The field of English as a second language has gone through a number of changes in the last decades and has seen extreme adjustments throughout the methods of teaching and curriculum planning. This article finds the relevance of the old methods to the new methods. After providing the background it becomes apparent that almost all the older methods…

The role of the syllabus in second language teaching is described, distinguishing six major types of syllabi and how they might be implemented in various teaching situations. The foreign language teaching syllabus involves both the integration of subject matter (what to talk about) and linguistic matter (how to talk about it). Choices of syllabi…

Introduces a project in syllabus design for English as a second language at the elementary level undertaken by the British Institute of Madrid. Discusses the principles on which the framework for the experimental syllabus was constructed and explains the rationale for attempting to make it both "notional" and "structural."…

A three-year curriculum of "Compact Courses" which was introduced in a secondary school in England is described here. The objectives of each course are terminal; the courses have no fixed length or pattern. The method adopted is that best suited to the teacher in view of the terminal objective. During the first 2 years, students take…

Describes two core syllabi, a communicative one and a grammatical one, and a modular syllabus for elementary ESL courses, with hints for introducing out-of-sequence items. Explains how the syllabi have been designed, what they offer to teachers, and how they have affected first-year teaching as a whole. (Author/MES)

An adult continuing education course in introductory Spanish is described. In planning the course, special attention was given to making course objectives realistic for the target population; rather than undertake a traditional college-level syllabus, academic and grammar-oriented in nature, the course was designed to provide students with basic…

The development of a second-year college French language course based on principles of communicative competence and the notional-functional approach is described. Although spoken language is the primary focus of the course, it is also designed to cover a broader range of writing skills than the traditional college language course. (MSE)

Describes an experimental course in communication offered to nonnative English-speaking pharmacists at the University of Maryland and reports the results of an evaluation of the course. The course was team-taught by a pharmacist specializing in communication for pharmacists and by an English-as-a-second-language specialist. (Author/SED)

Recommended materials, assignment formats, and strategies for a course emphasizing development of functional proficiency in commercial French and focusing on three areas (context, practice, and verification) are outlined, including lectures, abstracting of readings, readings, long-term projects, and weekly projects. (MSE)

Teaching functional French is discussed with instructors of groups of foreign workers in mind. It takes as its starting point two "modules" for teaching French ("the highway code at driving school" and "starting and keeping small talk going") and uses them to exemplify some of the difficulties involved in the development and classroom use of…