In most of the countries where English is taught as a foreign language the learning syllabus does not contribute to the development of students’ language proficiency. Dear colleagues what factors do you think syllabus designers should incorporate in the learning syllabus in order to help the students develop their language skills and abilities?
The material should cover various intelligences as proposed in Multiple Intelligences by H. Gardner. Having identified the different intelligent modes of the cohort, the teacher would be able to group them into different intelligent clusters and work with their learning style(s) separately if you subscribe to the one size doesn't fit all principle.
Ali Ahmed:
Language is a component of culture, so the designers should relate the materials to the students' diverse cultural backgrounds to also include their prior experiences/reading/societal or global issues to make the content meaningful and interesting. Another dimension is the use of technology, particularly Social Media, as digital natives use it as their means of communication. Please see attached for examples that the technology can be integrated into the EFL syllabus.
Many thanks,
Debra
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Dear Al;i Ahmed,
Clearly, a syllabus for foreign language teaching must be goal oriented. The goals must be defined based on what Nation and Macalister (2010) call PEN factors standing for principles, environment, and needs. While principles specify the theories and models related to language theories and theories of learning, the environmental influences should be determined as constraints limiting the implementation of the syllabus. Besides, a carefully planned needs analysis will specify learners' lacks, wants and necessities. For practical considerations, I refer you to my article in RsearchGate by the title of " Towards a Multiaspectual Framework for Evaluating Locally Prepared L2 Materials".
Best regards,
R. Biria
Instructional design needs to start with the OUTCOMES that students must achieve at the end of the course, or the end of the academic program. Then work backward to determine what learning activities will allow students to achieve those outcomes. Then figure out how to make those activities interesting and motivating to students, how technology may provide needed affordances, etc.
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I would like to emphasise what has already been said - learners' preknowledge should be activated so that appropriate schemata can be developed.
Also meaningful interaction between learners, and between learner and text.
I would say that all the explanations above are all relevant to the language syllabus design. My experiences in teaching EFL show that one of the underlying factors to consider in the syllabus design is the mother tongue of the (young) learners. This issue is particularly important when we relate the objective of lesson to communicative competence in EFL. Needs analysis, cultural knowledge, schemata, motivation all contribute to processes of language acquisition. But first language of the learners can interfere the processes of learning pragmatic aspects. Therefore, it needs to be seriously considered. In addition, knowledge of the first language provides us with the effective teaching method, particularly when we teach the grammatical aspects, because we can translate the grammatical points directly. It thus saves time for teaching the 'boring skill'. Knowledge of first language also provides us with resources for understanding interlanguage pragmatic and the direct way to deal with it. I know this sounds classic, but it matters.
Syllabus design must be aligned to the general goal of the institution you are teaching in, therefore establishing goals for the module you are teaching would be one step towards your design. Clear, well-formulated objectives supported by intended learning outcomes will be the skeleton of your syllabus design. To make any program feasible, you have to look at the pillars on which this is built: students, teachers and learning activities. Obviously, learners' needs will direct your choice of textbooks and activities that go with them. Since learners display a palette of "intelligences" and "learning styles" ,, make sure that these are taken into consideration when designing activities which would address them. Activities should address at least three " intelligences" at the time (some of them are bona fide typical activities that will recur in any language classroom, that is those that relate to the verbal-linguistic and personal intelligences), others yet will address those intelligences which are not commonly recognized by the IQ tests. It is essential to accommodate technology into your design, for 21st century has brought about changes in the way students learn and teachers teach..Visual and digital literacy are the most traded coins ... familiarity with these approaches in teaching and their introduction into the syllabus will definitely improve the quality of your teaching.
Hi Ali,
You may find this a useful book. It examines ESL/EFL curriculum designs around the world.
Nation, I. S. P., & Macalister, J. (2011). Case studies in language curriculum design: Concepts and approaches in action around the world. New York, NY: Routledge.
I am not sure if it is available online.
Hope this helps.
Don
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