Discourse analysis and language teaching

Abstract

Like other branches of linguistics language teaching has, until recently, been concerned with grammatical rather than communicative competence. Wilkins observes that although there have been major changes in the methodology of language teaching over the years the underlying principle has remained the same: 'it has been assumed that units of learning should be defined in grammatical terms, although the precise sequence in which they occurred would be influenced by pedagogic considerations,'(1972b). Further he suggests that even those courses which encourage dialogue and improvised drama are structured grammatically and the 'situations that are created are pedagogic, bearing little resemblance to natural language use'.