Language Description

Language description is the way in which the language system broken down and described for the purpose of learning

In a structural description the grammar of the language is described I terms of syntagmatic structures which carry the fundamental propositions [statement, interrogative, negative, imperative, etc]

By varying the words within these structural frameworks, sentences with different meanings can be

generated.These kind of method linguistic analysis led in English language

teaching to the development of the subtitution table as a typical means of explaining grammatical patterns.

Classification & development1. Traditional Grammar (greek period)2. Structural Linguistic (Ferdinand De

Saussure, et al)3. Transformative generative gramma

(Noam Chomsky, Halliday)4. Language Variation & Register

Analysis

Transformative generative grammar

The structural view of language as a collection of syntagmatic patterns held sway until the publication in 1957 of Syntactic structures by Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky argued that the structural description was to superficial, because it only described the surface structure of the language, and thus not explain relationships of meaning which were quite clearly there, but which were not realised in the surface structure.

Language variation and register analysis

Use sentence in paragraph and pointers

The illocutionary force of these two texts is the same, that is to say they are both conveying the same message and they both have the same purpose, namely to give isntructions in carrying out the particular job.

The concept of language variation gave rise to the type of ESP which was based on register analysis. If language varies according to the context, it was argued then it should be possible to identify the kind of language associated with specific context such as an area of knowledge.

What is course design ?

It is a substantial and important part of the workload

Designing a course is fundamentally a matter of asking questions inorder to

provide a reasoned basis for the subsequent processes of syllabus

design, materials writing, classroom teaching and evaluation.

language SYLLABUS ESP METHODOLOGY LEARNING

description COURSE THEORIES

NATURE OF PARTICULARTARGET AND LEARNING SITUATION

WHO ? WHERE? WHEN ?

NEEDS ANALYSIS

What ? HOW ?

Getting to know the learners

In order to develop a course which meets the learner’s communication

needs inyour language, it will be necessary for you to find out more

about the people in your class.

Language needs

Why are you learning this language ? Will you need to

write/read/speak/listen in the language ?

In what situation will you use the language ?