Foreign Language

Curriculum and
Syllabus Design
• What is a curriculum?
• What is a syllabus?
• Defining characteristics of syllabi.
• Organising principles of syllabi.
• Steps in designing a course.
• Expressing objectives.
• A priori and a posteriori syllabi.
The terms curriculum and syllabus are
sometimes used interchangeably,
sometimes differentiated, and sometimes
misused and misunderstood.
 What is a curriculum? 1
• Curriculum refers to all those activities in which
children engage under the auspices of the school.
This includes not only what pupils learn, but how
they learn it, how teachers help them learn, using
what supporting materials, styles and methods of
assessment, and in what kind of facilities.
• Curriculum is a theoretical document and refers to
the programme of studies in an educational system
or institution.
 2
• Curriculum deals with the abstract general
goals of education which reflect the overall
educational and cultural philosophy of a
country, national and political trends as well
as a theoretical orientation to language and
language learning.
• A curriculum provides the overall rationale for
educating students.
What questions does the curriculum
address?
 1
• What is the purpose of educating students in
this particular institution/ educational level?
• What kinds of knowledge should students be
taught?
• What kinds of learning experiences do the
students need to go through in order to
acquire the knowledge and achieve our
purposes?
 2
• What kinds of teaching methods should be
used to help students acquire the knowledge
and achieve our purposes?
• How should these learning experiences be
organised?
• How should we assess learners in order to see
whether the purposes have been achieved?
 3
By answering these questions, a curriculum provides
information on:
• the goals of education,
• subjects to be taught,
• activities learners should be engaged in (how)
• methods and materials,
• allocation of time and resources and
• assessment of students and of the curriculum itself.
 Curriculum vs. Syllabus
A curriculum is A syllabus is more
concerned with making localized and is based
general statements on the accounts and
about language learning, records of what actually
learning purpose, and happens at the
experience, and the classroom level as
relationship between teachers and students
teachers and learners. apply a curriculum to
their situation.
 What is a syllabus? 1
• At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as
a statement of what is to be learnt. Syllabus
refers to the content or subject matter of an
individual subject .
• It is a detailed and operational document which
specifies the content of a particular subject. It is a
kind of plan which translates the abstract goals of
the curriculum into concrete learning objectives.
 2
While a curriculum is a theoretical, policy
document, a syllabus is a guide for teachers and
learners that indicates what is to be achieved
through the process of teaching and learning.
 What does a syllabus include?
• Narrow view of syllabus design: a syllabus is
only concerned with the specification of
learning objectives and the selection and
grading of content.
• The broader view argues that a syllabus is not
only concerned with the selection and grading
of content but also with the selection of learning
tasks and activities. In other words, syllabus
design is also concerned with methodology.
 Requirements of a syllabus 1
• The course plan should provide an accessible
framework of the knowledge and skills on which
teachers and learners will work.
• It should offer a sense of continuity and direction
in the teacher’s and learners’ work.
• It should represent a retrospective account of
what has been achieved.
• It should provide a basis on which learner
progress may be evaluated.
 2
• It should be sufficiently precise so that it may be
assessed through implementation as being more
or less appropriate for its purposes and users.
• It is a document of administrative convenience
and will only be partly justified on theoretical
grounds, and so is negotiable and adjustable.
 3
• It must harmonise the three contexts within
which it is located:
– the wider language curriculum,
– the language classroom and the participants
within it,
– the educational and social reality that the course-
plan is supposed to serve.
Curriculum development in the UK and the US
1
Curriculum development in the UK
National curriculum introduced in the mid 80’s. The
national curriculum entails a broad description of the
general aims/goals to be realised within the school.
It also includes:
• broad descriptions of the content or subject matter of
individual subjects, in the form of “can-do statements”
which imply processes of teaching and learning,
• broad descriptions of evaluation of all the learning
experiences planned for pupils through classroom
instruction.
 2
Syllabi are designed at school level, by teachers
who are in a subject specific department.
Each Department’s teachers are also responsible
for choosing textbooks available in an open
market and for designing support teaching and
learning materials.
 3
• Follows a totally decentralised educational
system and offers different opportunities to
different groups of learners. There is no
national curriculum.
• Curriculum and syllabus development is a
school project, only sometimes following the
general guidelines of the state and sometimes
the municipality.
Curriculum development in the US
• Many decisions are made at a school
level, by teachers who are in a subject
specific department and also decide
what textbooks to use, how to use them
and when.
• Department teachers are also
responsible for designing support
teaching and learning materials in
accordance with the assumed needs of
particular groups of learners.
 Course vs. syllabus
A course is taken to mean a real series of lessons,
what is actually delivered to students while a
syllabus is a document which is more abstract. You
and I may deliver different courses using different
materials and having different groups of learners
yet use the same syllabi. A course is the whole
package including materials, lessons, resources,
extra curricular activities, assessment etc. In other
words a syllabus is part of a course.
 Steps in designing a course
Step 1: Needs analysis
With the advent of the communicative approach in
the mid 70’s and the development of functional
approaches and ESP, the central question for the
syllabus designer was “what does the learner need
to do with the target language” rather than what
elements of the linguistic system was the learner
expected to master.
Needs analysis: collecting information about and
from the learners.
 Objective vs. Subjective needs
Objective needs Subjective needs
Factual information about Reflect perceptions, goal,
the learner. “Learner priorities of the learner
needs are seen solely in and include information
terms of the language on why the learner has
they will have to use in a undertaken to learn a
particular communication second language and the
situation” (Brindley, classroom activities the
1989:63). learner prefers.
 Information from needs analysis (1/2)

• General personal background.

• Language background.
• Attitudinal and motivational factors.
• Situations in which English is frequently used.
• Situations in which difficulties are
encountered.
• Common communication problems in
different situations.
 Information from needs analysis (2/2)

• Frequencies with which different transactions

are carried out.
• Perceived difficulties with different aspects of
language use.
• Preferences for different kinds of activities.
• Suggestions and opinions about different
aspects of learners’ problems.
 Step 2: Means analysis
• Considering the constraints. At this stage we assess our
resources (people, materials, administrative
arrangements) that are available to achieve the product
specified by needs analysis.
• Time available for teaching, how it is distributed,
classroom setting (size of class, number of students),
resources available, number of teachers, level of training.
• Very important stage since without a clear understanding
of the resources and constraints we may face difficulties
in achieving the goals specified in the needs analysis.
 Step 3: Specifying the objectives
• When needs analysis has been carried out to establish
the purposes and needs of a given group of learners, a
necessary step is to translate them into objectives.
Objectives must be appropriate not only to learner needs
but also to the constraints of the educational institution.
• Objectives state the outcomes of students’ learning.
Objectives can guide in the selection of structures and
functions and tasks and can also give learners a clear
idea of what they can expect from a language
programme.
 Example
• Need: Understanding lectures.
• Aim: Students will learn how to understand lectures
given in English.
• Objectives:
– Students will be able to follow an argument or thesis of a
lecture.
– Student will learn how to recognize the following aspects
of a lecture: cause effect relationships, comparisons and
contrasts, premises used in persuasive arguments,
supporting details used in persuasive arguments.
 Product vs. Process Objectives
Product objectives Process objectives
These focus on the These focus on the
product of learning such process of language
as the language students learning, the kinds of
are supposed to acquire, experiences students will
the skills they are undergo in the classroom.
supposed to develop or
the kinds of things they
are expected to do with
the language.
Step 4: Designing the syllabus (1/2)
After conducting the needs and means analysis
and specifying our objectives, we need to decide
what content will be included and how it will be
sequenced:
• Focus: (what we choose to focus on will
depend on our beliefs of the nature of
language and language learning) Focus on
particular aspects of target language
knowledge or capability.
Step 4: Designing the syllabus (2/2)
• Selection: Given a specific focus, the syllabus
designer selects particular items (grammar,
functions) for teaching learning work.
• Subdivision: This involves breaking down selected
content into manageable units. This is often
hierarchical with superordinate categories and
subordinate categories.
• Sequencing: Involves marking out of content along a
path of development. Deciding the order in which
the items should be taught.
 A priori and a posteriori syllabi
A priori syllabus A posteriori syllabus
• The most common and • Based on the assumption that
familiar approach to what is pre-specified will not
syllabus design. actually be learnt.
• The content of the • Focuses on the processes of
learning (not the product), on
syllabus and objectives
the kinds of activities students
of the course are pre- will be engaged in (these are
specified (both have pre-specified)
been determined in • The syllabus is induced. Can only
advance). be determined after the course
is over.
 References
Brindley, G. (1989). The role of needs analysis in adult ESL
program design. In: Johnson, R .K. (Ed). The second language
curriculum (pp.63-78). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.