful and
View
authentic language use. In other words, adequate purposeful
and meaningful communication practices will provide a basis
for the acquisition of implicit rules of the language.
Figure 9.1: Two views on how Grammar is taught in a CALT classroom
Which method proves to be more fruitful is an issue that needs to be investigated.

Both methods may have their pros and cons.

Table 9.1: Pros and Cons of the Two Views
Pros Cons
View 1 Emphasis on grammatical But these students are not able to

accuracy may produce students function well in communication (the
who are structurally competent in reason for the birth of CALT).
the language.
View 2 Students will have the confidence Students who do not receive
of communicating well. emphasis on grammar are claimed
to often develop the habit of using
ungrammatical forms, which may
lead to fossilisation of the errors
(Chitravelu et al., 1995). Errors that
are fossilised are difficult to correct
and should therefore be avoided.
What is important in the language teaching-learning process is to ensure that a

balance is achieved between the teaching of accuracy and fluency.
In the light of this, Chitravelu et al. advised that both types of activities
focusing on accuracy and fluency be included in language classrooms so as to
help students improve their communication skills. In the context of CALT, the
teaching of grammar should thus focus on the provision of language forms and
functions.
Now, lets take a break by answering the following exercise.
EXERCISE 9.1
1. How important is grammar in the communicative approach to

language teaching?
2. What are the two views of teaching grammar in CALT? Discuss.
9.1.1How to Teach Grammar in CALT

Two approaches, namely, covert and overt grammar teaching (Harmer, 1988) may
be employed by teachers in teaching grammar in CALT classrooms.
The characteristics of the two approaches are summarised as follows:

Table 9.2: Characteristics of Covert and Overt Grammar Teaching
Approach Focus Teachers Role
Covert Use of structure with ample To maintain a warm & supportive

Grammar opportunity to practise the atmosphere.
Teaching language forms.
Errors are tolerated & dealt
with at a later session.
Overt Explanation of rules of the To present rules/ patterns
Grammar language. generalisations & provide practice later
Teaching
or
Students attempt to derive
rules for themselves. To provide students with sample
sentences containing target forms &
to guide them to derive rules from
structures used/exposed to.
Adapted from Chitravelu et al. (1995)
9.1.2 Guidelines for Teaching Grammar in the

Context of CALT
Despite having a less emphasised role in CLT, the following guidelines can be
considered in the teaching of grammar in the CALT context:
(a) Grammar is an essential component in language, for every language is rule-
governed. Thus, whatever view a teacher holds, it is crucial that grammar
be incorporated in a lesson, indirectly, directly or integratively.
(b) In order to achieve mastery of a language, ample opportunities for
practising the language structure must be provided in every lesson. The
rules of the language can be acquired simultaneously and in a more
meaningful way. Thus, grammar should not be taught in isolation but in
meaningful contexts.
(c) At some point of learning, the correct usage of language needs to be
emphasised, as old habits die hard. This will prevent any fossilisation of
errors, which will be difficult to get rid of at a later stage.

9.2 Uses of Information Technology

in CALT
The revolution of information technology has had a great impact on society
and education. Its impact and influence can also be seen in language teaching;
computer assisted language learning is becoming the trend in foreign language
teaching and learning. The incorporation of technology into the language
classrooms is seen as a means of reducing students anxiety. In fact, it is not
exaggerating to claim that its use in the classroom seems to motivate learners and
sustain their interest in learning the language.
In CALT classrooms, interactive computer network enables students to test the

result of learning without the risk of being punished for any mistake (Huang &
Liu, 1997). This makes learning enjoyable and interesting.
Some examples of technologies that can be employed in CALT classrooms include

the following:
Table 9.3: Technologies in CALT Classrooms
Technologies Uses
Cassette Cassettes that contain songs or recorded dialogues serve as useful
materials in CLT. They can provide opportunities for students to
practise and learn new vocabulary, phrases as well as new listening
comprehension skills. These include activities such as guessing
meaning in context and understanding the general idea.
Video Videos containing authentic language materials can expose learners
to various dialectal variations in a language as well as cross-cultural
differences amongst different groups of speakers of a language.
They can also provide learners with paralinguistic features in
spoken language such as facial expressions, body language,
intonation, and guessing meaning from contextual clues. Sitcoms
such as Mind Your Language will provide interesting materials for
the learning of phrases, cultural differences as well as identifying
erroneous phrases. Teachers can select suitable language input that
is appropriate for the level of the learners intended for. Activities
that can be included in a lesson using videos can be divided into
two stages, namely, pre-viewing and post-viewing activities.
Pre-viewing activities are useful for helping learners to comprehend
the topic that is used in the lesson. These activities will provide
learners with opportunities to think about the topic and contextual
clues in aiding comprehension. The types of activities that may be
used for this purpose include practising new vocabulary, semantic

mapping of key points, a short introductory reading as well as

comprehension questions.
Post-viewing activities serve as a means of checking
comprehension and platforms for discussing and elaborating
on the topic. Examples of activities may be true/false questions,
identifying key people, events, and narrating what happens in the
video, etc.
E-mail E-mail correspondence materials can be used to illustrate authentic
informal language in use. However, teachers need to be selective
in choosing materials for the classroom. A point that needs to be
remembered is that not all learners are privileged to have access
to a computer. If there were access to computers, learners can
be asked to communicate with each other and participate in
meaningful interactive sessions.
Internet Provided there is access to a computer laboratory, the Internet
will provide good resources for language learning and teaching.
Websites containing pages of on-line exercises and activities for
language learning may be useful for both teachers and learners in
CLT.
Commercial Computer software that is available in the market can be helpful to
Software learners for several reasons:
1. It can provide learners with opportunities for obtaining
immediate feedback in learning. However, teachers need to
remind their learners regarding the limitation of the kind of
feedback given by the software.
2. It allows interactive and meaningful learning. Saz (1996: 75)
stated that it is particularly useful for someone who responds
particularly well to kinesthetic modes of learning.
3. It may also help learners review grammar and vocabulary in
a more attractive manner a move from the traditional ways
of reviewing. A word of caution, however, is sometimes not
all recommended corrections for language can be accepted.
Teachers, therefore, need to facilitate this activity or interfere
with the activity when the need arises.
Multimedia A multimedia lab may be a suitable place for CLT. It offers
Laboratory possibilities for learners to visualise a topic-specific situation
whereby they are able to make use of language as much as they
can (Huang & Liu, 2002). A teacher in a multimedia lab will have
to assume the role of a coordinator coordinating the flow of
communication between himself/herself with each student and
between each student with the computer.
Teaching a language via the means of computer software
may enhance students interest in learning. Their motivation
and independence on learning may also be elevated, as the

task presented in the software is interesting and challenging.

Moreover, learning through the use of computer software is fun
and interactive. However, a teacher using the multimedia lab
for language teaching and learning must ensure that learners
are given sufficient input in how to manipulate the computer
software. Otherwise, teachers may find that their effort in making
learning interesting is hampered by learners frustration in their
difficulty in handling the computer. This may also undermine the
learners interest in the class.
ACTIVITY 9.1
Design a lesson for the teaching of English using one of the technologies
listed earlier.
9.3 Testing in CALT

In the communicative paradigm, the issue that is central for testing an
individuals language ability is the definition of what constitutes language
proficiency. In this context, Weir (1990) argues that Bachmans definition of
communicative language ability which includes both knowledge or competence,
and the capability for implementing that competence in language use is consistent
with Widdowsons term in providing a more inclusive and satisfactory definition
of language proficiency.
Thus, the testing of language proficiency in the CALT context must demonstrate
the ability to use language communicatively, involving both competence and
demonstration of the ability to apply this competence in practice. In other
words, a typical communicative language test must incorporate tasks that are
representative of the kind of task that candidates may encounter in real life
situations and those which correspond to normal language use.
The features of ideal communicative language tests can be summarised as

follows:

Features of The Test
Ideally, the test should be as direct (performance-based) as

Performance- possible (reflecting the attributes of activities in real life) and the
Based tasks that candidates need to perform should involve realistic
discourse processing. The emphasis is on the expression and the
understanding of functional meaning.
Variety of The sample of communicative language ability included in the

language test must be as representative as possible, encompassing a range
functions of situations that reflected the teaching objectives. Thus the
test should comprise a manipulation of a variety of language
functions.
Integrative
Approach The test must adopt an integrative approach to assessment.
Authentic The tasks and texts used in the test must be authentic.
Meaningful The test, as far as possible, should aim at providing criterion-

Cut-Off referenced assessment and the establishment of meaningful cut-
Scores off scores.
Figure 9.2: Features of ideal communicative language tests
The inclusion of features that are demanded by the principles of the

communicative paradigm is however not easily achievable. Whilst striving to
achieve reliability, language tests, which are communicative in nature also face
problems of validity. In addition, whilst attempting to be as representative of the
various real-life tasks as possible, a test must also be practical. Thus, it would
be impossible to include all possible real-life tasks in a test, for it may not be
possible and practical in terms of time and cost. For language practitioners of the
communicative paradigm, what is important is to provide a specification, coarse
but robust, of the general communicative tasks facing target students in their specified
context. (Weir, 1990: 20).

Some examples of communicative tests are:

Table 9.4: Examples of Communicative Tests
Examples of Communicative Tests Its Purpose

CITO Functional Dialogue Language Tests: To test oral communicative ability in
the performance of speech acts in the
Developed for Dutch Secondary School second language (French, German,
students by CITO (The National Institute English)
for Educational Measurement).
Certificates in Communicative Skills in To offer candidates the chance to obtain
English: certification for what they can do,
without being penalised by what they
Originally developed from the CEFL cannot do.
exams run by the Royal Society of Arts
Examinations Boards from 1981 until
1988. It is later produced by the University
of Cambridge Examinations Syndicate
(UCLES). It contains separate certificates
in the four areas of language skills,
namely, reading, writing, listening, and
oral interaction. It focuses on task-based
assessment and comprises tasks and texts
that are authentic and relevant.
references
For more information on Communicative Language Testing, read
Communicative Language Testing, by Cyril J. Weir (1995).
EXERCISE 9.2
1. Identify the two approaches that can be adopted in the teaching of

grammar in CALT.
2. What are some technologies that can be used in CALT.
3. List down the features that should be included in communicative
language tests.

SUMMARY
This topic has taken you through various issues that are related to
communicative language teaching. You have learned that the teaching
of grammar has a less important role in CALT as the emphasis of CALT is
on fluency. You have also been exposed to some common features of the
teaching of grammar in CALT and some guidelines for teaching grammar.
Other issues such as current trends in CALT and testing in CALT are also
discussed.
Covert Covert activities of situations are secret or hidden. A covert

grammar is grammar taught with ample opportunities for
students to use the language structure.
Interactive An interactive computer programme or television system is one

which allows direct communication between the user and the
machine. If you describe a group of people and their activities
you mean that the people communicate with each other.
Overt An overt grammar is the kind of grammar that you teach in

direct manner and obvious way.
Software Computer programmes are referred to as software.
test 1
Identify the two approaches that can be adopted in the teaching of grammar in
CALT and state other approaches that may be appropriate to teach this subject.
test 2
Describe the features of ideal communicative language tests and cite examples of
each feature.

Answers
TOPIC 1: APPROACHING CURRICULUM
Exercise 1.1
1. The answer would depend upon the individual teachers educational
philosophy, the school administration, the specifics of the national
curriculum and the prevailing political forces. Refer to 1.3 and 1.4 for
discussion on theoretical underpinnings.
2. To call the philosophy behind the curricula mentioned by Cheah and

Marimuthu perennialism would be an understatement. No doubt, the
curricula treat students as passive receipients of knowledge but they
do much more damage than that. That is to say, they perpetuate radical
inequality in society by instilling in students belief in the goodness of
conforming to norms and rules which directly oppress them. Refer to 1.2 on
the hidden curriculum for discussion on the ways in which social inequality
is perpetuated through schools.
TOPIC 2: CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Exercise 2.1
1. Sharifah Maimunah & Keith Levin (1991) argue that wide participation is
not only difficult to accomplish but can counterproductive:

It has proven impractical to involve all teachers in developing
programmes in the Malaysian context since the number of schools is so
large. Representative participation is used in the hope that those invited to
participate will represent the views and practices of the classroom teachers.
Furthermore, experience has shown that sheer quantity of participation in
planning can be harmful if it involves disagreement, wasted time, unclear
needs assessment and frustrating meetings which often move off the task
in hand . . . Also participation in development is not necessarily related to
effective implementation . . . It may be more realistic to think in terms of
new forms of participation during implementation that allow some measure
of adaptation and ownership of new curricula forms within an agreed
framework (1991: 243).
Curriculum development is a specialized undertaking and few of the

teachers or even those working at the state education departments have
180 ANSWERS
received any training in this area. Problems of content overlap and overload
across the curriculum are probably best met by centrally coordinated
development strategies. These are also likely to improve the sequencing or
related topics in different subject areas. Centralization would seem to be
much more economical both in terms of effort and resources (1991: 247).
You do not of course have to agree with the above argument. Scholars
like Apple, and Ozga and Lawn, for instance, have argued that teachers
are steadily becoming disempowered and deskilled because of the
encroachment of technical control procedures into the curriculum of schools
(Marsh, 1992: 45).
2. Marsh (1992: 125-6) provides a list of the major advantages and

disadvantages of centrally-based curriculum development.
Strengths
1. Provides a uniform delivery system: encourages standardisation;
enhances equity in allocation and distribution of scarce resources;
2. Saves times, energy and funds;
3. Ensures continuity: policies can be maintained over a number of years;
students and parents can be assured that policies will be the same even
if students move schools;
4. Concentrates expertise: enables teams of experts to be used; enables
sufficient funds to be provided to produce quality materials;
Weaknesses
1. Provides little teacher initiative: teachers are mere technicians;
2. Often lack implementation strategies: insufficient attention is given to
implementation strategies at the school level;
3. Increases standardisation: can lead to narrrow goals; assumes that
schools are more alike than dissimilar;
4. Dependent on rational model: assumes that school personnel will want
to implement policies developed centrally.
TOPIC 3: ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

Exercise 3.1
1. As mentioned in Topic 3, one of the innovations in the revised KBSM is
multiple intelligences (MI). MI consists of:
1. Linguistic intelligence (word smart)
ANSWERS t 181
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence (number/reasoning smart)

3. Spatial intelligence (picture smart)
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (body smart)
5. Musical intelligence (music smart)
6. Interpersonal intelligence (people smart)
7. Intrapersonal intelligence (self smart)
8. Naturalist intelligence (nature smart)
The argument is that schools have for too long concentrated on only the first two
intelligences, and that there should be more pluralistic in focus.
Read up on MI and its potential application in the classroom on the internet. Try
the following sites as a start:
http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm
http://www.metronet.com/~bhorizon/teach.htm
TOPIC 4: STRUCTURALIST APPROACH

Exercise 4.1
The Audio-Lingual Method supports the introduction of grammatically correct
target language structures that the students need to learn. The context of
dialogue advocated by the method makes it likely that the words and sentence
patterns introduced will be those that learners encounter in basic, everyday
communication in the target language. If these dialogues are audio-recorded
using native speakers as participants, ESL students will be exposed to native-
speaker pronunciation and intonation. In a society with very few native speakers
of English who can act as speech models for ESL learners, this facility can be a
plus factor.
While drills are often considered meaningless and boring, they can nevertheless
provide ESL learners with a safe and relatively stress-free way to engage in the
spoken use of English. Although drills must not be the only means of learning a
language, they can be inserted appropriately into the learning process to provide
needed practice.

182 ANSWERS
TOPIC 5: NON-STRUCTURALIST APPROACH

Exercise 5.1
1. The Direct Method places emphasis on oral skills and rejects the use of the
printed word. One argument against this orientation is that the printed
word does not necessarily interfere with pronunciation. In fact, reading
and writing help to consolidate language development and may actually
reinforce retention of language items. Exposing learners to all four skills at
the same time need not be detrimental to learning, if the learners are not
pressured to master them all at once.
2. According to the Natural Approach, the level of the materials will need to be
just beyond the learners current language level, in order for them to provide
comprehensible input necessary for language acquisition to take place.
3. Some advantages of CLL

Meaningful content. Since students decide the topics and what they want
to practice, the content of learning is meaningful to them.
High motivation. Students feel more ownership of their learning and are
likely to become more self-motivated.
Little stress. Learning follows students pace, not teachers expectations.
Teacher acts as guide and helper.
Freedom of expression. Students do not feel they have to reproduce
content specified by an institution. They are free to learn to express
what they want, in the target language.
Social support. Students support and learn with each other.

Criticism of CLL
Lack of specific guidance. Not every teacher can work without a carefully
designed text and syllabus. There are also no clearly specified
objectives. Some students who are not used to this kind of method may
feel uncomfortable with the apparent lack of planning.
Need for special training for the teacher. Teachers need special training to
act as effective counsellors and guides in a language-earning situation.
This kind of skill goes beyond knowing how to present language
content.

ANSWERS t 183
TOPIC 6: LEARNER-CENTRED APPROACHES

Exercise 6.1
Teachers take a decentralised position in the learner-centred classroom as the
focus has to be on the learner, yet they do have an array of roles to play.
In a learner-centred approach, teachers may be facilitators who need to move

students along when they do not know how to proceed during a task or when
students do not know where to look for resources. Teachers are resource persons
when students have nowhere else to turn, but they have to step aside to allow
students to seek other sources of information.
Teachers have to be patient and tolerant of mistakes, as risk-taking is encouraged

in learner-centred approaches. They in fact have to encourage risk-taking
behaviour and they must be willing to wait while learners explore possible
avenues. They have to help students build self-confidence in order to become
independent learners.
As group activity is important in learner-centred approaches, teachers have

to be mediators as well. They have to ensure that tasks are delegated fairly,
although they should leave that task largely to the learners. They have to see
that individual and group needs and interests are met as far as possible, while
ensuring that learning objectives are met.
Teachers also have to be learning models who model thinking and learning
strategies, so that students can see what needs to be done during the learning
process in order to be successful learners. Teachers thus have to focus on the
learning process rather than the product.
TOPIC 7: FUNDAMENTALS OF CALT

Exercise 7.1
1. The CALT is an approach to foreign language teaching that emphasises
communicative competence. It is a product of the growing dissatisfaction
with the prevailing methodology, which emphasises the mastery of language
structure amongst language teaching practitioners and applied linguists. The
CALT began in the 1970s.
2. Communicative competence refers to competence in learning a language,

which includes sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence,
grammatical competence, and strategic competence. (You can discuss the
details by referring to the section on What is Communicative Competence?)
184 ANSWERS
Exercise 7.2
1. The four guiding principles of CALT are:
Communication needs and area of competence
Meaningful and realistic interaction
The learners target language skill
Curriculum wide approach
(Elaborate the above points)
2. The CALTs fundamental characteristics include:

Emphasises communication rather than structure.
Stresses functional uses of language in different social contexts.
Focuses on meaningful tasks.
Emphasises meaning and fluency.
Classroom activities focus on language forms and functions.
Collaborative work between students.
Meaningful and purposeful interaction.
Focuses on the learner; the teacher is a facilitator, counsellor, organiser.
Provides learner with opportunities to share and explore their attitudes,
feelings and opinions.
Use of authentic, from life materials/language.
Creates genuine, realistic learning situations.
Creates a secure, non-threatening learning atmosphere.
Uses a variety of materials, topics, activities and ways of interacting.
Emphasises acquisition of cultural knowledge tolerance of errors.
TOPIC 8: THE MALAYSIAN

COMMUNICATIONAL SYLLABUS
Exercise 8.1
1. There was a need for a communicative syllabus in the Malaysian context
because majority of the school leavers were not able to manipulate English
language in real communication.

ANSWERS t 185
2. Three factors that influenced the introduction of the syllabus are:

(a) The change of the medium of instruction from English to Bahasa
Malaysia.
(b) The new defined role of English as a result of this change.
(c) International shifts in pedagogical emphasis.
3. The objectives of the syllabus are:

(a) to enable the students to communicate effectively and be internationally
intelligible in their speech;
(b) to help the students understand any form of instructional or
recreational material written in English of a level relevant to his stage
of learning; and
(c) to enable the students to write effectively and with precision for
different purposes.
Exercise 8.2
1. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They are taught integratively.
2. It was introduced on the assumption that the basic structures have been
acquired at the lower levels of schooling. The syllabus of the Primary
education focuses on the acquisition of the fundamental grammar and
structures, the Lower secondary syllabus concentrates on attempting to
provide the components of the Primary syllabus with a context of use. It
follows that in the Upper secondary level, there should be emphasis upon
matching the component skills of the language to the students expected out-
of-school needs to communicate.
TOPIC 9: ISSUES AND CURRENT TRENDS

IN CALT
Exercise 9.1
1. Grammar has a less significant role in CALT. The emphasis in CALT is on
fluency.
2. The two views of teaching grammar in CALT are:

the teaching of explicit rules of language followed by practice of use of
language (fluency); and
the teaching of communication skills, i.e. the exposure to use of
language followed by the teaching of explicit rules of the target
language. Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)
186 ANSWERS
Exercise 9.2
1. The two approaches that can be adopted in the teaching of grammar in
CALT are:
2. Some technologies that can be used in CALT classrooms are Cassettes,

videos, E-mail, Internet, and commercial software.
3. The features that are typical of communicative language tests include:

They should comprise tasks that reflect the attributes of activities in real
life.
The sample of communicative language ability included in the test
must be as representative as possible.
The test must adopt an integrative approach to assessment.
The tasks and texts used in the test must be authentic.
The test should be as direct as possible (reflecting real life situation)
and the tasks that candidates need to perform should involve realistic
discourse processing. The emphasis is on the expression and the
understanding of functional meaning.
The test, as far as possible, should aim at providing criterion referenced
assessment and the establishment of meaningful cut-off scores.

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1. E-mail your comment or feedback to modulefeedback@oum.edu.my
OR
2. Fill in the Print Module online evaluation form available on myVLE.
Thank you.
Centre for Instructional Design and Technology

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Tel No.: 03-27732578
Fax No.: 03-26978702

HBET1503 Principles and Practice of TESL Methodology

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Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Module Writers: Assoc Prof Dr Rosli Talif

Moderator: Assoc Prof Dr Alias Mohd Yatim

Reviewed by: Juraiza A Jamil

Developed by: Centre for Instructional Design and Technology

Printed by: Meteor Doc. Sdn. Bhd.

First Edition, January 2004

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM), October 2011, HBET1503

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 1 Approaching Curriculum 1

Topic 2 Curriculum Development 30

Topic 3 English Language Curriculum 48

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 4 Structuralist Approach 68

Topic 5 Non-Structuralist Approach 82

Topic 6 Learner-Centred Approaches 115

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 7 Fundamentals of CALT 145

Topic 8 The Malaysian Communicational Syllabus 158

Topic 9 Issues and Current Trends in CALT 169

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

As an open and distance learner, you should be acquainted with learning

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Table 1: Estimation of Time Accumulation of Study Hours

Study Activities Study Hours

1. Know what is a curriculum and what is a syllabus;

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 2 deals with curriculum development. It begins with a brief history of

Topic 6 discusses the learner-centred approaches, where teaching/learning

Topic 7 talks about fundamentals of CALT; it introduces the communicative

Topic 8 deals with the Malaysian communicational syllabus, its needs,

TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

Activity: Like Self-Check, activities are also placed at various locations or

References: References is where a list of relevant and useful textbooks, journals,

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

In Latin, curriculum means racing chariot; currere means to run. Several

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

1.1 DEFINING CURRICULUM

Spend a minute or two consider what you understand by the term

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Figure 1.1: What is curriculum?

Or is curriculum what Sharifah Noor Puteh (1998) compiled, as shown by the

A functioning instrument of education (Tyler, 1949).

A plan for learning (Taba, 1962).

A set of broad decisions about what to be taught and how it is to be taught,

A particular form of specification about the practice of teaching not a

Since it means different things to different people and to different educational

all the planned learning opportunities offered by the organisation to learners

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

1.2 DEFINING SYLLABUS

Previously, we have looked at the definition of curriculum. Now,

Since curriculum and syllabus have been used interchangeably, we feel it

Etymologically, syllabus means a label or table of contents. The following are

The American Heritage Dictionary (2000), defined syllabus as the outline of

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Summers, 2001:332, 1464),

Figure 1.2: Difference between curriculum and syllabus

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)