APPROACHES TO SYLLABUS DESIGN Language Teaching Syllabus is

APPROACHES TO SYLLABUS DESIGN

• Language Teaching Syllabus is an integration of subject matter –what to talk about Linguistic matter- how to talk about it • Theory of language and theory of learning are essential in syllabus design.

Classification of Approaches SYNTHETIC APPROACHES Grammatical(structural-formal) Syllabus Situational Syllabus Communicative (Functional-Notional) Syllabus ANALYTIC APPROACHES Task Based/Procedural/Project –Based Syllabus Topical/Theme-Based Syllabus Skills-Based Syllabus Content-Based Syllabus Cross-Curricular Syllabus Lexical Syllabus Mixed-Layered/Multi-Dimensional Syllabus

SYNTHETIC APPROACHES • Language should be broken into parts so as to teach different parts of language separately and by a step-by -step procedure. • Later on, the learner himself/herself build up the language on pieces s/he has been presented. • As a result of this gradual accumulation of different parts of language those are thought separately, learners re-synthesis the language.

Grammatical(structuralformal) Syllabus Each unit of learning deals with a particular grammatical structure and identified with a grammatical label such as present simple and modal verbs). The core of GS is an ordered list of grammatical structures.

The criteria to determine the grammatical content Simplicity (active voice should be thought before the passive voice) Regularity (regular forms of the verbs before the irregular) Frequency (forms which are commonly used) Contrastive difficulty (the structures which already exist in the learner’s mother tongue

Some reservations about the GS 1. It focuses on only one aspect of language namely grammar. Language is something more than a collection of structural items. 2. The structures are thought regardless of their value for the learner. 3. The teaching point is identified as a more rather than a set of meanings. 4. The form and meaning are thought as if there is one-toone relationship in language. 5. The communicative value of language is neglected. While grammatical forms are thought their functions in a communicative context is left out. 6. Language learning is incomplete until the whole content of a GS is mastered by the learner.

Situational Syllabus • Language is used in a social context and cannot be isolated from the context. • The situations that the learner is likely to use should be predicted and the linguistic units for those situations should be taught. • The units have situational labels such as “at the post office” and “buying tickets”.

The units include the physical context in which interaction occurs; the channel (written or spoken language) of communication the role of the learner in the interaction(addresser or addressee) an the formality of speech

Some reservations about SS * It is very difficult to predict all the situations. * It is not possible to predict all the needs, intentions or purposes that will be expressed in a particular situation because there are some unpredictable linguistic transactions which are “out of ordinary”. * It is limited for students whose needs are to interact within situations in the syllabus.

Communicative (Functional. Notional) Syllabus Communicative facts of language are the core of the language. The organization of the syllabus is in terms of content rather than form but without losing the sight of grammatical and situational factors. The goal is to develop communicative competence on the part of the learner so that he can use the target language accurately and fluently in any situation. The labeling of the units is primarily semantic although some structural realization is indicated.

Content selection is related to the needs of learners. It brings linguistic skills and communicative abilities into close association with each other. Examples of functions; informing, agreeing, apologizing, requesting Examples of notions; size, age, color, comparison, time.

COMMUNICATIVE SYLLABUS USAGE (how the ideas are expressed grammatically) Notions+syntactic Structures USE (what is to be expressed in context) Functions in Coherent Discourse The content of the communicative syllabus

While establishing objectives, the needs of the learners need to be analyzed by the various types of communication in which the learners have to confront. Although employing needs analysis implies that the learner is taken into consideration while making decisions about the course, scholars who criticize this approach claim that it is not that different from the structural or situational syllabus design models. They claim that it is a model in which a new list consisting of notions and functions has replaced the old list that contained structural/situational items.

White (1988: 77) claims that “language functions do not usually occur in isolation” and there also difficulties of selecting and grading function and form. Clearly, the task of deciding whether a given function (persuading) is easier or more difficult than another (approving , makes the task harder to approach. (Rabbini, 2001) Despite the fact that their starting point is different, all these three are listed as syntactic as they all aim to teach one piece at a time. All these focus on the product rather than the process; hence they best serve product oriented curriculum types.

ANALYTIC APPROACHES Language is a whole. Much greater variety of linguistic structures is presented just from the beginning. No control in terms of the linguistic input to the learner. Structural considerations are secondary while deciding on the linguistic content. Actual language behavior is structurally very varied. The focus should be on the value of a structure for the learner.

Task Based/Procedural/Project –Based Syllabus What is a task? … a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. (painting a fence, dressing a child). …In other words, by “task” is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life. (Long 1985: 89) … an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (as a response). For example, drawing a map while listening to an instruction and performing a command… A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be regarded as successful completion of the task. (Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985: 289)

Language learning can only be accomplished through practice and interaction. TB uses tasks (goal-directed, to accomplish a goal, and activities to encourage the learners use the language communicatively in order to achieve a goal. Tasks must be relevant to the real world language needs of the student.

Tasks may be linguistic (reading job ads, making appointments, filling out a job application) or nonlinguistic (making a puppet, coloring a picture). Learners draw on a variety of language forms, functions and skills, often in an individual and unpredictable way, , in completing the tasks. By using information- and opinion gap activities the learner is expected to perceive the language subconsciously while consciously concentrating on solving the meaning behind the tasks.

Topical/Theme-Based Syllabus * It is similar to situational syllabus. However, it is organized by topics or themes rather than situations. * The author decides on the topics. * Sample topics of this type of syllabuses are as divorce *terrorism *crime and punishment *stress *food and drinks.

The topics are often sequenced on the basis of their perceived importance or on the basis of relative difficulty of the reading passages involved. The underlying idea is to use one topic or theme to activate the already existing knowledge or form a new knowledge area in the schemata of the learner so that the learner can easily learn the language.

Skills-Based Syllabus The author arranges activities around the language or study academic skills which he thinks the learners will most need in order to use and continue to learn the language. The main idea is to teach and improve skills in order to increase learner’s independence (autonomy). A reading course may include the following skills: skimming a text for the general idea, scanning a text for a specific information, guessing vocabulary from the context.

Content-Based Syllabus It aims to teach a content or information using the language that the students are also learning. ( a science class taught in English) The students are both language students and students of whatever content is being taught. However, the subject matter is primary and language learning occurs incidentally to the content learning. Language teaching is organized around the content teaching. Content-based language teaching is concerned with information whereas task-based language teaching is concerned with communicative and cognitive processes.

Cross-Curricular Syllabus It is similar to content-based syllabus. The teacher needs to subordinate herself/himself and her/his discipline to the concerns and needs of the disciplines with which s/he works. The learner may be asked to write lab reports, lab notebooks, abstracts, journal articles, prepare maps… The product is for another course in the curriculum such as Geography, Mathematics or Science from which the background knowledge comes.

Lexical Syllabus It can be derived from a detailed analysis of a carefully selected corpus of language that reflects-as much as possiblethe language of the target discourse community. Syllabus designer should make the most frequent words, their meaning and information about their typical grammatical and lexical environments; collocations and patterns that words occur in.

A lexical syllabus includes grammar which is identified through the common words those make up common patterns) and expressions of notions and functions but the organizing principle is lexical. It can account for a far higher proportion of text and offer a more through coverage of the language than other syllabus types. With its inventory of words with their collocations, it is clear, unambiguous and accessible.

MIXED-LAYERED/MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SYLLABUS Since the aim is to promote the learner’s ability to use the language correctly and appropriately, all types of syllabuses can be integrated by bringing the strengths of all of them together. This kind of syllabus will be less rigid and more sensitive to the various student language needs.

REFERENCES 1. Ersöz, Aydan. Materials Evaluation and Design. Classpack 2. Nunnan, David. (1988) Syllabus Design, OUP. New. York 3. Dubin, Fraida &Olshtain, Elite. (1988). Course Design. CUP. Cambridge 4. Wilkins, D. A (1976)Notional Syllabuses. OUP. Oxford 5. Munby, John. (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design. CUP. Cambridge