L2 Discourse Syllabus?

[Yasuhisa Watanabe]

Dear Jeff

Firstly my apology for not replying earlier. I only check my e-mail
account a few times a week.
I must admit that I mainly teach advanced level students at my
university. I agree with you (and probably many other L2 teachers on the
list) that discourse centred language syllabus may not be the best way
to teach a L2.
Perhaps what I do in regard to "discourse" in my class is the additional
element to the normal language teaching. I include many conversational
skills practice in my teaching, such as role-play and language drama. I
observe the students' discourse (mainly their speech acts) in their
role-plays. I also include exam questions similar to "discourse
completion" method of gathering discourse information from native
speakers. (If you are not familiar with the method, Kasper and Dahl
(1991) outline them. See below.)
Unfortunately, my program is not on the web yet. I will let you know
when it is.

Regards,

Yasuhisa Watanabe

Kasper, G. & Dahl, M. (1991). "Research Methods in Interlanguage
Pragmatics." STUDIES IN SECOND LANGAUGE ACQUISITION, vol.13, no.2,
pp.215-47.

>Yasuhisa (and others),
>
>I am interested in the use of "discourse" skills as the basis for L2
>syllabi. I teach both English as a second language and
>occasionally Chinese. However, I deal mostly with low level
>learners. I'm not convinced that a syllabus cenetered around
>"discourse" is the most practical way to help these students at
>their level (though I do see the value once a minimal level of
>competence has been achieved). I would love to see how you've
>incorporated discourse skills into your teaching. Do you have a
>syllabus online?
>Jeff Santarlasci
>University of Idaho
>Brink Hall 106
>(208) 882-5934
>sant2535 at uidaho.edu
>


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