MODULE 7 Topics, situations, notions, functions

MODULE 7
Topics, situations, notions, functions
Topics and situations
Language has traditionally been segmented into sounds,
vocabulary, grammar, but it may equally well be taught
through topics.
Another possibility is to base the language round
situations. For example – the topic “ home “, a situation is
“describing different rooms”, “describing furniture” etc.
In some ways topics and situations are more difficult to
teach than words or structures.
Introducing a new topic or situation
The presentation of topics or situations may be
approached from different directions; for example:
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1. Take the topic or situation, do a task based on it,
eliciting from the learners or teaching any necessary
new language.
2. Teach the new language through the topic, situation
or a text.
3. Go straight into a text, using it both to teach new
language and to explore the relevant topic/ situation.
Some ideas for presentation of new topics or situations
 Write the name of the topic in the middle of the board
and invite the class to brainstorm all the words they
can think of.
 Write the name of the topic in the middle of the board
and ask the class what they know about it or what they
would like to know.
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 Describe a communicative situation and characters and
invite the class to suggest orally what the characters
will say.
 Give the title of a text and invite the class to write down
sentences or expressions they expect will occur within
it.
 Define briefly the opening event and characters in a
communicative situation and ask the class to imagine
what will happen next.
 Present a recorded dialogue and ask the class to tell
you where they think it is taking place and who the
characters are.
 Present a text, ask for an appropriate title.
 Express your own, or someone else’s, opinions about a
topic, invite discussion.
 Teach a selection of words and expressions, ask the
class what they think the situation or topic is.
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What are notions and functions?
Notions and functions are rather more precise categories
than “topics and situations”.
Topics and situations are communicative events.
Notions and functions are the ways particular meanings
are realized in language.
For example – a topic is “the family”, a situation is
“visiting a friend’s home”, notions and functions may be
things like “time past” or “inviting”. “Time past” may include
past tenses, phrases …, “inviting” may include phrases

like “Would you like to …?”, “I suggest…”.
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The difference between a notion and a function
A notion is a concept, or idea: it may be quite specific
(e.g. vocabulary –dog, house etc) or it may be very
general – time, size, emotion, movement.
A function on the other hand is some kind of
communicative act – e.g. suggesting, promising,
apologizing, greeting, etc.
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Teaching chunks of language; from text to task
Topics, situations, notions and functions should be taught (it is
more effective) as meaningful chunks of language in context
(samples of language used by people within a specific
interactive situation), rather than decontextualized items such as
lists of vocabulary, or grammatical structures.
Some techniques of teaching such samples contextualized
within texts.
Learning by heart
Learning by heart is not the field of language teaching.
The situation
The situation is the best way of language teaching.,
e.g. foreign tourists are trying to buy some necessary
equipment in a shop; a student teacher is trying to explain
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something to a child, helped by the class teacher; a driver has
been stopped by a police officer for a traffic offence and is

trying to explain why he or she is innocent…
The characters: excited, apathetic, annoyed, pleased, tired,
nervous…
The relationships: authoritative-deferential, aggressive-
defensive, affectionate…
Attitude to the problem: the problem may be seen as: trivial;
distressing; funny…
Varying a theme
Take the basic text and elaborate on it.
Rather than answering comprehension questions on a text, the
class may be invited to vary and extend it, leading to further
exploration of the kind of language being learned. They might:
- create a new text on a similar topic;
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- suggest other ways the characters could have expressed
the same notions or functions; what difference would these
changes have made?
- suggest other ways the meeting might have developed, and
how the characters might have expressed themselves;
- re-present the original text in a different way; if it was a
diary entry, foe example, the reconstruct the dialogue, or
vice versa.
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Teaching chunks of language; from task to text
*Teaching topics, situations,notios and function through task
and learner-limitiated language rather than through ready –made
texts is another possible strategy .
*In such a methodology ,the teacher has a syllabus of topics ,but

may or may not have ready made texts or lists of actual
language samples that are to be taught .The main initiative come
from the students .Thus in a lessonon personal appearance ,for
example, learners might be ashed to start by working in pairs
describing pictures of people before them ,each participant has
to draw people from the description provided by their partner .
If they need new language they teach each other or ask teacher.
*This unpredictability ,however,can be a disadvantage ;many
teachers and learners like the sense of structure provided by a
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programme of language content which have been planned in
advance and which they know they are going to have to work on
. Also ,a lot of initiative and sheer hard work is demanded of
both teachersand learners in suggesting and then recalling or
noteing down the new language.
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