CONCEPTUALIZING CONTENT

CONCEPTUALIZING CONTENT

1. Is a process which involves:

   • To think about what you want your students to learn
   • To make decisions about what to include and emphasize and what to drop
     • The result is:
       • A syllabus that indicates what you will teach
   • To organize the content so that you can make decisions about objectives, materials, sequence and evaluation.

2. It has three categories:

   • Focus on Language:
     • Linguistic skills, situations, topics, communicative functions, competencies, tasks, content, speaking, listening, reading, writing, and genre.
       • LINGUISTIC SKILLS: focus on the way language is structured: its grammar, pronunciation, and lexicon.
       • SITUATIONS: are the contexts in which one uses language. Eg. places such as the supermarket, the travel agency, or at a party.
       • TOPICS: are what the language is used to talk or write about. They may be personal, professional, relate to employment practices or topics specific to the profession of the students; sociocultural and relate to education, political systems, or cultural customs.
       • COMMUNICATIVE F: the purposes for which one uses language are called language functions; they include functions such as persuading, expressing preference, and apologizing.
       • COMPETENCIES: Competencies unite situations, linguistic skills, and functions. Eg. how to perform in a job interview, how to open a bank account.
       • CONTENT: is subject matter other than language itself.
       • SPEAKING: include knowing how to negotiate turn-taking and producing fluent stretches of discourse.
       • TASKS: interactions whose purpose is to get something done.
       • LISTENING: include listening for gist, for tone, for invitations to take a turn.
       • READING: include predicting content, understanding the main idea, interpreting the text.
       • WRITING: include using appropriate rhetorical structure, adjusting writing for a given audience, editing one's writing.
       • GENRE: involve learners in understanding and analyzing texts, and would also involve them in producing texts.
   • Focus on learning and learners:
     • Affective goals, interpersonal skills, and learning strategies.
       • AFFECTIVE GOALS: are concerned with the learners' attitudes toward themselves, learning, and the target language and culture.
       • INTERPERSONAL SKILLS: involve how one interacts with others to promote learning.
       • LEARNING STRATEGIES: focus explicitly on how one learns.
   • Focus on social context:
     • Sociolinguistic, sociocultural and sociopolitical skills.
       • SOCIOLINGUISTIC SKILLS: involve choosing and using the appropriate language and extralinguistic behavior for the setting, the purpose, the role and relationship.
       • SOCIOCULTURAL SKILLS: involve understanding cultural aspects of identity, values, norms, and customs such as those underlying kinship relationships, expectations of men and women, or gift-giving.
       • SOCIOPOLITICAL SKILLS: involve learning to think critically and take action for effec- tive change in order to participate effectively in one's community.

3. Another way:

   • Flow Chart:
   • Mind Maps
   • Review Grids
   • Lists