Next

Prepared by Müzeyyen İmamoğlu,Gülden Varol,

Burcu Çelik,Betül Top,İrfan Özen

ENTERPRISE

CONTENT           

 PART 1. DESIGN AND ORGANIZATION

   1.I.   Components of the course book package

   1.II.  The organisation of the content

   1.III. Suitability of the organisation of course book for learners and teachers

   1.IV. Sequence of the content

   1.IV.I.   Recycling and revision 

   1.IV.II.  Reference section for grammar

   1.V.  Clearness of lay out

  PART 2. LANGUAGE CONTENT 

               2.I.  Grammar 

  2.I.I.    Appropriateness of the grammar items to learners’ needs

  2.I.II.   Appropriateness of the grammar items to each level 

  2.I.III. Emphasis on language form and use

  2.I.IV.  Sequence of the grammar items 

  2.II. Vocabulary 

  2.II.I.   Adequacy of materials for vocabulary

  2.II.II.  Selection of vocabulary

  2.II.III.Presentation of vocabulary

  2.III. Phonology 

  2.III.I.  Selection of phonological items

  2.III.II. Presentation of phonological system

PART 3. SKILLS 

               3.I.   Presentation of all four skills

  3.I.I.     Listening 

  3.I.II.   Speaking

  3.I.III. Reading

  3.I.IV. Writing  

PART 4. Topic 

  4.I.   Topic

  4.I.I.    Effect of the topic to expand learners’ awareness 

  4.I.II.  Comprehensibility of the social and cultural context of the course book 

  4.I.III.Appropriateness of the topic to learners’ interest

  4.II.  Methodology

  4.II.I.   Learners’ needs 

  4.II.II. Principles and approaches

  4.II.II.I.   Language learning approaches of the course book

  4.II.II.II. The way the skills are taught 

  4.II.III. Learning and teaching procedures 

  4.II.III.I. Presentation and practice of new vocabulary 

  4.II.III.II.Students’ role 

 PART 5. Teacher’s book

            5.I.   Teacher’s book

           5.I.I.  Guidance for teachers

           5.I.II.   Detailed information on the language items

           5.I.III. Teaching techniques and language items

            5.I.IV. Answer keys

            5.I.V.   Guidance of the teaching procedure

            5.I.VI. Cultural explanation for interpretation of the situation

            5.II.  Teacher’s role

            5.II.I.   The function of teacher in the course book

 PART 6. Some considerations

 PART 7. Questionnaire

            7.I.   Results of questionnaire.

           7.II. Conclusion.

 Appendix

  Bibliography

 PART 1.  DESIGN AND ORGANIZATION

 1.I.  Components of the course book package

  Virginia Evans and Jenny Dooley wrote Enterprise the course book. Express Publishing in 1998 published it. The course includes four level series of English course books (beginner, elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate). Each level consists of a course book, a teacher’s book and a workbook, also each level has class cassettes and CDs and student cassettes and CDs. The distribution of the cassettes and the CDs are like below:

CLASS CASSETTES:       ENTERPRISE 1 STUDENT’S BOOK 1 (set of three)

                                            ENTERPRISE 2 STUDENT’S BOOK 2 (one)

                                          ENTERPRISE 3 STUDENT’S BOOK 3 (set of three)

                                  ENTERPRISE 4 STUDENT’S BOOK 4 (set of four)

 CLASS CDs:                      ENTERPRISE 1 STUDENT’S BOOK 1 (set of three)

                                          ENTERPRISE 2 STUDENT’S BOOK 2 (one)

                                         Others do not include.

 STUDENT’S CASSETTES:ENTERPRISE 1 STUDENT’S BOOK 1 (set of two)

                                           ENTERPRISE 2 STUDENT’S BOOK 2 (one)

                                         ENTERPRISE 3 STUDENT’S BOOK 3 (set of two)

                                 ENTERPRISE 4 STUDENT’S BOOK 4 (one)

 STUDENT’S CDs:            ENTERPRISE 1 STUDENT’S BOOK 1 (one)

                                         ENTERPRISE 2 STUDENT’S BOOK 2 (one)

                                         Others do not include.

 In the introduction part of the course book it is claimed that “it is a complete course for students studying English at beginner level. It provides them with extensive systematic and well-integrated practice in the productive and receptive skills necessary for successful communication in both oral and written forms of the language.

The teacher’s books, workbooks, class and student’s cassettes and CDs accompany the course books. These supplementary materials are used as additional materials, which help with practicing learning.

 1.II. The organisation of the content

 As it is claimed in the introduction part the course is designed according to the multi syllabus that is constituted with the integration of the different types of syllabuses.

What is going to be is taught in the course or in other words the main purpose of the course is usually called the syllabus. When we take the term syllabus into an account we should think of the content (what is taught) and the organisation of the content (how the content should be sequenced carefully).

Syllabus or content are usually combined in more or less integrated ways with one type as the organising basis around which the others are arranged and related (Approaches To Syllabus Design). Foreign language courses are usually designed according to structural syllabuses because it is believed that learning a language means using language appropriately in different situations for different functions.

We should decide which type of syllabuses would suit our objectives. There are several types of syllabuses; all of them handle the learning from different point of view.

The main syllabus type, which form the context is the structural syllabi based on a theory of language consider the grammatical aspects of language forms are the most basic and useful (Approaches To Syllabus Design). The language forms are given according to their grammatical classifications, that’s, they are given under grammatical categories such as nouns, verbs, past tense and so on. Simplicity, frequency and usefulness are the most common criteria in structural syllabi. The simplicity requires that simple contents must be presented firstly, and then the difficult ones (eg. present simple before present continuous tense). The frequency requires that the contents used much in real life must be presented firstly (Approaches to Syllabus Design). The usefulness requires that the contents should meet learners’ needs.

Another syllabus type is that situational syllabi of which organising principles are formed by the situations such as at the bank, at the market etc. as it is stated in Approaches To Syllabus Design “situations may emphasise “ functions such as introduction or nations, such as time or colour or comparison. Finally situations may be constructed to present various types of discourse or interaction phenomena. Dialogues and role-plays are the common ways of presenting situations.

Functions such as identifying, reporting, and correcting, describing etc. are the organising principle of syllabi and conceptual categories. These are the main elements of the national / functional syllabi. This type of syllabus emphasises the language use rather than the form. It’s considered that nations and functions can be expressed by different forms or vice versa. For instance, we can use “will future” “present simple tense” or “present continuous tense” for expressing future time.

For example:

         I’ll go tomorrow (will)

         I am going to go tomorrow (be going to)

         I go tomorrow (simple present)

         I am going tomorrow (present continuous)

On the other hand will future can serve different functions as promising and prediction as well.(Approaching To Syllabus Design)

Skills also form basis of organisation of the content and we call it skill based syllabi. This type of syllabi provide necessary skill for the students to use language appropriately for their communication in oral written English, such as listening for main ideas, scanning or reading passage for specific information etc.

Task or activities such as drawing maps, following direction etc. are the basis for task based syllabus. It uses activities that the learners have to do for non-instructional purposes outside of the class as opportunities for language learning. Giving task is the way of bringing real world into the class such as preparing profiles of class members for other classes or administrators or teachers (for beginner level), writing various types of letters-requests for information, application, complaints (for intermediate level), writing term for other content classes (for advanced level).

It is claimed in this book that “the course embodied a multi-syllabus approach and a wide variety of presentation methodology. Traditional emphasis on systematic learning of grammar and vocabulary is balanced with practice in communicative language use, the methodical development of linguistic sub-skills, and attention to details of spelling and pronunciation. Graded, structural material, which facilitates learning, is balanced with more authentic non-simplified material, which encourages language acquisition. Controlled practice leads from initial learning of language items to genuinely communicative and creative activities.

The lay out and the syllabus of the course book related to each other. In every unit firstly; in the lead in section, the students are made familiar to the given topic by the language in use. There is no explanation for vocabulary or grammar items. Students meet the language in its usage. In unit 10 “The Price Of Fame” (See Appendix I) students are asked to match the names given with the pictures. And it is realised that the people in the picture are not alive now so it is the past that handled in this unit. In second activity questions are asked and answered by the students as in the examples given in the activity. Students are made to realize the function of the structure is realised. The third activity deals with reading and listening-skills. Students hear the language in its authentic form and usage. And then in the fourth activity in lead in section the verbs in their past participle forms are explained and filled in the blanks by the students. Then the students, in English, or in their mother language explain the texts. But still the grammar structure of the past tense hasn’t been explained yet clearly. It is realised in its usage, in meaningful context by the students. The activity is referred national / functional syllabus because the function is emphasised over the exercises and also the last activity provides gist for the following reading section as well.

In reading section students are given a passage, which is about Lady Diana, a famous princess of Wales (See Appendix II). The topic of the unit is exemplified in the passage. Continued with the fifth activity it is understood that the activity is based on skill based syllabus students are asked to read the passage and match the titles with the paragraphs. The passage is read for gist. The questions in the same activity are answered by reading the text for specific information. In speaking section the ability to talk about someone is practiced (See Appendix II).

After reading section there is language development section in each unit. In this section the vocabulary and grammar items are practiced and balanced in different tasks. In vocabulary section where the new vocabularies are presented in a meaningful context in the reading section, notion of the date is explained and in seventh activity it is practiced with a task (See Appendix III). In grammar section the items are explained with the table in unit 10. The past simple is explained and practiced with different tasks. This section is related to both structural syllabi with the explanation of the grammar item and task-based syllabus with the activities for practicing the same item. And also in this section spelling of the regular and irregular verbs are explained and practiced with the twelfth and thirteenth activities (See Appendix IV).

Reading and listening section includes meaningful authentic and cross-cultural texts, which help to improve student’s reading and listening skills. And these skills are practiced with different tasks (See Appendix V). Communication section is related to the situational syllabuses. The situations are given to the students and students are asked to act out or write a dialogue, as the example given in the book.

The pronunciation part is also structural because pronunciation is one of the language items that should be explained and exemplified in order to learned correctly. And the last writing section is skill-based activity to improve the writing skill and the given topic.

The activities included in each unit of the course related to the different types syllabus as mentioned above the syllabus is integrated and this is followed in each level of the course.

1.III. Stability of the organisation of the course book for learners and teachers

This course is designed for making student’s communicatively component in English. So, the language is seen in meaningful context with its form and functions. Each unit has a specific topic that all the vocabulary and grammar items are related to this topic. This provides reliance between the items and the activities with which the students practice the language form and usage. Unit 15 “Surf the Net” in Enterprise 2 Elementary is a typical example of the topic in the course book. So, all the sections of the lay out of the unit are focused on this area network, computer etc. (See Appendix VI).

The topics are chosen selectively from daily life so teacher may make use them according to students need he / she can use them in different context.

The activities in the course are also flexible. Teacher may not follow the sequence of the lay out because the activities are independent from each other. He / she can pass the activity, which doesn’t suit the learners. He / she can add alternative activities or talks to the lesson. For example, in unit 14 “Tricky Job” in Enterprise 3 Pre-intermediate teacher may provide communicative atmosphere about the risks of the jobs that students know by awaking their ideas by asking which job they think is more risky and why (See Appendix VII).

The writers of the course consider the cross-cultural aspect while designing the book. The subjects and topics are chosen carefully, on the basis of their international features. For example, unit 18 is titled “Problem Of the Planet” in Enterprise 3 Pre-intermediate. It’s the main problem of the world that we came across. So, the students are familiar to the subject and they can be capable of learning the items easily, when they arise around the topic. On the other hand the course include local cultural aspect of the British as well. But they are usually about famous people, eating habits, festivals etc.

The course books can not be used individually by the students because the activities consisted in the books should be guided by someone, teacher, because the answers are not included in the book so, students can’t have a chance to see their success.

 1.IV. Sequence of the content

 It was mentioned before that the course consists of four level series of Enterprise Course Books. Enterprise 1 Beginner and Enterprise 2 Elementary follow the same sequence of the content. The third one Pre-intermediate and the fourth one Intermediate follow a different content sequence.

In beginner and elementary levels the language items, vocabulary and grammar, are firstly introduced in meaningful context, then they are explained in detail in Language Development Part, using tables and practiced with different tasks. And students are given the communicative function of the same item in communication part and the skills (listening, reading and writing) are handled by reading passages and reading and listening part. And at the end of the unit they produce their own language, work by writing a project with the given topic.

The pre-intermediate level started with the topic and language functions that provide necessary skills to successfully communicate with oral and written form of the language. The emphasis in this level is given to the vocabulary and speaking skills. And also this level consists of 22 units, where as the first two consist of 15 units.

Intermediate level is designed for necessary skills to communicate in oral and written form of the language as well as the previous one.