Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
DAVID
NUNAN
In "Syllabus Design.' Nunan describes and evaluates a range of syllabus types including gramma~ical,
notional-functional, content-based, task-based, and integrated. he also sets out and illustrates key
procedures for developing syllabuses.These indude needs analysis, goal and objective setting, and the
development of competencies.
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In'Order to define syllabus design, we need to
srt.YVith tbe broader field of curriculumdevel<?ii:!:~nt._,g~"2!,~~~1!:.r.nis
~ large messy--ocep'
which can be looked at m a number of ways. A
v;rj broad definition is that it includes all of the
planned learning experienees of an edueational
system. The field of currculum development
was first systematized by Tyler in 1949, who articulated four fundamental questions that must be
ahswered by any currculum developer:
,.:.,.i'
1.
'2.
3.
4.
Grarnmatical SyIlabuses
Traditionally, the point of departure for designing a language syllabus has been to select and
sequence lists C?Lgr.a!ll:~natie
..a.:U~ems, and then
integrate these with )ists~fy-,9i:~bulary
items.
Lists of P.95?fl.o.1,~Ki5=_al,
item~ have sometimeS'beoen
thrown in for good measure.
~,.
55
.....
_ _ ...... _-_
...
...
_---
-------,
!!
Fm
56
sYfiabus.-
replaced by communicativeaCtlVltleS
that promote subconscious acquisition
following the
"natural" C?_rderJ-tl2~~lJ
__~QDScioLls..l~r.12.0g
base d on classroorn instruction.
--'--:~-Ttrl1~tive
exphnauon
for the lack of
congruence between the input provided by grammatical svllabuses and the language actually used
by learners at different stages of development has
been provided
by Pienemann
and Johnston
(1987). These researchers argue thatjhe __order "
in which learners acquire a particular item will
l)edetermi'n~d:~-~t
by the grammatical
corn- -plexity of tbe item, but E.Lit:s. speech processing
<:o_~.pl.~~,iD~
.. Tbeir hypothesis predicts that the
third person singular verb inflection (present
tense) s, wbich is grammatically simple but complex in terms of speech processing, will be
acquired relatively late in tbe language acquisition
process, and this is indeed what we find. Third
p.ers....~_..!_
..is .one ofthe
first grammatica! morpbemes to be taught, but for many leamers itis
one oJ
!~~it~Ens to be acquired. I~ fact, ~ome
leamers n.ever-.c;:qui~~_5t.
..
.
'.
.Q?~..
expp(
Stitjl
graul
guf
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ch\.,.
key .
tidl
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eacr
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tern
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syll:
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t,'?JncA~sl~_~:'~}:L~~fL-t,qte_@rg~ll~I2~ag~_~r:._
the __.syn?:,Q.g.:.......Rather,
syllabus content should
reflect the communicative purposes and needs of
the leamers. Language-for-tourism
syllabuses will
contain different content from syllabuses designed
for teaching academic English. (See Johns and
Price-Machado 's chapter in this volume).
Needs analysis includes a wide variety of
techniques for'coec13.ri'g and iiaI}iig information, b'ili--aoof Irriersnd
abourlanguage.
Thekindsof
infonnation
that syllabus designers
collectinclude
biographical information-such
as
age, first language
background,
reasons for
leaming the language, other languages spoken,
time available forlearning,
and so on. The most
sophisticated
instrument
. for doing a needs
analysis was developed by Munby (1978). Called
the communicative needs p!ocessor, it involved specifying the folioWing:
. - ,---,
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NEEDS ANALYSIS
Syllabus Design
,._.
1-
.-
-"
participant
(biographical
data about the
learner);
purposive domain (the purposes for which
the language is required);
setting (the environments
in which the language will be used);
interaction (the people that the learner wil1
be communicating
with);
instrumentality
(the medium: spoken versus
written; the mode: monologue or dialogue,
face-to-face or indirect);
dialect;
target leve! (degree of mastery required);
communicative
event (productive and receptive skills neded);
communicative key (interpersonal attitudes
and tones required).
57
"
58
1.
:1
2."
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
tiv
participate
in conversation
related to the
pursuit of common activities with others;
obtain goods and services through conversation 01' correspondence:
establish and maintain relationships through
exchanging
information,
ideas, opinions,
attitudes, feelings, experiences and plans;
rnake social arrangements,
solve problems,
and come lO conclusions together;
discuss topics of interest;
search for specific information for a given
purpose, process it, and use it in some way;
listen to or read information,
process it,
and use it in some way;
give information in spoken or written form
on the basis of personal experience;
lisien toor read, and/or view a story, poem,
play, feature, etc., and respond to it personally in some way (Clark 1987, p. 186).
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narm-referenced
and this is the major difference between the two approaches.
1.
Example of a campetency
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2.
--
i,
statement:
The learner
can negotiate
complex/
problematic
spoken exchanges for personal
business and community purposes. He or she
Uses appropriate
staging, f?r _example,
apening and closing strategies
Provides and requests information as required
Explains circumstances, causes, consequences,
and proposes solutions as required
Sustains dialogue, for example, using feedback, turn taking
Uses grammatical
forms and vocabulary
appropriate to topicand register; grammatical errors do not interfere with meaning
Speaks with pronunciation/stress/intonation
that does not impede intelligibility ..
canE2~_,~.~_~ccl!.~~<:.:l)'_~2~<;ill~.g.j!t
aQY9-nct:.(This
5eIief is captured by the aphorism, "Education is
what's left when everything that has been taught
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SyHat.Wi D:::sigl
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oi'~~
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------._-
--------
-In ESL, the TESOL organization has commissioned several sets of standards in are as such
as pre-K-12, adult education, and workplace
education. The most fully developed of these are
me pre-K-12 standards
(Short et al. 1997),
These are framed around three goals and nine
standards, The
standards
fleshed
_
------~_~ are
__ ...._ ..__ out
v._ ..
,in _
terms of d~_cDEt9~~, PEgf_<;~L.illL~-t-rst._,Cl,I1_d
~I~~~~g.<?Plv:ign.~~t~~~.
The nine content 3tanda..:~s
'in dica te E].-:r:-~Q..~.c:.ifj.t;:ally.Jthan.
th e..goals] .what
srUdentS- should know and be able to do as a
, 'r,es{lt~9('i~;stru~tio~"-"'(p.l5),
~b"es~Q.pto~~_._!.:~
'~
__<:_o:~~.g()r~es._
,9.Lqi~c:r.~~~,._represen tative
be_~_~~o~':~
(p.15). ~ss
ind~~~.0.is"lis~~i~ssable, observaQ.le.?-c;:.ti'dtie;sJh'iqp,lcten~_m'3,y per:
~?rffi~t;-'~.;llo:w.p.rQgTe.?.~. __towards
meeting
.~~?ign'att;d standards. These progress indicators
represent a variety of instructional techniques
that may be used by teachers to determine how
well students are doing" (p.lfi).
60
The following
example ' fr orn the ESL
Starulards illustrates the different components of
the standard. lt is written for grades pre-K-3.
.t
..
,e
Goal:
To use English
settings
to communicate
tl
1,
f
m social
S'
Standard:
to participate
l'
ti
c
tl
a
Descriptors:
Sharing
and requesting
inforrnation
Expressing
Using nonverbal
interactions
communication
Getting
needs met
Engaging
Conducting
personal
:g
i
insocial
in conversations
transactions
tJ
Volunteer
information
and
requests about self and family
Elicit information
questions
Read and
you letters
write
and
verbally or nonrespond
to
ask clarification
as needed
after watch-
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or preferences
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s
thank
,
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_.'t!enn.' -'--
3.
4.
SYLLABUSES
1.
2.
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NOTIONAL~FUNCTIONAL
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....
--..~
6\
Syllabus Design
._. ----_ .._._-------
._,_ ....,-
--_._--
---------------------- ............
Critical thinking: Learners go. beyond classifying to evaluate or analyze data, for example,
by determining a point of view or arguing
frorn a given stance.
Hatuls-on activities: These involve manipulating data through games, experiments,
and other experiential activities.
Data gathering: These tasks involve learners in
scanning
for specific information
and/
or colfecting and assernbling facts, data, and
references.
A.nalysis and construction: This final category
involves "(a) breaking a text into its component parts, elucidating its rhetorical pattern, and examining
text flow (cohesion
and coherence)
or (b) applying knowledge
of oral and written discourse conventions
to create a specifically patterned text with
the goal of increasing fluency, accuracy, or
both" (Master and Brinton 1997, p. vi).
of a peclagogical
TASK-BASED SYLLABUSES ~ ,
Examples
..
'.
....
"pusFi';
62
example
.
Example
of exercises:
of a task:
TYPES OF TASKS
Another way of distinguishing between tasks is to
divide them into reproductioe and creatiue tasks ..
A reproductive task is one in which the learner
is reproducing language following a model provided by the teacher, textbook, tape, or other
source. A task is reproductive if the language that
the learner is to use is largely predetennined
and
Unit 1 Teaching Methodology
.~
pre.
are nec
who Iikes /
likes
doesri' t like
Eating chilis
.
Playing tennis
1.
Doing homework
2.
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School building
Receptionist
Librarian
Bookstore
supervisor
"
,.,;
3.
4.
5.
clerk
,1
Watching
sci-fi movies
I
I
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
TO SYLLABUS DESIGN
precisely
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, 1 have provided an introduction
to the fie1d of syllabus designo 1 suggest that syllabus design is that part of currculum development which is concemed with selecting, grading,
integrating, andjustifying the content of the curriculum. Different types of syllabuses, from grammatical to task-based, are introduced, described,
and critiqued. The key theoretical and empirical,
63
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Simple
'questons,'-::
present : ".'.
tense. + -
Functions
< Scructures
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Demonstratbles:
this;that .
Where
questions
Simple _ .
present
tense +
Prepositions:
on, in,
under
have',
i :
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1
,1
'.:.
IdentifY
ownership
~:
.
.
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.........
Introduce"
pe~yJ;.:->J{~,;';.
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;T~i~:<ili.~tit:,,::)~;:x.~:i;~.
~.likeS~and:.
dislikes'
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SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
2.
3.
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
64
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4.
5.
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__
--------
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111
FURTHER READING
Dubin, F., and E. Olshtain. 1986. Course Design.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
This book is designed for teachers who have the
planning and development of courses as pan
of their duties. It covers what the authors cal!
the "fact-finding" stage-establishing
realistic
goals, surveying existing programs, realizing
goals through instructional
plans, selecting
the shape of the syIlabus-and
the considerations involved in constructing communicative
syllabuses.
Brown, J. D. 1995. The Elements o/ Lanp;uage Curriculum.
Boston, !vIA:Heinle & Heinle.
Although it is a book on curriculum, and therefore deals with issues that go beyond syllabus
design, it also provides an accessible introduction
to syIlabus design issues.
Graves, K, ed. 1996. Teachers as Course Deuelopers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
This book contains six interesting case studies
of teachers as course developers and syllabus
Syllabus Design
WEBSITES
Both the U.S. National Literacy Act of 1991 and the
U.S. Adult Education Act of 1991, along with
related policy resources, are available on-line at
www.nifl.gov/lincs/collections/policy/resource.
html
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