programmes for pupils who are already beyond Level E and progressing towards Standard Grade. Scotland, like most countries, contains many languages and dialects, reflecting a variety of beliefs, value systems and perceptions. It is the school's duty to develop an awareness of this diversity of culture and language, helping pupils, through language, to value themselves and their own beliefs, while respecting and valuing the beliefs and perceptions of others.

Specific issues in English language teaching

Each of the following issues is given further attention in Section 5. Each part provides a summary of concerns and approaches applicable to programmes of study, and may be used to promote further discussion.

Access to language will provide all pupils, in ways appropriate to their ages, needs and attainments, with a knowledge about language. Although the speech children bring to school already makes use of complex structures, acquired naturally without explicit knowledge of rules and terminology, learning how to read and write and how to extend their skills in talking and listening requires the teaching of a gradually enlarging descriptive vocabulary. This will include a selection of terms referring to the words, grammar and sounds of the language, and also some of the technical terms of literature and the mass media. With this knowledge, pupils can discuss and appreciate the many varieties of language and their structures, purposes and effects. Such knowledge should support and supplement the continuing, natural processes of language acquisition.

In learning to communicate, pupils benefit from working with real models of effective language whose features they can explore, imitate or adapt to suit their needs. The study of genre helps pupils to see how the form and content of distinctive types of texts reflect their underlying purposes.

To foster a sense of personal or national identity, pupils should encounter languages and texts of a specifically Scottish and regional character. Giving attention to Scottish culture will permit the exploration of issues appropriate to the needs of children growing up in communities with their own histories and concerns. The classroom use of dialects and languages other than standard English can also reveal much about the nature of language generally, and set English in perspective as a world language operating across cultural, geographic and ethnic boundaries.

In responding to such issues, teachers will use a variety of approaches. Across the curriculum, drama gives pupils the confidence to become more able users of language by developing thinking and feeling through interactive situations. The mass media contain materials ideal for language teaching and should be examined in their own right as agencies which can have great influence on children's lives. Studying the media cannot begin too early, not least to develop critical faculties and powers of discrimination. Using computers will let all pupils explore some of the newer media and, by activities such as word processing, data handling and simulations, enable them more effectively to communicate with others, develop reference skills, and explore texts. These approaches to learning and teaching presuppose that teachers have access to an appropriate range of resources.

Conclusion

Through language, pupils experience varieties of speech and writing, and are given scope to practise them in contexts that match their needs, interests and abilities. To ensure balance, continuity, coherence and progression a framework is needed, clearly establishing the most important features of this curricular area and indicating what is attainable in them. This framework should also provide strategies for effective teaching and learning, including the assessment of achievements to be shared with the pupil, colleagues and parents. In subsequent sections, these guidelines offer such a framework through a system of attainment outcomes and targets, programmes of study, and a structure for assessment and recording.