Types of Syllabus 1- Product Oriented - Mtro. Octavio

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / Universidad Regional del Sureste / Oaxaca

TypesTypesof of

Syllabus 1Syllabus 1

Luis Octavio Canseco García


PRODUCT ORIENTED PRODUCT ORIENTED SYLLABUSSYLLABUS


Also known as the synthetic approachsynthetic approach, these

kinds of syllabuses emphasize the product

of language learning and are prone to

intervention from an authority.


What is a synthetic approach?What is a synthetic approach?

In 'synthetic' approaches (Wilkins, 1976

p. 2),

“Different parts of the language are

taught separately and step by step

so that acquisition is a process of

gradual accumulation of parts until the

whole structure of language has been

built up”.


What is a synthetic approach?What is a synthetic approach?

The typical aim is to teach a new

linguistic structure by means of

explanation of rules, paradigms,

contextualization in dialogues, series

of analogous sentences designed to

promote inductive learning.


In syllabus development (Nunan

2001): this approach controls the

analysis of the target language into its

discrete phonological, lexical and

grammatical elements, each of which

is to be taught separately and in

isolation.


The synthetic syllabus relies on

learners' assumed ability to learn a

language in parts (e.g., structures

and functions) which are independent

of one another, and also to integrate,

or synthesize, the pieces when the

time comes to use them for

communicative purposes.


The synthetic approach represent the

'traditional' way of organizing the

syllabus, and reflect the common-sense

belief that the central role of instruction

is to simplify the learning challenge for

the student.

Structural, lexical notional, and

functional syllabuses are synthetic.


THE STRUCTURAL APPROACHTHE STRUCTURAL APPROACHSTRUCTURAL SYLLABUSSTRUCTURAL SYLLABUS


Historically, the most prevalent of

syllabus type is perhaps the

grammatical syllabus grammatical syllabus in which the

selection and grading of the content

is based on the complexity and is based on the complexity and

simplicity of grammatical itemssimplicity of grammatical items.


The learner is expected to mastermaster each

structural step and add it to her

grammar collection. As such, the focus

is on the outcomes or the product.


In structural syllabi, pedagogic

grammar units or lessons are

organized around isolated

morphosyntactic structures or

linguistic forms such as articles,

possessives, pronouns, prepositions,

questions, conditionals, reported

speech or the passive voice.


The selection of such units is based

on descriptive grammar and on a

general consensus about the

patterns of language that must be

taught. They are usually presented

one at a time or in pairs to be

contrasted (e.g. past simple vs.

present perfect).


Structural syllabi are the most

widespread kind of syllabus and the

ones usually favored by publishing

companies because of their simplicity

and popularity.


• The learner moves from simpler to

more complex structures and may

grasp the grammatical system more

easily

• If learners are also doing

grammatical analysis, it may fit in well

with what they are discovering about

the language.

In a structural syllabus:


A structural syllabus does not address

the immediate communication needs of

the learner who is learning a language

within the context of a community where

the language is spoken.

In fact, the sociolinguistic aspects of

communicative competence are not in

focus at all in a strictly structural

syllabus.


The Lexical ApproachThe Lexical ApproachLEXICAL SYLLABUSLEXICAL SYLLABUS


The lexical approach concentrates on

developing learners’ proficiency with

lexis, or words and word

combinations.


It is based on the idea that “an

important part of language acquisition

is the ability to comprehend and

produce lexical phrases as

unanalyzed wholes, or “chunks,” and

that these chunks become the raw

data by which learners perceive

patterns of language traditionally

thought of as grammar” (Lewis, 1993, p.

95).


A lexical syllabus can be derived from

a detailed analysis (normally these

days done mainly by computer) of a

carefully selected corpus of

language that reflects - as far as

possible - the language of the target

discourse community. This could of

course be a specialist or general

corpus.


The analysis can offer the syllabus

designer lists of the most frequent

words, their meanings and

information about their typical

grammatical and lexical

environments, i.e. the collocations

and patterns that words occur in.


So a lexical syllabus includes

grammar, (which is identified through

the common words that make up

common patternings), expressions of

notions and functions but the

organizing principle is lexical.


A lexical syllabus can account for a

far higher proportion of text and offer

a more thorough coverage of the

language of the target discourse

situation than other syllabus types.


A lexical syllabus - with its inventory

of words with their collocations,

meanings and typical patterns – is

clear, unambiguous and accessible -

everybody can recognize what a

word is, and its phrases and patterns

are fairly easily identifiable.


Unfortunately lexical syllabus

would run to at least half a page

per word, indeed far more for the

common words with their many

uses.


For example: most of the 700 most

frequent words (which would seem a

reasonable target for a 120 hour

course) have at least 3 different

meanings, making an inventory of

2100 items.


The Situational ApproachThe Situational ApproachSITUATIONAL SYLLABUSSITUATIONAL SYLLABUS


The point of departure became situational situational

needs needs rather than grammatical unitsgrammatical units.

Here, the principal organizing characteristic

is a list of situations which reflects the

way language and behavior are used

everyday outside the classroom.


The Situational Approach: Central Premises The Situational Approach: Central Premises

The main focus of a situational syllabus is on

the use of language as a social medium.

The linguistic premise of this syllabus is that

language is always used in context, never

in isolation and the choice of linguistic forms

are restricted by social situations.


The Situational Approach: Central Premises The Situational Approach: Central Premises

The educational premise is that there

should be a different syllabus for

different learners, based on the

individual needs of the learners.


In a situational syllabus the content of

language teaching is formed by a

range of real or imaginary behavioral or

experiential situations in which a

foreign language is used.


The situational syllabus provides for

concrete contexts within which to learn

language structures, thus making it

easier for most learners to visualize,

and this, in turn, helps in promoting

students’ motivation.


The designer of a situational syllabus

attempts to predict those situations in

which the learner will find him/herself,

and uses these situations (e.g., a

restaurant, an airplane, a post office,

etc.) as a basis for selecting and

presenting language content.


The underlying assumption in a situation

syllabus is that language is related to the

situational contexts in which it occurs.


The Notional/Functional The Notional/Functional

ApproachApproachNotional / Functional SyllabusNotional / Functional Syllabus


The starting point for a syllabus of this

kind is the communicative purpose

and conceptual meaning of language

i.e. functions and notionsfunctions and notions, as opposed

to grammatical items and situational

elements which remain but are

relegated to a subsidiary role.


One advantage of the

notional/functional approach (a

semantically-based syllabus) is that

motivation will be heightened since it is

"learner- rather than subject-centered"

(Wilkins.1976: 16).


A functional-notional syllabus is

primarily based not on a linguistic

analysis but on an analysis of

learners' social and/or vocational

communicative needs.


This syllabus holds that the

classification of skill levels should be

based on what people want to do

with the language (functions) or in

terms of what meanings people

want to convey (notions).


The logic behind the functional-

notional syllabus is that if the goal is

a general competence in

language, language content will be

context-dependent, drawing ideas

from sociolinguistics and viewing

language as interpersonal rather

than a personal behavior.


This type of syllabus makes the

assumption that the learner's needs,

motivations, characteristics, abilities,

limitations and resources are the

point of departure.


Selection from the components of

the syllabus will thus be made in

terms of the learner and in terms of

relevance to his communicative

purposes. This means that the whole

system must be needs-oriented.


This type of syllabus has been

developed from a sociolinguistic

viewpoint with the primary purpose of

identifying the elements of a target

language which its learners, as

members of a particular group and

with particular social and occupational

purposes in mind, most need to

know.


They reflect a more comprehensive view of language than grammar syllabuses and focus on the use of the language rather than linguistic form.

They can readily be linked to other types of syllabus content (e.g. topics, grammar, vocabulary).

They provide a convenient framework for the design of teaching materials, particularly in the domains of listening and speaking.

Functional / Notional syllabuses have proved very popular as a basis for organising courses and materials for the following reasons:


The Content-Based The Content-Based

ApproachApproachContent-based SyllabusContent-based Syllabus


The primary purpose of instruction is

to teach some content or

information using the language that

the students are also learning.

The students are simultaneously

language students and students of

whatever content is being taught.


The subject matter is primary,

and language learning occurs

incidentally to the content

learning. The content teaching is

not organized around the

language teaching, but vice-

versa.


An example of content-based

language teaching is a science class

taught in the language the students

need or want to learn, possibly with

linguistic adjustment to make the

science more comprehensible.


The Skills-Based The Skills-Based

ApproachApproachSkills-based SyllabusSkills-based Syllabus


The content of this type of syllabus is

a collection of specific abilities that

may play a part in using language.

Skills are things that people must be

able to do to be competent in a

language, relatively independently of

the situation or setting in which the

language use can occur.


Skill-based syllabi group linguistic

competencies (pronunciation,

vocabulary, grammar, and discourse)

together into generalized types of

behavior, such as listening to spoken

language for the main idea, writing

well-formed paragraphs, giving

effective oral presentations, and so

on.


The primary purpose of skill-based

instruction is to learn the specific

language skill.

A possible secondary purpose is to

develop more general competence in

the language, learning only

incidentally any information that may

be available while applying the

language skills.


BibliographyBibliography

Breen, M.P. (1984): “Process Syllabuses for the Language Classroom” in Brumfit, C.J. (ed): General English Syllabus Design, ELT Documents 118. London, Pergamon Press/British Council.

Candlin, C.N. (1984): “Syllabus Design as a Critical Process.” in Brumfit, C.J. (ed): General English Syllabus Design, ELT Documents 118. London, Pergamon Press/British Council.

Johnson, R.K. (1989): “ A Decision-Making Framework for the Coherent Language Curriculum.” in Johnson, R.K. (ed): The Second Language Curriculum. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, M. (1993). The lexical approach: The state of ELT and the way forward. Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications.

Nunan, D. 2001. Syllabus design. In M. Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston MA: Thomson Heinle.

Pienemann, M. (1985): “Learnability and Syllabus Construction.” in Hyltenstam and Pienemann (eds): Modelling and Assessing Second Language Aquisition. Clevedon, Multilingual Matters.

Wilkins, D. (1976). Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.