A FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUS Developments in psychology, sociology and anthropology affected language teaching.

The priorities of the Functional Syllabus have been strongly influenced by the theoretical and analytical concerns of linguistics. During the period of change in linguistic theory and analysis, philosophers who were interested in problems of meaning and the use of language were exploring the notion of Speech Acts. For many linguists, the notion of competence in language was broadened to entail, not only knowledge of the code and knowledge of the conventions of social use of the code, but also knowledge of the particular conventions of meaning which was shared with the other users of the code. The concept of need has been largely ignored by structurally based syllabuses and the concept of communicative function is often lost in the concentration on grammatical form. Since the primary goal of functional syllabus is to build language competence through use the ability to use this knowledge for effective communication, needs analysis gained importance for a syllabus and ESP emerged. The concept of planning a language syllabus around the communicative needs of the students rather than around a fixed body of knowledge has serious implications for the field of language teaching. Functional syllabus is a turning point with the developments in these areas. It was a revolutionary idea for that time that focused not only on textual knowledge but also interpersonal that is the unity of time, space and relationship and conceptual knowledge-ideation that is knowing the concept behind the word a learner utters. The Functional approach refers to an approach to syllabus design, not a method of language teaching. This approach restructures the presentation of the target language to coincide with the communicative functions or use to which the language will be put. Functional syllabuses have proved very popular as a basis for organising courses and materials for the following reasons: 1. They reflect a more comprehensive view of language than grammar syllabuses and focus on the use of the language rather than linguistic form. 2. They can readily be linked to other types of syllabus content (e.g. topics, grammar, vocabulary). 3. They provide a convenient framework for the design of teaching materials, particularly in the domains of listening and speaking. Functional syllabuses have also been criticised for the following reasons: 1. There are no clear criteria for selecting or grading functions. 2. They represent a simplistic view of communicative competence and fail to address the processes of communication.

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They represent an atomistic approach to language, that is, one that assumes that language ability can be broken down into discrete components that can be taught separately. 4. They often lead to a phase-book approach to teaching that concentrates on teaching expressions and idioms used for different functions. 5. Students learning from a functional course may have considerable gaps in their grammatical competence because some important grammatical structures may not be elicited by the functions that are taught in the syllabus. These objections can be regarded as issues that need to be resolved in implementing a functional syllabus. Functional syllabuses are now generally regarded as only a partial component of a communicative syllabus. Functions may be described as the communicative purposes for which we use language, while notions are the conceptual meanings expressed through language. Such an approach was used by the Nuffield Foundation Language Teaching Material Project for their German course (Peck, 1971). For instance, it is clearly more useful to the great majority of learners to be able to ask questions than to make bets, to signal agreement than to utter threats. Related to this situation, the learners might ask some question within an informal situation like the family environment rather than in a public situation. The situation could be reserved, example for learners who used their language for tourist purposes. These proposals give rise to syllabuses which have been called functional or situational, in which the criteria for grouping the material are derived from the natural interest and objectives of the learner, and typically take the form of a series of centres of interest or topic such as: the house, the family, the school, the post office, the street, etc. This situation are culturally, socially, and behaviourally coherent and obviously connected with the notion of the semantic fields which has discussed last section. An example of such a syllabus design is the projected scheme for the Edinburgh English Course (Howatt and Treacher, 1969), the quote from the guide to the course: The content is four major themes which are interpreted in different ways, depending on the age and level of the pupils at any particular time, from the basic of activity and interest: Theme 1. Personal relationships within the family and among friends Theme 2. Social relationships, and activities of the community Theme 3. Cultural life-habits, customs, traditions, etc. Theme 4. The natural environment, science, technology, etc. They are all involved to the course of structure, but there is a shift of emphasis between theme 1, 2 and 3. Theme 4 always plays a major part. The following diagram:

first year
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

second year
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

third year
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

It could be seen from the diagram that theme 2 and 3 has improved during the years. In general, theme 1 deals with the expression of ideas and intentions to people with whom you are on fairly familiar terms. Theme 2 is concerned with talking to and talking about people outside your immediate circle of family and friends. Theme 3 raises topics of a general cultural interest and theme 4 involves all the interesting questions about the natural world and how things are made, how they work, and so on. Finally, it should be underlined that all four themes are involved in the content structure of the course all the time with varying interpretation. The logic of sequencing material of this short usually follows some sort of progression from more familiar situation, the home, the school, to the less familiar area of experience, etc. which can fairly, readily, be adapted to the age, interest, and experience of the learner. It also influenced by the teaching of what are strictly speaking non-linguistic matters, such as the culture and way of life of the native speaker in target language (study of literature in second language). This is called language teaching and some extent used to be the reason for studying a language.