CHAPTER 8
SYLLABUS

        According to the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, a syllabus can be defined as 'a description of the contents of a course of instruction and the order in which they are to be taught' (Richards et al. 1992, 368). A syllabus is the guide to a course and what will be expected of you in the course. Generally, it will include course policies, rules and regulations, required texts, and a schedule of assignments. A syllabus can tell us nearly everything we need to know about how a course will be run and what will be expected of us.
There are several syllabuses differed by its function:
1)  The Evaluation Syllabus.
This kind of syllabus will be most familiar as the document that is handed down by ministries or other regulating bodies. It states what successful learner will know by the end of the course. In effect, it puts in record the basis on which success or failure will be evaluated. It reflects an official assumption as to the nature of language and linguistic performance. For example, if the syllabus is framed in terms of grammatical structures, this reflects a view that knowing a language consists of knowing the constituent structures. It would be impossible to produce of an evaluation syllabus without having a view of what language is and thus how it can be broken down.
2)  The Organizational Syllabus.
This syllabus states the order in which it is to be learnt. It is most familiar in the form of the content page of a textbook. The organizational syllabus differs from the evaluation syllabus in that it carries assumption about the nature of learning as well as language, since, in organizing the items in syllabus. The organizational syllabus, therefore, is an implicit statement about the nature of language and of learning. It is necessary consider factors which depend upon a view of how people learn, e.g.:
-       What is more easily learnt?
-       What is more fundamental to learning?
-       Are some items needed in order to learn other items?
-       What is more useful in the classroom?
3)  The Material Syllabus
The first person to interpret the syllabus is usually the materials writer. So we get our third kind of syllabus – 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 context in which the language will appear, the relative weightings and integration of skills, the number and type of exercises to be spent on any aspect of language, the degree of recycling or revision. These can all have their effect whether and how well something is learnt. For example, if certain vocabulary items are presented in texts which appeal to the learner s, they are more likely to be remembered, because the learners’ attention will be more involved.
4)  The Teacher Syllabus
The second stage of interpretation usually comes through the teacher. The great majority of students in the world learn language through the mediation of a teacher. 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. This kind of variability will inevitably affect the degree of learning.
5)  The Classroom Syllabus
As every teacher knows, what is planned and what actually happens in a lesson are two different things (Allwright, 1984b). A lesson is a communicative event, which is created by the interaction of a number of forces. The classroom then creates conditions which will affect the nature of a planned lesson. They might come from the learners as a group: perhaps they are tired after a long day, excitable after an incident in the break. Individual students might hold matters up by asking questions or distracting the attention of the class. The classroom is a dynamic, interactive environment, which affects the nature both of what is taught and what is learnt. The classroom thus generates its own syllabus (Breen, 1984).
6)  The Learner Syllabus
The learner syllabus is the network of knowledge that develops in the learner’s brain which enables that learner to comprehend and store the later knowledge. The learner syllabus belongs to the internal syllabus it is a retrospective record of what will be learnt (Candlin, 1984). The importance of learner syllabus lies in the fact that it is through the filter of this syllabus that the learner views the other syllabuses.

A.      Why should we have a syllabus
1)    To make the material manageable. Language is a complex entity. It cannot be learnt in one go we have to have some way of breaking down the complex into manageable units. The syllabus, in defining the constituent parts of language knowledge, thus provides a practical basis for the division of assessment, textbooks and learning time.
2)    To give moral support to the teacher and learner. In addition to its practical benefits, a syllabus also gives moral support to the teacher and learner, in that makes the language learning task appear understandable.
3)    To give a cosmetic role. Sponsors and students will want some reassurance that their investment of money and/or time will be worthwhile. The syllabus shows that some thought and planning has gone into the development of a course. This aspect is particular importance when there are commercial sponsors involved.
4)    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. The syllabus itself will be the vehicle to reach the goal of learning.
5)    A syllabus is an implicit statement of views on the nature of language and learning. A syllabus will normally be expressed in terms of what is taken to be the most important aspect of language learning. If we lay out a syllabus is structural terms, we are saying that knowledge of the structures of the language constitutes the most important element of language competence. If we take a skills basis, we are saying that skills are the most important aspect and so on. A syllabus, then, tells the teacher and the student not only what is to be learnt, but implicitly, why it is to be learnt.
6)    A syllabus provides a set of criteria for materials selection and/or writing. It defines the kind of texts to look for or to produce, the items to focus on in exercise etc. This is probably one ot the commonest uses for a syllabus, but it can be one of the most damaging to the course design, if wrongly used.
7)    Uniformity is a necessary condition of any institutionalized activity, such as education. It is deemed to be important that standards within a system are as equal as possible. A syllabus is one way in which standardization is achieved (or at least attempted).
8)    In that teaching is intended to lead a learner to a particular state of knowledge, there need to be criteria against which success or failure in reaching that state will be assessed. A syllabus, therefore, provides a visible basis of testing.
It is clear from this list of roles that a syllabus in an important document in the teaching/learning process. Indeed, its importance probably stems from its multi-functional purpose. But, therein the also lie the gangers:
a.     We should be aware of why we want a syllabus and what we will use it for. It is really just for cosmetic purpose to placate a sponsor, and then we should not try to use it as a means of selecting texts or deciding what to put in the exercise.
b.     A syllabus is a model – a statement of an ideal. A syllabus is not therefore, a statement of what will be learnt. It is important to remember that a syllabus can only constitute an approximate statement of what will be taught (though, even here the divergence may be considerable). It can predict very little about what will be learnt. A syllabus can never be more than a statement of a teaching ideal.
c.     Syllabuses cannot express the intangible factors that are so crucial to learning: emotions, personalities, subjective views, motivation.
d.     Syllabuses cannot take account of individual differences. Just as they are statement of the ideal in language terms, they also implicitly define the ideal learner.
The role of the syllabus is a complex one, but in clearly satisfies a lot of needs. We need crucially to be aware of different roles that the syllabus plays, so that it can be used most appropriately. In particular we need to recognize its ideal nature and, therefore its limitations as an indicator of learning.

B. Criteria which Are Needed in Organizing Syllabus
a.  Topic Syllabus
Topic-based syllabus is based on topics which are selected from the students’ specialist studies and the language analyzed based on appropriate syntax (Jordan, 1997). It is suggested that one objective of the ESP course may be to teach this specialist content (Robinson, 1991). Ex: health, engine.
b.  Structural / situational syllabus
The focus of a structural syllabus is on aspects of grammar (e.g., verb, tenses, sentence patterns, articles, nouns, etc.) and then the gradation of these aspects for teaching, supposedly from the simple to the complex, and based on frequency and usefulness of these aspects (Jordan, 1997, Robinson, 1991).
c.  Functional / notional syllabus
Jordan (1997) points out, entails conceptual meanings: notions (e.g., time, space, and quantity) expressed through language (logical relationship) and the communicative purposes (i.e., functions) for which we use language (e.g., greetings, requests, apologies, description, comparisons, cause and effects, etc.). As this approach focuses on communication, the processes of communication (e.g., problem-solving, obtaining information, interacting with people) are often used in the teaching/learning and therefore, it is often referred to as the communicative approach (Jordan, 1997). Ex: request, apology.
d. Skills syllabus
Skill-based syllabus is organized around the different underlying abilities that are  involved in using a language for purposes of such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, (Thakur, 2013). As Robinson (1991) suggests, a course in writing business letters, or in oral skills for business people, or in academic reading can be examples of this syllabus. As Jordan suggests, reading may be classified into a number of microskills (e.g., skimming, scanning, reading for information, ideas, opinions, etc. Ex: negotiating, being interviewed, interviewing.
     e.  Situational syllabus
According to Taghizadeh (201) a situational syllabus is a collection of real or imaginary situations in which language occurs or is used. The primary purpose of a situational language teaching syllabus is to teach the language that occurs in the situations such as in a business setting, seeing the dentist, complaining to the landlord, buying a book at the book store, meeting a new student, and so on. Ex: situation in the classroom, post office, front office in a hotel, etc.
f.  Functional / task-based syllabus
A task-based syllabus is a series of complex and purposeful tasks that the students want or need to perform with the language they are learning such as applying for a job, talking with a social worker, getting housing information over the telephone, and so on (Dincay, 2010)
g. Discourse / skills syllabus
Discourse /skills syllabus emphasizes the discourse which are related with the context of its use.
h. Skills and strategies syllabus
Skills and strategies syllabus concerns to the strategies which can be used to teach and assess students’ competence and comprehension.

C. The Role of Syllabus in Course Design Approaches
According to Hutchinson and waters (1987) there are 4 course design approaches, those are:

 a.  Language-Centered Approach
    
The syllabus is the prime generator of the teaching materials.


b.  Skills-Centered Approach
The syllabus provides opportunities for the learners to employ and evaluate the skills ads strategies considered necessary in the target situation.

c.     Learning-Centered Approach
       The syllabus and the material evolve together being to inform the other.




d.  The Post Hoc Approach


References

Hutchinson, T &  Waters, A. 1987. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge University Press

Dinçay, Turgay. 2010. Designing A Learner-Centered ESP Course for Adults Based on Evidence from a Questionnaire and Incorporating the Learners’ Aims into a Situational-Based Syllabus. Available at http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/27/1677/ 17881.pdf

Taghizadeh, Mahboubeh. 2013. EAP Syllabus and Course Design. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences. Available at http://www.irjabs.com/ files_ site/paperlist/r_ 1370_130914102232.pdf

Thakur, Dr. Ram Krishna. 2013. Delineation of English Language Teaching Syllabi and Its Implications. The Criterion: An International Journal in English. Available at http://www.the-criterion.com/V4/n6/Ram.pdf