This document discusses planning a course and designing a syllabus. It covers developing a course rationale, describing entry and exit levels, choosing course content, sequencing content, planning the syllabus framework, and selecting vocabulary and grammar. The course rationale answers questions about who the course is for, what it covers, and how learning will take place. Entry and exit levels define students' proficiency before and after the course. Content can be chosen based on functions, topics, skills, processes or texts. The scope and sequence determine what is covered and how topics are ordered from simple to complex. The syllabus framework organizes content situationally, topically, functionally or based on tasks. Selection of vocabulary and grammar considers frequency, usefulness and learn

1. 8. PLAN A COURSE AND
DESIGN A SYLLABUS
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2. PLANNING A COURSE
A number of different levels of planning and development are involved in
developing a course or set of instructional materials based on the aims and
objectives that have been established for a language program.
 In this post we will examine the following dimensions of course development:
 Developing a course rationale
 Describing entry and exit levels
 Choosing course content
 Sequencing course content
 Planning the course content (syllabus and instructional blocks)
 Preparing the scope and sequence plan

3. A. COURSE RATIONALE
A STARTING POINT IN COURSE DEVELOPMENT IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE
RATIONALE. THIS IS A BRIEF WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF THE REASONS FOR THE COURSE AND
THE NATURE OF IT. THE COURSE RATIONALE SEEKS TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
WHAT IS THE COURSE ABOUT?
WHAT KIND OF TEACHING AND LEARNING WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COURSE?
 The course rationale answers these questions by describing the beliefs, values and goals that
underlie the course. It would normally be a two or three-paragraph statement that has been
developed by those involved in planning.
 The following is an example of a course rationale:
 This course is designed for working adults who wish to improve their communication skills in
English in order to improve their employment prospects. It teaches the basic communication skills
needed to communicate in a variety of different work settings. The course seeks to enable
participants to recognize their strengths and needs in language learning and to give them the
confidence to use English more effectively to achieve their own goals. It also seeks to develop the
participants’ skills in independent learning outside of the classroom.

4. B. ENTRY AND EXIT LEVEL
 In order to plan a language course, it is necessary to know the level at which the program
will start and the level learners may be expected to reach at the end of the course.
Language programs and commercial materials typically distinguish between elementary,
intermediate, and advanced levels, but these categories are too broad for the kind of
detailed planning that program and materials development involves. For these purposes,
more detailed descriptions are needed of students’ proficiency levels before they enter a
program and targeted proficiency levels at the end of it. Information may be available on
students’ entry level from their results on international proficiency tests such as TOEFL or
IELTS.

5. C. CHOOSING A COURSE CONTENT
 This is the most basic issue in course design. A course has to be developed to address a specific
set of needs and to cover a different set of objectives, what will the content of the course look
like? Decisions about course content reflect the planners’ assumptions about the nature of
language, language use, and language learning, what the most essential elements or units of
language are, and how these can be organized as an efficient basis for second language
learning. For example, a writing course could potentially be planned around any of the following
types of content:
 grammar (e.g., using the present tense in descriptions)
 functions (e.g., describing likes and dislikes)
 topics (e.g., writing about world issues)
 skills (e.g., developing topic sentences)
 processes (e.g., using prewriting strategies)
 texts (e.g.; writing a business letter)

6. D-E. DETERMINE THE SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
 Decisions about course content also need to address the distribution or content throughout the course.
This is known as planning the scope and sequence of the course. Scope is concerned with the breadth
and depth of coverage of items in the course, that is, with the following questions:
 What range of content will be covered?
 To what extent should each topic be studied?
 The sequencing of the course can be determined based on the following criteria:
 Simple to complex: One of the commonest ways of sequencing material is by difficulty level. Content
presented earlier is thought to be simpler than later items. This is typically seen in relation to grammar
content, but any type of course content can be graded in terms of difficulty. For example, in a reading
course reading texts may be simplified at the beginning of the course and unsimplified at later levels.
Or simple skills such as “literal comprehension” may be required early on, and more complex skills such
as “inferencing” taught at a later stage.
 Chronology: Content may be sequenced according to the order in which events occur in the real
world. For example, in a writing course the organization might be based on the sequence writers are
assumed to employ when composing: (1) brainstorming; (2) drafting; (3) revising; (4) editing. In a
proficiency course, skills might be sequenced according to the sequence in which they are nor-mally
acquired: (1) listening; (2) speaking; (3) reading; (4) writing.

7. F. SELECTING A SYLLABUS FRAMEWORK
 A syllabus describes the major elements that will be used in planning a language course and
provides the basis for its instructional focus and content. For example, in planning a course on
speaking skills based on the course content discussed earlier (in the section titled “Describing the
entry and exit level”), a number of options are available. The syllabus could be:
 Situational: organized around different situations_and the oral skills needed in those situations
 Topical: organized around different topics and how to talk about them in English
 Functional: organized around the functions most commonly needed in speaking
 Task-based: organized around different tasks and activities that the learn-. ers would carry out in
English

8. SYLLABUS DESIGN
Syllabus Design is one aspect of curriculum development, a
syllabus is an specification of the contents of a course and list
what will be taught and tested. Several methods have been
used over the years to ensure successful language teaching
and learning, regardless of the method and approach that
you are using in language, you will find the problem of
selection because it is impossible to teach the whole
language so you must select the parts of the language that
you want to teach

9. SYLLABUS CAN BE DESIGN BY
INVOLVING THESE SUBJECTS BELOW
 Grammatical (or structural) syllabus: one that is organizes arouna grammatical items. Traditionally,
grammatical syllabuses have been used as the basis for planning general courses, particularly for
beginning-level learners.
 Lexical syllabus: one that identifies a target vocabulary to be taught normally arranged according to
levels such as the first 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 words.
 Functional syllabus: one that is organized around communicative func-tions such as requesting,
complaining, suggesting, agreeing.
 Situational syllabus: one that is organized around the language needed for different situations such
as at the airport or at a hotel. A situation is a setting in which particular communicative acts typically
occur. A situational syllabus identifies the situations in which the learner will use the language and
the typical communicative acts and language used in that setting.


10.  Topical or content-based syllabus: One that is organized around themes, topics, or other units
of content. With a topical syllabus, content rather than grammar, functions, or situations is the
starting point in syllabus design.
 Skills syllabus: one that is organized around the different underlying abil-ities that are involved
in using a language for purposes such as reading, writ-ing, listening, or speaking.
 Task-based syllabus: one that is organized around tasks that students will complete in the target
language. A task is an activity or goal that is carried out using language such as finding a
to a puzzle, reading a map and giving directions, or reading a set of instructions and
toy.
 Text-based syllabus: One that is built around texts and samples of ex-tended discourse. As
already noted, this can be regarded as a type of situa-tional approach because the starting
in planning a syllabus is analysis of the contexts in which the learners will use the language.

11. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR SELECTION
 The words that should be taught in language depend on the objective of the course and the amount of time
available for teaching.
 Not all the words that native speakers used are necesarily useful for second language learners.
 Vocabulary selection is a responsibilty that should be left entirely to textbook writers.
 Textbook writers must include words that are used frequently in their textbooks so students don’t spend a
long time trying to understand and use vocabulary that it is of little importance.
 Word frequency lists research states that a learner must 10 thousand words to be able to understand 85%
what I read or listen to.
 Recognizing 85% of words in a text means that I understand 85% of what I read ans listen to.
 The most frequent words ocurring in sample of sports writing will be the same as those ocurring in fiction
 Some verb tenses are more useful than others.
 If the basics of grammar are not firm, nothing could be built on it.
 Complex structures should be taught before the simple ones.
 Some structures should be taught early despite their complexity because of communicative needs.

12. ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING EARLY APPROACHES TO SYLLABUS DESIGN
READ THESE ASSSUMPTION AND EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE WRONG
THE BASIC UNITS OF LANGUAGE ARE VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR.
LEARNERS EVERYWHERE HAVE THE SAME NEEDS.
THE GOAL OF ENGLISH TEACHING IS TO TEACH THEM ENGLISH.
 Parts of a Syllabus
 Read the following information and determine what the name of each part is.
 Learning Objectives
 Materials and Access
 Course Content
 Teaching Philosophy:
 Grading Method
 Goal/Rationale
 Basic Information
 Student Responsibilities

13. SYLLABUS EXAMPLES
CHECK THE FOLLOWING SYLLABUS AND IDENTIFY WHAT
PART OF A SYLLABUS YOU CAN IDENTIFY
SAMPLE SECTION SYLLABUS (IN PDF)

14. THE END
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION