ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute OBJECTIVES You will understand: 1. Course logistics questions to answer in the design process. 2. The different components of the syllabus design process. You will be able to: 1. Plan the course logistics; 2. To design an effective syllabus for a course.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute COURSE LOGISTICS While we like to think that curriculum design is driven by pedagogical factors, we cannot ignore that real life logistics can determine much of how a course is organized. Course length, class length, and class start and finish times are all often dictated by the institution’s operating constraints, not pedagogical theory. The logistical questions that you have to answer in your curriculum design include the following:  What is your delivery mode (face-to-face seminar or workshop, face-to-face lecture, real time online, non-real time online)?  If your course is a face-to-face delivery mode, what classroom design will you need?  Will the course be full-time or part-time?  What is your minimum/maximum student/teacher ratio?  What is your break-even enrollment number?  How long will the course be (hours and weeks)?  How long will each class be? Will there be break time? (If yes, for how long?)  How frequently will the class meet?  On what days will the class be held? At what time?  At what point in the course will assessments take place?  At what point in the course will students receive feedback on their performance?  What record-keeping system will you use for course results?  What course policies will you have with regards to attendance, pass/fail, and student behaviour?  What qualifications will you require of the teacher?

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute THE STAGES OF SYLLABUS DESIGN Thus far we have looked at the course rationale, course objectives, needs analysis, situation analysis, and course logistics pieces of the curriculum design framework. We are now going to look at syllabus design. Recall that the word syllabus is used to refer to the content of the course, and is one piece of a larger curriculum. There are a number of different stages involved in syllabus design: selecting the type of syllabus and methodology selecting the course content determining the scope and sequence (or course structure) documenting the scope and sequence

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute TYPES OF SYLLABUS Over the years, researchers and course developers have devised different ways of structuring and delivering language courses. Each type of structure or syllabus has been founded upon the beliefs about language teaching and learning that were current at the time. *See pp of this module’s lecture notes for an outline of the different types of syllabus and the methodology and rationale behind each of the following:  Structural-Lexical Syllabus  Situational Syllabus  Functional-Notional Syllabus  Task-based Syllabus  Topic or Content-based Syllabus  Multi-syllabus Syllabus

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute COURSE CONTENT Once you have selected the type of syllabus that you will use, you have to decide what content you will insert around the syllabus framework. *This is where you draw upon the results from your needs analysis and your syllabus choice. If you have chosen a structural-lexical syllabus as your framework, you use your needs analysis to determine specifically which structures and which sets of vocabulary should be put into the course. Similarly, if you have chosen a functional-notional syllabus as your framework, you use your needs analysis to determine which functions and notions you will teach.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute DETERMINING THE SCOPE AND SEQUENCE PLAN The scope tells the teacher how deeply or broadly a language structure, concept or topic will be covered in the syllabus. It also includes activities that will be used to teach the language. The sequence tells the teacher the order in which the concepts will be taught. A Scope and Sequence Plan is, therefore, a detailed breakdown of range and depth of language content to be taught, and the order in which it will be taught. To construct a Scope and Sequence Plan, you need to divide the language content up into what are called teachable chunks. Teachable chunks are sections of the language that can be reasonably learned together, and that can be learned within a unit or lesson of the course:  Start with larger teachable chunks as units.  Divide those units up into smaller teachable chunks that make up lessons.  Determine the objectives of each teachable chunk, (each lesson).

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CONCEPTS TO CONSIDER WHEN CREATING A SCOPE AND SEQUENCE PLAN 1. Learnability: Learnability tells us how easy a particular concept or structure is to learn. In determining your language content, you might want to start with the easier concepts and finish with the more complex ones. 2. Frequency: Frequency tells us how often words and concepts are used in a language. In determining your language content, you might want to start with the more frequently used content and finish with the less frequently used. 3. Coverage: Coverage tells us the scope for use of a particular concept or word. The more situations in which a structure can be used, the wider its scope. In your syllabus, you would start with the content that is more widely applicable, rather than the content that is applicable to fewer situations. 4. Usefulness: With usefulness, you need to ask whether the structure or word is relevant to the situation for which the students in the course are learning English. In your syllabus, you would start with the content that is the most useful for the situations for which students are learning English.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute TYPES OF SEQUENCING You should also consider whether you are going to use linear sequencing, in which content is taught only once throughout the course, or spiraling sequencing, in which you revisit language content or concepts a number of times in a syllabus, each time going into the content or concept in more depth and detail. With the multiple exposures to the same concept that we see in spiraling, retention is increased. Finally, coherence and pacing factor into the Scope and Sequence Plan:  Coherence is how smoothly all of the components of the course fit together and how smoothly the units and lessons transition from one to another.  Pacing is how quickly or slowly the class will cover the material.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute DOCUMENTING THE SCOPE AND SEQUENCE PLAN You can have single or multiple documents in your Scope and Sequence Plan. The samples shown on pp of this module’s lecture notes demonstrate two ways in which Scope and Sequence information can be documented. 1. The first sample is for an integrated skills course. It has all of the scope and sequence information in one document. 2. The second sample, for an English for Accounting course, has the information divided into two documents. (Please note that these samples are just small pieces of an entire syllabus document.) 3. As a third, complete sample, look at the syllabus for this course. It has information divided into a study plan and a description of assessments, modules, and resources.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute ADDITIONAL TRICKS FOR SCOPE AND SEQUENCE DOCUMENTATION  Use acronyms such as ILO (intended learning outcome) and SWBAT (students will be able to) to cut down on the space needed.  Use abbreviations for textbooks to cut down on the space needed. If you use abbreviations for textbooks, include an abbreviation key at the beginning of the document.  Use tables to allow for faster and easier access to the information, as opposed to paragraph format.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute SYLLABUS DESIGN A. Look at the syllabus for a course you have taught recently or are currently teaching. What type (or types) of syllabus is it? Do you think this was a good choice for the course? Why or why not? B. Does the syllabus document contain enough information in terms of scope and sequence? Why or why not?