WEEK 2

Course Overview & Introduction

Concepts

and definitions Reasons for having a syllabus Traditions in ELT SD

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Pre-test 1

What do you understand by the terms syllabus and curriculum? Write a short definition of the terms.

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Introduction
The question of terminology The title of this course is Syllabus Design. Why syllabus design and not curriculum or course , or even programme design? Discuss with your neighbour(s) what you understand by: Syllabus Design Curriculum Design Course Design Programme Design
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Some concepts and terminology..1

Stern (1984) makes the following comment on the terminology: Why syllabus? Not widely used in North America, but quite common in Britain. It is associated, above all, with the widespread British institution of the external examination. Every such examination has its syllabus i.e., a statement of the subject matter, topics, or areas to be covered by the course leading to the particular examination. Students and teachers consult the syllabus in preparation for an examination, and very often the teaching of a course will be strictly guided by the syllabus in question. In North America, the terms course of study, curriculum, or program often cover more or less the same ground. 6/7/2013

Some concepts and terminology..2

Three aspects of a curriculum/syllabus are usually under discussion: its objectives, the content, and the sequential arrangements. ......for example, .....the specification of the what of instruction/its content, the definition of a subject, the ends of instruction, what is to be achieved, and what will be taught.

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Some concepts and terminology..3

What is the distinction between the term curriculum and syllabus? In the United States, it is customary to use the term curriculum, rather than syllabus, to refer to all aspects of the planning, implementation and evaluation of curriculum. The term is also used for a particular course of instruction. In Britain, the term syllabus is used to denote that part of curriculum activity concerned with the specification and ordering of course content or input. In other words, it is concerned with the what of the curriculum.
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Some concepts and terminology..4

Within the literature, there is some confusion over the terms syllabus and curriculum.
According to Candlin (1984): Curricula are concerned with making general statements about language learning, learning purpose and experience, evaluation, and the role relationships of teachers and learners. Also contain banks of learning items and suggestions about how these might be used in the class. Syllabus are more localized and are based on accounts and records of what actually happens at the classroom level as teachers and learners apply a given curriculum to their own situation.
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Some concepts and terminology..5

According to Krahnke (1987): Curriculum includes syllabus, but not vice versa. A syllabus is more specific and more concrete than a curriculum, and a curriculum may contain a number of syllabi. A curriculum specify only the goals (what the learners will be able to do at the end of the instruction), while the syllabus specifies the content of the lessons used to move the learners towards the goals.
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Some concepts and terminology..5

Nunan (1988) in his book, The LearnerCentred Curriculum, uses the term curriculum to incorporate those elements designated by the term syllabus along with considerations of methodology and evaluation.

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Some concepts and terminology..6

Nunan lists the following as key elements for consideration within the curriculum: initial planning including needs analysis grouping learners goal and objectives setting selection and grading of content methodology (which includes materials and learning activities) learning arrangements (incorporating learning modes and environments) assessment and evaluation
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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate

Several conflicting views Some disagreement about the nature of syllabus

Lets examine the range and diversity of opinion on syllabus design (Brumfit, 1984 in Nunan 1988:5-6)

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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..2

1.

I would like to draw attention to a distinction between curriculum or syllabus, that is its content, structure, parts and organization, and, what in curriculum theory is often called curriculum processes, that is curriculum development, implementation, dissemination and evaluation. The former is concerned with the WHAT of curriculum: what the curriculum is like or should be like; the latter is concerned with the WHO and HOW of establishing the curriculum. (Stern 1984:10-11)
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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..3

2. [The syllabus] replaces the concept of method, and the syllabus is now seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve a degree of fit between the needs and aims of the learner (as social being and as individual) and the activities which will take place in the classroom. (Yalden 1984: 14)
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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..4

the syllabus is simply a framework within which activities can be carried out: a teaching device to facilitate learning. It only becomes a threat to pedagogy when it is regarded as absolute rules for determining what is to be learned rather than points of reference from which bearings can be taken. (Widdowson 1984: 26)
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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..5

We might ask whether it is possible to separate so easily what we have been calling content from what we have been calling method or procedure, or indeed whether we can avoid bringing evaluation into the debate? (Candlin 1984: 32)

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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..6

Any syllabus will express however indirectly certain assumptions about language, about the psychological process of learning, and about the pedagogic and social processes within a classroom. (Breen 1984: 32)

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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..7

curriculum is a very general concept which involves consideration of the whole complex of philosophical, social and administrative factors which contribute to the planning of an educational program. Syllabus, on the other hand, refers to that subpart of curriculum which is concerned with a specification of what units will be taught (as distinct from how they will be taught, which is matter for methodology) (Allen 1984: 61)
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Syllabus vs. curriculum debate..8

Since language is highly complex and cannot be taught all at the same time, successful teaching requires that there should be a selection of material depending on the prior definition of objectives, proficiency level, and duration of course. This selection takes place at the syllabus planning stage. (op. cit.: 65)
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As you can see, some language specialists believe that syllabus (the selection and grading of content) and methodology should be kept separate (hence the narrow view); others think otherwise (broad view)

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Defining Syllabus/Curriculum

Narrow vs. broad view of syllabus?, narrow view makes a clear distinction between syllabus design and methodology, with syllabus design being seen as concerned essentially with the selection and grading of content, while methodology is concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities. The broad view questions this separation, arguing that the distinction between content and task is difficult to sustain (based on the current approaches to language teaching)
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Defining Syllabus/Curriculum

Throughout this course of Syllabus Design, we shall adopt a narrow view of syllabus for the purpose of analyzing the what aspects of SD i.e., 'syllabus as a statement of content which is used as the basis for planning courses of various kinds, and that the task of the syllabus designer is to select and grade this content' but the main thrust of the course certainly embraces the broad view of curriculum development.
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Defining Syllabus/Curriculum

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Thus, the traditional view of syllabus design is seen as a subsidiary of curriculum design. Syllabus focuses on the selection and grading of content, (or focus on, selection, subdivision, and sequencing) whereas curriculum has a broader focus including planning, implementation, evaluation, management and administration.

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Task 1
Before we go on, you might like to pause and think a little about your own teaching context, and the place of the syllabus. Questions: Who has defined your syllabus?

yourself (as teacher), your department, your school, a higher authority e.g. a Ministry of Education the coursebook you use Look around. Check your neighbours' replies to the above questions. Compare your situations and discuss them briefly.

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Task 2

Study the following list of planning tasks. In which of the following, according to your experience, do classroom teachers have primary responsibility? Rate each task on a scale from 0 (no responsibility) to 5 (total responsibility). Again, compare your results with those of your neighbours'. Any similarities?
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0
1. Identifying learners needs

2. Selecting and grading syllabus content

3. Grouping learners into different classes

4. Selecting/creating materials
5. selecting/creating learning activities 6. monitoring and assessing learner progress 7. Evaluating the course
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Some teachers may feel they have (some) responsibility for selecting and creating learning activities as well as monitoring and assessing learner progress, but not much else. For them, the syllabus/course is decided in advance - perhaps even by the selection of a coursebook which acts as syllabus and the learners are grouped according to their results in a placement test. Teachers may feel quite happy with this arrangement, feeling that syllabus development should remain the role of those with specialist expertise, and not confident in undertaking tasks for which they have not been specially trained.
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Other teachers may feel they have a degree of responsibility in all of the above and are quite comfortable with this all-encompassing role. Whatever the case, it is fair to say that all teachers should be aware of the syllabus design process. Similarly, considering the amount of work that goes into syllabus design and the considerable weight of authority that syllabuses have, we might usefully consider whether they are necessary. Let us look at the reasons for having a syllabus first of all.
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Why do we need a syllabus?

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) identify 8 reasons why a syllabus might be needed. Download Tutorial 1 from the LMS and answer it.

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Traditions in ELT SD 1

In the introduction we defined Syllabus design as the deciding of what to teach - the focus on, selection, sub-division and grading or sequencing of items -and, as such, it formed part of the planning stage of curriculum development. What, then, is the starting point for decisions about content? Any decisions made at this stage are not value-free. Breen (1984) says the decisions taken usually reflect our beliefs about language and learning.
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Traditions in ELT SD 2

Breen says these principles of selection, focus, subdivision, and sequencing are never applied to what is to be achieved in an objective or neutral way. ..... Any syllabus will express - however indirectly - certain assumptions about language, about the psychological process of learning, and about the pedagogic and social process within a classroom. (Breen 1984:48)
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Traditions in ELT SD 3
Breen argues: The particular views of the syllabus designer with regard to language, learning and classroom conditions will generate particular criteria for sequencing and grading the content of the syllabus: 1. Thus, if the view of language is as a formal system, then the criteria for sequencing will relate to simplicity and complexity of structures or phonological aspects and therefore suggest a start with the simple or basic and move on to the more complex or specialized.
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Traditions in ELT SD 4
2.

3.

if the syllabus represents a functional view of language, then the criteria for sequencing will be: usefulness or frequency - starting with the more common or generalisable vocabulary, speech acts or communication events and moving on to the less frequent, rather specialized uses of language. if the syllabus is based on a particular view of learning, it may start with the easy to learn or more familiar to the learner before moving onto to the harder to learn or unfamiliar.
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Traditions in ELT SD 5
4.

if the syllabus is to be sensitive to rather specialized social or professional needs, then the focus may be initially on what is most urgent before moving on to what is less urgent.

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Traditions in ELT SD 6

Even the criteria can not be considered strictly objective - there is often disagreement about what is simple/complex, easy to learn/ harder to learn, urgent/less urgent. Nevertheless some decisions regarding content have to be made. We shall look at the procedures that were followed in the last couple of decades, until fairly recently.
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Tasksheet 2: Adapted from Nunan (1988: 11)

Until recently, most syllabus designers drew up lists of grammatical, phonological and ( 1 ) items. They then graded them according to ( 2 ) and usefulness. However, during the 1970s, communicative views of language teaching began to be incorporated into syllabus design and the most important questions for designers became What does the learner want to ( 3 ) with the language? rather than What are the ( 4 ) elements the learner needs to master? Syllabuses began to appear in which the content was specified not in terms of ( 5 ) items, but also in terms of (6 ) skills the learners were expected to master in order to communicate successfully.
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Traditionally, both linguistically-oriented syllabuses, together with so-called ( 7 ) syllabuses, tended to focus on things that learners should know or be able to do as a result of instruction. These syllabuses, in which content is stated in terms of the ( 8 ) of instruction are known as product-oriented. As we have seen earlier, a distinction is drawn between syllabus design, which is concerned with outcomes, and methodology, which is concerned with the ( 9 ) through which these outcomes are brought about.
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Recently syllabus designers have suggested that syllabus content might be specified in terms of learning ( 10 ) and activities, justifying this suggestion on the grounds that communication is a ( 11 ) rather than a set of products. The resulting syllabuses are referred to as ( 12 ) -oriented syllabuses.

(Adapted from Nunan 1988:11)

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Keys
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

vocabulary difficulty do linguistics grammatical functional

7. communicative 8. outcomes 9. process 10. tasks 11. process 12. process

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Conclusion
Looked at:
1. 2. 3.

Concepts and definitions Reasons for having a syllabus Traditions in ELT SD

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