What a Subject Offers

The first kind of suggestion from a specialist is the broad function a subject can serve in its own right. The best way to see this is through worked examples. English and science both show how a specialist report turns a subject’s purpose into the raw material for objectives.

English as a study of language

Treated as a study of language, English serves three broad functions:

1. Effective communication, of both meaning and form. The subject helps learners get their meaning across clearly and in the right form.
2. Effective expression. It helps learners make internal adjustments to various internal and external pressures, giving voice to what they feel and need.
3. The clarification of thought. Using English helps learners assess their understanding of ideas and translate those ideas into something they can act on.

From these functions a developer can infer objectives: not just knowing about language, but being able to communicate, express, and think clearly through it.

Flashcard

What broad functions does English serve as a study of language?

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Answer

Effective communication, effective expression, and the clarification of thought

It helps learners convey meaning and form, give voice to what they feel, and assess and act on their own ideas. From these functions a developer infers objectives.

English as literature

Treated as literature, English serves a different set of functions:

1. Personal explorations. Literature lets a reader explore kinds of life and living far beyond their immediate reach, including situations too dangerous or consequential to explore for real.
2. Extension of experience. It widens a young person’s experience beyond the limits of their geography, social class, and the occupations and groups they belong to, extending their world through vicarious experience.
3. Reading interests and habits. It develops the habit of looking for something to read, so reading becomes a lasting practice.
4. The ability to appreciate. It gives the chance for significant emotional reactions to literary forms and for the critical appraisal of form and content, building standards of taste.

To draw objectives from these functions, a developer analyses what language and literature can contribute to the development of children, adolescents, and adults. The objectives that result are more than knowledge; they include skills and attitudes or habits as well.

Flashcard

Name two functions of English treated as literature.

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Answer

Personal explorations and the extension of experience

It also develops reading interests and habits and the ability to appreciate. Literature lets readers explore lives beyond their reach and widen experience past their own geography, class, and occupation.

Science

A science committee report suggests three broad functions for science:

1. Contribution to health, both individual and public. Science develops health practices, attitudes, and knowledge, and an understanding of how disease spreads and how to guard against it.
2. Conservation and wise use of natural resources. It teaches ways to obtain and use matter and energy carefully so reserves are not endangered, the efficiency of energy transformations, and the effective use of plant and animal resources.
3. A satisfying picture of the world. It gives a clearer understanding of the world as the scientist sees it, of a person’s relation to that world, and of the place of the world in the universe.

From these, a developer draws objectives in the science field relating to knowledge, skills, attitudes, problem solving, and interests. As with English, the specialist’s account of what the subject is for becomes the source of a full range of objectives.

Flashcard

What three broad functions does a science report suggest for science?

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Answer

Improving health, conserving natural resources, and providing a satisfying world picture

From these a developer draws science objectives spanning knowledge, skills, attitudes, problem solving, and interests, just as the function-to-objective move works for any subject.