Lecture 3 Syllabuses and Coursebooks Educational Technology and Other Teaching Equipment

Syllabus The FL syllabus is the main document which lays down the aims and the content of TFL . It lays down the extent of the knowledge; habits and skills learners must acquire; topics which constitute the academic content of the subject. The syllabus is an essential document for every teacher, and he is responsible for the fulfillment of its requirements.

Common characteristics of a syllabus A syllabus is a document which consists, essentially, of a list. This list specifies all the things that are to be taught in the course(s) for which the syllabus was designed: it is therefore comprehensive. The actual components of the list may be either content items (words, structures, topics), or process ones (tasks, methods).

Common characteristics of a syllabus Another characteristic of the syllabus is that it is a public document. It is available for scrutiny not only by the teachers who are expected to implement it, but also by the consumers (learners or their parents or employers), by representatives of the relevant authorities (inspectors, school boards), by other interested members of the public (researchers, teacher trainers or textbook writers).

Common characteristics of a syllabus One more feature of a syllabus its time schedule – learners should acquire the material in a certain period of time.

Types of a language syllabus: Grammatical A list of grammatical structures, such as the present tense, comparison of adjectives, relative clauses, usually divided into sections graded according to difficulty and/or importance.

Types of a language syllabus: Lexical A list of lexical items (girl, boy, go away…) with associated collocations and idioms, usually divided into graded sections.

Types of a language syllabus: Grammatical-Lexical A very common kind of syllabus: both structures and lexis are specified: either together, in sections that correspond to the units of a course, or in two separate lists.

Types of a language syllabus: Situational These syllabuses take the real-life contexts of language uses as their basis: sections would be headed by names of situations or locations such as 'Eating meal' or 'In the street'.

Types of a language syllabus: Topic-based This is rather like the situational syllabus, except that the headings are broad topic-based, including things like 'Food' or 'The family'; these usually indicate fairly clear set of vocabulary items, which may be specified.

Types of a language syllabus: Functional Functions are things you can do with language, (examples are ‘identifying’, ‘denying’, ‘promising’

Types of a language syllabus: Mixed or ‘multi-strand’ Increasingly, modern syllabuses are combining different aspects in order to be maximally comprehensive and helpful to teachers and learners; in these you may find specification of topics, tasks, functions and notions, as well as grammar and vocabulary.

How necessary is a coursebook? In some places coursebooks are taken for granted. In others they may not be used at all: the teacher works according to a syllabus, or according to his or her own programme, using textbooks and supplementary materials as the need arises. A third, 'compromise', situation is where a coursebook is used selectively, not necessarily in sequence, and is extensively supplemented by other materials.

Using a coursebook gives: Framework Syllabus Ready-made texts and tasks Economy Convenience Guidance Autonomy

Educational Technology and Other Teaching Equipment Computers Computers are seen by many as an important teaching aid. These days learners need to be 'computer literate', and since computers use language it would seem logical to take advantage of them for language learning. They enable individual work, since learners can progress at their own pace, and many programs include a self-check facility. Also, younger and adolescent learners in particular find the use of computers attractive and motivating.

Educational Technology and Other Teaching Equipment Books Books are very user-friendly 'packages' of material: they are light, easily scanned, easily stacked and do not need hardware or electricity. They are still the most convenient and popular method of packaging large texts, and a library of them is arguably the best way for learners to acquire a wide experience of foreign language reading.

Educational Technology and Other Teaching Equipment Overhead projectors These are useful for presenting visual or written material to classes: they are more vivid and attention-catching than the black- or whiteboards. They also save lesson time, since you can prepare the displays in advance.

Educational Technology and Other Teaching Equipment Audio equipment Cassette recorders and cassettes are relatively cheap, and easy to use; and the are the main source (other than the teacher) of spoken language texts in most classrooms. They are more mobile and easier to use than video recorders, but lack, of course, the visual content

Educational Technology and Other Teaching Equipment Posters, pictures, games Materials of this kind are invaluable particularly for younger learners, and teachers of children find that they constantly use them.