This shift of emphasis from the means to the ends of language learning has had far—reaching consequences at both the macro level of syllabus and curriculum design and at the macro level of classroom activity. At the macro level, there has been the development of language for specific purposes (in the case of English,
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) which tries to develop the language and discourse skills which will be needed for particular jobs (English for Occupational Purposes(EOP)) or for particular fields of study (English for Academic Purposes(EAP)). At the micro level there has been the development of
Task-Based Instruction (TBI) inwhich learning is organized around tasks related to real—world activities, focusing the student’s attention upon meaning and upon successful task completion. While the rationale for ESP is entirely social, working back from student objectives in the outside world to syllabus content, TBI attempts to unite this perspective with one which is also psycholinguistic.Its argument, based on SLA research findings, is that the keys to acquisition are attention to meaning rather than form, negotiation with another speaker, and the motivation created by real-world relevance. In this respect TBI is in direct line of descent from both the natural and the communicative approaches.