Gardner, R. C. and W. E. Lambert. 1972.

Attitudes Two language-teaching traditions are distinguished

and Motivation in Second Language Learning. in Chapter 2, 'one founded on the distinction
Rowley, MA: Newbury House. between modern language teaching (MLT) and
Giles, H. and J. L. Byrne. 1982. 'An intergroup English language teaching (ELT). . . while the other
approach to second language acquisition'. Journal is geographically based on the division between
of Multicultural and Multilingual Development 3: Europe and North America' (p. 7). 'A dangerous
dichotomy', indeed, as White suggests: what, for ex-
Pienemann, M. 1984. 'Psychological constraints on ample, about a European tradition (van Essen,
the teachability of languages'. Studies in Second 1988)' not to speak of an 'imperial' tradition? But
Language Acquisition 6/2: 186-214. reference is made to the 'linguistic legacy of the
Schumann, J. H. 1978. 'The acculturation model for British Empire' and also to the 'emergence of the
second language acquisition', in R. C. Gingras USA as an English-speaking superpower' (p. 9), the
(ed.). Second Language Acquisition and Foreign effect on language teaching of the transformation of
Language Teaching. Arlington, VA: Center for grammar schools into comprehensive schools in the
Applied Linguistics. UK, the rise of applied linguistics, and the arrival of
large numbers of immigrants in Britain and the USA;

Downloaded from http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/ at Yale University on May 17, 2015

all of which helped to bring the 'two traditions'
together.
The ELT Curriculum: Design, This part of the book, dealing also with the develop-
Innovation, and Management ment of the TESOL profession from the applied
linguistics of the Reform Movement, through a
Ronald V. White British tradition concerned with contextualization of
Basil Blackwell 1988 193 pp. language and an American tradition 'focused on
ISBN 0 63115151 6 (hardback) £25.00 grammatical structure' (p. 22) is disappointingly
ISBN 0 63115152 4 (paperback) £7.95 brief. Fortunately, an annotated 'Suggested Reading'
Most of the issues facing those who concern them- section at the end of each chapter points the way to
selves with introducing a new language syllabus, says information on main topics. Incidentally, Bloom-
R. V. White, are 'educational and management field's Introduction to the Study of Language (1914)
issues' (p. 1). He develops this theme throughout the and his Language (1933) should not be mentioned in
nine chapters of a tightly written book which concen- the same breath. They are markedly different books,
trates, as the title suggests, on curricular rather than the former more 'mentalist' than 'mechanist', and it
syllabus problems, though we are told in the final was Language that helped to2 establish 'the tenets of
chapter, on managing and evaluating innovation, structural linguistics' (p. 14).
that 'language syllabus design and curriculum
development will tend to be used synonymously' Sections on transformational-generative linguistics,
(p. 136) in the discussion. communicative competence, needs analysis, notional
syllabuses, and language teaching for specific pur-
According to a 'Note to the Reader', the book is poses lead on to curriculum studies, from which, as
arranged in four parts. Alas, the Contents page does White points out, ELT has in general been isolated.
not indicate what these are. However, there is a sum- Chapter 3 deals with 'value systems' underlying 'dif-
mary at the end of most chapters and a reminder, at ferent models of curriculum' (p. 24). White distin-
the beginning of each, of points made in the previous guishes three such systems: classical humanism,
one. Moreover, 'Follow up Activities' are provided in emphasizing a cultural heritage; progressivism,
an appendix and the reader is advised to skim these stressing individual self-realization; and reconstruc-
before reading each chapter: I found it helpful to do tionism, concerned with social change. The first of
so. these, he says, finds expression in the grammar-trans-
lation method, the second in process and procedural
Chapter 1, 'Approach, Design, Procedure', points syllabuses, and the third in audio-lingualism and
out that the terms 'syllabus' and 'curriculum' are not notional-functional syllabuses. Furthermore, recon-
used identically on both sides of the Atlantic. The structionism is associated with a behavioural
author falls in with the British view that 'curriculum' approach and step-by-step grading, planning for an
refers to 'the totality of content to be taught and aims ideal house; and progressivism with exploration and
to be realized', and 'syllabus' to 'the content or growth, and with adaptation of the house for its
subject-matter of an individual subject' (p. 4). occupiers.
Furthermore, a curriculum can be viewed in three
ways: as the plan of a house not yet built, as a plan of Chapters 4 to 7 review language-teaching syllabuses,
how to build the house, and as the plan seen after beginning with types A and B. Type A consists of
completion; these views, we are told, are not structural and notional-functional syllabuses, since
mutually exclusive. the basis of both is content to be learned. The basis of
156 Reviews
Type B, however, is 'psychological and pedagogical
rather than linguistic, the view being either a learner-
centred or a learning-centred one' (p. 47). There are
particularly good paragraphs (within what is said
about A) on vocabulary and structure selection
(pp. 48-50) and on the natural order of acquisition
theory (pp. 55-9), which is cautiously examined.
A number of interesting points are made about situ-
ational, topic-based, and skills-based approaches: for
instance, that 'situation' is used in two senses, one
referring only to the immediate classroom surround-
ings, and the other and much br.oader sense hard to
define, while 'topic' is a 'notoriously slippery con-
cept' (p. 65), perhaps interchangeable with 'notion'.
Nevertheless, skills development, situation, and
topic are recognized as important aspects of certain
syllabus types, and (topic in particular) as potentially
motivating.
Chapter 6 is largely devoted to criticism of notional-
functional syllabuses (with a passing glance at Crom-
bie's relational approach), sociolinguistically based
needs analysis (an illuminating section), and the
problem of integrating functions and forms. The
importance of means as well as needs analysis is
emphasized. But 'the conflict between language as
training for ordained outcomes on the one hand and
education for unexpected outcomes on the other'
(p. 90) can hardly be avoided.
The Type B 'tradition' is further examined in Chapter
7, and a good account given of the task-based pro-
cedural syllabus and Prabhu's work. The learner-led
process syllabus of Breen and Candlin is also
described, though less sympathetically—'like all such
Utopian proposals, there will be problems of imple-
menting them in the world of everyday affairs'
(p. 101).
Undeniably 'the would-be syllabus designer is faced
with a bewildering choice' (p. 109) and Types A and
B are incompatible. What then should be done?
Well, 'the choice and definition of a syllabus will be
influenced by policy rather than principle' and 'such
influences are less to do with what has been demon-
strated by theory and associated research than with
what is based on custom, belief, and convenience'.
There is no mention of the profit motive as an influ-
ence on provision for language teaching and learning.
In the two final chapters, dealing chiefly with inno-
vation management and evaluation, the author
demonstrates his commitment to practicality.
Decisions about design and procedure, he points out,
take us 'right out of applied linguistics', and 'become
actions which affect people' (p. 113). He pursues this
line of thought in distinguishing three stages, models,
and strategies of innovation and in outlining a syste-
matic approach based on aims, definition of end
results, and "built-in evaluation criteria.
Some of the ground covered by The ELT Curriculum
will be new to those bred in the belief that applied
linguistics occupies the whole theoretical foundation
of language teaching. R. V. White has written a
thoughtful book which deserves the close attention of
all who, in TESOL, claim to know what we should do
and why; to these and others it is strongly recom-
mended. Full of perceptive insights, it is sometimes
no doubt controversial and occasionally over-
concise, in spite of much helpful signposting. The lan-
guage learners in mind are chiefly adults. The main
issues are scrupulously stated and this is not an 'up in
the clouds' book; the author's feet are observably
planted on non-authoritarian classroom ground:
'theory-driven practice can be unworkable, because
practice is so complex' (p. 110).
There are numerous trivial misprints and a very sub-
stantial and useful bibliography.
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William R. Lee, Hounslow, London.
Received July 1989
Notes
1 See, especially, section 3, pp. 13-14, of van Essen's
paper.
2 There is a copy of the earlier book in the University
of London library.
References
van Essen, A. 1988. The Continental European Con-
tribution to EFL, Past and Present. State Univer-
sity of Groningen, Netherlands.
Bloomfield, L. 1914. An Introduction to the Study of
Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Win-
ston. Re-published, with an introduction by J. F.
Kess, by Benjamins (Amsterdam/Philadelphia) in
1983.
Syllabus Design
David Nunan
Oxford University Press 1988 165 pp. £6.95
ISBN 019 437139 5
This book (one of the OUP 'Language Teaching: A
scheme for Teacher Education' series) is in three
parts. Section 1 (chapters' 1-5, pp. 1-71) describes
the theoretical background to syllabus design. To
summarize briefly, the writer addresses the following
topics: the role of the syllabus in the curriculum; in
chapter 2, 'starting points' in syllabus design (differ-
ent types of linguistic analysis, the use of information
from and about the learner, the idea of 'special
English' vs. general English, and learning goals); in
chapter 3, grammatical, functional/notional, and
analytic syllabuses, which he calls 'product sylla-
buses', and criticisms thereof; in chapter 4, 'process
syllabuses', categorized as procedural (Prabhu),
task-based (e.g. Long), or content (e.g. Mohan);
Reviews 157