From curriculum to syllabus design: The different stages to design a program

Irma Dolores Nuñez y Bodegas Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas Escuela de lenguas - Tapachula

Curriculum, course, syllabus and approaches to course design

Course

Syllabuses

Curriculum

List of subjects for a course

to the perception of the ultimate

goal of education as a whole

can be defined

The content teaching procedures and learning experience

Some means for assessing whether or not educational ends have been achieved

Educational purpose of the program

involves factors

philosophical

social

administrative

integrated series of teaching - learning experiences

statement of what should be taught

ultimate aim is to lead the learners to a particular state of knowledge

areas of concern in curriculum development:

testing for placement purposes

Societal need analysis

contain ponts about the method of teaching

more details and operational statement of teaching and learning

defined objectives at each level

Possible approaches to course design

Grammar - translation approach

direct approach

Classical approach

audiol - lingual

Communicative approach

Humanisn: Students need to read the classics

Students need to learn with economy of time and effort

Students need operant conditioning and behavioral modification to learn language

Students must be able to express their intentions

Emphazied perfect pronunciation and repetition

Articulation you beliefs

The view of what language affects what teach and how teach it

beliefs play a role at each stage of course design

view of learning and learners

view of the social context of language

view of teaching

View of language

Defining the context

doing viewed as part or pre - course needs

possible factors to consider

information about students

curriculum is clearly

Nature of course and institutions

teaching resources

Physical setting

Time

People

What stages are followed in designing a course?

Aims (UK) Goals (US) and needs analysis

Aims

Are rather imprecise, general statements

have 4 purposes

To provide guidelines for teachers and learners

to provide a focus for learning

To provide a reason for the program

to describe important and realizable changes in learning

objectives

are more specific

break down aims into smaller units of learning

help planning the course

enable evaluator to judge the success

precise

feasible

consistent with the curriculum aim

Need analysis

should start with some kind of analysis:

present situation

language

target needs

with the data obtained

will be possible to formulate general aims and more specific objectives

there are three time frame for gathering information:

initial

ongoing

pre - couse

can be collected in a variety of ways

observation

data collection

interviews

informal consultations

Questionnaries

Quesitos suggested

What will be the content areas?

Who will the learners use the language with?

How will the language be used?

Where will the language be used?

Why are the learners taking a course?

When will the language be used?

functional

notional

Topical

skills

Situational

task

Structural

grammatical and phonological structure

situations

topics or themes

functions such as identifying, reporting, correcting

conceptual categories

skills such as listening for gist, listening for main ideas, listening por inferences

task or activity based categories

Organizing the course

include

your past experience

students' needs

your goals and objectives

beliefs and understandings

the course content

The method or text

context

selecting the shape of the syllabus

language is infinite

but a syllabus must be finite

Cyclical format

Matrix format

Modular format

Story - line format

Linear format

adopted for discrete

integrated thematic or situational contents

teacher and learners to work with the same topic

maximum flexibility to select topics

basically a narrative

Particular grammar

Particular structures

Element content

teacher cannot

or skip some

change the order of unit

but each time it is at more complex

suited to situational content

Evaluation

Language testing

Materials

can be used to drive a program

two types of tests:

Norn - referenced:

criterion - referenced:

intended to compare the relative performance of students

intended to measure the amount of course material

not prescribe a particular type of material

that decision regarding approaches, syllabuses, techniques and exercises

purpose of evaluation

summative

Formative

as a matter of improving ongoing programmes

as determining the effects of a programme

to justify futures couses of action

to identify what effect a programme has had

to identify areas for improvement in a ongoing programme

To decide whether a programme has had the intended effect

then applying tests

end of the programme

at beginning