Review

Author(s): Barbara Schnuttgen Jurasek

Review by: Barbara Schnuttgen Jurasek
Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Winter, 1982), pp. 426-427
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers
Associations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/327468
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 426 Reviews: MLJ, 66 (Winter 1982)
Sprechintentionen Modelle 4, a series consisting of
three cassettes, Textbuch, and Ubungsbuch. To
this end, the series offers 141 segments of spon-
taneously spoken German, divided according
to Sprechintentionen into fifteen categories, e.g.,
expressing gratitude, discussing plans, etc.
Each of the dialogues can be found both on the
cassettes and in the Textbuch.
Dialogues in each of the fifteen categories
vary in length and difficulty. The speakers are
also varied: older and younger as well as male
and female speakers are included. Each of the
Sprechintentionen is accompanied by photographs
that illustrate several of the component dia-
logues. All of the fifteen sections end with a
song selected for its relevance to the particular
Sprechintention. For example, in Sprechintention 6,
"Sich beschweren und sich entschuldigen," one
finds the former Schlager "Hey, Boss ich brauch
mehr Geld" and in Sprechintention 1, "Begriissen,"
the song "Guten Morgen, Sonnenschein."
The accompanying Ubungsbuch offers stu-
dents the opportunity to practice the material
of the dialogues in a wide range of exercises.
Liickendiktat, paraphrase, transcription, dia-
logue reproduction with and without cues,
photo description, and role playing are among
the numerous exercises found in the Ubungs-
buch. Most of these exercises are both realistic
and cognitive activities rather than merely
mechanical manipulations.
In preparing Sprechintentionen Modelle 4, the
authors rejected the often contrived and arti-
ficial-sounding dialogues found in so many lan-
guage textbooks in favor of more or less spon-
taneous speech in the form of the "simulated
dialogue" and the "semi-authentic dialogue." (In
the former, speakers are given a specific Sprech-
intention and asked to converse; in the latter,
only one speaker is aware that the conversa-
tion is being recorded - used for public conver-
sations only.) The resulting dialogues, some of
which were taped on location and are replete
with background sounds and noises, are far
more authentic and challenging than most ordi-
nary textbook conversations.
While this series should be most effective as
a supplement in intermediate courses, Sprech-
intentionen Modelle 4 does contain several dia-
logues that are easy enough for elementary stu-
dents and others which should challenge more
advanced students. This new offering from
Inter Nationes should prove useful to teachers
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preparing students for the Advanced Placement
Examination in German Language and/or the
Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache. (The series' fif-
teen Sprechintentionen are among the Lernziele of
the Zertifikat.) Above all, however, Sprechinten-
tionen Modelle 4 can be a valuable tool to help
students make the quantum leap from the safe
and cozy, albeit artificial, world of their ele-
mentary textbooks to the real world of authentic
speech.
DELBERT C. HAUSMAN
Lower Moreland (PA) High School
BALDEGGER, MARKUS, MARTIN MULLER & GONTHER
SCHNEIDER. Kontaktschwelle Deutsch als Fremd-
sprache. Berlin: Langenscheidt, 1980. Pp. 504.
Paper.
In the early 1970s the Council of Europe,
through its Council for Cultural Cooperation,
began research in syllabus design. In an effort
to reorganize foreign language programs in the
area of adult education, the goal was to specify
a minimal level of communicative proficiency
and a common core of foreign language knowl-
edge within the framework of the Unit-System.
The Council's first study, The Threshold Level
(Van Ek, 1975), originated the concept of the
functional-notional syllabus. A team of experts
was commissioned to create a similar instru-
ment for German as a foreign language that
corresponds in content and range to the
Threshold Level model. Kontaktschwelle is the
result or rather, according to the authors, the
beginning of such efforts.
Part I describes the origin of the Council's
project, its pragmatic orientation, and the scope
and principles that govern the use of the func-
tional-notional lists. According to the authors,
the essential components of the Unit-System
are to allow for choice or combinations of indi-
vidual units, depending on the needs, capabili-
ties, and motivations of the target-learner
group. Needs analysis is the keystone of this
model and a subsequent description of learner-
oriented goals becomes essential.
Part II offers 271 pages of detailed lists of
semantic exponents that appear suitable for the
realization of genuine communicative ex-
change. They are arranged according to 1)
 Reviews: MLJ, 66 (Winter 1982) 427
speech acts and the corresponding forms that
express these notions (e.g., widersprechen: das
stimmt nicht; das ist nicht wahr; das ist nicht richtig;
Unsinn), 2) general concepts (e.g., Raum, Rela-
tionen, Zeit, Eigenschaften), and 3) specific con-
cepts (e.g., Wohnen, Personalien, Arbeit und Beruf).
Part III is an inventory of the grammatical
units and structures that are contained in the
previous three notional categories. The intent
is not to explain rules but to elucidate the struc-
tures with examples.
The authors have accomplished precisely
what they were charged to do. Within the Euro-
pean context Kontaktschwelle now constitutes,
together with similar studies in four other tar-
get languages, the basic instrument for an
already widely accepted new language peda-
gogy. The potential user in the United States,
however, should be aware of the following:
first, the lists are not intended to be teaching
materials in themselves but resources for the
planning, development, and evaluation of
materials. Second, it does not describe a com-
municational methodology or address the issue
of how classroom discourse is to be orchestrated
using the notional exponents. Third, it does not
attempt to present a system of priorities or a
pedagogical sequence for selecting and order-
ing the functions. (These are not deficiencies
of the study, since the authors at the outset
make no such claims.) Finally, only profes-
sionals with native fluency and a thorough
understanding of Landeskunde will reap the full
benefit of this remarkable tool.
However, curriculum designers, textbook
writers or teachers who find the traditional
grammatical syllabus incompatible with the
attainment of communicative ability and are
looking for a flexible taxonomy of semantically
oriented learning units rather than a ready-
made lesson plan will find Kontaktschwelle in-
valuable.
BARBARA SCHNUTTGEN JURASEK
Earlham College
The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse. Ed. & Trans.
T. Carmi. New York: Penguin Books, 1981.
Pp. 608. $9.95, paper.
Both the pleasures and the problems of this
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compendium are reflected in the Preface's open-
ing sentence: "This anthology spans the full
range of Hebrew poetry, from the Bible to con-
temporary Israeli writing" (p. 7). The scope is
enormous, the editorial task formidable: to con-
vey through 325 poetic works an entire verse
tradition, from classical to modern times. To
assist the reader, the editor, a prominent Israeli
poet, includes 150 pages of introduction,
scholarly discussions of genres and versification
systems, a thoroughly annotated Table of
Poems, and other helpful apparatuses. The
main body of poetry (about 450 pages, divided
into three unequal sections, classical, medieval,
and modern) is presented in juxtaposed
columns of Hebrew texts and non-poetic, literal
translations in English.
The volume evinces an ardent scholarly bent
and a genuine literary sensitivity. Carmi has
made his selections "as a poet, in search of the
most rewarding literary prizes" (p. 8). With this
dual perspective he aims to transmit the vast,
relatively unknown treasure lode of Hebrew
verse, especially that of the late classical and
medieval periods. An implicit goal is to impart
an awareness of the continuity of Hebrew
poetic activity over the ages - the reason, per-
haps, that the 70-page section on "Modern
Times" is included, despite its apparent and
admitted inadequacy. The selection of works
is competent and interesting, but the problems
of audience, method of presentation, and over-
extended scope prevail.
In managing the conflict between scope and
selectivity, Carmi has made certain adjust-
ments. He has abridged many poems and has
limited drastically the selections of modern
poetry. In addition, he has eliminated en-
tirely - but for reasons of taste, not space - the
early modern period (ca. 1800-1890). The bias
is clearly medieval; and it is often the rarer, less
known poetic works, which seem to have met
the criteria both of Carmi's personal taste and
of his sense of scholarly erudition.
As to the book's main contents, the way the
poetry is presented and, by implication, its
intended audience are persistent perplexities.
There is no attempt to render the poetry in
English translation. In effect the poetry in the
volume exists only in the Hebrew originals.
Thus accessibility to the poems qua poetry by
the English-only reader is essentially barred.
The intended audience seems to be less the gen-