Presentation

• Course Title: English For Specific Purposes

• Course Code:ENG-000
• Topic :Syllabus and curriculum design
development
• Presented by: Mudassir Jehan
• Presented to :Raza-e-Mustafa
• Semester :4th
• Class: M.Phil. (Linguistics)
• UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT,GUJRAT
6/7/2014 1
 contents
1. What is Curriculum?
2. What is Syllabus?
3. What a curriculum includes?
4. Difference between curriculum and syllabus
5. Major types of syllabus
6. Curriculum and syllabus design
7. Two approaches to syllabus design

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8.Types of syllabus design
9.Current trends of syllabus design
10.Eight common curriculum designs
11.Levels of curriculum design
12.Four important questions for syllabus designs
13.Suggested steps for planning syllabus for
designers
14.Suggested principles for designing a syllabus that
fosters critical thinking

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• 15.functions of syllabus
• 16.syllabus /curriculum as discipline
• 17.foundation of curriculum planning
• 18.philosophy and curriculum design
• 19.four main types of need analysis
• 20.need analysis and course design
• 21.types of english need analysis
• 22.issues in ESP course design
• 23.a model is?

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• 24.what a model should be?
• 25.Five phases to perform improvement model
• 26.most recognized –technical-scientific models
and non-b technical scientific models
• 27.why should we consider various models
• 28.why should we consider introducing new
curriculum models
• 29approaches to curriculum design
• 30.references
• 31.appendix.
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 What is Syllabus?
• A syllabus is an expression of opinion on the nature of language and
learning; it acts as a guide for both teacher and learner by providing
some goals to be attained.
• Hutchinson and Waters (1987:80) define syllabus as follows: “At its
simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is
to be learnt. It reflects language and linguistic performance”.
• This is a rather traditional interpretation of syllabus focusing on
outcomes rather than process. However, a syllabus can also be seen
as a "summary of the content to which learners will be exposed"
(Yalden.1987).
• It is seen as an approximation of what will be taught and that it
cannot accurately predict what will be learnt. A language teaching
syllabus involves the integration of subject matter and linguistic
matter.

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 What is Curriculum?
• “ an attempt to communicate the essential features and principles
of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical
scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice.
“(Stenhouse 1975).
• “the public face of a profession’s best educational thinking” (Fish
2003).
• John Delnay (1959) says :
• Curriculum is that which is taught at school.
• Curriculum is a set of subjects.
• Curriculum is content.
• Curriculum is a sequence of courses.
• Curriculum is a set of performance objectives.
• Curriculum is all planned learning for which the school is
responsible.
• Curriculum is all the experiences learners have under the guidance
of the school.

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 What a curriculum includes?
• formal and informal
• overt and covert
• recognised and overlooked
• intentional and unintentional
• it is determined as much by what it omits as
what it contains

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 Difference between Syllabus/course
and Curriculum
• Curriculum is wider term as compared with syllabus. Curriculum covers all
the activities and arrangements made by the institution through out the
academic year to facilitate the learners and the instructors. Where as
Syllabus is limited to particular subject of a particular class.
• Although the two are used interchangeably in some contexts, it is important
to note the distinction. Curriculum is a much broader term than syllabus. It is
an administrative piece of work that includes all the relevant information
about the course such as aims and objectives, rationale for studying L2,
learners and their proficiency level, content of curriculum (syllabus),
implementation of curriculum (method), assessment and evaluation, the
role of parents, administrators etc. So, curriculum includes a syllabus as well.
Syllabus, on the other hand, refers to a more specific subject area.
• There are two types of syllabuses.
• Narrow syllabus is basically identifies what will be taught in classroom, the
content of language to be taught.
• Broad syllabus identifies which methodology to use as well as the content of
new language to be taught. Syllabus is usually assessed and assessment
criteria is usually part of curriculum.
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 Conti…
• According to Stern (1983) The terms "syllabus", "syllabus design" and
"curriculum design" have given rise to confusion in terms of their
definitions and use. The field of curriculum studies is part of the discipline
of educational studies. In its broadest sense, it refers to the study of goals,
content, implementation and evaluation of an educational system. In its
restricted sense, curriculum refers to a course of study or the content of a
particular course or programme. It is in this narrower sense of curriculum
that the term "syllabus" is employed. According to Stern, "syllabus design"
is just one phase in a system of interrelated curriculum development
activities.
• Shaw's (1975) survey of literature on second language syllabus
development brings out the following distinction between "curriculum" and
"syllabus". He says
• "... the curriculum includes the goals, objectives, content, processes,
resources, and means of evaluation of all the learning experiences planned
for pupils both in and out of the school and community, through classroom
instruction and related programs..."
• He then defines "syllabus" as
• "a statement of the plan for any part of the curriculum, excluding the
element of curriculum evaluation itself."
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 Conti…
• "Curriculum" as defined by Allen (1984) is a very general concept. It
involves consideration of philosophical, social and administrative
factors which contribute to the planning of an educational
programme. "Syllabus" then refers to that subpart of a curriculum
which is concerned with the specification of what units will be taught.

• In defining a language "syllabus", Noss and Rodgers (1976) refer to it

as "a set of justifiable, educational objectives specified in terms of
linguistic content". Here the specification of objectives must have
something to do with language form or substance, with language-
using situations, or with language as a means of communication.

• Strevens (1977) says that the syllabus is

• "partly an administrative instrument, partly a day-to-day guide to the
teacher, partly a statement of what is to be taught and how,
sometimes partly a statement of an approach ... The syllabus
embodies that part of the language which is to be taught, broken
down into items, or otherwise processed for teaching purposes."
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 Conti…
• In Wilkins' (1981) words, syllabuses are "specifications of the content of language teaching which
have been submitted to some degree of structuring or ordering with the aim of making teaching
and learning a more effective process."

• Johnson (1982) explains syllabus as an "organized syllabus inventory" where "syllabus inventory"
refers to the items to be taught. Crombie (1985) also defines "syllabus" as a list or inventory of
items or units with which learners are to be familiarised. But Corder (1975) points out that it is
more than just an inventory of items. In addition to specifying the content of learning, a syllabus
provides a rationale of how that content should be selected and ordered (Mackey, 1980).

• Candlin (1984) takes a different stand when he says that syllabuses are "social constructions,
produced interdependently in classrooms by teachers and learners ... They are concerned with the
specification and planning of what is to be learned, frequently set down in some written form as
prescriptions for action by teachers and learners."

• Basically, a syllabus can be seen as "a plan of what is to be achieved through our teaching and our
students' learning" (Breen, 1984) while its function is "to specify what is to be taught and in what
order" (Prabhu, 1984).

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 MAJOR TYPES/APPROACHES OF SYLLABI
• There are two major types of syllabus.
1. Product oriented
2. Process oriented
• These two types have different sub types .Different types of syllabus rarely occur
independently. Almost all actual language teaching syllabi are combinations of two
or more of the types defined here. For a given course, one type of syllabus usually
dominates, while other types of content may be combined with it. Furthermore,
the all types of syllabi are not entirely distinct from each other.
• Since there is no serious rationale behind the selection of only one of the
inventory item types necessary to be chosen as a unit of organization. It is possible
to design a syllabus involving lessons of varying orientation; for example, some
including important functions, others dealing with situations and topics, and yet
others with notions and structures. The underlying principle is that there should
be flexibility to change the central point of the teaching material as the course
unfolds. This will lead to a syllabus design which is flexible, less rigid and more
responsive to the various student language needs. such syllabus is also called
multi-dimensional syllabus.
• For example, the distinction between skill-based and task-based syllabi may be
minimal. In such cases, the distinguishing factor is often the way in which the
instructional content is used in the actual teaching procedure. The characteristics,
differences, strengths, and weaknesses of individual syllabi are defined as follows:

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 1:- Product-Oriented Syllabus
• This kind of syllabuses emphasizes the product of language learning and is prone to approval
from an authority. There are three types of syllabus described in the following:
• (i) The Structural Syllabus
• Structural syllabus. This type of syllabus represented the model of foreign language teaching
at its beginning. It was selected and graded according to grammatical notions of simplicity
and complexity, focusing only on one aspect of language-formal grammar.
• Historically, the most prevalent of syllabus type is perhaps the structural or grammatical
syllabus in which the selection and grading of the content is based on the complexity and
simplicity of grammatical items. The learner is expected to master each structural step and
add it to her grammar collection. As such the focus is on the outcomes or the product.
• One problem facing the syllabus designer pursuing a grammatical order to sequencing input
is that the ties connecting the structural items may be rather weak. A more fundamental
criticism is that the grammatical syllabus focuses on only one aspect of language, namely
grammar, whereas in truth there exist many more aspects of language. Finally, recent
research suggests there is a disagreement between the grammar of the spoken and of the
written language; raising complications for the grading of content in grammar based
syllabuses.

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• It is based on a theory of language that assumes that the grammatical or structural aspects of language form are
the most basic or useful .
• The structural syllabus can be said to embrace a theory of learning that holds that functional ability arises from
structural knowledge or ability.
• The content of the structural syllabus is primarily grammatical form.
• The demand of structural syllabi has tended to be limited to the sentence.
• Semantically defined sentence types such as statements, questions, interrogatives and grammatically defined
types such as simple, compound and complex sentences are seen.
• Structural syllabi have most frequently been associated with cognitive methods of language teaching, Audio-
lingual, Grammar Translation Method, Silent Way, and etc.
• “Grammar” is frequently expected in a language class and usually constitutes familiar content.
• According to that syllabi , grammatical concepts such as nouns, imperatives, plural, gerund are simply better
defined than functional ones and also easily measured.

• Yet the low transferability of structural knowledge to actual language behaviour severely limits its application in
language teaching settings ,at least to language instruction whose goal is the ability to function in the language.
• A fundamental criticism is that the grammatical syllabus focuses on only one aspect of language, namely grammar,
whereas in truth there exist many more aspects to language.
• Finally, recent corpus based research suggests there is a divergence between the grammar of the spoken and of
the written language; raising implications for the grading of content in grammar based syllabuses.

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 Conti…
• (ii) The Situational Syllabus
• The limitations found in structural approach led to an alternative
approach where situational needs are emphasized rather than
grammatical units. Here, the principal organizing characteristic is a
list of situations which reflects the way language is used in everyday
life i.e. outside the classroom. Thus, by linking structural theory to
situations the learner is able to grasp the meaning in relevant
context.
• One advantage of the situational Syllabus is that motivation will be
heightened since it is "learner- rather than subject- centered"
(Wilkins.1976). However, a situational syllabus will be limited for
students whose needs were not encompassed by the situations in
the syllabus. This dissatisfaction led Wilkins to describe notional
and communicative categories which had a significant impact on
syllabus design.

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 Conti…
• (iii) The Notional/Functional Syllabus
• In the 1970s this type of syllabus became an alternative to the structurally graded
syllabuses in attempts to incorporate a broader view of language communication.
Communicative skills rather than language per se became the focus of this syllabus type.
• Wilkins' criticism of structural and situational approaches lies in the fact that they
answer only the 'how' or 'when' and 'where' of language use (Brumfit and Johnson.
1979:84). Instead, he enquires "what it is they communicate through language" Thus,
the starting point for a syllabus is the communicative purpose and conceptual meaning of
language i.e. notions and functions, as opposed to only the grammatical items and
situational elements.
• In order to establish objectives of such a syllabus, the needs of the learners will have to
be analyzed on the base of communication need. Consequently, needs analysis has an
association with notional/functional syllabuses. White (1988:77) claims that "language
functions do not usually occur in isolation" and there are also difficulties of selecting and
grading function and form.
• The above approaches belong to the product-oriented category of syllabuses. An
alternative path to Syllabus Design would be to adopt process oriented principles, which
assume that language can be learnt experientially as opposed to the step-by-step
procedure of the synthetic approach.

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• Notional/ functional syllabus has been closely associated with what has been called “
communicative language teaching”.
• According to communicative approach, language is used as vehicle for the expression of functional
meaning. The functional view emphasizes the semantic and communicative dimension rather than
the grammatical.
• It leads to a specification and organization of language teaching content by categories of meaning
and function rather than by elements of structure and grammar
• functional/ notional syllabus includes not only the elements of grammar and lexis but also specify
the topics, notions and concepts the learner needs to communicate.
• Notional/ Functionalism was initially associated with a cognitive type of learning theory that called
for explicit presentation of language material, conscious recognition and practice. Sequencing and
grading of language material do not seem to be of major concern.
• Functions associated with multiple forms are the basis for instruction.
• So a few structures can be used to perform many functions. Inviting someone out.
• Also, the syllabi is limited to short utterances or exchanges involving the functions in question.
Routines are short and presented primarily a vehicle for teaching, formulaic utterances generally
used to perform some specific function such as I`d love to but I cant.

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•
2:- Process-Oriented Syllabus
Process-Oriented Syllabuses are developed as a result of a sense of failure in product-oriented courses to
enhance communicative language skills. Syllabus is a process rather than a product. That is, focus is not on
what the student will have accomplished on completion of the program, but on the specification of
learning tasks and activities that s/he will undertake during the course.

• (i)Procedural/Task-Based Syllabus
• This latest type focuses on and emphasizes classroom activities that stimulate internal learning processes.
This syllabus type specifies the tasks, activities, and problems engaged in the classroom which will be
carried out in the real world.
• Prabhu's (1979) 'Bangalore Project' is a classic example of a procedural syllabus. Here, the question
concerning 'what' becomes subordinate to the question concerning 'how'. The focus shifts from the
linguistic element to the educational, with an emphasis on learning or learner. Within such a framework
the selection, ordering and grading of content is no longer wholly significant for the syllabus designer.
Arranging the Syllabus around tasks such as information- and opinion-gap activities, it was hoped that the
learner would perceive the language subconsciously whilst consciously concentrating on solving the
meaning behind the tasks. There appears to be an indistinct boundary between this approach and that of
language teaching methodology.
• A task-based syllabus assumes that speaking a language is a skill best perfected through practice and
interaction, and uses tasks and activities to encourage learners to use the language communicatively in
order to achieve a purpose. Tasks must be relevant to the real world language needs of the student. That
is, the underlying learning theory of task based and communicative language teaching seems to suggest
that activities in which language is employed to complete meaningful tasks, enhances learning.

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• The task based syllabus:
• The defining characteristic is that it uses activities that the learners
have to do for non-instructional purposes outside the classroom.
• Tasks are a way of bringing the real world to the classroom:
developing surveys.
• The intent of task-based is to use learners 'real-life needs and activities as
learning experiences, providing motivation through immediacy and
relevance.

• The language needed to carry out the tasks is not provided or taught
beforehand, but discovered by students and provided by teachers and
other resources as the task is carried out.
• The one aspect of language knowledge that may not be addressed by task-
based instruction, however, is explicit metalinguistic knowledge, or the
ability to make descriptive or prescriptive statements about the language.

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• The primary theory of learning underlying
task-based instruction is Krashen´s acquistion
theory.
• Language is gained through exposure to and
participation in using it
• The theory of language most closely
associated with task-based learning is
communicative
• (with its 4 components).
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 How are task selected?
• According to students` cognitive skills and linguistic
readiness for particular tasks, their need for the
particular discourse or interactional type, and
availability of resources for carrying out the task.
• The following shorter tasks should be undertaken
before longer and more complex ones: tasks requiring
known information
• Advanced learners may be able to handle
tasks that extend over several days or weeks: call for a
great deal of new or unknown information, require
complex processing such as evaluation, comparison..

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 Examples of task based syllabus
• Beginning level
• Preparing profiles of class members for other classes or teachers
• Planning and carrying out a class outing or picnic or dinner.
• Producing a class cookbook
• Filling out applications
• Preparing a handbook to the school to be used by other students
• Producing an employement procedure guide- where to go.. Whom to talk to
• Writing various types of letters
• Producing newsletters for the other students
• Designing an electronic portfolio..website..discussion forum
• Advanced
• Writing term papers for other content classes.
• Doing a price comparison survey of food stores.
• Producing collections of the learners` community folklore.

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 Positive characteristics
• Widely applicable.
• Suitable for learners of all ages and backgrounds.
• Functional ability should be a natural outcome of the
instructional experience.
• Negative Characteristics
• Problems lie in implementing the instruction: requires
creativity and initiate on the part of the teacher.
• If teachers are traditional, or do not have the time or
resources, this type of teaching may be impossible.
• Traditional students may not like it either: they feel
they are not learning anything.

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 application
• Real life tasks should be devised:
• Dilemmas, ranking exercises, survey or
• questionnaire design.
• It works better in ESL environments, due to
the I+1 ( comprehensible input) students are
exposed to.
• For our context, if resources are available:
computers, internet access, and others, it can
be used.
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 Conti…
• (ii)Learner-Led Syllabus
• The notion of basing a syllabus on how learners learn language was proposed by Breen and Candlin
(1984). Here the emphasis lies on the learner, who it is hoped will be involved in the implementation of
the syllabus design. By being fully aware of the course they are studying, it is believed that their interest
and motivation will increase, coupled with the positive effect of nurturing the skills required to learn.
• However, as suggested earlier, a predetermined syllabus provides support and guidance for the teacher
and should not be so easily dismissed. Critics have suggested that a learner-led syllabus seems radical and
utopian in that it will be difficult to follow as the direction of the syllabus will be largely the responsibility
of the learners.
• This leads to the final syllabus design to be examined ; the proportional syllabus as suggested by Yalden
(1987).
• (iii)The Proportional Syllabus
• The proportional syllabus basically attempts to develop an "overall competence”. It consists of a number
of elements within the main theme playing a linking role through the units. This theme is designated by
the learners. It is expected initially that form will be of central value, but later, the focus will turn towards
interactional components. The syllabus is designed to be dynamic, not static, with sufficient opportunity
for feedback and flexibility.
• The shift from form to interaction can occur at any time and is not limited to a particular stratum of
learners. As Yalden observes, it is important for a syllabus to indicate explicitly what will be taught, "not
what will be learned". This practical approach with its focus on flexibility and spiral method of language
sequencing leading to the recycling of language, seems relevant for learners who lack exposure to the
target language beyond the classroom.

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• Iv. SKILL BASED SYLLABUS
• ESP: English for Specific Purposes
• EAP: English for Academic purposes
• Skill: a specific way of using language that combines structural and functional ability but exists
independently of specific settings or situations. Examples:
• reading skills,
• writing skills: reports, speeches,
• listening skills: getting phone calls
• Talking orders in a restaurant
• Skill based approaches: Competency based instruction:
• What the learner should be able to do
• as a result of instruction.

• After so many hours of English instruction,

• what should you be able to do?
• How many hours of driving classes do
• you need to be a competent driver?

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• The content of the language teaching is a collection of specific abilities that may play a part in using
language.
• Skills are things that people must be able to do to be competent in a language, relatively
independently of the situation or setting in which the language use can occur.
• The primary purpose of skill-based instruction is to learn the specific language skill. A possible
secondary purpose is to develop more general competence in the language, learning only
incidentally any information that may be available while applying the language skills.
• Skill based is becoming widely used in adult education ESL programs for immigrants and refugees.
• The skills are presented broadly and with varied and variable applications
• ( e.g. intensive reading of many different types texts) so that specific skills and global ability are
developed simultaneously.
• Examples:
• Advanced reading course:
• guessing vocabulary from context
• reading for the main idea
• inferring
• summarizing readings
• Dictionary work
• critical reading skills
• Analysis of paragraph structure.

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 Positive characteristics of skilled base
syllabus
• It is useful when learners need to master
specific types of language, either exclusively
or as a part of a broader competency.
• It is easy to predict the skills someone will
need to deal with in a given context ( at a
college: good writing and reading skills).
• Relevance to student-felt needs or wants is an
advantage.

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Negative side.. Potential drawbacks
• The degree to which ability to perform specific
tasks in a language is dependent on or
independent of overall language proficiency.
• The skills or competencies can be too limited (
for phone operators and not general
education: thinking skills. That is too say it can
be too technical).

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 application
• It is appropriate when learners need specific
skills, and when the skills are well defined and
learners don’t need the other skills.
• It has valuable applications in life skills and
vocationally oriented language programs for
adult immigrants and refugees.
• More appropriate for adults
• Language programs preparing students for
academic work.
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• V.CONTENT BASED SYLLABUSV.
• It is the teaching of content or information in the language being
learned with little or nor direct explicit effort to teach the language.
• It is closely related to provide instruction/ education to children of
immigrants (LEP, limited English Proficiency). One solution to the
problem of LEP has been controlled immersion programs… but also
bilingual programs: but they are costly.
• Immersion: students are given content instruction in a language
they may not control well or at all.
• The learning theory associated with content based instruction is an
acquisition theory ( Krashen).
• CONTENT
• Any content based syllabus is by definition identical to the syllabus
of a content course at any level in science, social studies, or any
other school.

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 Positive Characteristics
• Students learn language and subject matter
simultaneously.
• There is a perfect match: what is neeed and
what is provided.
• The motivational aspect of content based
instruction, provided that students find the
content material interesting.
• Negative Characteristics

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 Negative characteristics
• It can lead to premature fossilization due to lack
of corrective feedback.
• It is problematic with beginning or low level adult
students.
• Applications:
• Most applicable in primary and
• secondary school settings (biligual schools of
• the country. Would you be ready to teach
• Science to 5th graders? History? It is a
• possibility.
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• Iv. A cultural syllabus
• Stern (1992) introduces ‘cultural syllabus’ to be
incorporated into second/foreign language education.
There are many challenges regarding defining the
concept of culture. Seelye (1984:26) refused to define
culture, calling it ‘a broad concept that embraces all
aspects of the life of man’, and Brown (1994) calls it the
“glue” that binds a group of people together. In order
to have a better understanding of the term culture,
Stern (1992:208) suggests that writers ‘have tried to
reduce the vast and amorphous nature of the culture
concept to manageable proportions by preparing lists
of items or by indicating a few broad categories’.
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• Stern keeps on by discounting such lists as presented by Brooks and Chastain as providing only
‘cultural titbits’. Nostrand’s (1978) emergent model is praised by Stern as an attempt to overcome
this, as is Seelye’s observation that all of mankind have the same needs, and that different groups
will satisfy these needs in different ways, as this gives a viewpoint for studying culture. However,
Stern also implies that although both Nostrand’s and Seelye’s work give a viewpoint, they are
difficult to be put in practice. Hammerly (1982) suggests a mix of anthropological culture and
classical culture. He highlights three areas, i.e. information culture, behavioural culture and
achievement culture. Stern believes this to be valuable, but claims that it does not solve the
problem of the range of cultural topics.
• Believing in the fact that there is a consensus on the objectives of teaching culture, Stern (1992)
indicates that aims should be:
• • A research-minded outlook
• • The learner’s own country
• • Knowledge about the target culture
• • Affective goals; interest, intellectual curiosity, and empathy.
• • Awareness of its characteristics and of differences between the target culture
• • Emphasis on the understanding socio-cultural implications of language and language use

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•
A lexical syllabus
As one of the advocates of the lexical syllabus, Willis
(1990, 129-130) asserts that “taking lexis as a starting
point enabled us to identify the commonest meanings
and patterns in English, and to offer students a picture
which is typical of the way English is used”. He
continued to claim that they were able to follow
through the work of Wilkins and his colleagues in their
attempt to establish a notional syllabus. They also were
able to suggest to students a way of referencing the
language they had experienced. Thus learners were
able to use their corpus in the same way as
grammarians and lexicographers use a corpus in order
to make valid and relevant generalizations about the
language under study.

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• Specifically speaking, Willis’ lexical syllabus is firmly based on real
language. It draws on the COBUILD research which provides an analysis of
a corpus of natural language of twenty million words. The COBUILD corpus
provides the content of the lexical syllabus, the commonest words and
phrases in English and their meanings. It also provides some insights into
that content which modifies and shapes the way syllabus designers treat
the language in the course books. Thus, the picture of the language one
pictures in designing such a syllabus is quite distinct from what one might
present intuitively. In fact, intuition on its own cannot identify the most
frequent words and phrases of the language,
• or even recognize their importance. Previously the course writer’s reliance
on intuition has resulted in misrepresentations in the handling with the
language. The proposed lexical syllabus is actually based on a body of
research into natural language rather than other pedagogic grammars. The
result is to put forward a more complete pedagogic description of the
language and a better balanced description as well.

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• One of the most significant features of designing such a syllabus is the shift of
responsibility for learning onto the learner. Instead of offering discrete
patterns to the learner, we enabled the learner to experience a corpus of
language which is in many ways typical of the language as a whole, and to
learn from examining and analyzing this corpus. By exposing learners to
carefully selected language, and by arming them with analyzing that language
for themselves, the syllabus helps the learners successfully achieve their goals.
Specifically speaking, it is the issue of a dynamic element in the process that is
the learner's creativity. In fact, by exploiting the creativity, the learning is
vastly made more efficient.

• Lexical syllabuses identify a target vocabulary to

be taught normally arranged according to levels
such as the first 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 words.
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 Curriculum/Syllabus Design

• Syllabus design: Concerns the selection of items to be learnt and the grading of those items into an
appropriate sentence.

• Curriculum design: Also concerned with the planning, implementation, evaluation, management
and administration of education programmes.

• It is the process by which the raw data about a learning need is interpreted to produce an
integrated series of teaching-learning experiences.
• To design a syllabus is to decide what gets taught and in what order. For this reason, the theory of
language underlying the language teaching method will play a major role in determining what
syllabus should be adopted to what type of students. Theory of learning also plays an important
part in determining the kind of syllabus used. For example, a syllabus based on the theory of
learning evolved by cognitive code teaching would emphasize language forms and whatever explicit
descriptive knowledge about those forms. A syllabus based on an acquisition theory of learning,
however, would emphasize unanalyzed and carefully selected experiences of the new language.
• The choice of a syllabus is a major decision in language teaching, and it should be made as
consciously and with as much information as possible. There has been much confusion over the
years as to what different types of content are possible in language teaching syllabi and as to
whether the differences are in syllabus or method. Several distinct types of language teaching
syllabi exist, and these different types may be implemented in various teaching situations.

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• After having understood what the terms "curriculum" and "syllabus" refer to, the
next step would be to come to terms with what language "syllabus design"
encompasses.

• According to Webb (1976), syllabus design is understood as the organization of the

selected contents into an ordered and practical sequence for teaching purposes.
His criteria for syllabus design is as follows:

• progress from known to unknown matter

• appropriate size of teaching units
• a proper variety of activity
• teach ability
• creating a sense of purpose for the student.

• Garcia (1976) expands on this and provides more comprehensive criteria which
should be taken into consideration when designing a language syllabus.

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• "particulars concerning the social forces, the prejudices, the habits and the
motives of the student population, the relation of student characteristics to what
are considered universal concepts in language learning processes, contemporary
insights into the nature of the language, and how it should be taught to non-native
speakers and for what realistic purposes, must guide curricular decisions."

• Designing a language syllabus is no doubt a complex process. According to Amran

Halim (1976), the language course designer has to pay serious consideration to all
the relevant variables. He has grouped all the variables into two categories,
namely:

• linguistic variables, which include the linguistic relations, between the language
to be taught and the language or languages which the student uses in his daily
activities; and
• Non-linguistic variables which range from policy to social, cultural, technological
and administrative variables.

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• According to Munby (1984), syllabus design is seen as "a matter of specifying the content that needs to be taught
and then organizing it into a teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units."

• Maley (1984) sums it up when he says that syllabus design encompasses the whole process of designing a
language programme.
• He says that "the needs analysis Which produces an order unit of items to be taught is organically related to a
methodology consistent with the syllabus, a set of techniques consistent with the methodology, and evaluation
procedure consistent with the whole."

• From the above explanations on syllabus design, it can be concluded that syllabus design involves a logical
sequence of three main stages, that is, i) needs analysis, ii) content specification, and iii) syllabus organization.
• This follows very closely the general model advocated by Taba (1962) which gave the following steps:
• needs analysis
• formulation of objectives
• selection of content
• organization of content
• selection of learning activities
• organization of learning activities
• decisions about what needs evaluating and how to evaluate.

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 Two approaches to syllabus design
• There are basically two types of ESP courses, which we might call English-through
and English-for.
• English-through means teaching English through the lens of an ESP field. The aim
of the course is to bump your students up to a higher level of global language
proficiency (e.g. from CEF level B2 to C1). That means teaching all the grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation that all other language learners have to study. And
making sure your students understand the language structures at that level and
can use them as well as others of the same level. It also means working on the four
skills - to improve reading speed and listening comprehension, spoken confidence
and written style. All that sort of thing.

• In other words, it's just like any other English course. The only difference is that
everything is done in the context of the ESP field. So you teach present perfect
through examples from that field and practise it with a field-relevant role-play, or
whatever. You work on their reading skills by giving them increasingly challenging
things to do with texts about their field. The ESP field exists in the course primarily
as a means of keeping the course interesting and relevant. If you work in finance,
for example, you might get more out of a report-writing task on the causes of the
credit crunch than on the pros and cons of fox hunting Or whatever.

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 Types of syllabus design
• There are three major types of syllabus design
1.Target cantered syllabus design
• What learners need and want may conflict. We must
remember that there are external constraints (classroom
facilities/ time) that will restrict what is possible.
• We also have to take into account our own theoretical
views and experiences of the classroom.
• There are many different approaches to ESP course design.
• It is the simplest and more familiar kind to English teachers
(Ts). It aims to draw as direct a connection as possible
between the analysis of the target situation and the
content of the ESP course. It proceeds as follows:

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• However, it has a number of weaknesses:
• 1. It starts from the learner and their needs. It might be considered a learner-centred approach.
The learner is simply used as a means of identifying the target situation.

• 2. It is a static and inflexible procedure, which can take little account of the conflicts and
contradictions that are inherent in any human endeavour.

• 3. It appears to be systematic.

• 4. It gives no acknowledgement to factors which must inevitably play a part in the creation of any
course. Data is not important in itself.

• 5. The lg-centred analysis of target situation data is only at the surface level. It reveals very little
about the competence that underlies the performance.

• This course design fails to recognise the fact that, learners being people, learning is not a
straightforward, logical process.
• A lg-centred approach says:
• ‘This is the nature of the target situation performance and that will determine the ESP
course.’

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2. SKILLS-CENTRED syllabus DESIGN
• It is a reaction both to the idea of specific registers of English as a basis for
ESP and to the practical constraints on learning imposed by limited time
and resources. Its aim is not to provide a specified corpus of linguistic
knowledge but to make the learners into better processors of information.
• It is founded on 2 fundamental principles, one theoretical, the other
pragmatic:
• Underlying any lg behaviour are certain skills and strategies, which the
learner uses to produce or comprehend discourse.

• 2. The pragmatic basis for the skills-centred approach derives from a

distinction made by Widdowson (1981) between goal-oriented courses
and process-oriented ones.

• The emphasis in the ESP course in not on achieving a particular set

of goals, but on enabling the learners to achieve what they can
within the given constraint.

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• The role of needs analysis in this approach is twofold:
• 1. it provides a basis for discovering the underlying competence that enables people to perform in
the target situation.
• 2. it enables the course designer to discover the potential knowledge and abilities that the learner
bring to the ESP classroom.

• This approach takes the learner more into account:

• it reviews lg in terms of how the mind of the learner processes it rather that as an entity in itself
• it tries to build on the positive factors that the learners bring to the course (previous knowledge),
rather that just on the negative idea of ‘lacks’.
• It frames its objectives in open-ended terms, so enabling learners to achieve at least sth.

• This approach still approaches the learner as a user of lg rather than as a learner of lg. The
processes it is concerned with are the processes of lg use not of lg learning.
• A skills-centred approach says: ‘we must look behind the target performance data to discover what
processes enable sb to perform. Those processes will determine the ESP course.’

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 3. LEARNING-CENTERED syllabus
design
• LEARNING-CENTERED APPROACH
• It is based on the principle that learning is totally determined by the
learner even though Ts can influence what is taught
• The learner is one factor to consider in the learning process, but not the
only one.
• It is seen as a process in which the learner use what knowledge or skills
they have to make sense of the flow of new information.
• It is an internal process, which is crucially dependent upon the knowledge
the learner already have and their ability an motivation to use it.
• It is a process of negotiation between individuals and the society. Society
sets the target and the individuals must do their best to get as close to
that target as is possible.
• A learning-centred approach says: ‘we must look beyond the competence
that enables sb to perform, because what we really want to discover is not
the competence itself, but how sb acquires that competence

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• This approach has 2 implications:
• 1.Course design is a negotiated process. The ESP
learning situation and the target situation will both
influence the nature of the syllabus, materials,
methodology and evaluation procedures.

• 2. Course design is a dynamic process. It doesn’t move

in a linear fashion. Needs and resources vary with time.
The course design, therefore, needs to have built-in
feedback channels to enable the course to respond to
developments.

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• If we took a learning-centred approach, we would need to ask further
questions and consider other factors, before determining the content and
methodology of the course:
• What skills are necessary to be taught?
• What are the implications for methodology of having a mono-skill focus?
• How will the sts react to doing tasks involving other skills?
• Do the resources in the classroom allow the use of other skills?
• How will the learners react to discussing things in the mother tongue?
• How will the sts’ attitudes vary through the course? Will thy feel
motivated?
• How do sts feel about reading as an activity?

• The important point is that these questions must

be asked and the results allowed to influence the course design

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 Current trends of syllabus design
• The co-existence of the old and the new
• The emphasis on learning process
• The inclusion of non-linguistic objectives in
syllabus
• The emergence of the multi-syllabus

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 Eight Common Curriculum Design
• 1. Content-based instruction
• purpose: knowledge, acquisition
• activity: facts, data, and representative form

• 2. Shell Based Instruction

• purpose: process and manipulation
• activity: practice, ordering application

• 3. Inquiry Approach
• purpose: awareness, interest
• activity: unknown, sampling

• 4. Conceptual Learning
• purpose: understanding
• activity: big ideas, familiarity
•

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• 5. Interdisciplinary Learning
• purpose: making connection
• activity: application

• 6. Cooperative Learning
• purpose: coordinating social skills
• activity: group work

• 7. Problem Solving
• purpose: apply skills
• activity: current events

• 8. Critical and Creative Thinking

• purpose: construction of new forms
• activity: model building, imagination

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 Levels of syllabus/curriculum design.
• Every syllabus has three levels:
• Planned : what is intended by designers
• Delivered : what is organised by institution
• what is taught by teachers
• Experienced: what is learned by students

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 Four important questions for syllabus
designers
• What educational purposes do we seek to
attain?
• What educational experiences are likely to
attain these purposes?
• How can these be organised effectively?
• How can we determine whether these
purposes are being attained?
• Tyler,R. 1949
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Suggested Steps for Planning Syllabus:

• Develop a well-grounded rationale for your course.

• Decide what you want students to be able to do as a
result of taking your course, and how their work will be
appropriately assessed.
• Define and delimit course content.
• Structure your students’ active involvement in learning.
• Identify and develop resources.
• Compose your syllabus with a focus on student
learning.

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 Suggested Principles for Designing a
Syllabus that Fosters Critical Thinking:
• Critical thinking is a learnable skill; the instructor and class fellows are
resources in developing critical thinking skills.
• • Problems, questions, or issues are the point of entry into the subject and a
source of motivation for nonstop inquiry.
• • Successful courses balance the challenge to think critically with supporting
students’’developmental needs.
• • Courses should be assignment centered rather than text and lecture
centered. Goals, methods and evaluation emphasize using content rather than
simply acquiring it.
• • Students are required to formulate their ideas in writing or other
appropriate means.
• • Students should collaborate to learn and to stretch their thinking, for
example, in pair problem solving and small group work.
• • Courses that teach problem-solving skills nurture students’ metacognitive
abilities.
• • The developmental needs of students are acknowledged and used as
information in the design of the course. Teachers in these courses make standards
explicit and then help students learn how to achieve them.

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 Syllabus Functions:

• Establishes an early point of contact and connection between student and

instructor
• • Describes your beliefs about educational purposes
• • Acquaints students with the logistics of the syllabus
• • Contains collected handouts
• • Defines student responsibilities for successful course work
• • Describes active learning
• • Helps students to assess their readiness for your syllabus
• • Sets the course in a broader context for learning
• • Provides a conceptual framework
• • Describes available learning resources
• • Communicates the role of technology in the course
• • Can improve the effectiveness of student note-taking
• • Can include material that supports learning outside the classroom
• • Can serve as a learning contract

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Curriculum /syllabus as a Discipline
• Graduate and undergraduate students take
• courses in:
• Curriculum development
• Curriculum theory
• Curriculum Evaluation
• Secondary School Curriculum
• Elementary School Curriculum
• Middle School Curriculum
• Community College Curriculum
• Curriculum in Higher Education

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 Foundations of Curriculum Planning
• Social Forces

• The Treatment of Knowledge

• Human growth & development

• Learning as a process

• Technology

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 Philosophy and curriculum design
• Philosophies and curriculum leaders

• Five Educational Philosophies

• Perennialism
• Idealism
• Realism
• Experimentalism
• Existentialism

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 Four main types of need analysis
• 1.Target Situation Analyses- in which situations learners use
the target language most? Over the telephone, delivering
presentations, meetings, hotel reception. What do they
need L2 for?
• 2. Learning Situation Analysis- in which style learners have
been taught before? structural, procedural, communicative.
What is the best way to get Learners to L2 target level?
• 3.Present situation Analysis- where the learners are now
proficiency wise? Give them a test and diagnose their level
of proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking
• 4.Means Analysis- what resources they have, what learning
styles they are used to, what are their class dynamics etc.

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 Needs Analysis and course design

• This section discusses the definitions of language needs analysis. Needs

analysis is a very valuable tool in identifying where the learners are and
where learners should be. If we are to analyse needs, we have to know
what kinds of needs are
• .
• Many practitioners define language needs analysis in various ways and
from different viewpoints. The definition of Language Needs Analysis is
based on the work of Nunan (1991), Backman and Palmer (1992), and
Brown (1995), in which they define Language Needs Analysis is a set of
tools, techniques and procedures for determining thelanguage content
and learning processes that involves systematic gathering of specificin
formation about the language needs to meet the learning needs of a
particular group of learners. The needs of a specific group of learners must
be satisfied by the suitable teaching methods based on curriculum and
context. In general, needs analysis is a method in findinglearner’s need in
order to improve their English language skills.

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• This section discusses the definitions of; language needs analysis,
types of English language needs, methods of collecting data of
needs analysis, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) syllabus, and
course design for ESP. The term “needs analysis” was originated by
Michael West of India in the 1920swhen he was trying to establish
the way the learners should learn English. In the field of language
program planning, needs analysis is the first step in developing a
language curriculum (Brown, 1995). It is a systematic and on going
process of gathering information about learners’ needs,
interpreting the information, and then making course decisions
based on the interpretation in order to meet the needs. It can be
seen that it is the responsibility of the teachers and planners in
investigating the learners to which the language they need in order
to produce and teach an effective course.

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 Types of English Language Needs
analysis
• This section discusses the types of needs
related to the specific group of learners in this
study.The first two types of needs taken into
account for needs analysis of ESP
coursedesign are target needs and learning
needs (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987).1.

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• 1.Target needs
• refers to what the learner needs to do in the target
situation.Hutchinson and Waters describe the target needs in terms
of necessities, lacks and wants.Necessities are what the learner has
to know in order to perform effectively in the target situation. Thus,
it is a matter of observing the existing proficiency of the learners.
However,to identify necessities alone is not enough; we also need
to know what the learner knowsalready in order to decide which of
the necessities the learner lacks. Lacks are what thelearners already
know that are the gaps between the target proficiency and the
existingproficiency of the learners. Wants can be considered to be
the perception of the needs of the learners. In other words, wants
are what the learners feel they need. It is concernedwith asking
questions about target situation and the attitudes towards situation
of thevarious participants in the learning process.2.

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• 2.Learning needs
• can be considered as what the learner needs to do in order tolearn.
Learning needs covers all of the factors connected with the process of
learning, suchas attitudes, motivation and awareness, personality, learning
styles and strategies andsocial background.Both target situation needs
and learning needs are important to ESP course design.They can guide the
direction of ESP course design to meet the learners’ needs since
theyinfluence on the nature of the syllabus, materials, methodology, and
evaluation procedures.In research studies, the researcher can examine the
needs, problems, wants and other implementation factors by investigating
the target situation and learning situation in order to adjust the new
information for learners.In summary, both target situation and learning
needs are important. They can guidethe direction of ESP course design to
meet learner’s needs. The researcher concentratesontarget needs
• which are the English language needs of the Metropolitan Police Officers
inorder to provide the services for the foreign tourists.

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 Issues in ESP Course Design
• The work that has been done in the field of ESP
has generally followed the assumption that if a
group of learners English language needs can be
accurately specified, then this identification can
be used to determine the content of a language
programme that will meet these needs (Munby,
1978). Such interpretations were common in the
1970s and 1980s when needs analysis in ESP
contexts was widespread in language teaching
(Nunan, 1988; Strevens, 1988).

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• Then, such procedures were used as the initial
process for the specification of behavioral
objectives which then explored different syllabus
elements such as functions, notions and lexis in a
more detailed manner (Nunan, 1988). To this day,
this assumption is generally adhered to by most
ESP practitioners when they design or mount a
wide variety of ESP courses such as English for
civil servants; for policemen; for insurance staff;
for medical students; for legal staff; for nurses;
for human resource personnel etc

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• Such ESP courses are also prevalent in a young
and rapidly developing country like Malaysia.
After gaining independence from the British in
1947, Malaysia underwent necessary changes in
her infrastructure, international trade and
economy and these transformations established
the need for relevant and learner-centred ESP
courses in globalised work contexts. Since the
1970s, there has always been a need for ESP
courses in various ESP contexts in multicultural,
multireligious and multiethnic Malaysia.

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• ESP researchers are of the view that once learners
specialized needs and special language registers are
identified, then relevant teaching materials can be used to
teach the course more effectively. When Language for
Specific Purposes (LSP) became widespread, more
determined efforts were made to design comprehensive
LSP syllabus that focused on learners needs. But needs
analysis did not find its remarkable influence and position
in LSP until Munbys (1978) approach to needs analysis was
introduced. Despite numerous criticisms, many researchers
still see the value of using Munbys Communicative Needs
Processor as they view it as being contributory in many
developmental ways (Jordan, 1997; Phan, 2005).

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• Needs analysis is neither unique to language teaching nor
within language training but it is often seen as being the
corner stone of ESP and leads to a very focused course
(Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998: 122). Although there are
various ways of interpreting needs, the concept of learner
needs is often interpreted in two ways:
• as what the learner wants to do with the language
(goal-oriented definition of needs) which relates to
terminal objectives or the end of learning; and
• what the learner needs to do to actually acquire the
language (a process-oriented definition) which relates to
transitional/means of learning.

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• Traditionally, the first interpretation was widely used
and accepted. However, in todays globalised teaching
and learning contexts, ESP courses tend to relate to
both at the same time but tend to focus on the
process-oriented approach in aligning students needs
with their present working scenarios.
• In view of these concerns, Dudley-Evans and St. John
(1998: 145) discuss criteria for ESP course design and
put forward useful steps for ESP teachers and course
designers to consider. They list these concerns
surrounding course design in the form of the following
questions:

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• • Should the course be intensive or extensive?
• • Should the learners performance be assessed or non-assessed?
• • Should the course deal with immediate needs or with delayed needs?
• • Should the role of the teacher be that of the provider of knowledge and
activities, or should it be as facilitator of activities arising from learners expressed
wants?
• • Should the course have a broad focus or narrow focus?
• • Should the course be pre-study or pre-experience or run parallel with the
study or experience?
• • Should the materials be common-core or specific to learners study or work?
• • Should the group taking the course be homogenous or should it be
heterogeneous?
• • Should the course design be worked out by the language teacher after
consultation with the learners and the institution, or should it be subject to a
process of negotiation with the learners?

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• By asking these questions prior to planning course design, the ESP teacher
can be better prepared, more so if the teacher has to balance out some of
these parameters which are linked to institutional and learner
expectations (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998). In this respect, these
parameters of course design were considered and adhered to by the
researcher and will be addressed in the findings section below.
• In most instances, the content of any ESP course should only be
determined by a comprehensive needs analysis as this first step is seen as
being absolutely crucial if ESP practitioners wish to design a course that
will maximally benefit their learners (Wright, 2001). In the literature of
needs analysis, some of the following aspects are often recommended by
experts:
• • Placement testing (administering tests designed to assess general
English ability and ability to perform adequately in work contexts this
might help determine the starting level of courses in the ESP course)

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• • Linguistics needs analysis (to identify skill
development, linguistic structures, lexical items,
language functions and levels of formality)
• • Learning needs analysis (identify learners
attitudes towards different kinds of methodology,
learning tasks and activities); and
• • Learner perceptions analysis (discover
learners perceptions of themselves and others as
part of their company culture, and their
relationships with people from other company
cultures)

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• In analysing course design issues in any teaching and learning
context, it is generally an accepted fact that the process of matching
aim and method is not simply a mechanistic one of finding out what
is the aim and then finding an appropriate method to achieve it.
With reference to course design matters, an inescapable fact of
most needs analysis is the amount of vast information collected and
of deciding what may or may not prove to be relevant clues towards
resolution of hunches which may or may not be discarded
(Alasuutari, 1998). Hence, ESP researchers need to realize that the
accumulation of information about their prospective learners
communicative events is a trial and error period and needs to be
considered before some of it is discarded as it forms part of the
continuous dialectic by which aims and methods, hunches and
observations are fine tuned to suit the specific ESP teaching and
learning environment.

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 A Model is…??
• A simplified, yet communicable representation of a real-world
setting or situation.
• May be synonymous with design.
• It is an organized way of accomplishing a goal or task
• Models are useful because they provide guidance and structure.
Systems models bring various groups, individuals, information, and
activities together to achieve the goal and to provide continuous
feedback in order to improve the curriculum.

• Furthermore, a model should be...

• Practical
• Realistic
• Efficient
• Inclusive

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 There are five phases to the
Performance Improvement Model...
• Analyze
• Design
• Develop
• Implement
• Control

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 Most Recognized
Technical-Scientific Models
• 1.The Ralph Tyler Model:
• Four Basic Principles

• 2. The Hilda Taba Model:

• Grass-roots Rationale

• 3.The Francis Hunkins

• Decision-Making Model

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 The Ralph Tyler Model:
Four Basic Principles
• This is the best known technical-scientific model.
• In 1949, Tyler published Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, in
which he outlined four key points: 1) purposes of the school, 2)
educational experiences related to the purposes, 3) organization of these
experiences, and 4) evaluation of the purposes.
• From this rationale came Tyler’s model
• This model was developed by Ralph Tyler to simplify the curriculum
development process.

• Consists of four primary steps…

• Development of performance objectives
• Development of activities
• Organization of activities
• Evaluation

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• The Tylerian Model was expanded by Doll
(1986)to include:
• Statement of need, based on assessment
• Statement of objective
• Content list and organizational plan
• Description of learning experiences
• Evaluation plan
• Plan to solicit support for the curriculum

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 The final model that we will look at is
the Ten-Step Curriculum Planning
Model
• This model first appeared in the NASSP Bulletin in
1984 in an article by Zenger and Zenger. It is an
inclusive, organized approach that certainly
meets the definition of “systematic model.” It is
commonly used in the school setting.
• When using the “Ten-Step” Model, the process
• may or may not include all steps.
• may begin or end at any of the steps.
• steps may be repeated as necessary
• evaluation is a critical component of all steps

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 Ten steps in preparing a practical
language teaching syllabus:
• Determine, to the extent possible, what outcomes are desired for the students in the instructional
program. That is, as exactly and realistically as possible, defines what the students should be able to
do as a result of the instruction.
• 2. Rank the syllabus types presented here as to their likelihood of leading to the outcomes
desired. Several rankings may be necessary if outcomes are complex.
• 3. Evaluate available resources in expertise (for teaching, needs analysis, materials choice and
production, etc.), in materials, and in training for teachers.
• 4. Rank the syllabi relative to available resources. That is, determine what syllabus types would
be the easiest to implement given available resources.
• 5. Compare the lists made under No. 2 and 4. Making as few adjustments to the earlier list as
possible, produce a new ranking based on the resources’ constraints.
• 6. Repeat the process, taking into account the constraints contributed by teacher and student
factors described earlier.
• 7. Determine a final ranking, taking into account all the information produced by the earlier
steps.
• 8. Designate one or two syllabus types as dominant and one or two as secondary.
• 9. Review the question of combination or integration of syllabus types and determine how
combinations will be achieved and in what proportion.
• 10. Translate decisions into actual teaching units.
•

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 The Hilda Taba Model:
Grass-roots Rationale
• In Taba’s book, Curriculum development: Theory and Practice (1962), she
argued that there was a definite order to creating the curriculum.
• Where Taba differed from Tyler was that she believed that those who
teach the curriculum, the teachers, should participate in developing it.
She advocated what has been called the grass-roots approach, a model
whose steps or stages are similar to Tyler’s.
• Although Tyler did not advocate that his model only be employed by
persons in the central office, educators during the early days of curriculum
making thought that the central authorities really had the knowledge
thereby creating “top down” curricula.
• Taba believed that teachers should begin the process by creating specific
teaching-learning units for their students.
• More specifically, she advocated that teachers take an inductive approach
to curriculum development—starting with specifics and building to a
general design—as opposed to the more traditional deductive approach—
starting with the general design and working toward the specifics (see
handout).

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 The Francis Hunkins
Decision-Making Model
• The model has seven major stages: curriculum
conceptualization and legitimization, diagnosis, content
selection, experience selection, implementation,
evaluation; and maintenance.
• What sets this model apart is its recommended first
stage of curricular decision making. The first stage
requires that participants engage in deliberation
regarding the nature of curriculum and also its
educational and social-political value. This approach
addresses the concerns of reconceptualists, of putting
stress on understanding the nature and power of
curriculum (see handout).

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 Nontechnical-Nonscientific
• This approach considers that the curriculum evolves rather
than being planned precisely.
• The nontechnical camp focuses on the subjective, personal,
and aesthetic. They stress not the outputs of production
but rather the learner, especially through activity-oriented
approaches to teaching and learning.
• Advocates of this approach might well identify themselves
as postmodern (i.e., the world is viewed not as a machine
but as a living organism). Therefore, individuals who
consider themselves postmodern realize that one cannot
separate curriculum development from the people involved
in the process or from those who will experience the
curriculum.

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 Most Recognized
Nontechnical-Nonscientific Models
• Allan Glatthorn: Naturalistic Model

• 2. The Deliberation Model

• 3. Postpositivist-Postmodern Models

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Allan Glatthorn: Naturalistic Model
• This model takes a middle-ground approach.
It is neither modern, although it does
advocate following a sequence of specific
stages, nor postmodern, although it can be
argued that is promises a great deal of
uncertainty and surprises.
• 2. The model contains eight steps (see
handout).

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 The Deliberation Model
• This model represents a means of reasoning about the
practical problems of what to include in the curriculum.
• The process is non-technical primarily because it does not
accept a linearity of action. That is, it is not necessary to
blindly follow steps 1, 2, and 3.
• Through deliberation, people are cognizant of the players in
the process and aware of their views, ideas, and agendas.
What type of knowledge and what view of knowledge does
the person involved in deliberation bring to the process?
• Effective deliberation involves stages, although there is no
agreement as to the exact number of stages. What is
proposed is a six-stage process (see handout).

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 Postpositivist-Postmodern Models
• This model causes curriculum makers to assume an
openness to process, an eye for the unexpected, and a
willingness to let individuals interact with curricular matters
as they evolve.
• Proponents of this approach to curriculum believe that the
actual planning process assumes its own ethos. Ends are
transformed into new beginnings; people in the process are
altered; students, teachers, and even course materials are
changed as the dynamics and chaos unfold.
• The aim of curricula designed from this viewpoint is not to
have students arrive at understandings, but essentially to
realize that they have more work to do, to continually make
their understandings new.

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 Postpositivist-Postmodern Models
(Continued)
• Curriculum becomes a process of development to be
experienced in unique and at first unimagined ways,
rather than a static body of knowledge to be presented
within a strict time table.
• 5. Curriculum participants are engaged in a critical
dialogue with themselves and others in the planning
process and interact with an evolving content of the
curriculum. This approach to curriculum creation can
never be articulated with a universal precision.
• 6. “If you gather together to create a curriculum, it
will emerge.”

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 Why should we consider various
models?
• To keep the educational system up-to-date with
prevailing advancements in various subjects.
• To reduce the gap between actual output and
required output.
• To adopt blended mode of education.
• To offer more meaningful education.
• To offer international standard so that credit
transfers, student, faculty exchange program can
take place

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When should you consider introducing
new curriculum models?
• When the gap between existing and expected
outcome is noticeable.

• Adoption of new advancements become

essential to carry forward.

• A new methodology such as blended mode of

education demands change of curriculum.
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 Various Approaches to Curriculum
Development
• Behavioral
• Managerial
• Systems
• Academic
• Humanistic
• Reconceptualist (understand, not just
implement or evaluate, the curriculum)

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 Behavioral Viewpoint
• Goals and objectives must be specified.
• Content and activities must be sequenced based on
objectives.
• Learning outcomes must be evaluated based on goals
and objectives
• Managerial Viewpoint
• Curriculum planned in terms of programs,
schedules, space, resources.
• Supervisory & administrative aspects are
concerned.

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 Systems Viewpoint
• Takes in to account systems theory, systems analysis, and
systems engineering (used mostly in business, government
& military)
• Academic Viewpoint
• Related to broad aspects of schooling
(discipline, values, extra-curricular)

• Humanistic Viewpoint

• Student centered

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 Reconceptualist Viewpoint
• Focuses on larger ideological and moral issues of education
• Views school as an extension of society
• Curriculum Practioners
• Successful Curriculum Practioners must be able to
select and organize:
• Goals and objectives
• Content (subject matter)
• Incorporate methods, materials, and media
• Interactive & Engaging learning experiences and
activities
• Evaluation techniques

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 References
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Design" CUP
• Hutchinson & Waters, 1996, "ESP a learning
centred approach" CUP

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 appendix

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