FURTHER EDUCATION
Many teachers of F.E. find themselves torn between the demand that English teaching should be merely functional, directed towards developing their students' use of' English, usually exclusively written English, and their own feeling that its role should be educative in the broadest sense. The units suggested here resolve this dilemma by making a liberal study out of language. This is possible, because the basic approach of the units to competence assumes that its growth can best be encouraged by simultaneously developing in students an awareness of the nature and function of language and involving them in talk and writing that is not an end in itself
The F.E. teacher's particular problems derive from certain assumptions which are widely held by both staff and students. The first of these is the idea that if a reading task is difficult, then it is the text that is at fault and not the reader. A2 'Reading and understanding', a unit which can be repeated with different texts at intervals, examines the basic question of what makes a passage difficult. D7 'Expecting the Usual' and D11 'Meaning', and Ell 'Half, please' all require the student to examine the various clues to meaning which any piece of language offers. In each case, the material for the unit can be drawn from the student's everyday experience.
The second assumption is that there is no point in going on 'doing English' after leaving school, because the ability to use language is somehow fixed by that stage and cannot be improved. In other words, by sixteen, you can write, or you cannot, and there is nothing to be done about it. The need here is to create a pattern of work which will show students the true extent of their native command of the language, and the degree to which people can do with it what they want to do. G1 'Telling the tale' can be made the key unit here, followed by the sequence: F3 'Tags for people', F2 'Man's job/woman's work', E4 'Half, please,' and JI I 'Taking messages'.
Finally, there is the assumption that what is 'formal' in language is necessarily 'correct', because informality in language is always undesirable. BI 'Formal and informal', and B3 'Reading the News' can help to modify this assumption, reinforced by such units as G1 'Telling the tale' or K4 'Applying for a job'. The study of formality in written language can be pursued through K5 'Communicating' or K7 'Letters'.
A number of units in theme D are valuable for developing awareness of the nature and function of language: D1 'Sounds, words, and meanings', D3 'Words in sequence', D9 'Names in the High Street' and D11 'Meaning' provide a basic sequence. The language games suggested in these units can be played at whatever level is appropriate to the class, and experience with them shows that they reveal unsuspected resources in the students.
Units whose topics are very directly related to competence can be selected in sequences and used as preparation for any English examination. A11 'Summarising' can lead to A 12 'Making an abstract', and then B6 'Bias', while KIO 'Informing the Public' focuses upon problems of comprehension. A2 'Reading and understanding ', A I O 'Observing and describing', and A3 'Judging your audience' provide a sequence of especial importance to many F.E. students.
Many units provide opportunities for exploiting students' experience of work: J8 'Being interviewed', J10 'Talking on the telephone,' J1 I 'Taking messages, , K5 'Starting work', K6 'Communicating'; while a Certificate of Office Studies course could use K4 'Applying for a job' as a basic unit and draw upon sessions from B1 'Formal and informal', B3 'Reading the News', J8 'Interviews', and K7 'Letters'.
Many units are relevant to social relationships at work. One problem for many students is their uncertainty and lack of confidence in new situations where they are faced with unfamiliar adult expectations. K4 'Applying for a job' allows students to experience for themselves the related roles of interviewer and employer, while K3 'Negotiating' requires them to exercise control over many aspects of language use. H8 'Social distance', H9 'Being tactful', and H10 'Taking a hint' develop an awareness of adult expectations in face-to-face encounters that are especially relevant to relationships with superiors in the context of work, and can lead on to G1 I 'Praise and blame' or H4' Changing jobs'.
Finally, the teacher of F.E. is almost certain to face resistance to reading. Several units suggest an approach to literature, and among those the following encourage a new way of looking at the nature and writing of fiction:
B7 'Fact and fiction'
E2 'Birds and beasts' (which deals with one aspect of SF)
E8 'Fiction and reality'
F5 'Attitudes from fiction'
F11 'How writers exploit regional speech'.