Course Planning & Syllabus Design

Prof. Joanne M. Pyra

 Designing a language course is a work in progress. Different levels of planning and development are involved in developing a curriculum, a course, or a set of instructional materials.

The Starting Point

A starting point in course development is a description of the course rationale. The course rationale is a brief written description of the reasons for the course and the nature of it.

The Course Rationale

Seeks to answer the following questions: Who is the course for? What is the course about? What kind of teaching and learning will take place?

Describing Entry and Exit Levels

In order to plan a language course, it is necessary to know the level at which the program will start, and the level learners may be expected to reach at the end of the course.

Choosing Course Content

Decisions about course content reflect the planners assumptions about the nature of language, language use, language learning, what the most essential elements of language are, and how these can be organized efficiently for second language learning.

Determining the Scope & Sequence Scope = the breadth and depth of coverage of items in the course. Answer the following questions to determine the scope of a course: What range of content will be covered? To what extent should each topic be studied?

Sequencing of Content

Sequencing involves deciding which content is needed early in the course and which provides a basis for things that will be learned later.

Sequencing may be based on the following criteria:

Simple to complex Chronology Need Prerequisite learning Whole to part Part to whole Spiral sequencing

Planning the course structure

More detailed planning is required for two aspects: 1. Selecting a syllabus framework. 2. Developing instructional blocks.

Selecting a Syllabus Framework

A syllabus describes the major elements that will be used in planning a language course and provides the basis for its instructional focus and content.

The Syllabus could be:

Situational (organized situations and the oral skills needed in different situations) Topical (organized around different topics and how to talk about them) Functional (organized around the functions most commonly needed in speaking) Task-based (organized around different tasks and activities)

Developing Instructional Blocks

An instructional block is a selfcontained learning sequence that has its own goals and objectives and also reflects the overall objectives for the course.

 Instructional blocks represent the instructional focus of the course. They may be very specific (i.e. a single lesson) or more general (i.e. a unit of work consisting of several lessons.)

 Planning the organizational structure in a course involves selecting appropriate blocks and deciding on the sequence in which these will appear. Two commonly used instructional blocks are planning by modules and by units.

Module: a self-contained & independent learning sequence with its own objectives. Unit: Longer than a single lesson but shorter than a module. The unit is the most common way of organizing courses & teaching materials.

To summarize
Course design is a matter of asking questions in order to provide a reasoned basis for the subsequent processes of syllabus design, materials writing/selection, classroom techniques, and evaluation.

Basic Questions to Ask

Why does the student need to learn? Who is going to be involved in the process? Where is the learning going to take place (potential limitations)? When is the learning to take place (time distribution)? What does the student need to learn (language aspects, proficiency, topic areas)?

Remember
The activity of designing a course is a work in progress. It continues.