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Negotiated Syllabus PDF
Negotiated Syllabus PDF
Introduction
In teaching English as a second or foreign language, syllabus has important roles
towards the process of teaching and learning. Syllabus consists of content that determines
how the process of teaching and learning runs and the learning objectives for students.
Thus, a good content in syllabus will affect a good result in the learning process. It is
supported by Krahnke (1987:9) that defines content is only one element of some actual
teaching syllabi that include behavioral or learning objectives for students, specifications
of how the content will be taught, and how it will be evaluated. In general, the content of
syllabus is determined and made by teacher including the materials and other parts of
syllabus. Then the syllabus is given to students in the first meeting of a class to be
learned as the preparation of whole study. However, in some moment, the students can
also involve in making the syllabus and decide the content that they want to study. Thus,
there is a syllabus that can be negotiated by the teacher and students to have the same
objectives of learning. This type of syllabus is called negotiated syllabus.
According to Nation and Macalister (2010:149), a negotiated syllabus involves
the teacher and the learners working together to make decisions at many of the parts of
the curriculum design process. In addition, Breen & Littlejohn (2000: 1) describes
negotiated syllabus as “the discussion between all members of the classroom to decide
how learning and teaching are to be organized. Breen (1987) cited in Nation and
Macalister (2010: 149) also adds that negotiated syllabuses are also called “process
syllabuses”. He adds that the word process in the term process syllabus indicates that the
important feature of this type of syllabus is that it focuses on how the syllabus is made
rather than what should be in it. Therefore, it can be concluded that a syllabus is possibly
negotiated especially on how it is created, planned, and discussed by teacher and
students.
However, there are some situations that most possibly influence in applying
negotiated syllabus. Breen and Littlejohn (2000: 272-3) list the situations are as follows:
- Where the teacher and students have different backgrounds.
- Where time is short and the most useful choices must be made.
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- Where there is a very diverse group of students and there is a need to find common
ground.
- Where initial needs analysis is not possible.
- Where there is no course book.
- Where the students’ past experiences must be part of the course.
- Where the course is open-ended and exploratory.
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Developing Negotiated Syllabus
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B. Syllabuses with Some Elements Negotiated
1. A fixed lesson or time of the day is set aside for negotiated activities. For
example, an hour each Friday afternoon is used for activities that the learners and
teacher have negotiated.
2. One or more of the four types of decisions described above (participation,
procedure, learning goals, evaluation) is open for negotiation.
3. The classes for one or more language skills, such as free-speaking activities, are
planned through negotiation. For example, the learners negotiate the types of
reading activities that they will do.
4. One or more parts of the inner circle of the curriculum design diagram is open to
negotiation. For example, the ideas content of the lessons can be negotiated, while
the teacher retains control of language focus, presentation and assessment.
C. Negotiating Assessment
Negotiation of assessment and evaluation has direct effects on goals and
ways of achieving these goals. Breen and Littlejohn (2000: 40) point out that there
are four major factors affecting feedback through assessment:
1. The extent to which students are aware of the criteria being used.
2. The relative emphasis given to what they have achieved as compared with what
they have failed to achieve.
3. The coincidence between what the feedback focuses upon and what the students
themselves have recognised as particularly difficult for them.
4. Whether or not they believe they can act on the basis of the feedback in a way
that solves a recognised problem.
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This negotiated assessment very effectively takes account of the four factors
described above by including awareness of the criteria for assessment, and a positive,
relevant, and formative focus. This informed and involved approach to assessment
will clearly have positive effects on learning.
Smith (2000) in Breen and Littlejohn (2000: 55) describes a very effective
way of negotiating assessment. The assessment is seen as including not only the
results of tests and assigned tasks, but also participation in class, homework, and
class projects. There are two ways of sample assessment form that can be negotiated:
1) The components and percentage weightings of the components of assessment were
negotiated with the class, and 2) Each individual negotiated their particular marks
with the teacher. The assessment negotiation can be seen in the following table.
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Here are the problems in implementing a negotiated syllabus. The problems
are divided to learners and teachers’ factors.
Table of Problems in implementing a negotiated syllabus
Learner factors Teacher factors
- The learners have limited awareness of the possible - Negotiation uses valuable class time.
activities. - The teacher’s workload is less if the
- The learners are perfectly happy to let the teacher teacher teaches exactly the same lessons to
teach. - several different classes.
- The learners need training in negotiation. - The school expects all learners in different
- With no course book learners do not feel a sense of classes to follow the same course.
progress. - What is done in your class needs to be
- Learners’ wants are only a small part of learners’ similar to what is done in the rest of the
needs. school.
- The needs of the learners are too diverse to reach - There are not a lot of teaching resources to
agreement. draw on.
- Cultural expectations make learners reluctant to - The teacher is not skilful enough to cope
negotiate with the teacher. with short-term planning.
- The learners lack confidence in negotiating with the
teacher.
- Negotiation will have a negative effect on students’
attitudes to the course because the teacher is not
taking control of the course.
In the other hand, the advantages of a negotiated syllabus come largely from
its responsiveness to the “wants” of the learners and the involvement of the learners.
Breen (1987) cited in Nation and Macalister (2010:166) argues strongly that all
courses have to adjust in some way to the reality of the teaching situation and the
negotiated syllabus gives clear recognition to this. In addition, Nation and Macalister
(2010:166) mention that involving the learners in shaping the syllabus has a strong
effect on motivation, satisfaction and commitment to the course. It changes from
being the teacher’s course to the learners’ course. The actual negotiation process has
its benefits. If the negotiation is carried out in English, then this may be some of the
most involving meaning-focused activity in the programme. The negotiation also
develops learners’ awareness of the goals of language-learning activities and how
these goals can be achieved. This understanding may then make them better learners.
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E. Example of a Negotiated Syllabus
This section provides an example of a negotiated syllabus. There are some
differences in the example such as in choosing the time for beginning the
negotiation. In nation and Macalister (2010:151), there are some explanations about
the example of negotiated syllabus. Boon (2005) began on the first day because his
fee-paying students were enrolled on a short course. Macalister (2007) was
concerned with quickly meeting the ESP “wants” of engineering students, and used
ranking and consensus-building activities in the first class to find out what their
“wants” were. After much trial and error, Irujo (2000) decided that negotiation of an
MA teaching methodology course was best done by presenting course members with
a draft syllabus in which some items were non-negotiable, but in which there were
many items and procedures (methods of learning, assignments, etc.) that were
negotiable.
Here is the example of negotiated syllabus in a class that consists of a group
of adult graduate students preparing for post-graduate university study through the
medium of English. They come from a wide variety of countries and will do their
post-graduate study in a wide range of disciplines.
1. For the first two weeks of class the teacher follows a set programme involving a
large variety of activities.
2. At the end of the two-week period the teacher tells the class, “Now that you have
settled in and have experienced some typical classes, it is time for you to take an
active part in deciding what we will do for the next two weeks.”
3. The teacher and the class members list the activities and parts of the course on the
board, and then working in small groups discuss what should be removed from
the list, and what should be added to it. The groups report back and the list on the
board is revised. If the learners wish they can discuss the list some more.
4. The next step is to rank the items in the list and fit them into the class timetable.
This again is done in small groups and then with the class as a whole. During this
discussion the learners negotiate with each other and with the teacher.
5. The resulting timetable with its activities then becomes the timetable for the next
one or two weeks, when it is then renegotiated. The teacher sometimes calls on
some of the learners to help with preparation and material for the class in order to
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cope with the short class preparation time that such negotiation sometimes results
in.
CONCLUSION
Boomer et. al. (1992) have shown that classroom negotiation makes the teaching
program more appropriate for learners’ needs, encourage students and increase their self-
confidence, develop learner-centeredness and autonomy. It also includes the negotiated
syllabus that most probably concern to the learners’ need rather than teachers’ wants.
Therefore, negotiated syllabus somehow is important to be used in teaching and learning
process both for learners and teachers. For learners, it will develop their goals of
language-learning and make them better learners. For teachers, it will help to decide
appropriate materials to provide to learners especially for a new teacher that does not
know very well the situation of the environment and the background of students which
are different
However, this variant of syllabus cannot be applied in all situations. Teachers
have to look into the conditions that the syllabus may appropriate to use as stated in the
previous section. Teachers also must carefully understand the requirements and elements
of negotiated syllabus because they have strong influence to the successful of applying a
negotiated syllabus. It is supported by a research conducted by Ozturk (2013:39), he
suggests that the implementation of a negotiated syllabus should be open to discussion by
scholars and curriculum designers. Therefore, teachers and the other stake holders’ must
understand what negotiated syllabus is and their decision in choosing this kind of
syllabus are essential since there are also some disadvantages of this syllabus. If there are
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too many disadvantages of syllabus may come up, it is better not to apply it. In addition,
negotiated syllabus is more appropriate to apply in level of university rather than
elementary or high school since the learners must have negotiation skill that is not owned
by young learners.
REFERENCES
Breen, M.P. and Littlejohn, A. (2000). Classroom Decision-Making. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Boomer, G., Lester, N., Onore, C., & Cook, J. (1992). Negotiating the curriculum:
Educating for the 21st century. London: Falmer.