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Skill Based Syllabus

A. Introduction
In language teaching contexts, there are many types of language syllabus.
Those are grammatical syllabus, lexical syllabus,notional-functional syllabus,
situational syllabus, topical syllabus, skill-based syllabus, procedural syllabus
and task-based syllabus. These syllabuses offer different resources and
strategies to be used in the classroom. Knowing the syllabus types will help us
to decide and choose the one that is appropriate to our teaching goals and our
situations and conditions. Then, one of syllabus types will be discussed in this
paper that is called as skill based syllabus.
Before going to know about skill based syllabus, let’s know first about
skill. Generally, skill mean an ability to do an activity or job well. It
involves someone who has had special training and practicing to do it. So,
what is the meaning skill in language teaching? The term "skill" in language
teaching has generally been used to designate one of the four modes of
language: speaking, listening, reading, or writing (Chastain, 1976).

B. Definition of Skill Based Syllabus

A skill-based syllabus is one in which the content of the language teaching
is a collection of specific abilities that may play a part in using language
(Krahnke, 1987). Skills are things that people must be able to do to be
competent in a language. While situational syllabi group functions together
into specific settings of language use, skill-based syllabi group linguistic
competencies (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, sociolinguistic, and
discourse) together into generalized types of behavior, such as listening to
spoken language for main idea, writing well-formed paragraphs, giving
effective oral presentations, taking language tests, reading text for main ideas
or supporting detail, and so on. The primary purpose of skill-based instruction
is to learn the specific language skill. A possible secondary purpose is to
develop more general competence in the language, learning only incidentally
any information that may be available while applying the language skills.
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C. Characteristics of a Skill-based Syllabus

Based on Reilly (1988), there are several characteristics of Skill-based
syllabus that we can identify, such as:
1. Skills are things that people must be able to do to be competent in a
language, relatively independently of the situation or setting in which the
language use can occur.
2. The content of the skill-based language teaching is a collection of specific
abilities that may play a part in using language.
3. The primary objective of a skill-based instruction is to teach a specific
language skill, such as listening for gist, using proper intonation contours,
reading for the main idea, or using cohesive devices in writing.
4. These specific skills are immersed with specific linguistic competencies,
such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse.
5. Advocates of the skill-based approach view language as a collection of
separate skills. Each skill is divided into sub-skills(micro and macro
skills).
6. These sub-skills are gradually taught in a predetermined sequence through
direct explanation, modeling and repetition.
7. The mastery of these skills are constantly measured using discrete point
tests before learning a new one.

D. Steps to design a skill-based syllabus

This syllabus is based on the development of the language skills (listening,
reading, writing and speaking) using the target language. Examples of skills in
using the target language may include reading for the main idea, writing good
paragraphs, and listening for the main idea. Furthermore, there are some steps
to design a skill based syllabus as follow:
1. The teacher makes a list of language skills that students need to acquire.
2. The teacher makes a list of topics, grammatical forms, structures and
vocabulary andsequences according to language skills.
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E. Example of Skill based Syllabus for Speaking and Listening (Richards,

2001)
The component on listening and speaking deals with the skills of sound
discrimination, extracting information, and prediction, in order to perform spe-
cific functions. The skills also include those of determining and using registers
to suit different audiences, and for different purposes, so that students are able
to express their thoughts clearly and succinctly and be able to fully participate
in conversations and discussions.
The sub-skills that follow the main skills in this component are to be taught
together with the main skills. These sub-skills are not arranged in a hierarchy and
are thus not intended to be followed as a rigid sequence. They need to be
repeated in different but meaningful combinations.

Objectives of the component on listening and speaking

a. Listening to and discriminating: consonant clusters, sentence stress and
intonation, diphthongs and homonyms
b. Listening to and understanding: words, phrases and sentences;
instructions,messages; stories; talks; reports; opinions; poems; dialogues;
information in reports, guides, charts, graphs, manuals, forms, and letters;
description of scenes, events, places,things,and processes and procedures
c. Speaking with correct pronunciation, intonation, word stress and sentence
rhythm
d. Asking for and giving: meanings of words, phrases and sentences; instruc-
tions; messages; talks; reports; opinions; information in reports, guides,
charts, graphs, manuals, forms and letters; descriptions of scenes, events,
places, things, and processes and procedures; and
e. Telling stories

Skill specifications
At the end of the English Language Program for Form IV, students should
beable to:

1. Listen to and discriminate between: consonant clusters, diphthongs and

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homonyms.
2. Listen to and understand, and ask for and give meanings of words, phrases
and sentences.
3. Speak with correct intonation, word stress and sentence rhythm.
4. Listen to and understand, and ask for and give instructions on how to fix
things, such as a leaking tap.
5. Listen to and understand, ask for and give and relay messages received
through the mass media, such as the radio and the television.
6. Listen to and understand, and tell stories on moral values, such as self-
reliance, diligence andpublic-spiritedness.
7. Listen to and understand, ask for and give information contained in talks
on current issues, such as consumerism and health care.
8. Listen to and understand, ask for and give information contained in
reports, such as newspaper reports and book reports.
9. Listen to and understand, ask for and give information contained incharts,
graphs and manuals.
10. Listen to and understand, ask for and give information contained in
informal letters, in newspapers and in formal letters of enquiry
andcomplaint.
11. Listen to and understand, ask for and give descriptions of scenes, such as
tourist spots in the ASEAN region.
12. Listen to and understand, ask for and give descriptions of events, such as
the SEA games.
13. Listen to and understand, ask for and give opinions on current issues, such as
unemployment.
14. Listen to and understand selected poems of writers from ASEAN region.
15. Listen to and understand, ask for and give descriptions of processes and
procedures, such as the recycling of material.
16. Listen to and understand, and express displeasure and regret.
17. Practice social skills such as interrupting a conversation, and joining in and
participating in a conversation.
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The following sub-skills need to be combined and taught simultaneously

with the above main skills where appropriate.
Sub-skills of listening
a. Discerning main ideas
b. Understanding sequence
c. Noticing specific details
d. Inferring
e. Comparing
f. Predicting
g. Determining relevance
h. Distingushing fact and fiction
i. Differentiating between fact and opinion
j. Generalizing
k. Classifying
Sub-skills of speaking
a. Using correct pronunciation
b. Questioning
c. Paraphrasing
d. Supporting and clarifying
e. Summarizing
f. Using registers
g. Speaking coherently

F. Advantages
These are the following advantages of skill based syllabus:
a. Skill-based content is most useful when learners need to master specific
types of language uses. For example, students planning to work in higher
education in second language obviously need broad proficiency in the
language.
b. It is possible to predict at least what material that students really need, for
example student will need specific reading and note-taking skill, the skill
of comprehending academic lectures, and ability to do certain types of
academic writing.
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c. Relevance on student-felt needs or wants is the advantage of the skill

based syllabus because learners who know what they need to do with the
language generally show great acceptance of instruction that is clearly
directed toward their goals.

G. Disadvantages
Beside the advantages, there are also disadvantages of skill based syllabus:
a. One theoretical question is the degree to which ability to perform specific
tasks in a language is dependent on or independent of overall language
proficiency. If the skills are limited and predictable, and can be performed
with the overall competency the learner already has, then skill instruction
is unarguably effective. If there is a great degree of unpredictability in the
language the learner will have to process, however, a greater degree of
general proficiency will be required. The question of amount of general
proficiency needed thus raises the issue of the relationship between skills
instruction and general proficiency.
b. Serious social and philosophical questions have been raised about the
social values that are contained in many skill or competency-based
instructional programs (Auerbach, 1986). It’s impossible that skill or
competency-based instruction, that is too limited in scope, can program
students for particular kinds of behavior (e.g., obedience in a work
setting).
c. Skill based syllabus focus on discrete aspects of performance rather than on
developing more global and integrated communicative abilities.

H. Conclusion
Skills are abilities that people must be able to do to be competent enough
in language, rather than independently of the situation or context in which the
language usage can occur. In this syllabus, the content of language teaching
involves a collection of particular skills that may play role in using language.
Skill based syllabus merges linguistic competencies (pronunciation,
vocabulary, grammar and discourse) together into generalized type of
behavior, such as listening to spoken language for main idea, writing well-
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formed paragraph, delivering effective lectures and so forth.On one hand

relevance on student-felt needs or wants is the advantage of the skill based
syllabus because learners who know what they need to do with the language
generally show great acceptance of instruction that is clearly directed toward
their goals. But on the other hand, there are many people argue that skill based
syllabus will limit people general language proficiency and some bad impact
related to social value that skill based instruction that is too limited in scope
can program students for particular kinds of or isolated them from
achievements and ambition that the competencies do not prepare them.
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References

Chastain, IC (1976). Developing Second Language Skills:Theory to Practice.

Chicago: Rand McNally.
Krahnke, Karl. 1987. Approaches to Syllabus Design for Foreign Language
Teaching. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Reilly, Tarey. (1988). Approaches to Language Syllabus and Design. ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No. ED295460.
Richards, Jack C. 2001. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. New
York: Cambridge University Press
http://tics.uptc.edu.co/contenidos/fesad/C4/C4U2T1/c4_u2_t1.pdf
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SKILL BASED SYLLABUS

Submitted to fulfill partial requirement of Curriculum and Syllabus Design

Subject Guided by:
1. Prof. Dr. CucuSutarsyah, M.A
2. Dr. Flora, M.Pd

By:
1. Muhammad Iqbal Ar NPM.1423042058
2. SeptiAyuningtyas NPM.1423042065
3. TitisArsiwi NPM.1423042067
4. UswatunKhoriyah NPM.1423042068

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY
LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY
2015