Málfríður - 15.11.1993, Blaðsíða 12

- encouraging equal opportu-
nities for girls and boys.
Furthermore, specific objec-
tives have been defined for each
of the fifteen subjects. These
objectives are described in
terms of pupil's behavior:
„pupils are able to“ etc. The spe-
cific objectives serve a double
purpose; on the one hand they
provide a functional set of
knowledge and skills, ready for
use, and on the other hand they
provide a basis for further
study. This difference is shown
in context dependent and con-
text independent objectives.
'The learners can order some-
thing' is an example of the for-
mer 'The learners can under-
stand the main idea of written
texts' is an example of the latter.
In the history of Dutch edu-
cational policy the defining of
national specific objectives con-
stitutes a memorable event. The
Netherlands have a long tradi-
tion of freedom of education;
schools have the right to shape
their own curriculum. This free-
dom of education is even Iaid
down in the Constitution (1848)
and implicates everyone's right
to provide education. As soon
as the national government
attempts to define educational
objectives in another than a
very global way, this provokes a
lot of protest and it is consid-
ered as an attack on the free-
dom of education. The specific
objectives for the different sub-
jects of basic education have
provoked similar reactions.
Nevertheless, the educational
field has embraced the specific
objectives with more or less en-
thusiasm according to the vari-
ous subjects and it looks like
politicians have done the same,
at last.
3. Foreign language learn-
ing in basic education
The defining of the objectives
for the various subjects had
been assigned to groups of ex-
perts on behalf of the Minister
of Education. In the case of for-
eign languages there was only
one group for the three lan-
guages that have to be studied
during basic education. This
working party was presided by
Jan van Ek, author of the well-
known Threshold level, which
was published by the Council of
Europe in 1975. A revised and
extended version has been pub-
lished in 1991. Members of the
group were recruited from the
Institute for Curriculum Devel-
opment, the Institute of Edu-
cational Measurement, the pro-
fessional organisation of foreign
language teachers, teacher
training centers and educational
publishers. In 1989 the group
presented a set of educational
objectives for English, German
and French. No difference had
been made between first, sec-
ond or third foreign language:
the aims were identical for the
three foreign languages con-
cerned and constituted a mini-
mum level of proficiency. Dif-
ferences in degree of difficulty
of those three languages for
Dutch learners should be made
on the most concrete level: in
the choice of learning materials
like texts for reading and listen-
ing and in actual test construc-
tion.
The general aim of language
learning was formulated as fol-
lows:
„In various communication
situations, both in their own
country and elsewhere, the
learners can use the foreign
language in such a way as to
satisfy those communication
needs which, generally, are
the most essential ones in
these situations. The relevant
situations have the following
characteristics:
- they are of frequent oc-
curence and/or of (poten-
tial) importance to the
learners;
- use of the foreign lan-
guage is either required
or advisable;
- they do not require more
than a basic level of com-
mand of the foreign lan-
guage, to be further char-
acterized hereafter;
- they may involve the use
of spoken language as
well as of written lan-
guage, both receptively
and productively.“
Nineteen specific objectives
were derived from this overall
goal and they were categorized
in four domains and some sub-
domains.
- communicative ability
- reading
- listening
- speaking
- writing
- compensatory strategies
and techniques
- socio-cultural competence
- orientation in language
learning
In the domain of the commu-
nicative ability all the objectives
are listed concerning the four
skills. Reading and listening are
considered the most important
ones, just as speaking. Relati-
vely little attention is paid to the
writing skill. Learners handle
compensatory strategies and tech-
niques in dealing with the
demands of communication sit-
uations that they are not fully
prepared for. This means for
instance that they can make
proper use of a dictionary, that
they are able to deduce the
meaning of unknown elements
from their contexts and also
that they are able to ask for
explanation. A learner is said to
be socio-cultural competent when
he has some familiarity with
everyday life, living conditions,
interpersonal relations and
major values and attitudes in
the other country. Besides he
has insight into social rites and
12