The CATESOL Journal

This paper explores the relationship between content-based second language instruction and so-called communicative language teaching and traces the development of syllabus design for second language courses from its emergence as an issue in the mid ’70s to the present day. The paper argues that content, when combined with a concern for communicative function and grammatical structure, provides the missing third dimension in syllabus design for second language courses and generates course designs superior to those based on structure alone or on some combination of structure and function. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the problems in, and the prospects for, developing this kind of syllabus for such courses.