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    Functional-Notional Syllabus 4

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    The document discusses the functional-notional approach to language teaching. It has 3 main points: 1. The theoretical basis is that language should be taught through a focus on communicative functions and meanings rather than just forms. The approach aims to develop students' communicative competence. 2. Textbooks following this approach organize language around functions and notions. Units focus on a core function and provide vocabulary, grammar, and activities related to performing that function. 3. Advantages include motivating students and allowing early language use. Disadvantages include complexity in classifying functions and oversimplifying the nature of language.

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    Functional-Notional Syllabus 4

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    2321485
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    The document discusses the functional-notional approach to language teaching. It has 3 main points: 1. The theoretical basis is that language should be taught through a focus on communicative functions and meanings rather than just forms. The approach aims to develop students' communicative competence. 2. Textbooks following this approach organize language around functions and notions. Units focus on a core function and provide vocabulary, grammar, and activities related to performing that function. 3. Advantages include motivating students and allowing early language use. Disadvantages include complexity in classifying functions and oversimplifying the nature of language.

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    Functional-notional Syllabus 4

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    The document discusses the functional-notional approach to language teaching. It has 3 main points: 1. The theoretical basis is that language should be taught through a focus on communicative functions and meanings rather than just forms. The approach aims to develop students' communicative competence. 2. Textbooks following this approach organize language around functions and notions. Units focus on a core function and provide vocabulary, grammar, and activities related to performing that function. 3. Advantages include motivating students and allowing early language use. Disadvantages include complexity in classifying functions and oversimplifying the nature of language.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    300 views19 pages

    Functional-Notional Syllabus 4

    Uploaded by

    2321485
    The document discusses the functional-notional approach to language teaching. It has 3 main points: 1. The theoretical basis is that language should be taught through a focus on communicative functions and meanings rather than just forms. The approach aims to develop students' communicative competence. 2. Textbooks following this approach organize language around functions and notions. Units focus on a core function and provide vocabulary, grammar, and activities related to performing that function. 3. Advantages include motivating students and allowing early language use. Disadvantages include complexity in classifying functions and oversimplifying the nature of language.

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    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
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    The key takeaways are that the functional-notional approach focuses on the purposes and meanings of language rather than grammatical forms, with the goal of improving communicative competence.

    The main components of a functional-notional syllabus are functions, which refer to what people want to do with language, and notions, which refer to the ideas and meanings people want to express.

    The main features of units in a functional-notional syllabus include cyclical ordering of functions across units and organizing materials around core functions indicated in the title of each unit.

    Functional-notional syllabus

    Group members:

    Contents
    1

    1 2
    33 3

    Theoretical assumptions Main components

    Merits Merits
    Drawbacks

    Theoretical assumptions

    Sociolinguistic and Communicative view of Language

    Basic claim:
    Language is used to realize communicative functions and convey meanings. So language teaching should focus more on: the purposes (functions) of using the language and the meanings (notions) expressed through the language rather than grammatical forms.
    (Harlow & Linda L., 1980: 12)

    2 Main components
    F-N Syllabus Functions & Notions

    Functions:
    1. what people want to do with the language

    e. g. making invitation, asking questions, expressing opinions, expressing wishes, making suggestions, inquiring, complaining, and apologizing etc.

    Notions:
    2. what ideas and meanings people want to say

    Notions are the vocabulary items that might answer who, where, when, why, how long, how far, how much, how big etc. can be expressed through nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives, or adverbs.
    (Finocchiaro, M. & Brumfit, C. 1983: 12-14)

    Examples:

    the notion of location can be expressed by various prepositions


    e.g. behind, near, up, down, on, under, etc.

    the notion of time can be expressed by different forms of verbs.


    e.g. He is leaving. He left. He will leave in two days.

    How are functions and notions organized in textbooks?


    1. Functions are classified and put into units.

    2. Title of each unit indicating the core

    function in each unit. Dialogues reading passages Centering the communicative expressions around functions Notions (structures and vocabulary) learning tasks and activities

    Main features of F-N units:

    3. Cyclical order-the same function may repeatedly occur in different situations at succeeding units
    (Valdman, 1978)

    FROM : TRUE COLORS

    Unit

    Social language How to

    Vocabulary

    Grammar

    8 id like to make a reservation

    Kinds of hotel rooms Real conditional make a reservation Would rather make a complaint decoration of the hotel rooms express preference How to talk about future money and banking possibility and obligation Social activities ask sb. for money Will be able to Will have to

    10 well have to make a deposit right away

    Samples:

    (Finoccharo, M. & Brumfit, C. 1983: 38)

    U Functions n i t 7 Requesting Directions

    Situations

    structures

    Vocabulary

    activities

    At a bus stop

    Modal-could Could you tell me Must: Must I get off/on?

    Bus number get to get off /on take

    Reading Cloze Dictation

    8 Asking for In a post office Modal-can information

    stamps savings account sell buy open

    Expanding sentences Role play

    Merits

    Merits

    (Harlow & Linda L., 1978: 561)

    By perceiving language as a real means of

    communication, learners would feel more motivated to learn. Language functions in a real-life setting would generate a special kind of excitement for learning and leads to productive learning. Students needs are taken into most consideration. They are able to see from the beginning how what they learn relates to their language needs.

    learners have the opportunity to use the target language

    much earlier than in traditional approaches. compared to the structural syllabus where elements of language are learned in an isolated way from real life, students communicative competence and confidence can be well developed. teachers can revitalize teaching materials to meet learning objectives.

    Drawbacks
    An alternative to the grammatically-oriented textbook may not solve all of the problems in language teaching.
    (David Nunan, 1988:37)

    1. The grading of functional items becomes more complex


    Functions can hardly be classified by the principles of simplicity, frequency etc. e.g. Should apologizing be simpler than requesting?

    2.The lists of functions and notions do not reflect the way languages are learned
    Dividing language into discrete units of functions may misrepresent the nature of language as communication.
    (Widdowson H. G.1979, cited in Nuna, D. 1988: 37)

    References:
    Harlow & Linda L., 1978. An alternative to structurally oriented

    textbooks. Foreign Language Annals, 11(5) . D.A. Wilkins, 1972. An investigation into the linguistic an situational content of the common core in a unit credit system. Wilkins. D. A., 1981. Notional Syllabus Revisited: a Further Reply, Applied Linguistics, 2. Valdman, 1978. Comunicative use of language and syllabus design, Foreign language Annals , 11(5) . Harlow & Linda L., 1980. Student-perceived communication needs: infrastructure of the functional notional syllabus, Foreign Language Annals, 13(1). David Nunan, 1988. Syllabus Design. Oxford University Press. Finocchiaro, M. & Brumfit, C. 1983. The Functional Notional Approach. From Theory to Practice. Oxford university press.

    Thank You!

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