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Let us start on a number of questions: why is the notion of „discourse genres“ used in the title of this course, ie. what conception of language is behind this term? Is language seen as a formal system of grammatical categories, an empty container into which any kind of content can be filled? Is it a linear algorithm of rules which produces well-formed sentences in a homogeneous speech community? Or is it the use of language in specific socio-cultural situations (characterised by variation: Halliday’s central theoretical concept of register is crucial here) that is to be described and explained as well as taught and learned? – Well, a first answer and request: You are expected to adopt a functional view of language and a functional approach to learning a (foreign) language, which is to say that the ontogenesis of language corresponds to the ontogenesis of (content) learning. With the human species there is no content learning without language learning (since human beings possess the mental faculty of verbal learning: ie. language and cognition blend).
What then is proficiency in a language, and what are language competences? What are the differences between spoken and written language, and how did the abilities to use these modes develop in evolutionary terms? Literacy has been with us for only 5,000 years; so how does the human brain process spoken and written language? Do these processes differ? What is the difference between receptive and productive communicative activities? How does content come into these activities? Is man unique in using language, ie. what are the design features of human language (use)? What role is being played by thinking, ie. in what ways does cognition shape human discourse genres? What part does culture play in all that? If language is used for communication, does the use of your first language differ from the use of a foreign language? Why should we distinguish informal and formal communication? What are its linguistic differences? What kind of situations are learners of English likely to come across when they use their English, as language learners at school and later on in life or in their vocational and professional work place? What types of text (= discourse) will they encounter in various sociocultural contexts? What are the conventions and linguistic or cognitive difficulties for the use of these text types or discourse genres, and what are the expectations or norms the user of the language may have to fulfill when being confronted with an audience or addressee? –
Sorry, questions galore but the seminar will try to give answers as well: on how to instruct learners in these matters, how to arrange learning experiences, how to frame tasks and how to scaffold their learning in a systematic and cumulative manner. The overall aim will be a functional one: developing and sharing ideas for enabling learners to manage (ie. to understand and encode) coherent and linguistically appropriate discourse genres in sociocultural contexts. In the course of this seminar the major aims, structural patterns and theoretical aspects of the different approaches will be presented and discussed. Students will be encouraged to develop their own curricular „kit“ related to some identified teaching project drawing upon English source materials and tasks which will have to be analysed in a functional stylistic way (= a content and language integrated „Erwartungshorizont“). Task-appropriate scaffolding will have to be provided as well.
Recommended pre-reading:
Council of Europe (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Cambridge: CUP. –
- Hallet: Lernen fördern: Englisch; W. Hallet / U. Krämer (Hg.): Kompetenzaufgaben im Englischunterricht.
- Hallet (2016): Genres im fremdsprachlichen und bilingualen Unterricht. (alles bei Klett-Kallmeyer: Seelze).
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht: Englisch 49, Heft 138, Nov. 2015 [Themenheft: Formal Communication]
Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht 12, 06/2015 [Themenheft: Diskontinuierliche Texte]
- Halliday (1993): „Towards a language-based theory of learning“, in: Linguistics and Education 5, 93-116.
- Vorlat (1989): „Stylistics“, in: R. Dirven (Hg.): A User’s Grammar of English: Word, Sentence, Text, Inter-action, Frankfurt/M.: P. Lang, 687-721.
You are expected to attend regularly, prepare an oral presentation, and use English in class. If you decide to prepare a written assignment (provided you decide to write in this field), it should be handed in by Sept 2017. Please, register with „Agnes“ and in the office, UdL 6, room 3011. |
