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Pidginization and the Elaboration of Learner-Based Syllabi in FL Instruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Albert Valdman
Albert Valdman
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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Extract

Following Sandra Savignon's pioneering study (1972), the attainment of communicative ability has become a highly valued goal in foreign language (FL) instruction. Savignon recognized that a pedagogical approach aimed at developing rudimentary communicative ability required considerable changes in instructional environment (for example, higher proportion of classtime devoted to communicative activities, the use of games and simulation techniques, the reinterpretation of the role of the teacher). But few advocates of the inclusion of communicative ability among the basic FL skills seem to have recognized the need for extensive concomitant modifications, particularly in the areas of syllabus design and the preparation of teaching materials. They have been content to pair communicative activities with grammar-oriented syllabuses and instructional materials that stress cognitive and analytical control. The scope and sequence of these traditional FL materials are based on discrete phonological, morphosyntactic, or lexical features. The number of features selected far exceeds the capacity of learners to internalize, let alone “cognize” them. Even materials that adopt a situational format subordinate pragmatic aspects to structural features; for instance, dialogs are used as vehicles for the “seeding” of pre-selected structures (Rivers 1975:22).

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , Fall 1979 , pp. 59 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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