Types of Syllabus

Question 1

Concern of a Syllabus

Answer 1

How a course is structured and its content, i.e. the order in which language items are offered and what the items consist of.

Question 2

Product based approaches

Answer 2

Involve a step-by-step process in which language items are learnt as building blocks that can be synthesised into a larger whole. This is why this type of syllabus is also called synthetic

Question 3

Process based approaches

Answer 3

Adopt the principle that language is learnt experiential. The focus is not on the product, or what the student will have achieved at the end of the course, but rather on the process of performing certain tasks and activities during the course, because language or communication is seen as a process rather than a set of products.

Question 4

Grammatical / Structural Syllabus

Answer 4

It is a collection of forms and structures of the language taught. The notion underlying this is that language is a set of rules to be learnt. The content is graded depending on perceived complexity, even though seemingly complex grammatical structures are not necessarily the hardest to learn

Question 5

Benefit of Grammatical Syllabus

Answer 5

Students move from simpler to more complex structures and they may learn the structures more easily.
This syllabus may be more useful in a context in which the students do not have immediately communication needs.

Question 6

Notional / Functional Syllabus

Answer 6

Collection of the functions or the notions that are performed when the language is used.

Question 7

Steps of the Notional / Functional Syllabus

Answer 7

a. List of communication functions of the language that students expect to master.
b. List of the semantic notions (meanings) based on the culture of the speakers of the language.
c. Group of the functions and the notions together into learning tasks.

Question 8

Benefit of the Notional / Functional Syllabus

Answer 8

Students learn how to use the target language to express their own ideas, notions and purposes.

Question 9

Situational Syllabus

Answer 9

collection of Imaginary situations where the language is used.

Question 10

Steps of the Situational Syllabus

Answer 10

a. A list of communications situations that students may face.
b. A list of topics, grammatical forms and vocabulary and sequence them.
c. A group the topics, forms and structures and fit them with communication situations.

Question 11

The benefits of a Situational Syllabus

Answer 11

Students learn how to use the target language in an authentic communication.

Question 12

Skill-based syllabus

Answer 12

Collection of specific skills in using the target language.

Question 13

Steps of the Skill-based syllabus

Answer 13

a. A list of language skills that students need to acquire.
b. A list of topics, grammatical forms and vocabulary and sequences them.
c. A group the topics, forms and structures and fit them with the language skills.

Question 14

Benefits of the Skill-based syllabus

Answer 14

Students can specify their learning to reach their communicative competence.
The disadvantage of this syllabus is that it is harder to sequence the materials.

Question 15

Task-based syllabus

Answer 15

The content of the language teaching includes a series of purposeful tasks that language learners need to perform; tasks are defined as activities that are needed when using the target language.

Question 16

Steps of the task-based syllabus

Answer 16

a. A list of abilities or tasks that students need to acquire.
b. A list of topics, grammatical forms and vocabulary and sequences them.
c. A group the topics, forms and structures and fit them with the tasks.

Question 17

Benefit of the task-based syllabus

Answer 17

The benefit of a task-based syllabus is that students learn to carry out activities using the target language.

Question 18

Content-based syllabus

Answer 18

The primary purpose of instruction is to teach subject matter of the content course or information using the target language. The subject is primary and language learning occurs automatically while language learners are studying the subject.

Question 19

Steps of the content-based syllabus

Answer 19

a. A list of topics from the content (subject).
b. We make a list of topics, grammatical forms and vocabulary and sequences them.
c. We group the forms and structures and fit them with the topics.

Question 20

Benefits of the Content-based syllabus

Answer 20

• Students feel satisfied with the purpose of learning the target language, acquiring information. The feeling of satisfaction will promote their learning.
• This syllabus is often used in the immersion program, which has been addressed earlier.