MPB 1323 Syllabus and Materials Design

Syllabus Review

Prepared By: RAJENDRAN A/L GOVINDASAMY (MP101052)

SYLLABUS REVIEW ( 1st MAPPING) A. DESIGN PRINCIPLE Language is a mighty weapon in attaining the paramount goals that a person aspires to achieve in life. Hence, the acquisition of a language is increasingly important for everybody. More importantly, the business man or business woman who wishes to excel in their business world must be able to speak a particular language with relative ease. Learning is a cognitive process. The process of learning may occur within or outside the formal environment. elf!monitoring and memory techniques are essential in making the learning process a success. " learner#s positive attitude toward learning, language and culture is indeed crucial to ensure his or her success in acquiring a particular language. " learner should develop confidence and should learn something through mistakes. $n order to develop one#s interpersonal skills he or she must learn to work in a group. %onsidering the social context for this mapping, the sociolinguistic skills and sociocultural skills caught my attention. Levels of politeness, body language and understanding cultural norms as well as their relation to one#s own are playing the integral part in handling a business presumably. B. TYPES OF SYLLABUS The appropriate syllabuses for this particular map which is crafted for business students would be &otional!functional and task based syllabuses. C. CONTENTS: ORGANIZATION, RATIONALE FOR SELECTION AND SEQUENCING CRITERIA. ince the notional!functional syllabuses has been incorporated in this course, we can find that there are many functions and situations are given importance . The examples of situations in this map would be meeting a new people, solving problems by phone, dealing with complaints and so on. 'esides that, there are also functions under each situation like introducing yourself and others starting a conversation, making promises and so on. (n the other hand, the themes in this mapping do play their role too. Themes like places, Travel arrangements and other appropriate themes have proved the rationality for the inclusion. "nother notable thing is that the grammatical items of )nglish language have taken root in this mapping. Tenses like past tense, present tense and other grammatical items like articles were considered important to deliver the lesson. "part from that this mapping entails the essential skills of a language like listening, speaking, reading and writing. The application of task based syllabuses would never end without the incorporation of these four skills. *riting clear and concise commercial letters, replying to a telephone message and other relevant tasks in this mapping would certainly enable the business students to function effectively in a real world. (ther than that, the communicative skills have been given substance in this course. "t the same time, the course stresses on the accuracy and fluency. "nother important characteristic of this course would be the higher order learning. Higher order

thinking skills can be infused into learning process through authentic tasks like dealing with problems, solving problems by phone and so on. D.CONTE TS The target learners of this course would be the business students. The communicative skills play the vital role in order to disseminate the worthwhile knowledge pertaining to business students. Honestly looked, the ) +,)&-L$ H .(/ +)%$.$% +0/+( )1 course would be suitable for such students. E.T!E GOALS "OB#ECTIVES (SEE, FOR E AMPLE, BREEN$S MA#OR GOALS FOR INTEGRATED SYLLABUS) "ccording to this mapping, the ma2or goal would be achieving the proficiency. uch goal could be achieved through language syllabus and communicative activity syllabus. F. DESIGN PROCESSES"STEPS INVOLVED (YOUR SPECULATION NEEDED) There are steps to be followed in order to design such course. 'efore designing a course, the course designer might have collected the biographical information such as age, first language background, reasons for learning the language, other languages spoken, time available for learning and so on. G. GENERAL COMMENTS ! ! U%&'()%)ss !The mapping is indeed understandable. St*)%+t,s ! The strengths of this mapping would be the incorporation of task!based syllabuses and notional and functional syllabuses ! The authentic tasks for each syllabus would surely enable a teacher to deliver a meaningful lesson. W)-.%)ss)s! The duration of the course was not stated. ! There was no information about classroom implementation, methodology,teacher#s role and resources.

!. !OW WOULD YOU DESIGN IT DIFFERENTLY/ $f $ am given the chance to design it, $ would give importance to fluency rather than accuracy. $f we focus on both accuracy and fluency, students might get difficulty in communicating with others. *e must let the students to make mistakes and this would help them to rectify their mistakes gradually. .urthermore, students would be able to reduce their affective filters and would think cognitively in presenting their views creatively. econdly, $ would allow the peer evaluation session. uch activity will give the students the self! confidence and help them to use a language appropriately. "part from that, $ would state the methodology that $ am going to use in achieving my goals clearly. More importantly, $ would mention the duration of the course.

SYLLABUS REVIEW (M-00&%+ 12* U00)* s)32%4-*5 st(4)%ts) (FORM 6) A. DESIGN PRINCIPLE Language is a bridge that bridges the gap between two individuals by enabling them to converse with other people and fulfill their needs. Therefore, language is defined as a means of getting things done. $t is also rule governed because there are rules to be followed which have been standardi3ed and acknowledged by everybody. Learning is a conscious process. " meaningful learning will ensure a person#s acquisition of knowledge and skills. Hence, it is wise to be said that learning should take place for its own sake and for utility. Learners construct new knowledge through authentic activities. " learner broadens his or her knowledge to function in every aspect of the society effectively. Learners would be able to stretch their potential if equal chance is given to everybody. $f we think about the social context, we would feel that choosing and using appropriate language are indeed important. The acquisition of communicative competence which entails grammatical competence, strategic competence and social competence is a must in order to use a language with relative ease. B. TYPES OF SYLLABUS The mapping for upper secondary school students is crafted to prepare the learners for functioning presumably in a 0niversity setting. Therefore, process syllabus and integrated syllabus have been chosen for the inclusion. C. CONTENTS: ORGANIZATION, RATIONALE FOR SELECTION AND SEQUENCING CRITERIA. $t is evident that this course is specifically designed for learners to enable them to take part in everyday communicative events. There are themes such as no place like home, making it big and so on to suite the communicative events. )ach function is divided under various skills like reading, listening, speaking and writing. More importantly, the essential grammatical items have been infused into this syllabus under the respective themes. .urthermore, much emphasis has been put on communicative skills. $t is followed by the higher order learning which is indeed crucial to excel in whatever field that one may choose in future. The emergence of 'loom#s taxonomy gave substance to higher order thinking skills and such skills are mirrored in this mapping such as describing your dreams, discussing about favorite T4 programs and so on. (ther than that, the designer of this course has focused on the social context and included the topics pertaining to sociopolitical skills and sociolinguistic skills. $n order to instill sociopolitical skills conspiracy theories are selected for the exchanging of the information regarding the topic. "t the same time, activities which force the students to reali3e the importance of politeness are also included in this course. (ne of them would be the telephone conversation. "part from that, students are also exposed to different types of tasks such as writing emails, report writing and other relevant tasks.

D.CONTE TS The target learners for this effective course would be the upper secondary students. $n order to cater for students# needs this )"+ ,)&-L$ H .(/ "%"5)M$% +0/+( )1 program was chosen. $t focuses instruction on skills required to perform well in an )nglish!speaking academic context across core sub2ect areas generally encountered by students in a university setting. However, we could hardly find the information related to classroom implementation, methodology, teacher#s role and duration of the program. The resources for teaching have been stated in this syllabus. ome of the details about the resources are 5iana and )lvis shot, meet the kippers and so on. E.T!E GOALS "OB#ECTIVES (SEE, FOR E AMPLE, BREEN$S MA#OR GOALS FOR INTEGRATED SYLLABUS) The ob2ectives of this program are to achieve the proficiency, acquire knowledge and to transfer knowledge and experience. F. DESIGN PROCESSES"STEPS INVOLVED (YOUR SPECULATION NEEDED) There are steps to be followed in order to design such course. 'efore designing a course, the designer of this course might have collected the biographical information such as age, first language background, reasons for learning the language, other languages spoken, and time available for learning and so on. $ also hope that the designer might have interviewed the particular students to understand more about their problems in )nglish. G. GENERAL COMMENTS ! ! U%&'()%)ss 6 The designer of this syllabus has given importance to correcting mistakes which indicates that peer evaluation session will take take place during the teaching process. St*)%+t,s ! The strengths of this syllabus would be the incorporation of process syllabus and integrated syllabus. ! The authentic topics for reading skills would certainly impress the particular group of students. W)-.%)ss)s! The duration of the course was not stated. ! $nformation about the classroom implementation, methodology, and teacher#s role were also not given.

!. !OW WOULD YOU DESIGN IT DIFFERENTLY/ $f $ am given the chance to design it, $ would give detailed information about the duration of the course. 'esides that, $ would include the information about the classroom implementation, methodology, and teacher#s role. More importantly, $ would have discussion with the particular group students to understand about their weaknesses. (ther than that, $ would distribute survey questions to students to get to know them in detail. uch method of collecting data would certainly help me to cater for students# needs by designing the course appropriately.