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CDLT Lecture Week 13 & 14
CDLT Lecture Week 13 & 14
CDLT Lecture Week 13 & 14
Week 13 & 14
Lecture 1
Lecturer Ms. Hina M. Ali Curriculum Development in
Department of
Humanities Language Teaching
(HS-502)
WHAT WILL WE COVER?
• The course rationale answers these questions by describing the beliefs, val-
ues and goals that underlie the course.
• It would normally be a two- or three-paragraph statement that has been
developed by those involved in planning and teaching a course and that
serves to provide the justification for the type of teaching and learning that
will take place in the course.
• It provides a statement of the course philosophy for anyone who may need
such information, including students, teachers, and potential clients.
• Developing a rationale also helps provide focus and direction to some of the
considerations involved in course planning.
This course is designed for working adults who wish to improve their
communication skills in English in order to improve their employment
prospects. It teaches the basic communication skills needed to communicate
in a variety of different work settings. The course seeks to enable participants
to recognize their strengths and needs in language learning and to give them
the confidence to use English more effectively to achieve their own goals. It
also seeks to develop the participants' skills in independent learning outside of
the classroom.
In order to develop a course rationale, the course planners need to give care-
ful consideration to
• the goals of the course,
• the kind of teaching and learning they want the course to exemplify,
• the roles of teachers and learners in the course, and
• the beliefs and principles the course will reflect
• The question of course content is probably the most basic issue in course
design.
• A course has to be developed to address a specific set of needs and to cover
a given set of objectives, what will the content of the course look like
• Decisions about course content reflect the planners assumptions about the
nature of language, language use, and language learning, what the most
essential elements or units of language are, and how these can be organized
as an efficient basis for second language learning
a group of teachers listed the following initial ideas about what they would include in a course on listening and speaking
skills for a group of intermediate-level learners:
• asking questions
• opening and closing conversations
• expressing opinions
• dealing with misunderstandings
• describing experiences
• social talk
• telephone skills
• situation-specific language, such as at a bank
• describing daily routines
• recognizing sound contrasts
• using communication strategies
These topics then have to be carefully reviewed and refined and the following questions
asked about them
• Are all the suggested topics necessary?
• Have any important topics been omitted?
• Is there sufficient time to cover them?
• Has sufficient priority been given to the most important areas?
• Has enough emphasis been put on the different aspects of the areas identified?
• Will the areas covered enable students to attain the learning outcomes?
• Developing initial ideas for course content often takes place simultaneously with syllabus
planning, because the content of a course will often depend on the type of syllabus
framework that will be used as the basis for the course
• Decisions about course content also need to address the distribution of con-
tent throughout the course. This is known as planning the scope and se-
quence of die course.
• Scope is concerned with the breadth and depth of coverage of items in the
course, that is, with the following questions:
• What range of content will be covered?
• To what extent should each topic be studied?
• Simple to complex
One of the commonest ways of sequencing material is by difficulty level.
Content presented earlier is thought to be simpler than later items. This is
typically seen in relation to grammar content, but any type of course content
can be graded in terms of difficulty.
• Chronology
Content may be sequenced according to the order in which events occur in
the real world. For example,
in a writing course the organization might be based on the sequence writers
are assumed to employ when composing: (1) brainstorming; (2) drafting; (3)
revising; (4) editing.
In a proficiency course, skills might be sequenced according to the sequence in
which they are normally acquired: (1) listening; (2) speaking; (3) reading; (4)
writing.
• Need
Content may be sequenced according to when learners are most likely to need
it outside of the classroom.
• Prerequisite learning
The sequence of content may reflect what is necessary at one point as a
foundation for the next step in the learning process. For example, a certain set
of grammar items may be taught as a prerequisite to paragraph writing.
• Spiral sequencing
This approach involves the recycling of items to ensure that learners have
repeated opportunities to learn them.
• The next stage" in course development involves mapping the course struc-
ture into a form and sequence that provide a suitable basis for teaching.
• Two aspects of this process, however, require more detailed planning:
selecting a syllabus framework and developing instructional blocks.
• A syllabus describes the major elements that will be used in planning a language course
and provides the basis for its instructional focus and content
• In choosing a particular syllabus framework for a course, planners are influenced by the
following factors:
• knowledge and beliefs about the subject area: a syllabus reflects ideas and beliefs about
the nature of speaking, reading, writing, or listening
• research and theory: research on language use and learning as well as applied linguistics
theory sometimes leads to proposals in favor of particular syllabus types
• common practice: the language teaching profession has built up considerable practical
experience in developing language programs and this often serves as the basis for
different syllabus types
• trends: approaches to syllabus design come and go and reflect national or international
trends
Types of syllabi
Product-oriented syllabi
Grammatical
One of the most common type of syllabus and still today we can see the
contents pages of many course books set out according to grammatical items.
This type of syllabus presents structures, which are graded according
to grammatical complexity, one by one and are supposedly internalised by
learners before moving on to the next item.
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing
Functional / Notional
Because of criticism surrounding the structural / grammatical syllabus, syllabi
were designed around functions and notions of language. The functional-
notional syllabus focused on what the learner needed to do with the language.
It was suggested by Finocchiaro and Brumfit that this type of syllabus placed
'the students and their communicative purposes at the centre of the
curriculum'. (Nunan 1988)
Lexical
A lexical syllabus uses vocabulary as the building blocks. Usually stemming
from an analysis of high frequency vocabulary and phrases they work from
language in use and build up vocabulary areas.
Process-oriented syllabi
More recently, applied linguists have become more concerned with the
pedagogic processes of how we achieve our outcomes. A process-oriented
syllabus focuses on the skills and processes involved in learning language
Task based
The task-based syllabus is planned around a sequence of tasks which learners
have to carry out in the classroom, with emphasis being placed on the
communication of meaning. This provides learners with the necessary skills to
cope with real-life situations. They are involved in real communication and all
which that incurs: Checking understanding, restructuring to aid
comprehension, etc. as well as allowing space for both planned and unplanned
discourse.
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing
Learner centered
Functional syllabuses have proved very popular as a basis for organizing courses and
materials for the following reasons:
• They reflect a more comprehensive view of language than grammar syllabuses and focus
on the use of the language rather than linguistic form.
• They can readily be linked to other types of syllabus content (e.g., topics, grammar,
vocabulary).
• They provide a convenient framework for the design of teaching materials, particularly in
the domains of listening and speaking.
Functional syllabuses have also been criticized for the following reasons:
• There are no clear criteria for selecting or grading functions.
• They represent a simplistic view of communicative competence and fail to address the
processes of communication.
• They represent an atomistic approach to language, that is, one that assumes
that language ability can be broken down into discrete components that can
be taught separately.
• They often lead to a phrase-book approach to teaching that concentrates on
teaching expressions and idioms used for different functions.
• Students learning from a functional course may have considerable gaps in
their grammatical competence because some important grammatical struc-
tures may not be elicited by the functions that are taught in the syllabus.
• one that is organized around the language needed for different situations
such as at the airport or at a hotel
• A situation is a setting in which particular communicative acts typically occur.
• A situational syllabus identifies the situations in which the learner will use
the language ' and the typical communicative acts and language used in that
setting.
• Situational syllabuses have been a familiar feature of language teaching text-
books for centuries
• Yet decisions must still be made concerning the selection of grammar, functions, or skills.
• It may also be difficult to develop a logical or learnable sequence for other syllabus
components if topics are the sole framework.
• Different topics may require language of differing levels of complexity
• one that is organized around the different underlying abilities that are
involved in using a language for purposes such as reading, writing, listening,
or speaking.
• Approaching a language through skills is based on the belief that learning a
complex activity such as "listening to a lecture" involves mastery of a
number of individual skills or microskills that together make up the activity.
• the following example of a skills syllabus for the teaching of study skills:
• Basic reference skills: understanding and use of graphic presentation,
namely, headings, subheadings, numbering, indentation, bold print,
footnotes
• table of contents and index
• cross-referencing
• card catalog
• phonetic transcriptions/diacritics
• bibliography
• dictionaries
• one that is organized around tasks that students will complete in the target
language.
• A task is an activity or goal that is carried out using language such as finding
a solution to a puzzle, reading a map and giving directions, or reading a set
of instructions and assembling a toy.
• Tasks are activities which have meaning as their primary focus. Success in
tasks is evaluated in terms of achievement of an outcome, and tasks gener-
ally bear some resemblance to real-life language use
• A task-based syllabus, however, is one based on tasks that have been
specially designed to facilitate second language learning and one in which
tasks or activities are the basic units of syllabus design.
• one that is built around texts and samples of extended discourse. As already
noted, this can be regarded as a type of situational approach because the
starting point in planning a syllabus is analysis of the contexts in which the
learners will use the language.
• For example, the spoken texts identified for a group of engineers in a
workplace were: spoken instructions to field staff, presentations of report
findings at meetings and telephone negotiations with contractors.
• A text-based syllabus is a type of integrated syllabus because it combines
elements of different types of syllabuses
Your syllabus is the first glimpse your students have of your course. (Actually,
it’s the second, but the course descriptions in the prospectus certainly can’t do
justice to your dynamic presentation and intriguing subject matter.)
A syllabus is a basic contract between the instructor and students, laying out
the responsibilities and expectations on both sides. It’s also a road map that
shows the general contours of the course, important milestones, and the
landmarks that will let students know they’re on the right road. And, last but
not least, it’s a marketing opportunity to show the students just how great the
course will be.
A good syllabus gives the student a general idea of how the course will go and
how much work it will take. But why stop at merely good?
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing
Today we will end the class by designing the go to syllabus - You, your course,
and your students deserve the very best: a learning-centered syllabus.
But before we begin with the development of a syllabus – lets look at some
theoretical dimensions
The syllabus identifies what will be worked upon by the teacher and students in
terms of content selected to be appropriate to overall aims.
Methodology refers to how teachers and learners work upon the content, ‘
Evaluation is the process of assessing outcomes from the learning and judging
the appropriateness of other elements of the curriculum.
Every teacher follows a syllabus, but it may vary from being a pre-designed
document to a day-to-day choice of content which the teacher regards as
serving a course's particular aims.
According to Brown (1995, p.7) “A syllabus provides a focus for what should be
studied, along with a rationale for how that content should be selected and
ordered.”
Richard and Platt (1992) state that syllabus refers to the principles of choosing
and orchestrating the textbook content.
Candl in (1984) suggests that curricula are concerned with making general
statements about language learning, learning purpose and experience,
evaluation, and the role relationships of teachers and learners.
According to Candlin, they will also contain banks of learning items and
suggestions about how these might be used in class.
Syllabuses, on the other hand, are more localized and are based on accounts
and records of what actually happens at the classroom level as teachers and
learners apply a given curriculum to their own situation.
• a record for other teachers of what has been covered in the course;
In the history of language teaching, the last 20 years in particular have revealed
significant developments in syllabus design that have led to the application of
each of these principles in alternative ways.
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing
1 the situations in which the foreign language will be used, including the topics
which trill be dealt with;
6 the specific (topic-related) notions which the learner will be able to handle;
8 the degree of skill with which the learner will be able to perform.(van Ek 1975:
8-9)
Teaching situation: What constraints are you working under that you cannot
change? These might include
Type of assessment
If external this could have tremendous impact on your syllabus.
Resources/ staffing available
Are there 50 children in a class with only a blackboard? Are there computers?
Can students have access to a computer lab for independent and class
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) work.
Learner geography
How much exposure will students get outside of the class? Time period and/or
intensive vs. spread out. This impacts on the amount of material you could
cover and also the structure of the individual weekly plan.
Books
Does a core course book exist that the syllabus must be built round or are you
writing a syllabus from scratch?
Consult with the people involved in teaching the syllabus. Teachers and heads
of departments must be involved from the beginning so that they do not feel
that the syllabus is being imposed on them and thus gives them a sense of
ownership.
Learner needs
Based on learner profile (age, level, interests, reasons for learning), do a needs
analysis. This can range from a full-blown formal multiple-choice computer
test and oral interview to an informal chat at the beginning of the course where
you ask the class what their needs are.
Objectives might come from the course book although the course book should
not be seen as the syllabus.
With the list of can do statements and the course book or the materials you will
develop you can start developing the structure of the syllabus. The ones above
become in the syllabus; "Expressing likes and dislikes"
and "Narrating a story set in the past."
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing
Outcomes
Make sure you know what you want the learners to be able to do by the end of
the course.
Suitability of topics
Are some topics in the course book culturally inappropriate or just considered
boring?
The work isn't over when you finish writing the syllabus. You'll still need to:
Pilot it with at least one class. Get feedback from the teachers and the learners
and then adapt it.
Make sure teachers know about it and do not think it is just another piece of
paper that can be shelved.
Make sure teachers receive training in how to use it and also training in any
new methodology that has been incorporated in it. This will give the syllabus
project credibility.
Involve the teachers again. Encourage feedback so it can be changed. The first
draft will never be perfect and can only be finalised once it has been trialled
and tested. Feedback should be taken on board and changes made accordingly.
Generally, the syllabus is the first connection between you and your students
at the beginning of a course; therefore, the syllabus will establish the course
tone. Through the syllabus, you can set high expectations for students and
begin a line of communication. If you want to establish a more relaxed tone in
your course, write your syllabus in first person. However, for a more formal
tone, write your syllabus in third person.
Students come to class the first day with many questions. The syllabus can
quickly provide answers to many of those questions. Try answering typical
student questions and placing the answers in your syllabus: Why should I take
this course? How does this course relate to the general education program?
How will this course help me intellectually and practically?
A detailed syllabus is a valuable learning tool for students and lessens their
initial anxieties about a course. If the syllabus includes detailed descriptions of
assignments and criteria that will be used to distinguish quality in student
work, time will be saved throughout the course.
Some classes move quickly, and others get sidetracked. Either issue a new
course syllabus midway through the semester to accommodate for changes
or include a disclaimer to account for changes in the syllabus.
Use the syllabus to organize your semester and course. Plan the course
schedule in advance, including all assignments, exams, and holidays.
Remember to spread out the assignments and exams throughout the
semester so that you do not overload and discourage students.
“A detailed course syllabus, handed out on the first day of class, gives
students an immediate sense of what the course will cover, what work is
expected of them, and how their performance will be evaluated…A well-
prepared syllabus shows students that you take teaching seriously”
Overall Syllabus
Learning Objectives. What students will gain or take away from your course.
Why these objectives are the most important skills/knowledge for the course
(helpful if objectives are included for each topic/session).
Basic Information. Course name and number, meeting time and place,
instructor name, contact information, office hours, instructional support staff
information.
Course Content. Schedule, outline, meeting dates and holidays, major topics
and sub-topics preferably with rationale for inclusion.
Materials and Access. Required texts and readings, course packs. How to get
materials including relevant instructional technologies. Additional resources
such as study groups, etc.
Course Information
Instructor Information
If an instructor has teaching assistant(s) or co-teacher(s) please include
similar information.
Name
Office Address
Student Hours (Consider using “Student Hours” instead of “Office Hours” to
promote that these times are set aside specifically for students in case they
need help outside class).
Provide student hours via multiple means of access (your office, phone, e-
mail, virtually using webcasting software).
Instructor Information
Telephone Number
Email Address
Other Contact Information
Instructor Information
If multi-section course, list the name and contact information of the course
coordinator that students may direct their questions to.
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing - Development
Instructor Information
You may share your interest, passion for the subject, teaching philosophy.
You may introduce coinstructors and/or TAs and their expertise and
contributions.
Departmental Information
Course Description
Indicate how the course fits within the program, its value added for the
students, its content. You may indicate the course format, e.g., large lecture
with discussion sections, seminar course, interdisciplinary, team-taught
course.
Share with students how the course fits into the overall curriculum and what
they will leave the course being able to do. Answering the question, “Why is
this course useful?” Also, orient students to the discipline if it’s an introductory
course.
Course Description
Indicate how the course fits within the program, its value added for the
students, its content. You may indicate the course format, e.g., large lecture
with discussion sections, seminar course, interdisciplinary, team-taught
course.
Share with students how the course fits into the overall curriculum and what
they will leave the course being able to do. Answering the question, “Why is
this course useful?” Also, orient students to the discipline if it’s an introductory
course.
Course Description
What will students learn in the course (i.e., knowledge, skills, attitudes, as
opposed to topics)?
Why will learning this matter to students?
How will the course help students develop as scholars, learners, future
professionals?
Course Description
Indicate how the course learning outcomes align with the program outcomes
and gen. ed. goals: what program and gen. ed. goals are addressed in the
course? You may outline this alignment by listing each program and gen. ed.
goal relevant to a particular course goal, providing a link to pertinent
program and gen. ed. goals.
For example, in this course students articulate their data collection process
by writing lab reports [course learning goal] - contributes to students' ability
to present written and oral reports of technical information clearly and
concisely [program goal and gen. ed. goal of oral and written
communication].
List 4-5 broad-based learning outcomes that reflect what the students will
learn and skills they will develop by successfully completing the course.
Provide rationales for assignments, activities, methods, policies, and
procedures tied to these learning outcomes.
(http://bit.ly/1TqBeW3)
(http://bit.ly/1QvTjzt)
Grading Policy State instructor grading policy, including the weight attached
to all assignments/exams listed in the syllabus, including team work and class
participation, if appropriate. Note how final grade is calculated and outline
grade distribution. Set forth when/how students will receive feedback on
their work and reasonable expectations about returning graded work. Set
forth instructor policy regarding attendance, missed assignments, late work,
extra credit, posting to online discussions.
Explain clearly how students will be evaluated, and grades assigned. Include
components of final grade, weights assigned to each component, grading on
a curve or scale, etc.
Provide ways that students can easily calculate or find their grades at any
point in the course.
https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/grading-and-responding-student-work
Course Policies
State your policies clearly in the syllabus and discuss them throughout the
semester regarding:
Steps to report illness – Sample: ISU’s Thielen Student Health Center’s Class
Excuse webpage (http://bit.ly/isu-class-excuse).
Course Policies
Course Policies
For example, Eating and drinking are not allowed in the lab. Please do not
bring any food or beverages into the lab. We will be working with hazardous
materials throughout the semester. Eating or drinking during lab puts you
and your classmates at increased risk of accident and injury from breakage or
toxins. You will be asked to remove any food or beverage you bring into the
lab. Please turn off your cell phones and pagers so that you can focus on the
lab work at hand.
Week 12 Lecture 1 MS Applied Linguistics (Humanities) – Fall 2020
Syllabus Designing - Development
Describe the nature of instructional activities that will occur help students
accomplish set learning outcomes. Indicate how interactions will be
facilitated, such as teamwork, debates, interactive lecture, online discussions,
blogs, use of Sakai, clickers.
Study Help
Describe how students can succeed in the course and offer study tips,
resources, study guides, such as: Guide to the readings - Keep an open mind.
Listen to what the readings have to say. Think about what experiences you
may have had and reading you have done that may corroborate the course
readings. Give yourself time to reflect on the information offered in the
readings. Take your time with the readings; allow yourself to enter into a kind
of conversation with them.
Study Help
Outline how the instructor, the TA and/or peer instructor will work with
students; e.g., facilitate study groups, conduct review sessions prior to
exams. Include tips from former students who have been successful in the
course.
List important dates such as last drop date, registration dates for the next
semester, etc. If applicable.
Note dates and times of any exams scheduled outside of class time. If needed
Include the date and time of the final exam. Refer academic calendar for this
purpose