Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

Box 11.3 English Curriculum for Israel, 2002 (part of
preamble)
The goal of this new curriculum is to set standards for four domains of English
language learning: social interaction; access to information; presentation; and
appreciation of literature and culture, and language. According to this curricu-
lum by the end of twelfth grade, pupils should be able to:
●
interact effectively in a variety of situations;
●
obtain and make use of information from a variety of sources and media;
●
present information in an organised manner;
●
appreciate literature and other cultures and the nature of language.
Teachers should be clear in their minds that they are usually teaching people
how to use two languages, not how to use one in isolation. The person who can
speak two languages has the ability to communicate in two ways. The aim is not
to produce L2 speakers who can only use the language when speaking to members
of their own group. Myhill (1990), for instance, points out that English materials
for Aboriginals in Australia, such as Tracks (Northern Territory, 1979), reflect their
own lifestyle rather than that of the English-speaking community: what is the
point in them speaking to each other in English? Nor should the aim be to pro-
duce imitation native speakers, except perhaps for trainee spies. Rather the goal
should be people who can stand between two viewpoints and between two cul-
tures, a multi-competent speaker who can do more than any monolingual. Much
language teaching has unsuccessfully tried to duplicate the skills of the native
speaker in the non-native speaker, as we argue in Chapter 10; the functions of lan-
guage or the rules of grammar known by the native speaker are taught to the stu-
dents. The point should be, instead, to equip people to use two languages without
losing their own identity. The model for language teaching should be the fluent
L2 user – ‘Japanese with English Abilities’ – not the native speaker. This is called
by Michael Byram (1990) ‘intercultural communicative competence’. It enables
language teaching to have goals that students can see as relevant and achievable,
rather than the distant vision of unattainable native speaker competence. One of
the significant steps in this direction is the use by the Common European

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