I. What is a syllabus?
A document that consists of a list of things that are to be taught during the course
Curriculum design: concerns planning, implementation (wdrażanie), evaluation, management, administration of education programmes + a list of what will be taught and in what order
Syllabus design: concerns (dotyczy) the selection of items to be learnt and the grading of those items into an appropriate sequence.
II. What should a syllabus consist of?
1. A list of items to be taught including both:
-content items (words, structures, topics)
-process items (methods, tasks)
2. The items are ordered (the easier, more essential first)
3. Aims or objectives
-long term
-Short term
4. Materials- (textbooks) supplementary materials that you are going to use either in general or where relevant to certain items or sections
5. Type and timing for evaluation of Ss’ progress-
6. Time schedule- set the time for the components
7. Approach and methodology to be used- communicative, traditional
8. type and timing for evaluation of the syllabus
III. Who needs a syllabus:
Learners:
a) to select a course
b) to evaluate their learning
c) to supplement a course
Ts:
a) to plan their lessons
b) to organise their time
c) to evaluate their teaching and their Ss’ progress
Administrators:
a) to achieve uniformity of their courses and methods
b) to describe their courses
c) to select materials
d) to place Ss in courses
IV. How do you design a syllabus?
1.Factors to consider before designing the syllabus:
a) learners’ needs (professional and linguistic)- gathering info about Ss and communication tasks for use in the syllabus design
b) theories of lg teaching and learning (which theory will be appropriate)
c) institution (time, resources, physical constraints, exams)
2.Syllabus design:
- goals, selecting grammar components, sel. Functional-notional components, grading content & learning tasks
3. Implementation
4. Evaluation
5. Re-design & re implementation
V. Who designs a syllabus?
a)ministries, administrators, exam writers
b)textbook writers
c)Ts
d)Ts and learners- content & direction of the program is jointly & continuously negotiated between Ss & Ts
VI. Product vs. process oriented syllabuses.
Product syllabus- focuses on the means by which communicative skills will be brought about, it focuses on the learning experience e.g classroom drilling to learn the structure , interaction between 2 speakers as a process.
Process syllabus- focuses on the outcomes or end-products of a lg programme(a list of grammar structure, a tape recording of a conversation between 2 Ss
VII. Different types of syllabuses:
1. grammatical/ structural- a list of grammatical structures e.g. the present simple tense or comparison of adjectives, divided into sections which are usually graded according to difficulty or importance.
2. lexical- a list of lexis with collocations and idioms divided into grading sections.
3. grammatical-lexical- both, grammar structures and lexis are specified and put together into one section or in two separate lists.
4. situational- the real life context is the basis of this syllabus. The sections are headed by names of the situations or locations, e.g. “in the street” “at the bank” “at the travel agent”
5. topic-based – a list of topics, e.g. “the family”, “animals”, “food” which also indicate a fairly clear set of vocabulary which may be specified.
6. notional- notions are things that lg can express e.g. number, place, colour, time.
7. functional-notional- functions are things that you can do with lg, as the distinct from notions you can express, e.g. denying, promising, analysing.
8. mixed or multi-strand- many concepts are specified, e.g. tasks, lexis, grammar, notions, functions, to make the syllabus maximally comprehensive and helpful to the T and learners.
9. procedural/ task-based- task are specified rather then lg itself, e.g. “reading maps”, “doing scientific experiments”, “story writing”.
10. skills based- e.g. listening, reading
11. content based- specialist subject matter, e.g. computing, medicine.
12. process- the only syllabus that is not pre-set, the content of the course is negotiated with Ss and listed retrospectively retrospectively.
VIII. Synthetic and analytic approach to syllabus design.
1. Synthetic- the content is divided into discreet list of items which are taught separately. The task for the Ss is to reintegrate the elements in communication. The lg is a subject in itself:
Dangers:
-the lg learning is nit completed before the whole grammatical syllabus has been mastered
-it is not practical from the learner’s point of view because he has to match the knowledge of the forms with their functions, because there is no one-to –one correspondence between functions and forms.
2. Analytic- a syllabus based non-linguistic units such as : topics, setting, situation, Ss are exposed to holistic chunks of lg & are supposed to extract patterns & regularities from these, lg-> a vehicle for communication
1. Autonomy – control your own learning, learners have individual needs and learning styles (learner centred instruction = step towards autonomy)
a) Learning styles – preferred way of learning may be influenced by biographical factors or innately endowed factors. Types of learning styles are often presented in p….. ? (analytic versus global)
b) Learning strategies – techniques or behaviours that L’s consciously apply in order to enhance their learning (while reading L’s look up and record new words for later review).
2. Promotion of Autonomy:
-the course should reflect learners (goals/tasks/strategies)
- raising awareness
- specifying objectives
- make Ss to think about how they learn
- more they think more they are able to change
Strategies: Social/Metacognitive/Compensation/Cognitive/Affective/Memory
3. T styles: Autocratic, laissez – faire, Paternalistic, Consultative, Participatory, Democratic
4. Why it is so important to make Ss aware of different learning strategies?
- Make LG learning more interesting and individualized
- Different Ss different preferences
- Well matched strategy = group working efficiently
- T > S intellectual bond
5. Ryba czy wędka? : Autonomy = personal activities of the learner in a foreign language communication, independence in making, doing and evaluating tasks. Involves the gradual reduction of dependence on the teacher, but he is needed, his task is not to restrain student's initiative but to set boundaries of an action. Developing of autonomy is possible in school and outside it. There are various techniques and methods of building autonomy. The biggest problem is the selection of appropriate materials from their enormous amount. You can give your student a fish or a fishing rod.
6. Compare learning styles and learning strategies:
Learning styles:
- reflectivity / impulsivity (longer, less mistakes / faster, a lot of mistakes)
- relying on narrow categories / wide (W = too broad generalization)
- dependence / independence from the field (n = better in perceiving details)
- dominant type perceptual - the freedom to choose the ways they consider most efficient.
Strategies:
-metacognitive – general planning, preparatory, control and evaluation actions
- cognitive = methods of better understanding
- social and affective - interactions with others
7. How to develop responsibility and autonomy.
Responsible Ls – accept the idea that their own efforts are crucial to progress in learning and behave accordingly, willing to cooperate. They consciously monitor their own progress and make an effort to use available opportunities to their benefit, including classroom activities and homework. We need 2 develop:
- motivation and self-confidence
- monitoring and evaluation (focus on process),
- cooperation and group cohesion
- learning strategies
- sharing information with the learner
- consistent control
- delegating tasks and decisions (make Ss more involved)
Developing L’s responsibility:- raising awareness,
- changing attitudes
- transferring roles
Self- Instruction - (Jones, 1998; cf. Benson, 2001: 131), it is "a deliberate long-term learning project instigated, planned and carried out by the learner alone, without teacher intervention"
The key concern of Learner Autonomy is not so much whether learning is carried out by the learner (as with autodidaxy), but whether it is controlled by the learner. In autonomous learning, learners take their own responsibility for goal-setting, materials selection, learning activities and/or assessment, instead of a teacher or self-study materials being in overall charge (e.g. Holec, 1979; Brookfield, 1986: 40; Benson, 2001).
Autonomy - readiness and ability to take charge of one’s own learning. This involves skills and attitudes which are not necessarily automatic and which, therefore need developing. A certain degree of autonomy is always worth encouraging because it raises motivation and speeds up progress. it involves students reflecting on what makes an efficient learner and gives them the skills to become one, using the vast range of resources available to them as efficiently as possible.
Steps directing Ss towards autonomy:
1. Analysing needs. (discussion, checklist)
2. 4. Raising awareness (Five students, Find someone who questionnaire)
3. 5. Handling resources (Discovery questionnaire, Dictionary quiz, Coursebook quiz)
4. 6. Giving choice.
5. 7. Evaluating progress (Student self-evaluation form)
Aspects of teacher’s work taken into consideration while discussing teacher autonomy:
v The teacher’s previous experiences as a learner.
It is much easier to become autonomous teacher if you were autonomous learner because you can predict and understand problems that you may face. (Vieira, Smith)
v The teacher’s right to autonomy.
Autonomy is a fundamental right of individual. It allows you to form your own opinions and be critical towards anything that limits autonomy. (Benson, McGrath)
v The teacher as a participant in communication.
Teacher has to be a good model of the target language in order to not only communicate freely and pass the knowledge but also to build his/her confidence which helps him/her avoid routine, not stick to controlled practice only and uncritically follow the course book.
v The teacher as a professional.
Autonomy, among some other factors, determines if a teacher is a professional or not. Teacher should never stop learning how to teach, he/she needs to develop and be flexible so that it is easier to build students’ autonomy. Teacher has to be aware of processes taking place while learning a foreign language and his/her role in this process.
Teacher autonomy can be defined as the teacher’s ability and willingness to help learners take responsibility for their own learning.
· An autonomous teacher is thus a teacher who reflects on her teacher role and who can change it, who can help her learners become autonomous, and who is independent enough to let her learners become independent.
· An autonomous teacher feels personal responsibility, attends workshops, comes up with new classroom ideas and promotes learner autonomy all the time
· Has problem-solving skills
· Awareness of a T’s own teaching
· Self-control
· Freedom from control by others over professional action or development
· autonomous T is aware of why, when, where & how pedagogical skills can be acquired in the self-conscious awareness of teaching practice itself
Dickinson identifies five characteristics of autonomous learners:
· 1. They understand what is being taught. (understand the goal set by the teacher and takes it as their own)
· 2. They are able to formulate their learning objectives (we more willingly follow our own route than the route chosen for us by someone else)
· 3. They are able to select and make use of appropriate learning strategies (reading comprehension task)
· 4. They are able to monitor their use of these strategies
· 5. They are able to self-access or monitor their own learning (self assessment- negotiating grades with the teacher)
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