Syllabus design

Syllabus - def.

According to Munby (1984), syllabus design is seen as "a matter of specifying the content that needs to be taught and then organizing it into a teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units."

Syllabus - components

Any syllabus should provide:

provision of an accessible framework of required knowledge, skills and capabilities selected to be appropriate to overall aims;

provision of continuity and a sense of direction in classroom work for teacher and students;

a basis for a retrospective account of what has been achieved/ a record for other teachers of what has been covered in the course;

evaluation - provision of accountability to colleagues, to learners, and to the wider institution and society;

precision of purpose, so that it may be assessed for appropriateness through implementation (overall aims and student needs identified both before and during the course);

sensitivity to the environment for which the plan is intended (broader language curriculum, educational and societal contexts). (cf. Breen 1987a:82; Breen 2001: 151)

Steps in syllabus design

Steps in syllabus design (Taba 1962):

needs analysis

formulation of objectives

selection of content

organization of content

selection of learning activities

organization of learning activities

decisions about what needs evaluating and how to evaluate.

Types of syllabuses

I n essence, each of the four types of syllabus offer alternative answers to the question: What does a learner of a new language need to know, and what does a learner need to be able to do with this knowledge?" (Breen 1987a:85 ).

Analytic and synthetic syllabi"

The term 'synthetic' refers here to structural, lexical, notional, functional, and most situational and topical syllabi, in which acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of separately taught parts, building up to the whole structure of the language. The learner is exposed to a deliberately limited sample of language at any time, and has to "re-synthesise the language that has been broken down into a large number of small pieces with the aim of making this learning task easier" (Wilkins 1976:2). Thus synthetic syllabi (or product oriented syllabi):

... rely on learner's (assumed) ability to learn a language in parts (e.g. structures and functions) independently of one another, and also to integrate, or synthesise, the pieces when the time comes to use them for communicative purposes. (Long & Crookes 1993:12)

Synthetic syllabi emphasize the product of language learning and are prone to intervention from an authority

Linear; methaphor of building a wall

Analytic and synthetic syllabi

In 'analytic' syllabi (or process oriented), prior analysis of the total language system into a set of discrete pieces of language is largely unnecessary: "Analytic approaches ... are organised in terms of the purposes for which people are learning language and the kinds of language performance that are necessary to meet those purposes" (Wilkins 1976:13). Thus 'analytic' refers not to what the syllabus designer does, but to the operations required of the learner. "Since we are inviting the learner, directly or indirectly, to recognise the linguistic components of the language he is acquiring, we are in effect basing our approach on the learner's analytic capabilities" (Wilkins 1976:14). Analytic syllabi present the L2 in chunks, without linguistic interference or control, and rely on the learner's ability to induce and infer language rules, as well as on innate knowledge of linguistic universals. Procedural, process and task syllabi are examples of the analytic syllabus (cf. Long & Crookes 1993:11).

The process of learning is important; the specification of learning tasks and activities

The metaphor of growing a garden

Product and Process oriented syllabi

TABLE 27: LANGUAGE SYLLABUS DESIGN: TWO TYPES (WHITE 1988:44) 

Type A: What is to be learnt? Type B: How is it to be learnt?

Interventionist Non-interventionist

External to the learner Internal to the learner

Other directed Inner directed or self fulfilling

Determined by authority Negotiated between learners and teachers

Teacher as decision-maker Learner and teacher as joint decision makers

Content = what the subject is to the expert Content = what the subject is to the learner

Content = a gift to the learner from the teacher or knowerContent = what the learner brings and wants

Objectives defined in advance Objectives described afterwards

Assessment by achievement or by mastery Assessment in relationship to learners' criteria of success

Doing things to the learner Doing things for or with the learner.

FORMAL SYLLABUS

Knowledge focus - forms, systems and rules of phonology, morphology, vocabulary, grammar, discourse as text

Capabilities focus - accurate production; 4 skills from receptive to productive

Selection and subdivision - larger units down to smaller units, e.g. sentence types or intonation patterns to modality, inflections, particular vocabulary, single sounds, etc.

Sequencing - assumes learner accumulates and synthesises. Simple to complex, or frequent to infrequent, or most useful to less useful

FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUS

Knowledge focus - purposes of languae use in terms of social functions, e.g. request, descriptions, explanations, etc.

Capabilities focus - socail appropriateness based on repertoire of functions; 4 skills related to puropses/ needs.

Selection and subdivision - linguistic realisations of superordinate and subordinate functions of language in common use; needs anaysis, academic or occupational.

Sequencing - assumes learner builds repertoire. Most common lingustic realisations to more subtle or most needed to less needed.

TASK-BASED SYLLABUS

Knowledge focus - meanings derived and created through unified system of linguistic forms and interpersonal conventions

Capabilities focus - comprehensible, accurate and appropriate interpretation, expression nad negotiation of meanings in tasks. Skills use integrated within tasks.

Selection and subdivision - communicative/ target-like tasks: everyday tasks (e.g. planning a trip) or special purpose tasks (e.g. solving a technical problem). Metacommunicative / learning tasks, e.g. deducing pattern in verb forms or comparing learning strategies

Sequencing - assumes learner refines konwledge and abilities in cyclic way. Familiar to less familiar or generalisable to less generalisable tasks. Task sequence also shaped by problems in earlier tasks.

PROCESS SYLLABUS

Knowledge focus - overall same as task-based but focus may also narrow at times to Formal/ Functional knowledge depending upon identified immediate and long terms needs of learners.

Capabilities focus - same as task- based lus negotiated decision-making within classroom group on aspects of the class curriculum

Selection and subdivision - Negotitation cycle: 1. Decision made on purposes, content, and ways of working in classroom group; 2. Agreed action- such as tasks / activities; 3. Evaluation of both outcomes and chosen procedures.

Cycle applied to all elements in the curriculum so that actual syllabus of the class evolves.

Sequencing - assumes learner refines knowledge and abilities in cyclic way. Sequence of acitvities and tasks emerges in ongoing way through evaluation stage (3) revealing needs and achievements which inform next decisions (1).

Syllabus and sequencing of the material

Linear syllabus

Most language courses, especially in the past, were usually "linear" whereby new points are strung along in a line and each point was completely utilized before moving on to the next. All the learning points were isolated and they were presented one after the other in some order. They required a great deal of practice before moving on to the next item.

Syllabus and sequencing of the material

Spiral syllabus (cyclical syllabus)

Language is mainly used either for production or reception. Usually, the same resources of language are used in different combinations to express different meanings. New bits of language are gradually learnt by experiencing them intermittently in different contexts. Repeated experiences of the same features of language is necessary. This is the concept behind the "cyclical" or "spiral" syllabus. It reflects the natural process of learning a language whereby the same things keep turning up in different combinations with different meanings.

Hidden curriculum

The term 'Hidden Curriculum' was first used by sociologist Philip Jackson in 1968, although the concept has been around longer.  Jackson argues that what is taught in schools is more than the sum total of the curriculum.  He thought that school should be understood as a socialisation process where students pick up messages through the experience of being in school, not just from things that they are explicitly taught. 

Tension between `what is practised' and `what is preached'; between `the walk' and `the talk'

Hidden curriculum

Metaphor to describe shadowy, ill-defined and amorphous nature of that which is implicit and embedded in educational experiences, and which contrasts with formal educational curricula and statements.

At macro-level - it is described in terms of detrimental effects on the ideals of educational philosophy and the process of schooling mechanism

At micro-level - it refers to the distinction between `what is meant to happen' (the curriculum stated officially) and what learners and students actually do and experience `on the ground'.

z notatek

Syllabus- is official document , which is prepared mainly by a teacher or other institutions like eg school. There are some objectives like: certain aims and goals, and a list of linguistic items. Syllabus contains some moethods how to achieve an amis, gives a teacher a feedback what kind of knowledge student is supposed to have. It is an overall plan for whole year, course.

We'll find in it:

1.what is likely to be covered(aims),2.conent, 3. methodology, 4.evaluation

Purposes:* framework of knowledge and capabilities that learner should achieve, * give teachers and students directions, * shows what was really done in the course, * good for evaluating students' progress, * appropriatness of the course, * help to evaluate language programs (eg. in international context)

History of Syllabus:

-is closely connected with teaching and learning, -grammar based syllabus and structure based syllabus}were very important and popular from very extensive period of time,- content selection

design syllabus:

-what to teach, what to shoose;-in what order should information be presented;-content graduation/sequenced

History:(in XVII th centry the emphasis was put on learner)

functional/notional syllabus:gives importance to communication, to language use

situational syllabus:language course was arranged around some situations

skill-based syllabus:focus is on certain skill that learner must master

task-based syllabus: issues are organized around some task task-is an activity that requires learners to use foreign language in natural situation, is similar to learning language out of classrooom

process syllabus-focus is on a process, how do learners really learn language, interested in what way they develop their knowledge.

modern methodology: * skill-based syllabus & competence based syllabus} mutli- based syllabus

outcome-based syllabus: focus is on the final outcome, should specify final learners' achievement

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