Syllabuses and coursebooks

Syllabuses and coursebooks

1. COURSE DESIGNERS

   • They have a clear idea about how theories and beliefs about language learning will affect the process.
     • These beliefs will be translated into ACTIVITIES
       • The ACTIVITIES will be embedded into TOPICS.
         • TOPICS will have to be engaging (KOW; VAKOG).
           • CULTURE will be considered so as to present an appropriate balance in terms of : gender, different groups in society, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic issues.
             • Authenticity Course designers will have to decide which LANGUAGE VARIETIES they would like to include and how AUTHENTIC language should be especially at beginner levels.
               • Syllabus concerns the selection of items to be learnt and the grading of those items into an appropriate sequence.
                 • Curriculum design is also about the planning, implementation, evaluation, management and administration of education programmes.
     • Conde Vicencio Anayeli

2. SYLLABUS DESIGN CRITERIA

   • Learnability: Some structural or lexical aspects are easier for students to learn than others. Am/is/are; Was/Were and not the 3rd type of conditional.
     • Frequency: Include the items which are more frequent in the language, and not the ones that are only used occasionally by native speakers. E.g.: “Oh, I see” is more common than “I understand”. Or Use of the subjunctive by American speakers.
       • Coverage: Some words and structures have greater coverage (scope for use) than other items. E.g. : GOING TO / WILL.
   • Usefulness: We concentrate a lot on classroom vocabulary; What about situations for everyday life?We should think of usefulness in terms of what stuents are linguistically able to talk about.

3. DIFFERENT SYLLABUSES

   • The Grammar Syllabus: Grammar is the organizing principle for the syllabus.
     • The Situational Syllabus: Selecting and sequencing different real-life situations: • At the bank. • At an airport. • At the supermarket. • At a travel agency.(Survival English course)
       • The Task-based Syllabus:Willis provides six main task types: • LISTING. • ORDERING. • COMPARING. • PROBLEM SOLVING. • SHARING PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. • CREATIVE TASKS.
         • The Multi-functional Syllabus:This is the approach which is most often used. “Map of the book”. Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation, Functions, Macroskills.
   • The Lexical Syllabus: Based on vocabulary/lexis.
     • The Functional Syllabus:Language organized according to language functions such as: • Requesting • Offering • Inviting • Agreeing/Disagreeing
       • The Topic-based Syllabus: Topics provide a welcome organizing principle because they are based on what students will be interested in. • The weather. • Sports. • Music.