THE SYLLABUS

DIKI.ISKANDAR

LALA.PRIANTI

LELY.LISTIANI

TITA.NOVIANTI

1. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY A SYLLABUS ?

A syllabus is a document which says what will ( or at least what should ) be learnt. But, in fact, there are several different ways in which a syllabus can be defined.

A. The evaluation syllabusThis kind of syllabus will be most familiar as the document that is handed down by ministries or other regulatory bodies. It states what the succesful learner will know by the end of the course. In effect, it puts on record the basis on which succes or failure will be evaluated.

A. The evaluation syllabus

The carries organisational syllabus differs from the evaluation syllabus in that it carries assumptions about the nature of learning as well as language, since, in organising the items in a syllabus, it is necessary to consider factors which depend upon a view of how people learn,e.g :

B. THE ORGANISATIONAL SYLLABUS

• What is more easily learnt ?• What is more fundamental to

learning ?• Are some items needed in order to

learn other items ?• What is more usefeul in the

classroom ?

C. The material syllabus

In writing materials, the author adds yet more assumptions about the nature of language, language learning and language use. The author decides the contexts in which the language will appear, the relative weighthings and integration of skills, the number and type of exercises to be spent on any aspect of language, the degree of recycling or revision.

D.The teacher syllabus

Thus we have the teacher syllabus ( Breen, 1984 ) the teacher can influence the clarity, intensity and frequency of any item, and thereby affect the image that the learners receive.

Stevick ( 1984 ) recounts how an inexperienced teacher would finish in two minutes an activity that he would spend twenty minutes on.

E. The classroom syllabus A lesson is a communicative event, which is created by the interaction of a number of force. The lesson plan is like the planed route, but like a planed route it can be affected by all sorts of conditions along the way – the unexpected traffic jam, the slow – moving vehicle that you get stuck behind, the diversion because of road works, the new one – way system that you get lost in. The classroom, then, is not simply a neutral channel for the passage of information from teacher to learner.

F. The learner syllabus

It is the network of knowledge that develops in the learners brain and which enables that learner to comprehend and store the later knowledge. We might call this the learner syllabus ( Breen, 1984 ).

2. WHY SHOULD WE HAVE

A SYLLABUS ?

This will reveal that just as there are knowledged and hidden syllabuses, there are also acknowledged and hidden reasons for having a syllabus.a. Language is a complex entity.b. In addition to its practical benefits, a

syllabus also gives moral support to teacher and learner, in that it makes the language learning tasks appear manageable

c) A syllabus, particularly an ESP syllabus, also has a cosmetic role.

d) Returning to our analogy of learning as a journey, the syllabus can be seen as a statement of projected routes, so that teacher and learner not only have an idea of where they are going, but how they might get there.

e) A syllabus is an implict statement of views on the nature of language and learning.

f) A syllabus provides a set of criteria for materials selection and/or writing.

g. Uniformity is a necesarry condition of any institutionalised activity, such as education.

h. In that teaching is intended to lead a learner to a particular state of knowledge, there need to be criteria against which successor failure in reaching that state will be assessed.

It is clear from this list oroles that a syllabus is an important document in the teaching/learning process. But there in also lie the dangers.a. We should be aware of why we want a syllabus

and what we will use it for.b. A syllabus is a model – a statement of an ideal.

A sylllabus is not, therefore, a statement of what will be learnt.

c. Syllabuses cannot express the intangible factors that are so crucial to learning.

d. Syllabuses cannot take account of individual differences.

3 On what criteria can A syllabus be organised ?

a. Topic syllabusb. Structural/situational syllabusc. Functional/ notional syllabusd. Skills syllabuse. Situational syllabusf. Functional/ task – based syllabusg. Discourse/ skills syllabush. Skills and strategies

4 WHAT ROLE SHOULDA SYLLABUS PLAY

IN THE COURSE DESIGNPROCESS ?

a. A language – centered approach

The syllabus is quite clearly the determiner of the entire course. It is, so to speak, the crystallisation of what the course is all about – the inspiration for the production of texts and exercises and the basis on which proficiency will be evaluated.

b. A skills – centered approach

In this approach the syllabus is not a prime generator. Althought Holmes presents it as a linear process, it is more likely that there is a degreee of negoitiation between texts and skills.

HATUR THANK YOU