Skills Based Syllabus

Skill Based Syllabus is one of design Syllabus Process. It is concerned with the selection,
sequencing and justification of the content of the curriculum. Traditional approaches to syllabus
developed were concerned with selecting lists of linguistic features such as grammar,
pronunciation, and vocabulary as well as experiential content such as topics and themes. These
sequenced and integrated lists were then presented to the methodologist, whose task it was to
develop learning activities to facilitate the learning of the prespecified content. In the last twenty
years or so a range of alternative syllabus models have been proposed, including a task-based
approach. In this piece I want to look at some of the elements that a Skill based syllabus designer
needs to take into consideration when he or she embraces a Skill task based approach to creating
syllabuses and pedagogical materials.

Skill means an ability to do an activity or job well. It involves someone who has had special
training and practicing to do it. The term “skill” in language teaching is used as a specific way of
using language that combines structural and functional ability.

In skill-based syllabus, the content of the language teaching involves a collection of particular
skills that may play a role in using language. 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. The primary purpose of skill-based instruction is to teach the specific language skill that
may be useful or necessary in using language. Skill-based syllabus merge linguistic competencies
(pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and discourse) together into generalized types of behavior
such as listening to spoken language for the main idea, writing well-formed paragraphs, delivering
effective lectures and so forth.

There are four mode understanding the language :

1. Reading skills

 skimming and scanning

2. Writing skills

 writing specific topic sentences, reports.

3. Speaking skills

 giving instructions
 personal information
  asking for emergency help over the telephone

4. Listening skills

 getting specific information

 listening to foreign radio or TV for news
 talking orders in the Shop, restaurant, Book store, etc

Characteristics of a Skill-based Syllabus(Railley, 1988)

 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.
 The content of the skill-based language teaching is a collection of specific abilities that
may play a part in using language.
 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.
 These specific skills are immersed with specific linguistic competencies, such as
pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse
 The skills-based approach drew its theoretical roots from behavioral psychology and
structural linguistics.
 Advocates of the skill-based approach view language as a collection of separate skills.
Each skill is divided into subskills (micro and macro skills).
 These subskills are gradually taught in a predetermined sequence through direct
explanation, modeling and repetition.
 The mastery of these skills are constantly measured using discrete point tests before
learning a new one.

These involves learning the sub-skills that enable one to be proficient in each skill. The
ability to use language in specific ways is partially dependent on general language ability, but
partly based on experience and the need for specific skills.There are some examples of the way
to apply skill-based syllabus such as:

1.Guessing vocabulary from context

2. Scanning or non prose material

3. Reading for the main idea

4. Inference
5. Using affixes as clues to meaning

6. Summarizing readings

7. Dictionary work

8. Critical reading skill

9. Analysis of paragraph structure

POSITIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF SKILL-BASED SYLLABUS:

1. Skill-based content is most useful when learners need to master specific types of language uses.

2. It is possible to predict at least what material that students really need.

3. Relevance on student-felt needs or wants .

NEGATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF SKILL-BASED SYLLABUS:

1. Up till now, there is a theoretical question about this kind of syllabus. That is about the
whether the degree to which ability to perform specific in language is dependent overall
language proficiency or not.
2. Besides that, there are different opinions about this syllabus related to the relationship
between skill instruction ad general language proficiency. One side believes that skill based
syllabus will be helpful because someone learns language specifically. But other side said
that this syllabus will limit some one’s general language proficiency.

Skill-based instruction is most appropriate when learners need specific skills, and especially when
these skills are well-defined and the learners have little need for global language ability. It is
probably more appropriate for adults that for children, for whom emphasis on concrete content is
more appropriate.

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