Mutual correspondence
between course books
and teaching curricula
Department of English language
teaching methodology

Lecture outline :
What is the curriculum
and syllabus?
2.The relationship
between syllabus and
materials
3.The curriculum
represents the content
that needs to be
taught.

Syllabus can be defined as the topics that are covered
in a subject. Whereas, the overall syllabus along with
the knowledge, personality development is known as
the curriculum. The difference between the two is
that curriculum has a more broad base than syllabus.

The relationship between syllabus and
materials
Course materials such as the syllabus and textbook
set the tone for a course. Therefore, careful
planning must go into developing a syllabus and
choosing a textbook. An effective syllabus can
increase the number of successful students and
decrease the number of problems that arise
throughout a course by communicating the
instructor's expectations for students in the course

The curriculum represents the content that needs to be taught.
Within the curriculum exists the essential questions and content that
drive the understanding within the content area. The syllabus is
more of the practical steps in order to achieve this end goal. The
syllabus is to fit into the larger curriculum design, but represents the
means by which to achieve the end result. The syllabus is also the
means through which the student understands why they do what
they do and how individual parts are able to fit into the larger
entity. In successful understanding of both, students are able to gain
greater insight and comprehension of material.

Why teachers should use several books (not
one) to teach a course?
• The syllabus suggests using several books for the use to teach this course. - Course books
become outdated and might not match the syllabus
• - It is almost impossible to find all the needed topics in one course book
• - It will allow a teacher to take into account needs, learning styles, preferences of a particular class
• -Students will be more motivated and interested to learn as using one course book the whole year
(or even several years) might be boring.
• - It will allow a teacher and students access up-to-date materials
 the primary goal of teachers is to teach learners not teaching a course book from cover to cover. A
course book should not replace a syllabus. Teachers should try to use a variety of resources and
regard a course book as a source book.
•

Approaches to teaching and learning
• Task-based sessions (analysis of materials from language learning websites, evaluation of
sample teaching materials, materials design in pairs and in small groups);
 Discussions;
 Mini lectures in key areas;
 Textbook reviews;
 Self study.
• Learning outcomes
• By the end of the course students will have
 developed criteria for evaluating course books/textbooks and applied them in selecting
course books for their own teaching contexts;
 tried out and evaluated various ways of adapting and supplementing teaching materials;
 developed and tried out teaching materials for a specific context.
•

DISSCUSION
What is the relationship
between syllabus and
textbook?
What is relationship between
curriculum and syllabus?

Resources:
1.Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2010). Materials Development in Language
Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.Nunan D. (2009). Task-based Language Teaching. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
3.McDonough, J., & Shaw, C. (2003). Materials and Methods in ELT (2nd
edition). Oxford: Blackwell.
4.McGrath, I. (2002). Materials Evaluation and Design for Language
Teaching. Edinburgh University Press.

Thank you for your time!