Syllabus Design 3301-JS195

The course provides an introduction to basic issues in syllabus design, language course planning and textbook evaluation. Different syllabus types based on different approaches to language, processes of language acquisition and language teaching will be presented, discussed and evaluated. Practical recommendations for proper course planning and textbook selection will be made. The course will introduce the essential technical terminology related to syllabus design (curriculum, syllabus, goal, objective, analytic syllabus and synthetic syllabus, process syllabus and product syllabus, function, notion, frequency, availability, teachability, learnability, coverage, selection and sequencing, needs analysis). One mid-term test and a term paper in the form of practical project (syllabus framework) will be required. The course covers the following topics:
1. Introduction: the what question (what to teach - content of language courses), course types (general - restricted), what is a syllabus, who needs a syllabus, various approaches to syllabus design, language syllabus types- broad and narrow classification (spiral - linear, product oriented- process oriented, synthetic- analytic).
2. The evolution of syllabus design based on different descriptions of language, processes of language acquisition and approaches to language teaching - a detailed presentation and evaluation of the following syllabus types, with regard to their relationship with a particular teaching method and practical application:
a) the structural syllabus, with particular reference to the criteria of selection and sequencing,
b) the situational-topical syllabus,
c) the notional-functional syllabus, definitions of notions and functions, the relationship between form and function,
d) multi-syllabuses,
e) process-oriented syllabuses: the procedural syllabus (the Bangalore project), the task-based syllabus.
3. Course goals and objectives, how to formulate them (performance objectives).
4. Needs analysis: present situation, target situation analysis, what procedures to use to gather information - sample questionnaires.
5. How to design a syllabus: syllabus framework based on needs analysis.
6. Textbook evaluation: how to select proper textbooks, which criteria to use, examples of checklists.