SYLLABUS DESIGN AND THE CONCEPT OF SYLLABUS DESIGN AND CURRICULUM

DEVELOPMENT
DEFINITION OF SYLLABUS: According to Robinson, the syllabus is a planning instrument that describes the main
aspects of the development of a subject, the program contains the list of topics to be worked on by the teacher in the
classroom and in a period of time.
MAIN COMPONENTS AND FEATURES: The syllabus as a curricular instrument for content planning and carried out by
the teacher, has the following characteristics:

 It must be Novelty
 It has to be Variety
 It has to have Attractive presentation
 Appealing content
 Achievable challenge

The syllabus many purposes:

 to break language down into manageable units and provide a practical basis for textbooks and instructional
blocks.
 to reassure students and/or sponsors that a course has been well planned: its cosmetic role to give both students
and teachers an idea of where the course is going.
 • to assess how successful a student has been during a course by providing a basis for testing.

TYPES OF LANGUAGE SYLLABI DEFINITION ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

-It is very simple

and needs little
It is a method to communicative
translate texts from competence of the
a second language second language on
to the mother the part of the
-It does not lead to the
tongue and reduce teacher, it is the
development of productive
grammatical basis of the
language skills, grammar
characteristics grammar study
separates learning from real life
made in our first program.
contexts and meaning is lost
language, they are - Having the
without having a high level of
Grammatical syllabus the set of rules that certainty that the
competence.
control the way in steps are followed
which a language implies that there is
-Does not usually result in
works to an achievement
greater competition than other
manipulate words obtained.
types of design
and form units with -It is easy to
meaning that allow manage due to its
understanding the pragmatic
content. approach.
- It is easy to
evaluate
-It can be taught
mainly in the
mother tongue.
It is a -It does not say -The results of the teaching of
Notional-Functional
communicative what we should do functional notions are not
Syllabus
curriculum that and pending tasks predictable because they are
 increases -Advances not controlled by the study
motivation and regardless of the program, which makes the
covers all kinds of real world needs of design and evaluation of the
functions of the students. results difficult.
language in use. It -Can implement -By not having a precision
is a logical step in tasks based on real- approach, it makes it more
the grammar study world difficult to implement
program but it does communication. -It is not a scientific or logical
not hide the -Provides a means program from a biological
grammar, it gives a for understanding perspective.
more specific and contextual
meaning, it helps to realization rather
design synthetic than acting
programs -Allows more
flexible teaching
and allows the
addition of
sociocultural
components.
* The lexical
syllabus is a novel
approach to
language teaching,
based on research.
* It is more
The lexical
scientific than other
syllabus is a form
designs.
of the propositional
* The syllabus is
paradigm that takes
not based on * It has a great potential as a
'word' as the unit of
writers’ theory, but not developed
analysis and
assumptions. enough to be a syllabus.
content for syllabus
* The biggest * It is a major theoretical
design. However,
advantage of the syllabus type that is not
when a “word” is
lexical syllabus is globally popular, although
treated as having
the lack of there are currently some
The lexical syllabus generative
guesswork. corpora-based course books
functionality it is
* The lexical commercially.
upgraded to the
Syllabus items and * The lexical syllabus remains
term lexis teaching
usage are based on shallow from the researcher’s
and focuses on
real-world usage. perspective, and it suffers from
real-world
* The learning this.
word/phrase usage,
content tends to be
frequency, and
more natural and
their unique
may foster deeper
generative powers.
processing.
* Eliminate the
dichotomy between
grammar and
vocabulary and
consider that words
 and phrases have
their own
generative
grammatical
qualities based on
context.
* It has studies at a
theoretical level
It is a task-based,
and others at a
learning-centered
pragmatic level.
and not student-
* It takes into
centered
account human
curriculum.
cognition and
Therefore, it is a
cognitive
procedural
development as it
curriculum based
is a process-based * It is specific because assumes
on teacher-selected
curriculum. that the teacher/writer bases
tasks that are
* It is a procedural specifications on some sort of a
assumed to
study. need analysis.
promote the
* It is built and * It is complex because it
language
based on the hasn’t been clarified what is
acquisition process,
Task-based syllabus autonomy of the the meaning of the task.
while minimizing
student. * It is extrapolating because
the learning of
* It uses group never you know what have you
preselected
work. to expect of the students with
linguistic content.
* It organizes their tasks.
In other words, it is
students at different
a curriculum that is
levels so that they
based on a clear
work better.
methodology and a
* It motivates
clear theory. That
students implicitly
said, defining what
and explicitly with
a "task" is really
each other and
has not been easy;
helps negotiate
as this has caused
meaning with each
some controversy.
other at the group
level.
It is the integration * Finding suitable content may
* It has a
of content learning prove to be difficult depending
motivational aspect
with language upon the composition of the
that coincide with
teaching aims. students’ needs.
empowerment and
More specifically, * Content-based syllabus may
meaningful goals.
it refers to the not be suitable to young
* The student is no
Content-based syllabus concurrent study of learners and novice learners.
longer only focused
language and * The students can fall into the
on studying about
subject matter, with flow of Content-Based syllabus
the second
the form and in a meaningful way, they can
language, but using
sequence of all-to-easily disregard the
it as needed,
language means the second language and
naturally.
presentation “triumphantly” reach their ends
dictated by content * It is easy to with their First Language, and
material. implement. be fully satisfied with the
* it does not need outcome.
a specialized * Teachers can monitor and
course book; any police the second language
book written in usage to some extent, but if
English could serve students are motivated to reach
as the center piece the challenging goal, it may be
of a course. natural for them to lose their
periphery self-control due to
mechanisms related to flow,
and simply complete the task in
their first language.
* Second Language learners
should have at least some
explicit First Language
instruction.
* Implicit learning alone is not
the best way to learn the
Second Language.