the organic approach to grammar. please send me a private message if you are going to use this presentation. ok? :)

1. Organic approach to
grammar

2. THE ORGANIC APPROACH TO GRAMMAR
• Traditional linear syllabus underlies the notion
that learning is a process of mastering each item
perfectly one at a time.
>> In metaphorical terms, language develops in
the same way as a building is constructed – one
brick at a time.
• Language development is an organic process.
>>In metaphorical terms, a new language
develops in a way that is more akin to plants
growing in a garden rather than a building being
constructed.
• Learners do not acquire each item perfectly, one
at a time, but numerous items imperfectly all at
once.

3. NEEDS ANALYSIS
• Set of techniques and procedures set
to analyze the communicative needs of
the learner.
• A crucial tool for those working in
the areas of ESP, EAP, and GE
syllabus design

4. Communicative needs processor –
developed by Munby, helps the syllabus
designers collect information about the
learner.
1. participant – biographical data
about the learner
2. purposive domain - the purposes for
which the language is required
3. setting – the environment in which
the language will be used
4. interaction – the people that the
learner will be communicating with

5. 5. instrumentality – medium: spoken
versus written; mode: monologue or
dialogue, face-to-face or indirect
6. dialect – regional variety of
language
7. communicative event – productive and
receptive skills required
8. communicative key - interpersonal
attitudes and tones required.

6. Two types of Needs according to Brindley:
• Objective needs – are those which can be
diagnosed by the teachers on the basis
of the analysis of personal data about
learners along with information about
their language proficiency and patterns
of language use.
• Subjective needs – cannot be diagnosed
easily or in many cases, even stated by
learners themselves.

7. Two types of Needs Analyses:
1. Objective needs analyses – result in
content derived from an analysis of the
target communicative situations in which
learners will engage, as well as an
analysis of the kinds of spoken and
written discourse they will need to
comprehend and produce.

8. 2. Needs-based course design – heavily
criticized
> (Widdowson) … such courses are
training rather than in education because
learners can only do those things for
which they have not been specifically
prepared.
> It might be irrelevant in foreign
language contexts where learners have no
immediate need to communicate orally.

9. GOAL AND OBJECTIVE SETTING
Goal -– broad, general purposes for
learning a language
Goals of individuals in using the
language (Halliday)
• To obtain goods and services
• To socialize with others
• For entertainment and enjoyment

10. Objectives – they direct the change in
behavior which is the ultimate aim of
learning
Three elements of formal objectives:
1. task element – specifies what the
learner has to do
2. standards element – sets out how well
the performer is to carry out the task
3. conditions element – establishes the
circumstances under which the learner has
to perform

11. Criticism of Objectives Approach
1. Language education is that truly valuable
learning outcomes cannot be accurately
specified in advance.
• “Education is what’s left when everything
that has been taught has been forgotten.”
• In language teaching, our aim is to help
learners develop the ability to communicate
feelings that can only be prespecified in a
very general sense.
• Proficiency requires creativity, and proficient
language users know multiple ways of achieving
communicative ends through language.
• Identifying objectives a priori may be
problematic.

12. Thanks for listening :)