Situational-Syllabus

TheSituationalSyllabusPresenter:张慧玲Teammembers:陈敬岩、孙萍、吴艳Outlines1.Introduction1.1Definitionofsituationalsyllabus1.2Featuresofsituationalsyllabus1.3Problemsofsituationalsyllabus2.Thedifficultpoints2.1Situationalgrading2.2Advantagesanddisadvantages3.Summaryandcomments1.1Definitionofsituationalsyllabus1.2Featuresofsituationalsyllabus1.3ProblemsofsituationalsyllabusIntroduction1.1DefinitionSituationalsyllabusisoftendefinedasonewhichthecontentsareorganizedaccordingtosituationsinwhichcertainlanguageislikelytobeemployed.(Richards,etal,1985:260;Ur,2000:178)Itisbasedontwopredictions,situationalpredictionandbehaviouralprediction.keyideasituationThefundamentalprinciplefortheorganizationofcontentsistomakealistofsituations,realorimagery,whichreflectsthewaylanguageisusedineverydaylife.Sothedesignerofasituationalsyllabustriestopredictsituationsthatthelearnersarelikelytoencounterindailylife,suchas“attheairport”,“attherestaurant”,“atthepostoffice”…eachlessondealswiththelanguageassociatedwithadifferentsituation.1.2Featuresofsituationalsyllabus1.Asituationalsyllabuswouldtrytoprovidethelearnerwiththeknowledgeandskillshewouldneedtodealwithsocialdemands.Itanswersthequestion:Whenandwherewillthelearnerneedthetargetlanguage?•Itattemptstospecifythesituations.2.Asituationalsyllabuswouldtake•thesettingofuseofthelanguage•thetypeofinteractioninvolvedasprimary;•linguisticformsasdependentonthesituations.1.3Problems1.Itassumesthatthesyllabusdesignerisabletopredictaccuratelythesituationsinwhichthelearnerwillfindhimselfanditisonlyinaverysmallnumberofcasesthatwecanpredictwithanydegreeofcertainty.Eg:aflightannouncerataninternationalairport"announcingthearrivalofaxAirwaysflightnumbernfromy"However,formostlearnersthepredictionofsituationalneedsisanimpossibility.2.Itfurtherassumesthatthecomponentsoftheconcept‘situation’havebeenexhaustivelylistedandtheirinter-relationshipsmapped,whentheactualpositionisthatwehave,atbestanumberofvaguetaxonomiesandevenvaguernotionsofhowtheelementsinvolvedinfluenceeachother.3.Anotherassumptionisthatthereissomepredictablerelationshipbetweenthesituationontheonehandandthelanguageusedinitontheother.Unfortunately,therearenostrongrelationshipsofthistype,exceptforhighlyritualizedlanguageusesuchasprayer,greetings,leavingtaking,thanking,etc.2.1SituationalgradingSituationalsyllabusesarenotsyllabuseswhichlistsituationsnorarethesituationsgradedfrom“easy”to“difficult”.Unlikethegrammarian,whohasstrictcriteriafordecidingonthecomplexityofanysentence.Thesocialscientistcanjusthavesomeroughandreadytaxonomiesofitemsinvolvedinsituationsbutonlyveryhazynotionsofhowtheseitemsinterrelate.So,thereisnowayinwhichthesyllabusdesignercandecidewhetherasituationiseasyordifficulttolearnorwhetheritissimpleorcomplex.2.2Advantages&disadvantagesAdvantages：MotivatinglearnersItisnotsubject-centeredbutlearner-centered(Wilkins.1976:16).Learnerslearnlanguagestructureswithinconcretecontextsthusmakingiteasiertounderstandandmasternewknowledge.Disadvantages：Syllabusescannotincludeallthesituationsinreallife.Artificialdialoguescannotbeusedinnaturallanguage.Grammaritemsandstructuresarenotarrangedinasystematicway.Accordingtotheindividualdifferences,students’communicativeneedscan’tbesatisfiedinthelimitedsituationslistedinthelanguagecourse.ExampleNow,itis3o’clock!SituationcSituationBSituationASimplyaskingtimeobjectioncomplaintSummaryDefinitionandfeaturesofsituationalsyllabusSituationalgradingAdvantages1)motivatinglearners2)improvingcommunicativecompetence•Disadvantages1)impossibilityofallpredictions2)lackingofversatility3)unnaturalnessCommentsSo,theidealsolutionistocombinethesituationalsyllabuswithothersyllabusdesign.advantagesdisadvantages＜＝＞？ReferencesRichards,J.,Platt,J.,&Weber, H.1985.LongmanDictionaryofAppliedLinguistics.London:Longman.Brumfit,C.J.,&Johnson,K.,(Eds).1979.Thecommunicativeapproachtolanguageteaching.Oxford:OUP.英语教材与2011程晓堂、孙晓慧，北京，外语教学与研究出版社)。Dubin,F.&Olshtain,E.1986.Coursedesign.Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress.AreportontheanalysisofSituationalSyllabushttp://www.sfll.bnu.edu.cn/chengxiaotang/Situational-syllabus02.doc