Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/169

CHAPTER 4 the timing and ordering of the former depend on clues that come out of the moment-to-moment behavior of a particular class.

. What Francis calls the 'articulation function' is easy for writers to overlook or take for granted, yet conscious attention to it can contribute greatly toward teachability. The articulation function consists of two 'routines': a 'criterion routine' by which one decides that it is time to move on to something else, and a 'selection routine' by which one decides what that something else is to be. The writers should make very explicit suggestions for the 'articulation' of each part of each cluster, particularly with regard to the criterion routine. These suggestions might be in some such form as: 'Continue with this drill until the students can complete it in 40 seconds or less, but in no case longer than 7 minutes.' 'Do this role play on at least two different occasions. Be sure that each student has had a chance to take both parts. Do not spend more than 20 minutes on the first occasion, or 15 minutes on he second.'

. This consists of the decisions that the individual teacher makes as he teaches. It governs the choice of material from the lists of content, social roles, and linguistic features (Fine Specification), and also governs the choice of minor variations of technique (Fine presentation). Among them, these choices determine what actually happens -- in Francis' terms, 'the course.' The course, in this sense, is what the student encounters.