1. Q.1 Which teaching method do you prefer to teach English
in your classroom keeping in view the national educational
scenario? Justify your comments with arguments.
Ans: In this assignment we are going to study two of the
oldest methods of teaching foreign languages, these methods
are the grammar translation method and the direct method. We
shall look at the main features of both of these methods and see
how they can be used by the teacher in the class room. Finally
we shall assess each method and see whether or not they have
a part to play in English language teaching in Pakistan.
Before proceeding to the topic proper it looks appropriate to
discuss what approach, method and technique are. Over the
years there have been many changes in the ways in which
people learn and teach foreign languages. During the second
half of this century especially, many different teaching methods
have come into fashion and have just as quickly gone out again.
When we want to discuss these different methods, there seems
to be a problem: the terms approaches, theories, philosophies,
methods, techniques, etc. seems to be used interchangeably,
with those taking part in the discussion unsure as to exactly
what the other participants mean when they use these terms.
Therefore, before we start discussing different methods of
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2. language teaching, let us try to define these terms as we shall
be using them throughout this course.
Approach:
An approach to language teaching is a set of beliefs about
language when underlies or prescribes the use of a certain
method. For example, if you believe that language is primarily
concerned with speaking, then you will follow a method of
language teaching which concentrates on developing the spoken
skills. If you believe that language is a set of rules, then you will
adopt a teaching method which gibes emphasis to the rote
learning of grammatical structures and so on… the terms
principle, theory, and philosophy can mean the same as
approach in this context.
Method:
A method of language teaching is a complete set of procedures
and techniques that follow a systematic scheme. They are often
prescribed by the approaches, as we have just seen. For
example, the audio-lingual method is based on the view that
language consists of grammar, and that we learn it through
repetition. Thus a teacher using this method will use drilling,
repetition, and reinforcement.
Technique:
2

3. This is the narrowest term of the three, and refers to specific
procedures within the method. For example, while the teacher
is conducting a language drill, he will first call on the whole
class to respond, then he will call on a group within the class to
respond, and then he will call on an individual. This is a
technique within a method.
The classical approach to language learning
Underlying this method we find the traditional, or classical
approach to language teaching; it was believed that modern
languages could be taught in exactly the same way as the
ancient languages of Greek and Latin had been taught for many
centuries. But here we need to ask ourselves a question: what
was the purpose in teaching these ancient languages? They had
been dead for hundreds of years; nobody actually spoke them
anymore. The answer is that they were taught purely as an
academic exercise- learning these languages was considered to
be an excellent training for the mind. Since the languages
themselves were long since dead, there was no question of
training students to understand and produce conversational
forms; emphasis was thus given to the grammatical system and
to the reading and translation of literary texts in the target
language.
The purpose of learning a modern language, such as English or
Japanese, however, may be very different. Usually the student
wants to be able to communicate in the language which he is
learning, and this means that he must master the skills of
3

4. listening and speaking in the target language just as much (and
probably more so ) than those of reading and writing. The
classical approach to language learning, however, takes little
account of this need.
The Grammar Translation method
Let us imagine that we are unseen observers in an English class
which is being taught by the grammar-translation method.
What exactly is happening?
When the teacher enters the classroom he will greet the
students and carry out any class ‘business’ in the mother
tongue. Again in the mother tongue, the class will be directed to
open their textbooks at the page where they left off in the last
class. The textbooks will contain rather heavy, literary-style
texts, and will be unlikely to contain examples of modern
conversational-style English. The teacher may say a few words
about what was read the day before, and then he will start to
read through the text and to translate it section by section. The
students hurry to note down the L1 translations of any words
they don’t understand. They may be given a word list to
memorize as a homework task. Translation is followed by a few
comprehension questions in L1, or the students may be asked
to gibe an L1 translation of sentences from the text. Finally the
teacher may write up a paradigm or model construction about
grammar.
Advantages of Grammar-translation method:
4

5.  It can be useful for large classes
 It can be useful for inexperienced teachers.
 It may gibe adult learner confidence.
 Students get plenty of practice in reading, grammar and
translation.
Disadvantages:
 The student cannot use the language for communication.
 The student cannot use the language appropriately.
The Natural Approach to Language Teaching
We are now going to look at another approach to language
learning and teaching- one which is very different from the
classical approach. This is not surprising, as it was developed
in the second half of the nineteenth century as a reaction
against the strict intellectual confines of the classical approach
and its resulting grammar-translation method. In its
development we can find a parallel to the reaction against the
classical style in literature and the arts. The Romantic
Movement, with its emphasis on a ‘return to Nature’. According
to the exponents of the Natural Approach, then, language was
first to be learnt through speech, since this was the natural
route taken by a child when he acquired his first language.
Reading and writing followed later. Just as a young child
learning his first language rarely, if ever, had the rules of
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6. grammar explained to him, so in learning a second language he
was to follow the same patch by finding out for himself how the
language worked. The developing science of psychology was also
applied to language learning; the resulting theories called for
teachers to help the students learn by enabling them to
visualize actual objects and link them with words in the target
language; to encourage the students, especially the younger
ones, to learn through play, and through activity in everyday
situations. Most important of all, language was natural, and the
heavy literary texts were to be a thing of the past. Instead, texts
were chosen which reflected the day-to-day culture of the
countries where the target language was spoken.
The Direct Method
By now we understand that a new educational approach often
gives rise to a new method, and the natural approach was no
exception. The principles of this approach to language teaching
became enshrined in what came to be known as the direct
method. Even so, the grammar-translation method was not cast
aside overnight. Indeed, in many parts of the world, it lingers on
to this day. Now again we will come to the advantages and
disadvantages of this method.
Advantages
 The language learnt is useful for communication.
 The student will gain confidence in speaking.
6

7.  The method is motivating.
Disadvantages
 Teacher’s refusal to translate can waste time.
 Many students feel more confident if they are given some
grammar rules.
 The direct method needs excellent teachers.
To conclude we can rightly say that every method and approach
has its merits and demerits. It is now up to the learner and the
teacher to get the most benefit of them by using these methods
according their situation. An interesting research that was held
in Islamabad is given below.
Method plays an important role in the teaching of language. It is
a planned and systematic effort of the teacher for establishing
sequence in the various parts of the teaching. The direct
method, as its name suggests, is teaching the foreign language
without the interference of mother tongue. It is also called
quot;natural methodquot; because the students learn the foreign
language in the same way as they learn their mother tongue. In
this method, not the word but the sentence is the unit of the
grammar, while the traditional method aims at teaching English
by word-to-word translation in mother tongue. The child begins
to develop his vocabulary from a single word. The Solomon four-
group design was used for the treatment of the data. The
students of Federal Government boy's secondary schools of
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8. Islamabad were the population of the study. In this design:
Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups. Intelligence
test was administered to determine the level of each student
before treatment and to equalize the students of four groups.
Experimental groups were taught by direct method while the
Control groups were taught by traditional method for a period of
three months. At the end of the treatment, a posttest was
administered and scores of pre-test, posttest and intelligence
test served as data of the study. Applying t-test and analysis of
variance tested to know the significance of difference between
the scores of groups at 0.05 levels. The main objectives of the
study were:
 to determine the role of direct teaching in the academic
achievement of student in English at secondary level,
 to determine whether the direct teaching method is more
effective than traditional method in teaching of English,
 to examine the effects of direct teaching on the academic
achievement of high achievers and low achievers,
 to investigate whether the students can retain the
learning for a longer time when taught through direct
method,
 To give recommendations for improvement of suitable
method of teaching English at secondary level.
8

9. To achieve the objectives of the study, null hypotheses were
formulated and tested. Obtained data was analyzed, interpreted
and concluded that direct teaching method was more effective
as a teaching-learning technique for English as compared to
traditional teaching method. Students in the direct teaching
method outscored than students working in traditional learning
situation. Low achievers in direct teaching showed significant
superiority over low achievers learning English by the
traditional method.
CONCLUSION
Thus direct teaching was found to be more effective method for
teaching English to the low achievers as compared to traditional
method of teaching. High achievers, whether they were taught
English by direct method or traditional method, retained learnt
material at the same rate. Low achievers taught English by
direct method retained more material as compared to low
achievers taught by traditional method of teaching. Therefore
direct teaching seemed to be more effective teaching learning
technique for low achievers
9

10. Q.2 Does the mastery of grammatical structure enable a
student to communicate in real language situations? What
do you think? Give real life examples in favour of your
arguments.
Ans: Mastery of grammatical structure no doubt helps a
learner to learn language, also helps to understand it but it is
not very much helpful for a student to be fluent and use the
language in real life situations, though he will be very good at
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11. writing and reading, he may be well equipped in solving the
exercises of direct and indirect speeches, transformation of
voices, use of correct very but only in written form, when a need
comes to use this skill with some native speaker, he will not be
able to communicate properly with him.
Why a student who has learnt a foreign language by grammar
rules is unable to speak frequently or use in a real life
situation? He answer is the student has been consistently out
off the language and has studied the highly formal, literary form
of it. He is usually unable to communicate with a native
speaker .this is hardly surprising that the learner has never got
the opportunity to use this language skill with some native
speaker at school or college level. When he tends to open his
mouth he tends to speak like a nineteenth century prose.
The second object on this teaching method is that those who
have learned a foreign language, no doubt, they know a lot
about the language, but they do not know anything about itself.
By this we mean that he has spent years and yeas at school
explained at him the grammar rules, but he cannot apply what
he has learnt in order to communicate.
Such a learner cannot use the language appropriately.
Language learnt for its own sake and out of any day-to-day
content may be wrongly used when time eventually comes. For
example the stiff and formal’ please be seated’ is not going to
make a speaker of modern English at ease when he himself
expect the less formal ‘have a seat’ wouldn’t you? or do sit
11

12. down. Similarly a foreign learning Urdu needs to know when
and to whom to say ‘for example’ ‘baith Jao’ and ‘Tashreef
Rakhiay’.
So, we can say that students cannot use the language for
communication when he is learning rules first and he is given
no opportunity to speak at school. Then definitely, he will only
keep learning the rules of the new language and when ever he is
to face a situation where he has to speak a foreign language, he
feels disturbed, rather he faces difficulty to speak the required
language. He has learnt the heavy text book words, when he
goes for some shopping in a market, if he uses these typical old
words, common people will be unable to understand the words
used by him. As for forgiveness the word ’pardon’ was used in
books. If he uses this word before a common citizen, he will
never be excused because people will be unable to understand
the word spoken by him. When he wants to speak with
someone, he will keep in mind all the rules he has learnt about
that when he will recall so much rules, then definitely he will be
confused to use the language. He will keep thinking about that
and will be unable to speak that.
Secondly for communication, communicative competency is
required rather than understanding the rules of the language.
The communicative competency can be achieved only by
frequent use of the target language when a learner is given
opportunity to speak the target language according to different
situations. For example when a person meets a banker he uses
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13. different language and the learner gets the opportunity to learn
and speak. Similarly when a learner of a new language goes to
market and meets shopkeepers and other people he will be able
to learn the new words and will also get the opportunity to
speak it freely. This will help the person to learn a language
which is more useful for him in his common day life.
ROLES OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
In such a class where grammar translation method is being
used, there students are only passive listeners. The teacher’s
role is active. He takes a book and starts reading from it and
explains the lesson in their native language. He does not give
the opportunity to the students to speak the language which
they are using. Thus the students do not have confidence to
speak while they want to use it. Their role remains for years
and years of only a passive listener. They cannot use it for
communication.
The teachers, who are using this method, do not have adequate
training in English language teaching. They do not plan
anything for their lesson. They only bother about the
vocabulary of the text which they have to teach in the class. The
teacher does not discuss the lesson except his routine
preparation and students are never asked to answer in target
language, due to which they cannot use this language as a true
learner of a language.
13

14. The students get only plenty of practice in reading and in
writing exercises requiring grammatical manipulation. They
become only enable to produce reasonable translation in both
the target language and in their mother tongue.
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE CLASSICAL APPROACH
Underlying this method we find the traditional, or classical
approach to language teaching; it was believed that modern
languages could be taught in exactly the same way as the
ancient languages of Greek and Latin had been taught for many
centuries. But here we need to ask ourselves a question: what
was the purpose in teaching these ancient languages? They had
been dead for hundreds of years; nobody actually spoke them
anymore. The answer is that they were taught purely as an
academic exercise- learning these languages was considered to
be an excellent training for the mind. Since the languages
themselves were long since dead, there was no question of
training students to understand and produce conversational
forms; emphasis was thus given to the grammatical system and
to the reading and translation of literary texts in the target
language.
THE PURPOSE OF LEARNING MODERN LANGUAGES
The purpose of learning a modern language, such as English or
Japanese, however, may be very different. Usually the student
wants to be able to communicate in the language which he is
learning, and this means that he must master the skills of
listening and speaking in the target language just as much (and
14

15. probably more so ) than those of reading and writing. The
classical approach to language learning, however, takes little
account of this need.
HOW ONE CAN GET COMPETANCE WITH TRADITIONAL
METHOD?
Let us imagine that we are unseen observers in an English class
which is being taught by the grammar-translation method.
What exactly is happening?
When the teacher enters the classroom he will greet the
students and carry out any class ‘business’ in the mother
tongue. Again in the mother tongue, the class will be directed to
open their textbooks at the page where they left off in the last
class. The textbooks will contain rather heavy, literary-style
texts, and will be unlikely to contain examples of modern
conversational-style English. The teacher may say a few words
about what was read the day before, and then he will start to
read through the text and to translate it section by section. The
students hurry to note down the L1 translations of any words
they don’t understand. They may be given a word list to
memorize as a homework task. Translation is followed by a few
comprehension questions in L1, or the students may be asked
to give an L1 translation of sentences from the text. Finally the
teacher may write up a paradigm or model construction about
grammar. One can imagine that how can a person get
competence in this environment.
15

16. GOAL OF TEACHER
So the goals of teachers who use the grammar translation
method as a fundamental purpose of learning a foreign
language are to make the students able to read literature
written in the target language. To do this, students need to
know about the grammar rules and vocabulary of the target
language. The role of teacher and student is very traditional.
The teacher is the authority in the class-room. The students are
taught to translate from one language to another language. The
students are given the grammar rules and examples and are
told to memorize them. Then they are asked to apply these rules
to other examples.
LANGUAGE USED IN THE CLASS
Most of the interaction in the class room is from the teacher to
the student is generally literary language. It is considered
superior to spoken language and is therefore the language of
study. Vocabulary and grammar are emphasized. Reading and
writing are primary skills that the students work on. There is
much less attention given to speaking and listening.
Pronunciation receives a little attention. The meaning of the
target language is made clear by translation into native
language. The language mostly used in class is students’ native
language. Having correct answer from the students is very
important. If the students make errors or do not know answer,
the teacher supplies them with correct answer.
16

17. CONCLUSION
To sum up, I would be accurate to say that by learning
grammar rules, learner of a foreign language cannot get
mastery over that target language. We cannot get a good
cricketer only by telling him about the rules of the cricket
without putting him in the play ground and without giving him
plenty of practice. Similarly we cannot be a good driver of a car
only by cramming the rules of driving without sitting on the
steering wheel and having a good practice of drive. We can
rightly say that only frequent use of the target language can
help to learn a language which can be useful in our daily life.
17

18. Q.3 Explain synthetic and analytic approaches to languages
syllabus design.
Ans: An approach to language teaching is a set of believes
about language which underlies or prescribes the use of a
certain method. For example if you believe that language is
primarily concerned with speaking, then you will follow a
method of language teaching which concentrates on developing
the spoken skill if you believe that language is a set of rules,
then you will follow such a method which will give emphasis to
the rote learning of grammatical structure. The terms
principals, philosophy, theory and philosophy can mean the
same as approach in this context.
The following drill which would be typical of one conducted in
an audio-lingual methods class, the syllabus item labeled
‘present continuous and present simple tense’
DRILL
Teacher: John writes to his friend every week.
18

19. Students: He is writing to his friend now.
Teacher: John plays cricket every afternoon.
Students: He is playing now.
Teacher: John helps his father every evening.
Students: He is helping his father now.
The attention of the class is focused on structure or
grammatical forms, involved and not on the meanings or
functions. This does not mean the students do not understand
the sentence, but it would still be possible for them to
understand the structure without their understanding the
meaning as this non sense sentence shows:
Teacher: John manles to his folta every wate.
Students: He is mandling his folta now.
Nor is it merely a question of understanding the individual
words used. The students can also mindlessly carry out the
requirements of this drill without understanding the complex
array of meaning which the two sentences convey.
In addition to this purely grammatical meaning, there is
another level at which we can interpret any utterance. We call
this level the level of functional or notional meaning. These
terms are used often interchangeably and you will come across
both terms in your reading. Some writers make a slight
distinction between the two, when we speak very often it carry
19

20. out actions. For example, I promise, give an opinion, complain,
suggest and so on. These are some of the things we can do with
language and are called language functions or notions. We use
the grammatical forms of the language in order to express these
functions. For example:
 Aren’t you rather hungry?
If we are asked to describe this utterance grammatically, we
should say it is an interrogative. But its functional meaning
necessarily interrogative, it may also function as a question or it
may be an order to be served with food. For each function of
grammar for ‘Aren’t you hungry?’ will remain the same. One
language form can express several different functions.
There are some useful techniques associated with grammar-
translation method. There are some for the analytic and
synthetic techniques of grammar-translation method. The
students translate the reading passage from the target language
into their native language. Then the reading passage
provides the focus for several classes, vocabulary and
grammatical structure in passage.
Since learning of language is most commonly identified with
acquiring mastery of its grammatical system, it is not surprising
that most of the courses have grammatical or structural
organisms. Of course, there is numerous variety in the ways in
which language may be presented in grammatically structured
teaching material.
20

21. While admitting that in practice these approaches are not
necessarily mutually exclusive, regarding them from the
linguistic point of view. These can be grouped into two:
 Synthetic
 Analytic
Any actual course or syllabus could be placed some where on
the continuum between the wholly synthetic and the wholly
analytic. A synthetic language strategy is one in which different
parts of language are taught separately. So that acquisition is a
process of gradual accumulation of the parts until the whole
structure of the language has been built up. In planning the
syllabus for such teaching, the global language has been broken
down into limited list of lexical items. The learner’s task is to re-
synthesize the language that has been broken down into a large
number of smaller pieces in the aim of making his language
easier. It is only in the final stage of learning that the global
language is re-established.
In analytic approaches there is no attempt at this careful
linguistic control of the learning environment. Components are
not seen as building blocks. Much greater variety of linguistic
structure is permitted from the beginning blocks which have to
be progressively accumulated. The learner’s task is to
approximate his own linguistic behaviour more and more
closely to the global language.
21

22. SYNTHETIC & ANALATICAL APPROACH.
The majority of language courses and syllabus are and probably
always have been constructed on synthetic lines. Language
learning is a complex task. However, a complex task can
usually be broken down into a series off simpler tasks. In recent
years and particularly under the influence of advances of
psychology of learning the identification of the smaller learning
task has been carried out with increasing linguistic
sophistication. The tasks are identified with item derived from
description of the language. In those courses which are
commonly labeled ‘traditional’ the control of new linguistics
items introduced in any one text-book lesson. You facilitate
learning if you present the learner with pieces of language that
have been pre-digested according to the category found in a
description of the language.
As the methods of teaching have changed, so have the process
by which language is selected and graded. In the case of older
text-books decisions appear to have been taken on a more or
less subjective basis. At least there is in contrast, the language
teaching. Literature of past thirty years or so is full of
discussion of the various factors to be taken into consideration
deciding which forms of language were to be taught and in
which order.
Although in most modern courses control of vocabulary and of
grammatical structure go hand in hand. The methodology was
first direction of vocabulary. The aim was to see that the
22

23. vocabulary contents of courses consisted of, in short, the most
useful words. The criteria that have been used in establishing
the relative usefulness of the words are frequency, range,
availability, familiarity and coverage. The notion of coverage is
self-evident. Range consists of a distribution of a lexical item
over a number of different types of text. Availability accounts for
lexical items which may not be particularly frequent but which
are rapidly available to the meaning.
Pedagogic considerations are not ignored in the process of
selection. Some items will be ignored and some will be promoted
because they are particularly useful in the classroom situation.
The process of selection therefore is less important than that of
ordering with the grammar the purpose is rather different. The
ultimate goal of a general goal of a general course will be to
each virtually the whole of the grammatical system.
The syllabus that results from the application of these criteria
will be a grammatical syllabus. The use of a grammatical
syllabus can be majority of syllabuses and publishers. The
vocabulary is secondary in importance and certainly rarely
provided the basic structure of a course. The view is widely held
that major part of the grammatical systematical system has
been learned.
What is learned through a grammatical syllabus is of value to
the learner. It is rather suggested that this is not the necessary
or the most effective way of designing language courses and
that, in any way language learning is not complete when the
23

24. content of a grammatical syllabus has been inter4The view is
widely held that major part of the grammatical systematical
system has been learned.
What is learned through a grammatical syllabus is of value to
the learner. It is rather suggested that this is not the necessary
or the most effective way of designing language courses and
that, in any way language learning is not complete when the
content of a grammatical syllabus has been interested.
One danger in basing a course on a systematic presentation of
the elements of linguistic structure is that forms will tend to be
taught because they are there. Sometimes, irregular verbs are
introduced for the sake of completeness even where they are
likely to be of little use of the learning.
One characteristic of grammatical syllabuses that what has to
be learnt is identified as a form and rarely as a set of meanings.
Most syllabuses are in fact an inventory of grammatical forms.
It is very rare for grammatical meanings also to be specified.
The assumption seems to be that form and meaning are in one-
to-one relation, so that the meaning to learn in association with
a particular grammatical form would be self-evident.
A greater difficulty and one to which there is not an obvious
answer lies in the fact that the syllabus is an ordered list of
structures. If the content is expressed by use of grammatical
terminology, units will be identified by such labels as the
indefinite articles, the past tense, transitive sentence, adverbs
24

25. of frequency of course the fundamental facts of syntax are
almost inevitably taught but there remain a good deal that is
not.
The most significant thing about this is that the teacher will
normally be understood as he intends to be understood. If this
was not so then can communication take place? For learners,
probably, the most striking way in which the knowledge of
language developed through a grammatical syllabus fails to
measure up to their communicational needs is in its lack of
situational relevance. They may have learnt through oral active
method and have command of grammatical structure.
I should add that there is language teaching based on a
grammatical syllabus, which is sometimes called situational.
The label is most commonly applied to a method of teaching in
which language is always taught in association with some
physical characteristics of the class room. Objects, pictures and
activities are used to illustrate and give meaning to grammatical
and lexical forms. Tenses for example are often presented in
association with some physical characteristics the class room.
It is clear however; that the situations referred to here is a
pedagogic, class room situation, not situation of natural
language use. It, therefore, cannot meet the natural situational
needs. A grammatical syllabus can also be situationalized by
presenting language in the syllabus form of dialogue. Therefore,
on grounds of linguistic and motivation, there are reasons for
25

26. looking an alternative to the grammatical syllabus as a strategy
for structuring the learners’ experience of language.
Analytic approaches are behavioural. They are organized in
terms of purposes for which people are learning language and
the kinds of language performance that are necessary to meet
these purposes. The problem in putting an analytic approach
into practice of one of the putting and finding way to express
what it is that people do with language so that the unavoidable
process of limitation or selection can take place. This approach
is therefore in contrast with those approaches that rely more
upon this capacity of synthesize.
Qn.5. Define the term “ Sociolinguistics” and explain the
relationship between sociology and linguistics.
LINGUISTICS
26

27. It is the scientific study of language, encompassing a number of
sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of
language structure (grammar) and the study of meaning
(semantics). Grammar encompasses morphology (the formation
and composition of words), syntax (the rules that determine
how words combine into phrases and sentences) and phonology
(the study of sound systems and abstract sound units).
Phonetics is a related branch of linguistics concerned with the
actual properties of speech sounds (phones), non-speech
sounds, and how they are produced and perceived.
Over the twentieth century, following the work of Noam
Chomsky, linguistics came to be dominated by the Generativist
school, which is chiefly concerned with explaining how human
beings acquire language and the biological constraints on this
acquisition. Generative theory is modularist in character. While
this remains the dominant paradigm[2, Chomsky's writings have
also gathered much criticism, and other linguistic theories have
increasingly gained popularity; cognitive linguistics is a
prominent example. There are many sub-fields in linguistics,
which may or may not be dominated by a particular theoretical
approach: evolutionary linguistics attempts to account for the
origins of language; historical linguistics explores language
change and sociolinguistics looks at the relation between
linguistic variation and social structures.
A variety of intellectual disciplines are relevant to the study of
language. Although certain linguists have downplayed the
27

28. relevance of some other fields, linguistics — like other sciences
— is highly interdisciplinary and draws on work from such
fields as psychology, informatics, computer science, philosophy,
biology, human anatomy, neuroscience, sociology,
anthropology, and acoustics. Fundamental concerns and
divisions
Linguistics concerns itself with describing and explaining the
nature of human language. Relevant to this are the questions of
what is universal to language, how language can vary, and how
human beings come to know languages. All humans (setting
aside extremely pathological cases) achieve competence in
whatever language is spoken (or signed, in the case of signed
languages) around them when growing up, with apparently little
need for explicit conscious instruction. While non-humans
acquire their own communication systems, they do not acquire
human language in this way (although many non-human
animals can learn to respond to language, or can even be
trained to use it to a degree. Therefore, linguists assume, the
ability to acquire and use language is an innate, biologically-
based potential of modern human beings, similar to the ability
to walk. There is no consensus, however, as to the extent of this
innate potential, or its domain-specificity (the degree to which
such innate abilities are specific to language), with some
theorists claiming that there is a very large set of highly
abstract and specific binary settings coded into the human
brain, while others claim that the ability to learn language is a
product of general human cognition. It is, however, generally
28

29. agreed that there are no strong genetic differences underlying
the differences between languages: an individual will acquire
whatever language(s) they are exposed to as a child, regardless
of parentage or ethnic origin.
Many linguists would agree that these divisions overlap
considerably, and the independent significance of each of these
areas is not universally acknowledged. Regardless of any
particular linguist's position, each area has core concepts that
foster significant scholarly inquiry and research.
SOCIOLOGY:
(from Latin: socius, quot;companionquot;; and the suffix -ology, quot;the
study ofquot;, is the scientific or systematic study of society,
including patterns of social relations, social stratification,
social interaction, and culture Areas studied in sociology range
from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous
individuals on the street to the study of global social
interaction. Numerous fields within the discipline concentrate
on how and why people are organized in society, either as
individuals or as members of associations, groups, and
institutions. Sociology is considered a branch of the social
sciences.
Sociological research provides educators, planners, lawmakers,
administrators, developers, business leaders, and people
29

30. interested in resolving social problems and formulating public
policy with rationales for the actions that they take.
Sociology later emerged as a scientific discipline in the early
19th century as an academic response to the challenges of
modernity and modernization, such as industrialization and
urbanization. Sociologists hope not only to understand what
holds social groups together, but also to develop responses to
social disintegration and exploitation.
The term quot;sociologiequot; was first used in 1780 by the French
essayist Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès in an unpublished
manuscript. The term was used again and popularized by the
French thinker Auguste Comte in 1838. Comte had earlier used
the term 'social physics', but that term had been appropriated
by others, notably Adolphe Quetelet Comte hoped to unify all
studies of humankind - including history, psychology and
economics. His own sociological scheme was typical of the 19th
century; he believed all human life had passed through the
same distinct historical stages (theology, metaphysics, positive
science) and that, if one could grasp this progress, one could
prescribe the remedies for social ills. Sociology was to be the
'queen of positive sciences. Thus, Comte has come to be viewed
as the quot;Father of Sociologyquot;.
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
30

31. It is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society,
including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way
language is used. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable
degree with pragmatics.
It also studies how lects differ between groups separated by
certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender,
level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to
these rules is used to categorize individuals in social class or
socio-economic classes. As the usage of a language varies from
place to place (dialect), language usage varies among social
classes, and it is these sociolectsthat sociolinguistics studies.
The social aspects of language were in the modern sense first
studied by Indian and Japanese linguists in the 1930s, and also
by Gauchat in Switzerland in the early 1900s, but none
received much attention in the West until much later. The study
of the social motivation of language change, on the other hand,
has its foundation in the wave model of the late 19th century.
Applications of sociolinguistics
For example, a sociolinguist might determine through study of
social attitudes that a particular vernacular would not be
considered appropriate language use in a business or
professional setting. Sociolinguists might also study the
grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, and other aspects of this
sociolect much as dialectologists would study the same for a
regional dialect.
31

32. The study of language variation is concerned with social
constraints determining language in its contextual
environment. Code-switching is the term given to the use of
different varieties of language in different social situations.
William Labov is often regarded as the founder of the study of
sociolinguistics. He is especially noted for introducing the
quantitative study of language variation and change, making
the sociology of language into a scientific discipline.
Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the
focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the
language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on
the society.
Fundamental Concepts in Sociolinguistics
While the study of sociolinguistics is very broad, there are a few
fundamental concepts on which many sociolinguistic inquiries.
Differences according to class
Sociolinguistics as a field distinct from dialectology was
pioneered through the study of language variation in urban
areas. Whereas dialectology studies the geographic distribution
of language variation, sociolinguistics focuses on other sources
of variation, among them class. Class and occupation are
among the most important linguistic markers found in society.
One of the fundamental findings of sociolinguistics, which has
been hard to disprove, is that class and language variety are
32

33. related. Members of the working class tend to speak less
standard language, while the lower, middle, and upper middle
class will in turn speak closer to the standard. However, the
upper class, even members of the upper middle class, may often
speak 'less' standard than the middle class. This is because not
only class, but class aspirations, are important.
Class aspiration
Studies, have shown that social aspirations influence speech
patterns. This is also true of class aspirations. In the process of
wishing to be associated with a certain class (usually the upper
class and upper middle class) people who are moving in that
direction socio-economically will adjust their speech patterns to
sound like them. However, not being native upper class
speakers, they often hypercorrect which involves overcorrecting
their speech to the point of introducing new errors. The same is
true for individuals moving down in socio-economic status.
Social language codes
Basil Bernstein, a well-known British socio-linguist, devised in
his book, 'Elaborated and restricted codes: their social origins
and some consequences,' a social code system which he used to
classify the various speech patterns for different social classes
He claimed that members of the middle class have ways of
organizing their speech which are fundamentally very different
from the ways adopted by the working class
33

34. Restricted code
In Basil Bernstein's theory, the restricted code was an example
of the speech patterns used by the working-class He stated that
this type of code allows strong bonds between group members,
who tend to behave largely on the basis of distinctions such as
'male', 'female', 'older', and 'younger'. This social group also
uses language in a way which brings people together, and
members often do not need to be explicit about meaning, as
their shared knowledge and common understanding often bring
them together in a way which other social language groups do
not experience. The difference with the restricted code is the
emphasis on 'we' as a social group, which fosters greater
solidarity than an emphasis on 'I'.
Differences according to age groups
There are several different types of age-based variation one may
see within a population. They are: vernacular of a subgroup
with membership typically characterized by a specific age range,
age-graded variation, and indications of linguistic change in
progress.
One example of subgroup vernacular is the speech of street
youth. Just as street youth dress differently from the quot;normquot;,
they also often have their own quot;languagequot;. The reasons for this
are the following:
 To enhance their own cultural identity
34

35.  To identify with each other,
 To exclude others, and
 To invoke feelings of fear or admiration from the outside
world.
Strictly speaking, this is not truly age-based, since it does not
apply to all individuals of that age bracket within the
community.
People tend to use linguistic forms that were prevalent when
they reached adulthood. So, in the case of linguistic change in
progress, one would expect to see variation over a broader range
of ages. Bright (1997) provides an example taken from American
English where there is an on-going merger of the vowel sounds
in such pairs of words as 'caught' and 'cot' Examining the
speech across several generations of a single family, one would
find the grandparents' generation would never or rarely merge
these two vowel sounds; their children's generation may on
occasion, particularly in quick or informal speech; while their
grandchildren's generation would merge these two vowels
uniformly. This is the basis of the apparent-time hypothesis
where age-based variation is taken as an indication of linguistic
change in progress.
Differences according to gender
Men and women, on average, tend to use slightly different
language styles. These differences tend to be quantitative rather
than qualitative. That is, to say that women make more minimal
35

36. responses than men is akin to saying that men are taller than
women (i.e., men are on average taller than women, but some
women are taller than some men). The initial identification of a
women's register was who argued that the style of language
served to maintain women's (inferior) role in society . A later
refinement of this argument was that gender differences in
language reflected a power difference . However, both these
perspectives have the language style of men as normative,
implying that women's style is inferior..
Questions
Men and women differ in their use of questions in
conversations. For men, a question is usually a genuine request
for information whereas with women it can often be a rhetorical
means of engaging the other’s conversational contribution or of
acquiring attention from others conversationally involved,
techniques associated with a collaborative approach to language
use Therefore women use questions more frequently. In
writing, however, both genders use rhetorical questions as
literary devices. For example, Mark Twain used them in quot;A War
Prayerquot; to provoke the reader to question his actions and
beliefs.
Self-disclosure
Female tendencies toward self-disclosure, i.e., sharing their
problems and experiences with others, often to offer sympathy
contrasts with male tendencies to non-self disclosure and
36

37. professing advice or offering a solution when confronted with
another’s problems.
CONCLUSION
Sociolinguistics is closely related to both sociology and general
linguistics. It is also linked to such disciplines as geography
and social-anthropolog, but our concern in this assignment was
exclusively with the first two. So, in conclusiono we may rightly
maintain that sociolinguistics is shared between sociology and
linguistics.
37

38. Q:4 How are three approaches to syllabus design:
grammatical, social and national different from each
other? Which aproacch is best in our educational system.
Ans:
Introduction
The purpose of this assignment is to examine the currents
running through syllabus design and to highlight the issues
relevant to teachers considering creating their own curriculum..
It will hopefully also help instructors better evaluate their own
programs and course books. It is therefore concerned with
linguistic theory and theories of language learning and how they
are applied to the classroom.
In the past, the focus of syllabuses has shifted from structure to
situations, functions and notions to topics and tasks. In
fact,with the development of the latter it is palpable that quot;the
traditional distinction between syllabus design and methodology
has become blurredquot;. So, how should we initially define
syllabus?
Syllabus: A Definition
A syllabus is an expression of opinion on the nature of language
and learning; it acts as a guide for both teacher and learner by
38

39. providing some goals to be attained. Hutchinson and Waters
define syllabus as follows:
At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement
of what is to be learnt It reflects of language and linguistic
performance.
This is a rather traditional interpretation of syllabus focusing as
it does on outcomes rather than process. However, a syllabus
can also be seen as a quot;summary of the content to which
learners will be exposedquot;. It is seen as an approximation of what
will be taught and that it cannot accurately predict what will be
learnt. Next, we will discuss the various types of approaches
available to course designers and the language assumptions
they make.
The Structural Approach
Historically, the most prevalent of syllabus type is perhaps the
grammatical syllabus in which the selection and grading of the
content is based on the complexity and simplicity of
grammatical items. The learner is expected to master each
structural step and add it to her grammar collection. As such
the focus is on the outcomes or the product.
One problem facing the syllabus designer pursuing a
grammatical order to sequencing input is that the ties
connecting the structural items maybe rather feeble. A more
fundamental criticism is that the grammatical syllabus focuses
on only one aspect of language, namely grammar, whereas in
39

40. truth there exist many more aspects to language. Finally, recent
corpus based research suggests there is a divergence between
the grammar of the spoken and of the written language; raising
implications for the grading of content in grammar based
syllabuses.
The Situational Approach
It is suggested that the framework for most foreign language
teacching is provided by a grammatical syllabus and that
dissatisfaction with this shows itself most readily n concern
that the language acquires in this way is not adequate for the
sittuational needs. It is obvious then that thte most commonly
proposed alternative is to take situational need to take as a
starting point and thereby to construct a situational syllabus to
construct to rreplace a grammatical syllabus. It is the obly other
kind of syllabus that is used to replace the grammatical
structure to construct teaching material.
The argumentt for the situational grammar is fairly straight
forward. Although languages are described generral systems,
language is always used as situational and social context and
cannot be fully understood witthout that context. Our choice of
lingistic form may be restricted to some features of social
situations and in any way we need a sport of language to face
any type of situations. There instead of learning subjecct and
their contents. We should take account of learner and his
needs. It is more efficient forces because we are concerned with
40

41. what the learner need and what is relevant to the learner.it is
more motivating because it is learner rather than subject
centered. The distinction betweeen language for learning and
languae for use will disappear. Units in the syllabus will have
situational instead off grammatical tables.
In order to carry out behavioural analysis that underlie the
sittuational syllabus. We must have a set of parameters for
describing the significant features of situations.
The situational courses do exist. They consist of learning units
with label like ‘ At the post office’. Buying a heater ticket.
Asking the way and so on. In all probability they are successful
in what they have placed. But there is a big problem to think
whetehr we take them as a model for teaching organisatiions of
language taeching. The difficulty language teaching. The
difficulty centres on what is meant by situation.
The Notional/Functional Approach
Wilkins' criticism of structural and situational approaches lies
in the fact that they answer only the 'how' or 'when' and 'where'
. Instead, he enquires quot;what it is they communicate through
languagequot; . Thus, the starting point for a syllabus is the
communicative purpose and conceptual meaning of language
i.e. notions and functions, as opposed to grammatical items and
situational elements which remain but are relegated to a
subsidiary role.
41

42. In order to establish objectives, the needs of the learners will
have to be analyzed by the various types of communication in
which the learner has to confront. Consequently, needs analysis
has an association with notional-functional syllabuses.
Although needs analysis implies a focus on the learner, critics
of this approach suggest that a new list has replaced the old
one. Where once structural/situational items were used a new
list consisting of notions and functions has become the main
focus in a syllabus. White claims that quot;language functions do
not usually occur in isolationquot; and there are also difficulties of
selecting and grading function and form. Clearly, the task of
deciding whether a given function (i.e. persuading), is easier or
more difficult than another (i.e. approving), makes the task
harder to approach.
The above approaches belong to the product-oriented category
of syllabuses. An alternative path to curriculum design would
be to adopt process oriented principles, which assume that
language can be learnt experientially as opposed to the step-by-
step procedure of the synthetic approach.
Initially, several questions must be posed. Do you want a
product or process oriented syllabus? Will the course be teacher
or learner led? What are the goals of the program and the needs
of your students? This leads to an examination of the degree to
which the
In light of this background, and given the monolingual nature of
Japanese society and the lack of exposure to the target
42

43. language outside the classroom, a task based strategy with a
blend of approaches and emphasis on communicative learning,
may well be one of the most suitable types of syllabus design on
offer for language learners in Japan.
Conclusion
Clearly, there is a vast amount of material to disseminate when
considering syllabus design. The numerous approaches touched
on here all offer valuable insights into creating a language
program. The grammatical, situational and functional-notional,
all have objectives to be attained, a content to be processed and
learnt. The foundations of the product syllabuses remain
fundamentally similar, whereas the underlying assumptions
about language and language learning from the analytic
approaches differ greatly: process type syllabuses assert that
learning a language is transient and cannot be itemized ;
pedagogical procedure takes precedence over content.
If our assumptions about the nature of linguistics and language
learning is one of quot;language as communicationquot; then a syllabus
based around activities and tasks which promote real and
meaningful communication will seem advantageous. We have
shown that the false beginner in Japan will have learned
structural rules to a surprisingly complex degree, yet may find
it difficult to use, or indeed, may never have had an opportunity
to use the language learned. Consequently, the belief that
learning is facilitated by activities that include real
43

44. communication, may be the most suitable belief to adopt in the
Japanese classroom.
Further points to consider when critically reviewing a syllabus
are the objectives of the course as well as the needs of the
learners. Ultimately, and perhaps ideally, a hybrid syllabus will
result purely due to pragmatic reasons.
It is wise to take an eclectic approach, taking what is useful
from each theory and trusting also in the evidence of your own
experience as a teacher.
Thus, to what extent has an integration of the various
approaches taken place? Does the syllabus specification include
all aspects? If yes, how is priority established? These questions
must also form part of the criteria when designing or assessing
your own syllabus.
44

45. 45