Communication.: Language

166 RJ3’IEW.
of his material is also outdated by his book Teaching Language as Communication. Never-
theless, the present volume is to be welcomed as a useful collection in one place of thoughtful
papers by one of the leading pioneers of communicative teaching methods and ideas. As
Professor Widdowson is the first to admit, there is still a long way to go.
Department of Language and Literature Norman F. Davies
University of Linkoping
Sweden
Munby, John L., A Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1978, 232 pp., f6.95.
The subtitle, ‘A sociolinguistic model for defining the content of purpose-specific language
programmes’ indicates the aspect of the subject which is stressed in this book.
Since 1975, there has been a growing interest in “English for Specific Purposes” (ESP) and
throughout the world draft versions of this book have been circulating through British
Council channels. These have attracted a great deal of attention and its final publication
has been awaited with interest.
Since the publication of the first Council of Europe papers on a Unit/Credit System for
Adult Language Learning by Richterich and Wilkins, and in particular since the
development of a testing and grading system for specialised English teaching in industry and
commerce by the English Language Teaching Development Unit (ELTDU) in Oxford,
language courses have been developed and produced under the premise that it is possible,
systematically and economically to teach given target groups the particular language and
skills which they require as soon as their professional and interactional needs have been
clearly established and defined.
The Threshold Level’s catalogues of topics, situations, notions and functions and its lists of
lexis and structures were compiled under the aspect of introspectively established socio- and
psychogenic needs of the addressee in the role of a tourist or visitor in basic contact or
negotiation situations. Many language-teaching institutes, however, have claimed to be able
to offer carefully prepared courses tailored specifically to the particular requirements of
firms and projects (e.g. international construction and development aid projects abroad).
Most of these have been so-called EOP (English for Occupational Purposes) courses, but the
number of courses and the amount of material in the field of EAP (English for Academic
Purposes) for the training of students and academics have also increased greatly. Most of
this is text-based with a clearly defined content and the aim of training is skills and study
skills.
In their development of language courses for doctors and nurses, Candlin et al. have
established standards both for the methodology of preparatory research and for the learning
and exercise typologies on which the training courses are based.
Similar researches into language activity, interaction and interpretation in classroom
discourse have been conducted by Sinclair, Cot&hard, Spanhel and Hiillen. These too have
contributed to a widening of the concept and to the growing interest that applied linguists,
publishers and the prospective clientele of language schools have been showing in the results
of language needs analysis.
It is necessary for the reader to be aware of all this in order to understand the immense
interest in Munby’s book.
However, three further points must also be taken into account.
Firstly, (as demonstrated by Konrad Schroeder et al.) there is the great need of firms and
REVIEWS 167
state-supported organisations for a speedy, efficient and needs-orientated form of language

teaching for staff, partners and clients, especially among small and medium-sized firms
engaged in export. In many cases a knowledge of the country and the appropriate language
for particular situations have proved more important than technical expertise when doing
business with foreign firms. Courses for trainees, specialists and management, as well as the
various measures for the acclimatisation and integration of immigrants and refugees, also
fall into this context. All sorts of institutions, the Carl Duisberg Centres, the Goethe
Institutes and even the appropriate sections of the International Social Work Federation
have found that they are able to conduct highly successful language courses when these are
based on materials and learning and teaching typologies which reflect the experience, the
learning habits and the current and future social, professional and everyday behaviour of
the addressees in the context of the target language.
Secondly, the past 15 years have seen a renewed interest on the part of linguists, sociologists
and psychologists in the theory, description and analysis of the social function of language,
in language activity, in the pre-conditions of personal interaction and in the psychological
and social prerequisites for understanding, knowledge, thought and behaviour. This work
has found ready application in the theory of both mother-tongue and second language
teaching. It has led, among other things, to a closer correlation of models of behaviour and
exercise forms in teaching material with authentic forms of interaction, language use and
social behaviour.
Thirdly, the development of the concept of ‘communicative competence’ has led
throughout the world to a critical examination of those teaching methods and materials
which are mainly or entirely concerned with structure and with language as a system of
symbols. Despite the many exaggerated claims and misunderstandings, the general
acceptance of the communicative approach has proved a major step forward in language
teaching theory. Its importance lies in the fact rhat it allows theory and syllabus design to
take into account the individual pupil and his ability to understand and interpret within the
social context and that it is these factors that determine teaching goals in accordance with a
scientifically established body of knowledge which sees learning as communication and
language training and use as practice in communication.
All these developments have led to a rethinking of the problems of learner-oriented
language teaching materials and goals. They have also aroused a wide interest from school
and university curriculum planning commissions to the in-service training centres of
Industry and Commerce in the problems of ‘communicative syllabus design’.
The question is: does John Munby’s book justify the intense interest which has attended its
publication?
Munby’s first step is to guide the reader through the wilderness of publications from the
various schools of thought and to bring the strands together to show thegeneral direction in
which the theory of communicative competence is moving. This careful and thorough
comparison of the various standpoints and opinions serves to demonstrate to the reader that
he is not dealing with a completely thought-out and unified theory but rather that, together
with the author, he is formulating a usable theoretical concept for the development of a
language-teaching curriculum, taking as a basis the research results of a number of different
lines of thought.
Munby uses these ‘views of knowledge and communication’ to establish the three basic
elements of his model. (His insistence on the unbreakable link between knowledge and
communication in every social or speech event is in itself a step forward). The three basic
elements of Munby’s model are:
168 REVIEWS
1. Socio-cultural elements as the determining factors of learning and formulation of

learning goals.
The use of texts and other material as a basis for teaching implies and requires the ability to
evaluate the regularity and appropriateness of the language used in the particular context.
Such assumptions and evaluations must in turn lead to the development of judgement and
understanding of the situation and norms in language use and the meaning and effect of text
content. This is a linguistic-didactic prerequisite of learning. This means that the socio-
culturally determined values and norms and the existentially determined norms in the use by
the learner of both mother tongue and target language must be taken into account in the
development of learner-oriented language courses.
2. Determination of knowledge of the language by socio-semantic factors

In Halliday’s work it has been shown that each person possesses a number of options for
understanding and the determination of meaning. These variables cannot always be taken
completely into account in the development of course material but at least an attempt should
be made when the differences among addressees and the semantic weighting of the course
are clearly definable. In the so-called ‘communicative approach’ (Wilkins), the first steps
are the specification of concepts and the embedding of these in utterances. Only after this
can a battery of language be established from which the individual learner may choose in
order to be able to act in the target language within the framework of a learnable language
inventory.
3. Discourse level of linguistic ability

Munby defines discourse units as the communicative processes (transactions, moves, acts)
which take place in the context of repeatable interpersonal situations and interaction
determined by institution, circumstances or profession. These are not subject to rules. Only
at the level of the speech event does an analysis show any form of regularity in data and
patterns which could serve as a model in this context for human communicative behaviour.
These communicative units, clearly definable rhetorical patterns and the ability to
understand, interpret, speak and act needed by the individual if he is to be enabled to
interact, form the basis of Munby’s model. In the later chapters he describes it in detail.
The detailed specification of the syllabus begins in all cases with the learning process and the
circumstances under which it is to take place. Goals are established and needs are determined
in terms of behavioural and formal linguistic and situative categories. From these the course
plan is developed. Each participant has a processing system according to which he is
accustomed to react to given situations and needs. This potential covers concepts, values,
affective patterns of interpretation and regular patterns of action. Face to face with this is
the profile of communicative needs for a new situation in a target language and possibly a
target culture. The learner’s capacity to select language and to evaluate and interpret must be
developed. His patterns of language and perception may even have to be changed to adapt to
the communicative performance expected of him within the new context.
A review of this kind should not be intended as a summary of the entire book but rather as an
evaluation. The question remains: Has the book justified the expectations placed in it?
Not quite, I feel. The book examines the problems of the use of language within the context
of job or profession with great clarity and precision. It tries to establish a correlation
between job profile and behaviour norms of the learner. However the five problems which
Munby himself poses on page 217 remain unsolved although an attempt to do so, if only in
the form of speculations or a discussion of these problems on the basis of current knowledge,
is the least that could be expected. Sociopolitical, logistic, administrative, psycho-
pedagogical and methodological considerations remain outside the field of study.
REVIEWS 169
Despite the close and careful study of the probelms of content and goals, it seems to me that
any syllabus design which claims to be ‘communicative’ nrtcst include the above elements.
Despite this: an extremely interesting book and an important one. Clearly and carefully
compiled.
Fachbereich Anglistik: Didaktik Hans-Eberhard Piepho
Justus-Liebig-Universitlt
Otto-Behaghel-Stral3e 10
D-6300 GieDen
Federal Republic of Germany
REFERENCES
HALLIDAY, M. A. K., Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward
Arnold, 1973.
HtiLLEN, W., Linguistik und Englischunterricht 1 Heidelberg: Quelle und Meyer, 1971.
HULLEN, W., Linguistik und Englischunterricht 2 Heidelberg: Quelle und Meyer, 1976.
RICHTERICH, R., Chancerel, J.-L., Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign
Language. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1978. Now published by Pergamon Press Ltd.,
Oxford.
SCHRGDER, K., Langheld, D. & Macht, K., Fremdsprachen in Handel und
Industrie.KUnigstein/Ts.: Scriptor, 1979.
SINCLAIR, J. & Coulthard, R., Towards an analysis of discourse: The English used by
teachers andpupils. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
SPANHEL, D., Zur Sprache des Lehrers. Dusseldorf: Schwann, 1971.
SPANHEL, D. (ed.), Schiifersprache und Lernprozesse. Dusseldorf: Schwann, 1973.
TRIM, J. L. M., van Ek, J. A. &Wilkins, D. A., Systems Development in Adult Language
Learning. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1973.
WILKINS, D. A., Notional Syllabuses. London: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Mindt, Dieter (unter Mitarbeit von Rainer Zimmermann), Unterrichtsplanung Englisch

fiir die Sekundarstufe I Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 1979, 192pp. DM 19.50.
This book is conceived as an introductory course into the teaching of English. There is basic
information on various aspects of the discipline, such as the structure of the syllabus, the
student and his aims, the organization of textbooks, the principles of selection (phonology,
grammar, lexis, functions), the choice of language skills, teaching aids, testing.
The organizing principle is the planning of lessons of English in German secondary schools,
with a heavy bias towards teaching beginners. This may have been responsible for the most
striking omission in the book: the problem of subject-matter or textual contents
(Unterrichtstextinhalte). This problem is frequently discussed in teaching advanced
students and centres mainly on questions concerning the teaching of the literature and of
other aspects of culture and civilization. Nevertheless I also believe that in planning lessons
for beginners the choice of texts should not be restricted to linguistic considerations but
should include such questions as what characters appear in these texts, what happens to
these characters, can the learner identify himself with them; what are the concepts that the
learner wants or needs to talk about etc.

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166 RJ3’IEW.

Munby, John L., A Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University

state-supported organisations for a speedy, efficient and needs-orientated form of language

1. Socio-cultural elements as the determining factors of learning and formulation of

2. Determination of knowledge of the language by socio-semantic factors

3. Discourse level of linguistic ability

Mindt, Dieter (unter Mitarbeit von Rainer Zimmermann), Unterrichtsplanung Englisch

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