Redressing the Balance

The natural English syllabus has emerged in recent years as a counterweight to these longstanding course book traditions. Its aims are to shift the balance away from the priorities of a written model of the language, with its overemphasis on structures, towards lexis and the needs of the L2 speaker. The syllabus initially focused on intermediate and upper-intermediate learners. The framework was established by analysing the performance of a cross-section of intermediate learners over a range of communicative tasks - the results were then compared with a sample of low advanced and advanced students.