SECOND LANGUAGE COMPOSITION TEACHING AT THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Abstract

With the emphasis among linguists in second language teaching on the oral-aural approach, the attention given to composition work has been negligible. The neglect is understandable for first things come first but it is to be recalled that Fr ies has said, In the first stage of learning a new language, the end is that the basic structural patterns, with a limited vocabulary, a r e to be learned so well that they can be produced orally, automatically, and without hesitation, when the learner is confronted with the appropriate situation. To the accomplishment of this end, not only oral practice is used but also every other means of learning, including writing and reading. ?I1 Then follows the admonition, After the first stage of language learning in accord with this approach the teacher or the student may devote himself entirely to reading and writing.lI2 From these remarks it can be gathered that composition together with reading can play a relevant role in the second language learning process. It is also clear that an initial oral stage should be well under way if not completed before formal composition work begins. The term composition in this discussion wil l be taken to mean free composition, that is, an original discourse created by the student about some given subject matter. Further, this discussion will assume that the learners a r e adults of the freshman college level type, or , in other words, the typical foreign student who has come to the States to receive or extend his college educatiow. With a good oral course completed or well in progress-and this involves a basic vocabulary and all of the basic structures-the student is ready for formal composition work.