1. EDU 402
SYLLABUS DESIGN

2. 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?

3. 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?

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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?