Reviews the variety of approaches to language teaching covered by the term "functional," from those that focus on the learners' special objectives to those that stress the communicative aspect of languages. Sees the "Threshold Level French" elaborated in Europe as a blend of these approaches which contain several pitfalls. (MES)

Three major stages in the development of language testing have been identified and correlated with corresponding stages in teaching. These are: (1) the pre-scientific stage associated with the grammar-translation method; (2) the psychometric-structuralist stage concomitant with the audio-lingual method; and (3) the integrative-sociometric stage…

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 teaching guide for Alberta's elementary school French immersion programs outlines an approach to articulating the program's notional content. It discusses the development of both receptive and productive language skills in this context. Introductory sections examine the principles underlying the skill development method, the aims behind the…