APPLIED LINGUISTICS for BA Students in English
PLANNING
General principles of syllabus design
Types of syllabuses
- The grammar syllabus – It is the commonest type of syllabus. A list of items is sequenced in such a way that the students gradually acquire knowledge of grammatical structures leading to an understanding of the grammatical system. The grammatical structures, such as the Present Continuous tens, the Present Simple tense, comparison of adjectives, relative clauses are usually divided into sections graded according to difficulty and importance. The advantages of grammar syllabuses are the following: they provide students with a very good system of language structures and a good basis for developing cognitive skills. Their disadvantages are the lack of harmony between linguistic forms and meanings and speech intentions. (Harmer 2003: 296, Kurtán 2001: 40)
- The lexical syllabus – It is possible to organize a syllabus on the basis of lexical items with associated collocations and idioms usually divided into graded sections. Lexical items can be selected according to:
1. vocabulary related to topics (e.g. clothes, housing, crime)
2. issues of word formation (e.g. suffixes and other morphological changes)
3. word-grammar triggers (e.g. verbs which are followed by certain syntactic patterns)
4. compound lexical items (e.g. multi-storey car park, walking stick)
5. connecting and linking words (e.g. if, when, until, etc.)
6. semi-fixed expressions (e.g. would you like to, if I were you, I’d...)
7. connotations and metaphors (e.g. kick the bucket). (Harmer 2003: 297, Kurtán 2001: 43)
- The situational syllabus – A situational syllabus offers the possibility of selecting and sequencing different real-life situations rather than different grammatical items, vocabulary topics or functions. Sections would be headed by names of situations or locations, such as: in the street, at the supermarket, at the restaurant, etc. Various types of situational syllabuses can be distinguished; we can speak about real-life and imaginary situations. In various situations students can practice grammatical structures, pronunciation, and vocabulary in different speech functions. Situations in the syllabuses make it possible for the students to practice language items in broad contexts not only at the level of sentences. (Harmer 2003: 298, Kurtán 2001: 40)
- The topic-based syllabus – Another framework around which to organize language is that of different topics, such as the weather, health, generation gaps, clothes, etc. Topics provide an organizing principle in which students will be interested in the headings indicate a fairly clear set of vocabulary items which may be specified. Topics are most relevant to students’ communicative needs though they may differ from what they want. Compiling a topic-based syllabus the designer has to take the age, fields of interest and motivation of the target group into consideration. While dealing with certain topics students can be formed in their critical, and free-from- stereotypes ways of thinking. (Harmer 2003: 298, Kurtán 2001: 44)
- The functional-notional syllabus – Language functions are things you can do with language, such as inviting, promising and offering. A functional-notional syllabus might look like the following:
1. Requesting
2. Offering
3. Inviting
4. Agreeing and disagreeing
5. etc.
(Harmer 2003: 297, Kurtán 2001: 41)
In European syllabuses they are divided into macro-functions (e.g. finding the way, explanation, description, etc.) and micro-functions (e.g. greetings, introduction, apologizing, etc.). Purely functional syllabuses are rare. Usually both functions and notions are combined. (van Ek, 1990)
- The notional syllabus (Wilkins, 1976) – Notions are concepts that language can express. General notions may include ‘number’, ‘time’, ‘place’, ‘color’. Specific notions look more like vocabulary items: ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘afternoon’. In Hungary certain notions are prescribed in the National Curriculum, e.g. space and time relations in which various prepositions, adverbs referring to spatial and time relations are to be taught.
- The task-based syllabus – A task-based syllabus lists a series of tasks and may list some or all of the language to be used in those tasks. Prabhu (1987: 26) calls it a procedural syllabus. In the focus of task-based syllabuses the following instructions are given:
- Following the instructions, draw a map.
- Fill in a form in which you can apply for a visa.
The theoretical background of a syllabus like this is to make language learning experiential, practicable. Syllabus designers want to prepare the students for real-life needs; they want to provide them with more and more tasks which can be useful every day.
- The activity-based syllabus – An activity-based syllabus develops students’ language competences according to certain language skills. Usually, these skills are developed in an integrated way but sometimes certain skills, e.g. writing or reading get into the focus of a syllabus, e.g. writing formal letters can be the focus of a special course organized for secretaries. (Harmer 2003: 299, Kurtán 2001: 42)
- The mixed or multi-strand syllabus – A common solution to the competing claims of the different syllabus types we have looked at is the mixed or multi strand syllabus. Modern syllabuses are combining different aspects in order to be maximally comprehensive and helpful to teachers and learners; in these you may find specification of topics, tasks, functions and notions, as well as grammar and vocabulary. (Harmer 2003: 299, Kurtán 2001: 44)
