The Criteria Used for Selecting and Sequencing the Grammatical Items in the Third Intermediate English Textbook in Saudi Arabia

The Criteria used for selecting and sequencing the grammatical items in the Third Intermediate English Textbook in Saudi Arabia
BY

Mohammed S. Alkhamali M.Ed TESOL student Collage of Education King Saud University Riyadh

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Introduction
This paper tries to answer the question ‘ with reference to a syllabus or a textbook you are familiar with, identify and discuss critically the criteria which appear to have been used in selecting and sequencing its content.' To answer this question we have to - Define some terminologies that related to the topic. - Explore the types of syllabuses that may be used in designing the examined textbook. - Discus the criteria of selecting and sequencing structures. - Take a look on the examined textbook and analyze its grammatical content.

Definition of Terminologies
-Syllabus: According to Brumfit ( quoted in White, 1988: 3) ' a syllabus is the specification of the work of a particular department in a school or college, organised in subsections defining the work of a particular group or class; it is linked to time, and will specify a starting point and ultimate goal.' In the same reference he distinguishes two types of sequencing. The first deals with the theory of language learning or to the structure of specified material related to language acquisition. The other relates to administrative needs e.g. materials.

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-Selecting: according to Webster dictionary it is " exclusively or fastidiously chosen often with regard to social, economic, or cultural characteristics." -Sequencing: is the order of contents in syllabus according to difficulty, frequency, or needs of learners (Nunan cited in Shafieyan, M. 2011). -Product-based syllabuses: in these types the main concern is on WHAT is learnt. They deal with the outcome as the goal of learning. Productbased syllabuses include structural, situational, functional and notional syllabuses. - Process-based syllabuses: they concern with HOW the knowledge is learnt. These syllabuses deal with the experience of learning rather than the outcome of learning. Syllabuses under this type are task-based, skillbased and content-based syllabuses. - Notional/Function syllabus: as in Wikipedia it is " is a way of organizing a language-learning curriculum, rather than a method or an approach to teaching. In a notional-functional syllabus, instruction is not organized in terms of grammatical structure but instead in terms of notions and functions." According to Widdowson & Yalden, (cited in Shah, T. H., 2007: 96) The Functional-Notional Syllabus - meaning and communicative capacity is the cornerstone of language learning, e.g. the ability to apologize, or to request etc. Van Ek & Alexander, (1975) Functions correspond to language functions, such as apologizing or complaining . Notions can be either general, abstract concepts such as space, time, quantity, and quality, or specific concepts, which are usually referred to as "contexts" or "situations."

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(e.g. ‘personal identity’ is a specific notion which includes information such as name, address, phone number, and other personal information).

Syllabi Types
White (1988: 44) suggested two types of syllabi as Type A and Type B. Type A is answering the question WHAT is to be learnt? On the other hand type B is answering the question HOW is it to be learnt? In other words, Type A concerns with the final production of learning while Type B deals with the processes that the knowledge is delivered through. The criteria of these types can be seen in table1. Type A 1-Interventionist 2-External to the learner 3-Other directed 4-Determined by authority 5-Teacher as decision-maker Type B Internal to the learner Inner directed or self fulfilling Negotiated between learners and Teachers Learner and teacher as joint decision Makers Content = what the subject is to the Learner Content = what the learner brings and wants Objectives described afterwards Process emphasis Assessment in relationship to learners’ criteria of success Doing things for or with the learner

6-Content = what the subject is to the Expert 7- Content = a gift to the learner from the teacher or knower 8- Objectives defined in advance 9- Subject emphasis 10- Assessment by achievement or by Mastery 11- Doing things to the learner

Table 1: Type A and Type B syllabi (White, 1988, p. 44)

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From the aforementioned summary the type which concerns with process in terms of social desirable behavior may lose sight of cultural valuable content while learner may be lack of independence with the type that concerns with stressing on the acquisition of approved content (White, 1988: 45).From what were mentioned in the table we can see that structural, situational and notional/functional syllabi can be categorized under Type A depending 6,7,8,9,10 and 11 whereas taskbased and skill-based are under type B.

Figure1: types of syllabi as seen in Syllabus writing, What is, what for and how to go about it by Katsara,K. (2008)

About type A syllabi Robinson (1998, :8)assumed that “These syllabuses assume the learner will be able to put together, or synthesize in real world performance, the parts of the language system they have been exposed to separately.” The textbook of the study is counted as type A syllabi as it follows the notional/functional syllabus ,as will be seen in the next essay. Therefore, a short introduction to this syllabus criteria of selecting and sequencing will be presented.

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characteristics of English as a Second Language content
Yalden and Chamot & O’Malley (cited in Shah, T. H., 2007:97) discussed some of the characteristics of English as a Second Language content as.

1. Offers the students’ English language experiences based on challenging, meaningful and pertinent content, and use performance and assessment standards, based on the humanistic constructivist paradigm. 2. Prepares the students to reach their potential through the development of their abilities in the four strands of the English program: oral communication, written communication, reading comprehension, and literary appreciation. 3. Empowers the students to become competent, knowledgeable, independent, reflective, and self-confident English language learners. 4. Prepares the students to access, organize, and evaluate information obtained through technological or electronic media for the development of listening, reading and writing skills. 5. Develops the students’ critical and creative thinking through the process of English language learning. 6. Provides opportunities for student participation in a variety of social and interactive scenarios, through developing excellent command of the English language, including fluent oral and written communication skills.

In the following a list of the criteria of selecting and grading items according to the focus of the syllabus (white, 1988: 48).

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Structural focus syllabus Frequency Coverage Availability Simplicity / complexity Learnability / teachability Combinability Contrast Productiveness / generalizability Natural order of acquisition

Functional focus syllabus Need: immediate and long term Utility Coverage / generalization Interest Complexity of form

Table 2: criteria of structural and notional/functional syllabuses. (White, 1988: 48)

Criteria of Selecting
White, (1988:51) on his comments about the aforementioned criteria in terms of selection said that frequency has not been applied to the selection of sentence patterns with the same range as it has in terms of vocabulary. The same can be counted for range and availability. However, coverage is considered to be one of the basis of since some structures allow for a wider range of substitution within a given pattern than others. In terms of Learnability / teachability there are two principle that affect selecting structure. The first is that the simpler patterns are more easily learnt than the more complex ones. The second is that structures that are most different from those of the native language will be those that are most difficult to learn. Sheldon (1988) suggests three criteria for selecting and grading. He forms them as questions: Does the content of new linguistic items learnable? Is there a distinguishable system at work in the selection and grading of these items e.g. on the basis of frequency counts.

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Are the linguistic items presented in a way helping to achieve the objectives, taking in the consideration the linguistic background of the learners? According to The National Council of Teachers of English (1996) selecting materials must (1) have a clear connection to established educational objectives (2) address the needs of the students for whom they are intended (3) materials must be selected with an eye toward coordinating instruction within and between grade levels, courses, and disciplines.

Criteria of Grading
Mackey (quoted in White, 1988: 48) argues in case if language is a system that gradation matters a great deal: ' It means that we cannot start anywhere or with anything; for in a system one thing fits into another, one thing goes with another, and one thing depends on another.'

Halliday, McIntosh and Stevens (cited in the last ref.) divided grading into two aspects. The first one is staging and it relates to the number and frequency of lessons and the intensity of teaching. The other aspect is sequencing which concerns with the order in which the items should be taught.

For grading structures Palmer (cited in white, 1988: 53) suggested five criteria as follow. -frequency.

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- ergonic combination, is what we would now call structural. -combination. - concreteness. - proportion, the balance of receptive and active. - general expediency.

He also stressed the importance of grading in accordance with the capacities of average student to select the more used in preference to the less used structures and to avoid abrupt translations. Thus, the prime consideration, for him, in grading was not linguistic, but rather the ability of the student to cope with the various aspects of the foreign language.

For psychological interests there are different criteria in grading as White, (1988: 53) mentioned, these criteria though are based on linguistic consideration. - Combinability, the simple structures can be combined to form longer and more complex structures. It is an important factors in grading since building up more complex structures will depend on the combinability of structures introduced earlier. - Grouping, bringing together structures that are similar in one aspect and different in another such as the following forms of SUBJECT+VERB+COMPLEMENT He is Ahmad. He is a student. He is 15 years old.

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- Contrast, it is an important feature of the structural linguist's method of identifying elements in a language such as PAST & PRESENT.

Criteria of sequencing
As mentioned sequencing is an aspect of grading. Generally sequencing follow the same criteria of grading. In table 2 there were several criteria mentioned about grading (sequencing) in both structural and functional syllabuses such as (Alshumaimeri 2009)

Availability: i.e. the most appropriate and necessary words for certain situations. Coverage: i.e. The degree to which a word can displace other words, e.g. ‘seat’ = chair, bench, stool. Learnability: what makes an item learnable. e.g., whether it can be easily demonstrated, whether it is similar to the mother-tongue, i.e. a cognate, etc. Psycholinguistic Complexity: e.g., third person ‘s’ morpheme. He lives in Makkah. Grammatically this item appears fairly simple. However, it proves very difficult for learners to master because the form of the verb is governed by the person and number of the noun in subject position. Immediacy of Need: i.e. Those functions for example which are required early on in the classroom, e.g. Instructions. Complexity/Simplicity of form: this has proved difficult to apply in practice as language associated with one language function is as simple or complex as that associated with any other.

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Generalizability/Coverage: i.e. A particular function can be used in a number of different situations. Other criteria can be applied as mentioned in grading criteria, as sequencing part of grading.

The underlying textbook
The textbook which the study discusses is called Say It In English, for the third intermediate grade, term 1. It is a one volume of national school textbook series. Pupils supposed to use this book after spending 3 years learning English, since the 6th elementary grade. So pupils are considered to be post-beginners in this grade as they exposed to few every day expressions of simple functions in known situation , and can produce some single words and set phrases in response. They also can recognise the existence of a few basic structural contrasts. The textbook for the 1st term is consisting of eight units two of them, unit 4 and unit 8, are for revision. Within the unit there are four lessons follow the same sequence in each unit as lesson 1: discussion, conversation and grammar; lesson 2: reading, vocabulary and listening; lesson 3: conversation, grammar and writing; lesson 4: phonics, grammar summary, speaking and writing. As writers mention in the introduction of the pupils' book that this textbook is based on language functions in which grammar is carefully controlled. The writers in the teacher's manual,(2005/2006: A) point out the first goal of the syllabus as teaching communicative competence; the use of English for everyday situations i.e. language functions. They also

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mention that each unit presents several key function and grammar is always presented communicatively.

Criteria of selecting and sequencing grammatical items in the textbook

to determine the type of used syllabus a brief look for both pupil's book and work book were done on two units (see appendix A) and according to the data, it is obvious that the syllabus is designed using integrated approach. Different syllabus approaches were used in each unit. However, in chapter 9 (inventions) product-oriented approaches were used 14 times whereas 9 times for process-oriented ones. In chapter 10 (cultures) product-oriented approaches were used 13 times whereas 11 times for process-oriented ones. Grammatical rules were not graded in terms of difficulty also the purpose of them were not just structural but also functional e.g. chapter 10 lesson 3 the rule represented social function in addition to the syntactical form. Notional/function approach were used more than any other approach. In most times in combination with other approach specially the structural one. It is clear that many parts of the previous units, even structure sometimes, were designed based on notion and function. Accordingly, notion and function is the main unit of organization of this textbook. The grammatical items that presented in this textbook are: 1- Reviewing Tenses (modals, present simple, past simple and present continuous). 2- Future tense with present continuous & be + going to. 3- Future with "will".
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4- Making, accepting and refusing suggestions. 5- Conditional sentences with if clauses (1st conditional). 6- Conditional sentences with if clauses (2nd conditional). 7- Infinitive (verb + Infinitive). 8- Infinitive (verb + (pro)noun + Infinitive). 9- Stative verbs (feeling & options). 10-Present perfect. 11- Past perfect. 12- Present perfect, yes/no questions. 13 Present perfect with for & since.

It is clear that different criteria of the selecting an sequencing were followed. In terms of selecting, the seen followed criterion was learnability. Grammatical items were selected according to their ease to learn. The most presented items are found in the learner first language which makes it easier to learn. In the last five items most used one is simplicity / complexity as it seen when the designers started with structures that known for student then move to new structure (future) which depends on previous knowledge (present continuous). Structures keep getting complex moving to (if clauses) with using (were) for all subjects which makes trouble for many post beginner students. However, infinitive rules were not that complex to be delayed. Moving into another rule which is stative verbs. It's sequence is the best one as it comes after the infinitive / the basic form of the verb which is used in it. The last four grammatical items are the most complex ones as they are not used in Arabic and as they use a new form of verb, the participle. Moving back to the fourth items which is unique in its purpose as it
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presents functional rule (making suggestions). It was presented after the future tense which will be used in making suggestion forms as in (let's, be +going to).

All the presented items help learners to use language functions such as Talking about possible plans/ quick decisions, Making suggestions, Describing situations and possible consequences, Expressing feelings and opinions …and they establish a start point to present more functional items in term 2 such as making invitation, Asking about appropriateness and expressing obligation, Making requests accepting and refusing, Making complaints apologizing / giving excuses… in functional / notional syllabus grammatical items should be presented in cyclic manner as they presented in many different ways. This can be seen in taking about future tense, for instance, it is presented with the present continuous, with be + going to, with will and with making suggestions; so the syllabus keep touching upon the same rule in different ways. However, linear manner can be seen in making suggestion. To conclude, the examine textbook , Say It In English for the 3rd intermediate grade term 1, is an English syllabus that was designed to teach English to Saudi learners. For grammatical items, they were selected and sequenced in a way to achieve communicative goals and to help learners to master these functions. Selecting was depending on different criteria the most affective one was learnability. On the other hand, sequencing was depending also in many criteria the most common one was simplicity / complexity. These items started with general
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revision to what have been taught in previous grade then started to provide new items in terms of learnability and complexity.

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Appendix A: An analysis of two units of the underlying textbook to determine the type of used syllabus.
Unit Title Lesson 1-Discussion 1-Conversation 1-Grammar (by + gerund) 1-Listening 2-Vocabulary 2-Reading 3-Conversation 3-Grammar (sequence adverbs) Writing Phonics Grammar Summary & reading Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 1-Discussion 1-Conversation 1-Grammar (relative clauses) 1-Listening 2-Vocabulary 2-Reading 3-Conversation 3-Grammar (Asking about appropriateness) & (Expressing obligations) Writing Phonics Grammar Summary & Vocabulary Syllabus approach that is used Task-based Situational - notional/ functional Structural – task-based notional/ functional notional/ functional – Structural Skill-based Situational - notional/ functional Structural – task-based Skill-based Skill-based Structural – skill-based notional/ functional – Structural Structural – skill-based notional/ functional – skill-based Syllabus approach that is used Task-based Situational - notional/ functional Structural – task-based notional/ functional notional/ functional – task-based Skill-based Situational - notional/ functional Structural notional/ functional task-based Skill-based Skill-based Structural notional/ functional notional/ functional – Structural Task-based skill-based skill-based – task-based

Inventions "Pupil’s Book"

Inventions

"Work Book"

Unit Title

Cultures "Pupil’s Book"

Cultures

"Work Book"

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4

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Reference

Alshumaimeri, Y. 2000. The Criteria used for selecting and sequencing the grammatical items in the syllabus underlying Arabia’ Alshumaimeri, Y. 2009. Principles of syllabus organization. English for Saudi

http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/yousif/Course%20content%20for%20CI%20584 /Principles%20of%20syllabus%20organization%201.pdf Katsara,K. 2008. Syllabus writing, What is, what for and how to go about it. Robinson, 1998. State of the art: SLA theory and second language syllabus design. The Language Teacher. Shafieyan, M. 2011. Syllabus Design in Teaching Literature. International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation. Shah, T. H. 2007. CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF CONTENTS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH IN SECONDARY SCHOOL (CLASS IX-X). FACULITY OF ADVANCED INTEGRATED STUDIES AND RESEARCH. Sheldon, .1988. Evaluating ELT Textbooks and Materials. ELT Journal. The National Council of Teachers of English. 1996. Guidelines for Selection of Materials in English Language Arts Programs.

http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/selectingelamaterial

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Van Ek & Alexander, 1975. the Threshold Level in a European Unit/Credit System for Modern Language Learning by Adults. Systems Development in Adult Language Learning. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. White, R. V. 1988. The ELT Curriculum; Design, Innovation and Management.

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