This document is the result of a project commissioned by the Council of Europe to produce a system of units in foreign language instruction for adults. The "threshold level" is conceived as the compilation of knowledge and skills a person would need in order to communicate simply but effectively in a foreign environment. It is not limited to…

This book is a response to the recognition that the achievement of the threshold level of second language proficiency is for many adults an overly ambitious objective. The degree of communicative competence that will be imparted by the waystage approach will be about halfway between zero and the threshold level. This degree of competence will…

This paper describes the functional-notional approach to language teaching and learning in terms of the ways it can be used to meet the communicative needs of the potential language learners, particularly adults, who vary in what they want to do in the target language. It contrasts the functional system with conventional approaches, illustrates…

The following papers on meeting individual needs in second language instruction are included: (1) "Sprachenlernen: Beduerfnisse des Individuums in verschiedenen Leben- und Lernsituationen (Language Learning: Individual Needs in Various Life and Learning Situations)," by Eugen Egger; (2) "Peut-on accorder les besoins de l'etudiant et ceux de son…

The numerous innovations in foreign language teaching during the past ten years indicate that the profession is reaching toward syllabi in which students would learn to master and apply creatively a fairly limited body of material built around basic linguistic and cultural concepts. This theme is apparent in the syllabi, or subject-matter content…