The document discusses the nature and importance of a syllabus in education, defining it as an outline of topics to be learned in a course. It explores various interpretations of syllabuses, including evaluation, organizational, materials, teacher, and learner syllabuses, emphasizing their roles in course design and the complexity of language acquisition. Additionally, it outlines the reasons for having a syllabus and different criteria for organizing syllabuses, along with approaches to course design.

1. English for Specific Purpose
The Syllabus
Presented by: Asif Ali Raza
asifalirazzza@yahoo.com
+92-300-4-62-62-34

2. Points to be discussed
• What do you mean by syllabus?
 Further layers of interpretations
• Why should we have syllabus?
 Hidden reasons for having a syllabus
• On what criteria can a syllabus be organized?
 Different criteria
• What role should a syllabus play in the course
design process?
 approaches
• Conclusion and summary

3. What do you mean bt a syllabus?
• A syllabus (pl. syllabuses or syllabi) is
an outline and summary of topics to be covered
in an education or training course. It is
descriptive (unlike the prescriptive or
specific curriculum). A syllabus is often either
set out by an exam board, or prepared by
the professor who supervises or controls the
course quality. It may be provided in paper form
or online.
• A syllabus is a document which says what will
(or at least what should) be learnt.
• Syllabus is, simply, a statement of what is to be
learnt.

4. Further layers of interpretation
The evaluation of
syllabus
The
organizational
syllabys
The materials
syllabus
The teacher
syllabus
The learner
syllabus
The class-room
syllabus

5. Further layers of interpretation...
The evaluation of syllabus
It has following traits:
 This kind of syllabus will be most familiar as the
document that is handed down by ministries or
other regulating bodies.
 It stresses what the successful learner will know
by the end of the course.
 In effect, it puts on record the basis on which
success or failure will be evaluated.
 It reflects an official assumption as to the nature
of language and linguistic performance.

6. Further layers of interpretation...
The organizational syllabus
It has following traits:
 A syllabus can also state the order in which it is to be
learnt.
 The organizational syllabus is an implicit statement
about the nature of language and learning.
 The organizational syllabus differs from the
evaluation syllabus in that:
• it carries assumptions about the nature of learning as
well as language in organizing its items in a syllabus.
• It is necessary to consider factors which depend upon a
view of how people learn.
• E.g. what is more easily learnt?, what is more
fundamental to learning? Are some items needed in
order to learn other items?

7. Further layers of interpretation...
The materials syllabus
It has following traits:
 A syllabus can also state the order in which it is to be
learnt.
 The organizational syllabus is an implicit statement
about the nature of language and learning.
 The organizational syllabus differs from the
evaluation syllabus in that:
• it carries assumptions about the nature of learning as
well as language in organizing its items in a syllabus.
• It is necessary to consider factors which depend upon a
view of how people learn.
• E.g. what is more easily learnt?, what is more
fundamental to learning? Are some items needed in
order to learn other items?

8. Further layers of interpretation...
The teacher syllabus
The second stage of interpretation usually comes
through the teacher. This type of syllabus:
 The great majority of students in the world learn
through the mediation of a teacher .
 Teacher can influence the clarity, intensity and
frequency of any item and affect the image that the
learners receive.
 Stevick (1984) recounts how an inexperience teacher
would finish in two minutes an activity that he would
spend twenty minutes on.
• This kind of variability affect the degree of learning.

9. Further layers of interpretation...
The classroom syllabus
The classroom is not simply a neutral channel for
the passage of information from teacher to learner.
It is a dynamic, interactive environment which
affects the nature both of what is taught and what is
learnt. A teacher knows two different things happen
in the classroom:
 A lesson is a communicative event which is created
by the interaction of a number of forces.
 The classroom too creates conditions which will
affect the nature of a planned lesson.
• Hot weather, noise from outside, interruptions to deal
with administrative matters, a visitor.
• Students may be tired, asking irrelevant questions etc.

10. Further layers of interpretation...
The learner syllabus
The syllabuses discussed yet are normally
considered to be external syllabuses. The learners
might participate in their creation to some extent,
but essentially they are external to the learner.
 It is a retrospective record of what has been learnt
rather than a prospective plan of what will be learnt.
 It is for this reason that the learners must be taken
into account on a continuing basis through every
stage of the course design process.

11. Why should we have a syllabus?
There are acknowledged and hidden reasons for
having a syllabus:
 Language is a complex entity. It cannot be learnt in
one go.
 We have to break down complex into manageable
units.
 In practical benefits, a syllabus gives moral support to
the teachers and learner.
 A syllabus specially in ESP has cosmetic role.
Sponsors and students will want their investments to
be worthwhile.
 The syllabus can be seen a statement of projected
routes, so that both the learners and teachers may
know where they are going.

12. Continued…
Why should we have a syllabus?
 A syllabus provides a set of criteria for material
selection and writing. It defines the kind of texts to
look for or produce, the items to focus on in exercises
etc. This is probably one of the commonest uses for a
syllabus, but it can be one of the most damaging to
the course, if wrongly used.
 Uniformity is a necessary condition of any
institutionalized activity, such as education. A
syllabus is one way in which standardization is
achieved.
 Syllabuses cannot take into account of individual
differences.

13. On what criteria can a syllabus be organized?
Topic
syllabus
Structural/
situational
syllabus
Functional/
notional
syllabus
Skills
syllabus
Functional
/task-based
syllabus
Situational
syllabus
Skills and
strategies
Discourse/
skills
syllabus

14. What role should a syllabus play in the course
design process?
 A language centered approach
 A skill centered approach
 A learning centered approach
 The past hoc approach

15. What role should a syllabus play in the course
design process?
A learning centered approach:
Analyze target situation
Write syllabus
Write or select texts to illustrate items in syllabus
Write exercises to practice items in the syllabus
Devise tests for assessing knowledge of the items in the syllabus

16. What role should a syllabus play in the course
design process?
A skill centered approach:
Analyze target needs
Select interesting and representative texts
Devise a hierarchy of skills to exploit the texts
Order and adapt the texts as necessary to enable a focus on the
required skills
Devise activities/techniques to teach those skills
Devise a system to assess the acquisition of the skills

17. What role should a syllabus play in the course
design process?
A learning centered approach:
Analyze target
situation
Analyze learning
situation
Establish general
syllabus of topic
Order and adapt and tasks
the texts as
necessary to
enable a focus on
the required skills
Produce detailed
language/skills
syllabus
Check language and skills
content of materials and
make necessary
adjustments

18. What role should a syllabus play in the course
design process?
A post hoc approach:
Write materials on
undefined criteria
Write cosmetic
syllabus to satisfy
sponsors, teachers,
students etc.