A Model for the Teaching of Advanced Syntax in a Foreign Language*

Abstract

the point can hardly be overemphasized-deal in a rigorously systematic way with the syntax of the language involved. The search for a systematic, yet practically applicable approach to the teaching of foreign language syntax is the topic of this paper. Its first part deals with basic objectives and desirable features, prominent among them the need for a coherent, didactically oriented theory. In the second part, such a theory or model is outlined. Illustrating examples are taken from French. The principal objectives of a syntax course in a foreign language would seem to be threefold. There is (1) the obvious the improvement of active and passive skills: both orally and in writing the student ought to be able (a) to recognize immediately and to interprete correctly all the major phrase and sentence structures of the target language; (b) to apply correctly and with ease frequently used phrase and sentence structures; and (c) to understand and handle choices between equivalent constructions and to appreciate the differences between major stylistic levels and the appropriateness of syntactic constructions according to the speech situation. Then there is what could be called (2) the objective: the student ought to become fully aware of the distinctive characteristics of the target language, of the general principles that determine its functioning, and of major connections between phonological, morphological and syntactic phenomena. Finally, there is (3) a objective: the student ought to learn how to analyze for himself all kinds of phrases and sentences that he may encounter in the language. In short, the syntax course should not only teach factual knowledge and improve skills. It should also teach system awareness, a method of analysis, and its own metalanguage. In the performance objective, the teaching of syntax differs radically from the scientific description of syntax; in the competence and tool objectives, however, this difference tends to disappear. It is this ambivalence in objectives and attitude which is largely responsible for the dilemma of pedagogical syntax vis-a-vis its scientific counterpart. In order to reach performance, competence and tool objectives, an advanced syntax course would have to be determined in content and