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EDE 6243

(SYLLABUS DESIGN)

ESSAY

THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING SYLLABUS DESIGN AND CURRICULUM

DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS

Lecturers’ Name:

Dr Faizah Idrus

NAME OF STUDENT : MOHAMAD AZWAN BIN MOHAMED

MATRIC NO : G1819417

PROGRAM : MASTER OF EDUCATION (TESL)

ASSESSMENT 1

Write a 10-page essay on THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING SYLLABUS DESIGN AND

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS. In the essay include all the elements that

are covered in this course such as:

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This first individual assignment for subject Syllabus Design (EDE 6243) that carries 20%

of the whole mark. The writing will emphasize the importance of knowing syllabus design and

curriculum development for teachers.

Teacher must know and understand how curriculum is designed so they can plan out

their lesson accordingly in their classroom. There are several components in curriculum design

need to be covered before it is constructed.

Based on Nation & Macalister (2010), it said that curriculum design is a process

implementation knowledge from multiple areas in the Applied Linguistic field which in

compliance with principles, teaching methodology, evaluation of the target group.

2.0 APPROACHES TO CURRICULUM DESIGN

Three approaches are labelled in the textbook: a) Grave’s model of curriculum design, b)

Language Curriculum Design model, and c) Murdoch’s Model. All of these different models are

using different terms and connotations; however, they hold the same core in education in

curriculum design.

Teachers need to have the comprehension how the syllabus design works based on

three model. The process in designing the syllabus in the curriculum need teacher’s

involvement. Furthermore, the curriculum design always taken ideas from teachers’ contribution
(Fatimah Al-Kathiri, 2016). Even though they only play small part in curriculum design, teachers

need to have clear direction how to fully utilise the syllabus, the method assessment and

evaluation. The syllabus efficacy should be viewed as a process to fulfil the student needs leads

to improvement of students learning (Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie, 2016)

Furthermore, curriculum development can be defined as a comprehensive, systematic

process to execute ideas to desirable objectives and contents for learning into material that can

prompt instructional practices foster learning activities and experiences towards intended

outcomes (cf. Priestley & Biesta, 2013). Thus, teacher need must have the understanding and

thoroughly plan in implementing the curriculum to create lesson plans. Curriculum designers

and teachers should work together to make sure the material for content, sequencing and goals

are within standard qualities. They can start from nothing and collect and write the material to

construct new curriculum in order to change and improve the existing curriculum suit to current

demands (Nation & Macalister, 2010).

3.0 ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

In Nation & Macalister (2010), Teachers need to match the quality, the appropriateness,

the clarity and the measurable of the activities with the environment which need to include the

students and its surrounding. Due to rapid digitalization, the society develop day by day and

becoming more advance in technologies and knowledge. The learners are easily exposed to

overload information on the internet and they are used to technology and digital. Thus, the

adults must establish the acquisition and construction of the knowledge are properly applied

(Andersone. R,2017). Hence, teacher must always up to-date about latest technologies and

digital medium regarding their function and application as e-learning and its tools to keep up the

with the learner’s exposure speeds with it.

 Assimilation of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) have been assisting

teachers to the global demand to replace traditional teaching methods with digital education and

learning tools and facilities. (Simin Ghavifekr, Wan Athirah Wan Rosdy, 2015). In Malaysia,

Digital education has been considered as one of the main elements in transforming the country

to the future development. As part of this, educational organizations and schools are supposed

to prepare students to live in “a knowledge society” need to implement ICT in their curriculum

aligned with the technology advancement (Ghavifekr, Afshari & Amla Salleh, 2012).

The teachers need to know the demand of the learning environment, so they can ensure

the activities carried out will not failed and successfully executed to meet the demand

participant. The competency of the teacher’s level needs to be considered, based on the

teacher experiences and skills in terms of creativity and openness in handling learners (Nation

& Macalister, 2010). For example, to teach the secondary school student by using the same

method as teaching method in the 20th centuries by emphasis on correct oral production,

inductive grammar, and substitution drills which is not suitable to nowadays generation.

However, teacher can utilise the learning application that can provide fun and interactive

learning process between students and teachers. For example, Quizizz, Kahoot! or Duolingo.

These platforms can setup a course classroom and monitor the learners’ progress, tasks and

lessons to complete. Furthermore, they are easy to access the application through their smart

device which they can do self-learning anytime and anywhere, compared teaching them in class

alone where it is time consuming.

4.0 NEED ANALYSIS

According to Nation & Macalister (2010), need analysis three elements; lacks,

necessities, and wants. These three elements will provide curriculum developers and teachers

guide to identify the learners’ needs to integrate in the new curriculum that need to be
developed suit the learners’ need and according to the findings. For this section, we will focus

on the needs of secondary students on writing skill.

First, let us review at the necessities of the secondary school students on writing skill. By

form 5, students are expected to be able to write down essay directed writing such as formal

letter, report, speech, articles and news. Students are also expected to be able to write

continuous writing which length between 350 words in paper 1119/1 (writing) during SPM

examination (Patrish & Azlina, 2020). Hence, the need to learn and understand correct

sentence structure, proper vocabulary, and correct use of grammar to write a good essay for an

A.

In due course, Subsequently, you need to consider your possible shortcomings that can

disrupt their competency to write a good essay in examination. While English is widely spoken

in Malaysia, there have been concerns about the deterioration of its standards, and students

and teachers have observed that students are unable to use the language competently. This is

due to less exposure to interesting materials and supportive environment to use the language

which lead to demotivate the students to use the language proficiently. Therefore, at secondary

level, most students have insufficient vocabularies on English language where they find it hard

to understand the language through reading even harder for them to write an essay which a

production skill. It is demonstrated, in addition to linguistic obstacles, that the social environment

such as the reluctant attitude, the lack of interest in learning the language and the environment

that does not encourage students to use the language have worsened the effort to acquire the

language (Nurmazidah Che Musa, 2012).

Lastly, after identifying the necessities and lack of curriculum, teachers and curriculum

developers need to know what the learners’ want through their lessons. It is necessary to know

what the learners want so teachers and curriculum developers can layout the curriculum to befit
the students want. If they do not match, the curriculum developer may have to review the needs

analysis or convince students that they have a better understanding of what they need (Nation &

Macalister, 2010). The teachers and curriculum developers need to give the learners

opportunities to read, talk, hear, write, see, draw, think, act, and feel new material into their

system. Namely, we need to involve as many senses and parts of the brain as many as possible

in the lessons and their learning (Linda B. Nilson, 2010). The students want should be

considered topmost to them. Nevertheless, even though what the students want are important,

teachers and curriculum developers did not have to create or execute the curriculum according

to their wants. If what students do not align with the planned curriculum, teachers and

curriculum developers are on a task to point out more important things that they need more than

what they want (Nation & Macalister, 2010).

These three elements of needs analysis are useful to identify what can be done to

improve the current state of students or the institution itself. By probing questions and determine

the method of collecting information that needed for curriculum developer to use. Using the

correct questions, the need analysis can help the teachers and curriculum developers to be on

the right line in providing the suitable curriculum that meets the current needs and demands.

5.0 GOALS, CONTENTS AND SEQUENCING

5.0.1 GOAL

Each lesson has goals to achieve by the end of the lesson. Similarly, while learning a

language, you focus on the language, ideas, skills, and lessons learned during the course. The

content of the language course can be measured in these four areas (Nation and McLister,

2010) to ensure that the desired goal is achieved. Wrong, one way most schools always use to

measure or evaluate content is to find their ideas in the content, whether students have

achieved their goal or not. Instead, it is more reliable to evaluate the content of the curriculum
because teachers, curriculum designers or administrators, students know what the real goals

are or will be achieved (Capa Ain, Yosim and Kobanoglu, Rahim and Roundtable, Golin, 201).

As we all know, students choose topics that interest them more than what is taught in the main

purpose of the course. The materials taught do not need to cover them, but they should be

influenced at least as a student to be prepared for real world situations or work life when they

understand why they have been taught in the past. (Meader, H. and Pavlovsky, B., 201)

Teachers and curriculum designers need to understand that student development plays

an important role in achieving curriculum goals. Progress here, mean how much students have

done in the past (Mahajan, Mrinal and Sarjit Singh, Manvendra Kaur.) and the success rate in

achieving the goal set for the course not possibly 100%. The growth encourages students and

teachers to follow the right path and achieve a goal regardless of speed. To dedicate more to

their knowledge or to improve their knowledge or skills, all be it even a just a little bit part of the

lesson is already sufficient.

For example, if a group of students cannot understand English in the first grade,

teachers should implement the lesson about it, without estimating the purpose of the lesson.

The most convenient and challenging lesson for starters is to increase the vocabulary of

students, which can be done through four skills; read, listen, speak, and write. In addition, these

four habits are required for students to use their skills in class, but it is also important to look at

their progress from the beginning, instead of looking at their professions at the end of the

course. Teachers and curriculum designers should therefore be aware of the importance of

curriculum design and curriculum development because the goal as the outcome is the main

goal, although important development is more important to prevent student fatigue.

 5.0.2 CONTENT AND SEQUENCING

Education is a long journey; in fact, it is a lifetime. Therefore, it should be carefully

planned according to the level and needs of the student. The ease of the lesson content differs

for each level as each level has its own difficulty. It is said that a well-organized and organized

course will improve learning outcomes (Maritra Samita & R, Sivika Mama & Machika

Rachanubaba, K, 2015) as a good program or instruction can have. Effect on the motivation or

psychology of the teacher. In teaching and students to learn to give students an understanding

of the topic at hand.

There are two approaches to content layout and ranking. The first is a gradual approach

to rearranging the contents of a lesson based on the contents of the lesson, and the second is a

modular approach that allows each lesson to run independently on a regular basis (Nation &

McAllster, 2010).

The first, linear approach, is a logical sequence that begins with simple topics or lessons

and gradually becomes more complex or increases the greater the difficulty. Nation & Macalister

(2010) have some drawbacks in using this method because it works in a straight line.

Disadvantages include lack, different rates and styles of learning and the need to repeat topics.

The obvious disadvantages of this approach are the reluctance of students and the

shortcomings of the courses. Taking lessons through self-study depends on the students. Like

the different approaches to learning, there is a big drawback in applying the approach, as weak

or slow teachers cannot cope. Therefore, in many cases they cannot attend and be absent from

courses (Isaac, Z. & Finn, L., 2015).

To address this, several concepts have emerged about the new system design, which

has developed a few variations, such as the design process, the matrix system, the field
system, and the research department. The circular curriculum is one of the correct methods

developed by Bruner in 1962 (see figure 1), where he repeats the same subject, but also to be

rich. In this way, students can be captured later, but also using strong content can help a normal

student (Masters & Gibbs, 2007). In short, we can conclude that the process focuses only on

the student and not on the transmitter, not on the student’s understanding and abilities.

Another approach is modular approach system, also known as non-linear approach. It is

impartial and compliant, as the lecture or topic can be distributed without further disruption to

the process. Articles and seminars that use the necessary methodology include important sites

and previous seminars, such as dice (Nation and McAllister, 2010). However, problems and

changes will be accompanied by experiments, cited as tools for assessing the quality of

students and the courses taught. For example, on sites that use this method of language

learning, teachers may offer modules to promote messages for better grades for students

(Lyaysan, I. & Kseniya, O., 2018).

Correspondingly, by using this method, teachers or curriculum designers can sort things

into different levels. For example, in speaking skills, teachers create classes for grade 6

students that contain basic daily conversations, such as the market, restaurant, school, and

public spaces that meet the needs of the students in their lives. daily. In addition, teachers can

add advanced intermediate units, such as presentation skills and social expression skills, to

excellent students who want to develop and refine their personal relationships. In this way, the

module is organized in an organized way, consisting of basic dialogue units for advanced vocal

units that correspond to the various abilities of all students, where they can learn at their own

pace (Sarah, F., 2015).

 Therefore, it is imperative for teachers and curriculum developers to know how to apply

and design the right curriculum to meet the needs and requirements of the current level, both

academic and professional.

6.0 MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

Ferdaus, J. (2018) states that supervising is defined as an ongoing assessment that

provides early indications of progress toward goals. Monitoring helps to make informed

decisions, provide feedback and provide a basis for evaluation. This is necessary to ensure that

the quality of education meets the standards and requirements of the labour market. Therefore,

it is important that teachers and curriculum developers provide monitoring or evaluation tools to

ensure the successful achievement of curriculum goals.

The main purpose of monitoring and evaluation is to ensure that students learn the most

important lessons from a topic or course. As a result, through monitoring, teachers will be able

to observe what students now know and students will be able to determine their own ability to

achieve educational success (Nation & McAlister, 2010). They are also encouraged to

participate or participate in the learning process so that they can multiply and become better

learners. Curriculum teachers and organizers are notified by observing the curriculum and

students, and if there are any necessary changes or modifications to the curriculum or

implementation, they will pay attention to this issue as it is an integral part of the curriculum plan

(Beatrice, V. N., Gatou, A., Bomet, D.E., 2015).

Moreover, the curriculum changes constantly over the years to remain relevant to

society. There have been many times in Malaysia that our program has changed to meet the

current demands of the time such as KLSR, KBSR, KBSR and now KSSR. In general, controls

and assessments are also provided when a new program is introduced to avoid confusion

during implementation. Therefore, it is important for teachers and curriculum developers to

understand the current design and implementation of curricula.

Subsequently, different forms of monitoring and evaluation may be performed as part of

the curriculum or course. We are only probing four genres right now. It is placement
assessment, observation of learning, short-term achievement assessment and finally proficiency

assessment.

First, placement assessments are used to assess and adjust students' ability in specific

areas and use the results to determine at what level they start, what grade they are in and a. To

a certain extent, it is possible to decide whether they should take the course. This assessment

is a monitoring tool that filters students to their respective classes and helps teachers and

program developers to design and execute programs or courses that are appropriate for the

respective levels (Nation & McCallister, 2010). For example, in International schools, there is a

grade rating for the readings and speaking proficiency, where each student should read the

advance level articles during the interview. They are placed in ranges from the most fluent to the

least fluent. Therefore, their curriculum in the using the international language is also different.

The second relevant assessment is learning that need to be observe. This means that

teachers constantly observing students’ progress through tasks and activities. It is not the

students who are evaluated, but the curriculum or course to ensure that students participate in

the course (Nation & Macalister, 2010). If the course changes activities, teachers, or program

developers need to change it to encourage learning. In addition, four criteria need to be

considered in this assessment. For example, in a printer rehabilitation program, students write

the most correct sentence and achieve better overall performance. This creates a spirit of

competition that indirectly encourages students to participate in activities. During the program,

teachers should observe and monitor the work of completing the tasks, for example: B. Describe

the correct sentence structure, correct verbal consent from the subject, and select the correct

words that indicate a desire to complete a written rehabilitation program.

7.0 EVALUATION
 Firstly, it is important to know for whom the evaluation is for and the information we need

for evaluation. This will help the level of confidentiality of the evaluation. It also determined

which party will involve in the process of evaluating the whole curriculum design (Nation &

Macalister, 2010)

Secondly, this process will make it easier to identify which information that important and

needed and which information are useless and can be ignored. The evaluator needs to explain

and clarify with the person authorized with evaluating the data to make clear goals and type of

data to be gathered in the evaluation. Another method to make it more effective is to prepare a

brief “mock” report based on false data with the purpose of showing the person authorize the

evaluation on how the report should be written (Nation & Macalister, 2010).

(Nation & Macalister, 2010 – Requote from Kiely and Rea-Dickens (2006) There are three-

way to identify the purpose of evaluation should be done; (1) large-scale evaluation which

modernization major educational with substantial finance backing with something to be done. (2)

teacher-led evaluations which mean any assessment activity carried out by teacher to support

learners in their learning and assessing their knowledge based on well-defined rubric (Ahmed

Halawa, 2017). (3) Management-led evaluations. A course evaluation can cost a lot of resource

and process time. For example, an evaluation of intensive English programme involved

speaking to each of the thirty-six teachers in the programme for at least half an hour each and in

some cases for five or more hours.

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