PURPOSE OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

The purpose of studying a foreign language (English) in the secondary education is for students to obtain the knowledge needed to participate in certain social practices of language, both oral and written, in their own or in a foreign country in contact with native and nonnative speakers of English. In other words, through the production and interpretation of a variety of spoken and written texts of a quotidian, academic and literary nature -, students will be able to satisfy basic communication needs in a range of familiar situations.

As regards the participation in social practices of the language, by the end of secondary education, students will have engaged in three main types of such practices and a number of language functions, which are detailed in the next figure:

Social practices of the language

Carrying out certain transactions Comunicarse en el saln de clases Mantener la comunicacin dentro y fuera del saln de clases Preguntar e indicar cmo llegar a un lugar Giving and obtaining factual information of a personal and nonpersonal kind Compartir informacin personal Preguntar y responder sobre pertenencias personales Describir acciones de una persona Pedir y dar la hora Describir actividades cotidianas Describir lugares Establishing and mantaining social contacts Saludar y contestar a saludos Presentarse y presentar a otros Expresar preferencias y gustos Invitar y responder a invitaciones Dar consejo Hacer y responder a sugerencias

Comprar y vender cosas

Expresar habilidad (presente/pasado) Describir personas y animales Hablar sobre la salud Hacer comparaciones Describir viviendas Expresar eventos pasados

Advertir y prohibir Expresar obligatoriedad Solicitar alimentos Compartir informacin relativa a viajes

Compartir informacin sobre memorias del pasado Describir lo que alguien estaba haciendo en un momento del pasado Hablar sobre comida y recetas

Expresar planes futuros Hacer predicciones sobre el futuro Expresar grados de certeza y duda

ORGANISATION OF CONTENTS

The object of study as social practices of the language has implied a new selection and organisation of contents. The object of study demanded that two levels of central contents be established, namely: a) the participation in certain social practices of the language for the interpretation and production of texts; and b) the specific linguistic contents, stated in terms of functions of the language.

Structure of contents

...The diagram illustrates that, for the INTERPRETATION and PRODUCTION of language, there are three types of social practices in which students engage...

... In order to participate in those practices, students need to face a variety of text types which can be of a quotidian, academic or literary nature...

Either written or oral, texts follow certain conventions of the language with which students need to become familiar, and which are particular to the written and speaking systems

... Finally, the diagram shows that students need to understand and use some formal aspects of the language (linguistic form: functions, grammar and lexis), which are constituent elements of oral and written texts ...