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| 1. Nature
2. Purpose |
3. Course
4. Procedure |
5. Pronunciation
6. Geographical |
7. In Your Language
8. Hear Pronunciation | 9. Transcription
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The Nature of Basic English
Let us be clear at the start what Basic English is. It is a highly compact and serviceable unit of the English language, in the sense that men may express themselves In It for a wide variety of purposes and that it already possesses an extensive literature, it is also a self-contained unit, a language in miniature which may well solve the problem of International communication. Moreover, since it is simple but not distorted English, and since it selects for attention the most essential words, uses, and grammar, it is the best foundation for any wider study of the language.
For a foreigner bent on complete mastery of English, the sky's the limit; a lifetime may be spent in studying its finer points. But the first step, whatever one's ultimate goal may be, is to learn enough English to be able to express oneself in it freely and with confidence. Basic achieves this limited objective with the greatest possible economy of time and effort. The student may get a bird's-eye view of the task before him by looking at the Word List printed on the single sheet which forms the frontispiece of this book. With these 850 words and 50 of the growing number of terms which are more or less International, he need never be at a loss.
The selection is the outcome of a comprehensive and systematic survey of the language, which disclosed among other important facts that the numerous complex verbs of English could be covered with the help of sixteen simple operators and two auxiliaries. It is not based on the statistics of word-counters, nor Is It merely a random collection of useful and common words. Each word has its place in the system because of the work it will do in combination with the rest. In this way alone has it been possible to produce an effective vocabulary of English within so small a compass.
The Purpose of the Course
Though the satisfactory presentation of Basic as a teaching system calls for an understanding of the nature of the material to be presented, there is no one prescribed method which all who claim to teach Basic must follow. Provided certain principles implied in the Basic approach are observed, the pattern of the lessons may be varied considerably to suit different types of student and different teaching conditions. It is therefore incumbent on author to state the object with which a particular textbook has been written.
It is not the purpose of this book to use Basic English as a means of teaching a smattering of the English language to the greatest possible number of students In the shortest possible time; nor does it aim at providing a method of instruction that can be applied universally, for such methods necessarily cater for the needs of the most handicapped at the expense of the rest. The present course provides for an important section of the better-equipped students. It has been planned with the adult, or more or less adult, European learner in mind, and is intended for those whose object is to make a thorough study of Basic English, either for use as an international language or as an introduction to wider English. It explores the resources of Basic as fully as is practicable within the limits of a single graded course, and does so with the help of some formal grammar, presented in terms with which European students may be assumed to be familiar. In these respects it differs from Basic Step by Step i(a schematic outline for European teachers) and "The Basic Way to English" (a school series for India, Africa, and certain other non-European areas), both of which are elementary courses.
In comparison with the 'blitz' tactics which are sometimes favored in connection with experiments in mass teaching, the methods employed in The Basic Teacher may seem conservative, and even old-fashioned. The more spectacular tactics, however, though they may give a useful start in certain conditions, are no substitute for the systematic and detailed exposition that is offered in this book. Informal, direct method teaching, relying on example rather than on precept or explanation, can doubtless give hesitant pupils self-confidence In the early stages and encourage their active co-operation with the teacher; but its limitations quickly become apparent in the handling of advanced material. For this reason it seldom ventures beyond simple sentence-patterns and set phrases, which are quite inadequate unless they can be supplemented by the further knowledge of English which a foreigner picks up fairly rapidly by living in an English-speaking community. but not otherwise. Therefore, even students who have been introduced to Basic by these methods are recommended to use The Basic Teacher for revision and reference. For others, accustomed to routine study, the formal treatment will present no difficulty, and the careful analysis of usage will help them to avoid numerous pitfalls. In fact, In the process of informing the Basic learner, so many points of ordinary English usage are here usefully covered that teachers of English to foreigners, and particularly foreign teachers, may find it a helpful handbook even if they are not following the Basic system.
It is intended that the course shall be translated into the main European languages. Two translations, into German and Italian, have already been prepared and will shortly be in the press. In its English form, naturally, the course can only be studied with the assistance of a teacher familiar with the student's mother-tongue: but, as the title implies, the book is itself a teacher, and the translated versions may be used or self-teaching. Students working by themselves, however, should get a teacher or an English friend to correct their exercises and help them with pronunciation, paying special attention to the suggestions made on p. xiv.
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