EDU 402 SYLLABUS DESIGN

General statements about language learning, learning purpose and experience, evaluation, and the roles and relationships of teachers and learners Contains banks of learning items and suggestions about how they might be used in class WHAT IS A CURRICULUM?

Expression of opinion on the nature of language and learning A guide for both teacher and learner by providing some goals to be attained Statement of what needs to be learnt to reflect language and linguistic performance Approximation of what will be taught and that it cannot accurately predict what will be learnt WHAT IS A SYLLABUS?

SYLLABUS vs METHODOLOGY SYLLABUS – concerned with the selection and grading of content METHODOLOGY – selection of learning tasks and activities SYLLABUS vs METHODOLOGY

PRODUCT-ORIENTED – emphasizes the product of language learning Eg: structural approach, situational approach, notional/functional approach PROCESS ORIENTED – to enhance communicative skills, focuses on the specification of the learning task and activities that she/he will undertake Eg : procedural/task based approaches, learner-led syllabus, proportional approach TYPES OF EFL SYLLABUS

PRODUCT-ORIENTED SYLLABUS STRUCTURAL APPROACH Selection and grading of the content is based on the complexity/simplicity of grammatical items Learner is expected to master each structural step and add to his/her grammar collection Problem in grammar of the spoken and of the written language SITUATIONAL APPROACH Based on situational needs Reflects the way language and behavior are used outside the classroom Links structural theories to situations NOTIONAL/FUNCTIONAL APPROACH Focuses on communicative purpose and conceptual meaning Needs of learners is central PRODUCT-ORIENTED SYLLABUS

PROCESS-ORIENTED SYLLABUSES PROCEDURAL/TASK-BASED Focuses on pedagogy, learning, and the learner Practice and interaction to encourage learners use language communicatively Activities employed to complete meaningful tasks enhances learning LEARNER-LED SYLLABUS Focuses on how learners learn Difficult to track as syllabus will be largely the responsibility of the learners Lacks aims PROPORTIONAL APPROACH Attempts to develop “overall competence” A theme will link the units taught Designed to be dynamic with room for feedback and flexibility PROCESS-ORIENTED SYLLABUSES

PRODUCT-ORIENTED SYLLABUS – structural approach CRITICISMS : Structurally graded syllabus misrepresent the nature of language There is more than grammar to language No one-to-one relationship between form and function Tend to promote activities which serve to internalize the formal properties of language PRODUCT-ORIENTED SYLLABUS – structural approach

PRODUCT-ORIENTED SYLLABUS – functional/notional approach CRITICISMS : Selection and grading of items become much more complex Items should reflect how learners carry out the communicative purposes Look beyond linguistic simplicity or complexity Misrepresents the nature of language as communication Promote activities that attempt to replicate in class “real” communication PRODUCT-ORIENTED SYLLABUS – functional/notional approach

SYLLABUS DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY WIDDOWSON 1987:65 “…specification of a teaching programme or pedagogic agenda which defines a particular group of learners. Such specification provides not only a characterization of content, the formalization in pedagogic terms of an area of knowledge or behavior, but also arranges this content as a succession of interim objectives.” SYLLABUS DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Engage learners in problem solving tasks as purposeful activities Problem solving tasks would involve a conscious and repeated reference to the formal properties of the language Language as a necessary resource for the achievement of communicative outcomes WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?