This document discusses various approaches to syllabus design for language teaching, including: - A grammatical syllabus that sequentially teaches grammatical rules but has been criticized for not reflecting how language is acquired. - An organic or needs-based approach guided by a needs analysis to determine learner goals and objectives. This led to content-based and task-based syllabuses. - The development of standards movements in the 1990s that defined what students should know and be able to do through content standards, progress indicators, and classroom examples. Overall, the document traces the evolution of syllabus design from a grammatical approach to more communicative, learner-centered models informed by theories of second language acquisition and

1. Syllabus Design
EDUC 605
By: Amina Qatan

2. Outline
• Overview
• Grammatical Syllabus
• The “Organic” Approach to Grammar
• Needs Analysis
• Goal & Objective Setting
• CBLT
• The Standard Movement
• Quiz

3. Overview
• Curriculum development  Syllabus design (Complementary
relationship)
• What is a curriculum? Who systemized it & when?
•What are the four fundamental questions that MUST be answered by
any curriculum designer?
☺What educational purpose?
☺What educational experiences?
☺How can they be effectively organized?
☺How can we determine whether these purpose have been attained or
not?
Syllabus design
Teaching Methodology
Assessment & Evaluation

4. Thus, What is Syllabus Design?
Content
of the
Curriculum
selection
sequencin
g
justificatio
n
Content Selection
Linguistic: grammar, pronunciation &
vocabulary
Experiential : topics & themes
Selection Process is guided by Needs Analysis
which aids the Curriculum Designer in:
1. Content Specification
2. Goals & Objectives Setting

5. Development of Syllabus Design
1)Linguistic items
2)Concepts (express)
3)Notional-functional (complementing &
apologizing)
4)Communicative (task-based) (content-based)
5)Integrated

6. Grammatical Syllabus
o Assumption: select, sequence grammatical rules and integrate them
with vocabulary and phonological items sometimes in order to make
meaning.
o Purpose: control and master the grammatical input to the learner, so that
only one item is presented at a time. How?!
o this purpose has created a Dilemma with CLT in which it tights
the learner to only specific limited items ignoring the different kinds of
exposure encountered outside the classroom.
Solutions:
1. Abandon any attempt at structural grading.
2. Use the graded structures not to determine the language but the (items)
pedagogic focus in class.

7. Criticisms Against GS
Emergence of Natural Approach
 Linear sequencing did not represent the complexity of language.
 SLA: learners did not necessarily follow up with the same order specified in the GS.
☺ Krashen (1981, 1982) claimed that GS should be abandoned completely in favor of
Natural Approach which focuses mainly on the communicative activities that promote
the subconscious learning rather than the conscious one.
 Pienemann & Johnston (1987) proposed that GS input should be determined by the speech process
complexity as learnable structures rather than the grammatical. (e.g: 3rd person singular V).
 They demonstrated that the order in GS should be different by start teaching the Ss Wh
Qs+V (to be) then Wh Qs+V (to do) afterwards.
 Critics of their proposal argued that the unlearnable structures can be represented in a holistic formula.
i:e Wh Qs+V (to do) can be taught as single chunks in communicative tasks such as role-plays and information
gaps.

8. Organic approach to Grammar
Metaphors
• In reflection to the purpose of the GS, it is believed that of language
acquisition development is like a building constructed brick by brick.
• However, SLA argued that language development is basically an organic
process.

9. Needs Analysis Approach
• It is an analysis of communicative needs of the learner as well as a set of
techniques and procedures.
• It has assisted widely the Syllabus Designers of ESP,EAP & GEP.
• Needs Analysis has been stimulated in education by the CLT.
• CLT proponents called for the content syllabus which reflects the
communicative purposes and needs of the learners. (e.g) Language for
Tourism (ESP).
• Needs Analysis includes biographical information such as age, first
language background, reasons for learning a language, other languages
spoken and time for learning.
• Munby (1978) developed a sophisticated instrument for doing NA called
Communicative Needs Processor which involved the following elements;

10. NA Types
 Participant
 Purposive domain
 Setting
 Interaction
 Instrumentality
 Dialect
 Direct level
 Communicative event
 Communicative key
 Objective Needs:
 diagnosed by teachers
 based on the analysis of personal
data with information about their
language proficiency.
 resulted in the LSP (Needs-
Based)
 Subjective Needs:
 diagnosed by learners
 cannot be diagnosed easily
 Wants, desires & expectations
CNP Elements

11. Criticisms Against Needs-Based
• Widdowson (1983); it results in tightly specified learning outcomes;
the course is likely training more than educational because it prepares
learners for specific tasks only.
• Whereas it might be relevant to SL contexts, it is irrelevant to foreign
languages contexts, so Subjective Analysis would be more suitable.

12. Goal & Objective Setting
• Needs Analysis: specifies the
goals & objectives for a learning
program.
• What is the difference between
goals & objectives?
• Goals: broad and general
purposes for learning a language.
• Halliday (1985) argued that
individuls learn a language to;
1. obtain goods & services,
2. socialize with others and
3. entertain & enjoy.
These goals have been refined as
follows;
1. Participate in conversation.
2. Obtain goods & services in
conversation.
3. Establish & maintain relationships.
4. Make social arrangements & solve
problems.
5. Discuss topics of interest.
6. Search, process and use information
for specific purpose.
7. Listen to, read, use and process the
information given.
8. Give information in written or spoken
forms (Personal Experience).
9. Listen to, read & respond personally
to a story, play, poem or movie.

13. Criticisms
• Elements of FPO:
☺ Performance (task): what to do?
☺ Standards: how well the performer
of the task?
☺ Conditions: which circumstances?
An example is provide on the Course Book (p59)
 Aphorism: “Education is what’s
left when everything that has been
taught, has been forgotten”
(Explain)? p59
 Prescription of precise & detailed
objectives prevents the teacher to
utilize the opportunities occur
unexpectedly during the class.
Objectives

14. Objectives & CBLT
 CBLT: first emerged in the USA
in 1970s in the notion of
Vocational-Oriented Program &
Adult ESL Program.
 Identified as “state-of-the-art”
approach to ESL by policymakers
& curriculum designers
(Auerbach
1986)
• CBLT
 What learners should be able to
do by the end of the class or
course?
 Norm-referenced.
• Objectives
 Concerned with the attainment of
the specified objectives rather
than the individual achievement in
relation to a group.
 Criterion

15. Objectives
1. Participate in conversation.
2. Obtain goods & services in
conversation.
3. Establish & maintain relationships.
4. Make social arrangements & solve
problems.
5. Discuss topics of interest.
6. Search, process and use information
for specific purpose.
7. Listen to, read, use and process the
information given.
8. Give information in written or
spoken forms (Personal
Experience).
9. Listen to, read & respond personally
to a story, play, poem or movie.
1. Achieves purposes of exchange.
2. Uses appropriate staging.
3. Provides & request information as
required.
4. Explains causes, results & solutions.
5. Sustains dialogues. E.g. feedback &
turn-taking.
6. Uses appropriate grammatical forms
& vocabulary do not interfere with
meaning.
7. Speaks with pronunciation, stress &
intonation do not impede
intelligibility.
8. Is able to interpret gestures & other
paralinguistic features.
CBLT

16. Standards Movement
• CBLT has been developed into
Standards Movement; was seen at
all levels of government.
• Therefore, legislation mandating
the development &
implementation of standards
emerged in 1990s.
1. Objective movement ►
2. Competency movement ►
3. Standard movement
• Content Standards: statements
that define what students should know
& be able to do.

17. ESL & TESOL Standards
• Regarding pre-K-12, there are nine standards fleshed out in terms of:
 Descriptors; broad categories of discrete & representative behavior.
 Progress indicators; list assessable, observable activities that students may
perform to show progress by meeting the designated standards.
 Classroom vignettes;

19. Quiz
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2
3 6
5
4 7
8
9