ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSE
“THE SYLLABUS AND MATERIAL EVALUATION”
Lecturer:
Rukminingsih, SS
Group 4:
AAM AMIROH AINUN AL-MA’RUFAH AYU IFKI RISKY CICIK ROCHMATIN DWI FITRIA P ESTI SETYANINGTYAS | (087001) (087010) (087038) (097381) (087071) (087349) |
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT 2008_A
SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN
PERSATUAN GURU REPUBLIK INDONESIA
JOMBANG
THE SYLLABUS
A. What is Syllabus
A syllabus is a document which says what will (or at least what should) be learnt. But in fact there are several different ways in which a syllabus can be defined. This stems from the fact that the statement of what will be learnt passes through several different stages before it reaches its destination in the mind of the learner. Each stage on its route imposes a further layer of interpretation.
1. Kind of stages
a. The evaluation syllabus
This kind of syllabus will be most familiar as the document that is handed by ministries or other regulating bodies. It states what the successful learner will know by the end of the course. In effect, it puts on record the basis on which success or failure will be evaluated. Thus we might refer to this as an evaluation syllabus.
b. The organizational syllabus
The organizational syllabus is most familiar in the form of content pages of textbook .It is different with the evaluation syllabus in that it carries assumption about the nature of learning as well as language, since. In organizing the items in a syllabus, it is necessary to consider factors which depend upon a view of how people learnt.
1. What is more easy learnt
2. What is more fundamental to learning
3. Are some items needed in order to learnt others items
4. What is more useful in the classroom
c. The materials syllabus
The syllabus says nothing about how learning will be achieved. But, a syllabus, like a course design model, is only as good as the interpretation that is put on it. The first person to interpret the syllabus is usually the material writer. So we get our third kinds of syllabus- the materials syllabus.
d. The teacher syllabus
The second stage of interpretation usually comes through the teacher. The great majority of students in the world learn language through the mediation of the teacher.
e. The classroom syllabus
A lesson is a communicative event, which is created by the interaction of a number of forces. The classroom too, creates condition which will affect the nature of a planned lesson. These might be extraneous factors, such as noise from outside, how weather, and interruption from other.
f. The learner syllabus
The learner syllabus is the network of knowledge that develops in the learner’s brain and which enables that learner to comprehend and store the later knowledge. We might call this by the learner syllabus.
B. Why should we have a syllabus
In view of the moment of work that goes into syllabus design and the considerable weight of authority that syllabuses have, we might usefully consider whether they are necessary. This will reveal that just as there are acknowledged and hidden syllabuses, there are also acknowledged and hidden reasons for having syllabuses.
1. Language is a complex entity
2. It cannot be learnt in one go. We have to have some of breaking down the complex into manageable units
3. Gives moral support to the teacher and learner
4. Has a cosmetic role
5. Returning to our analogy of learning as a journey
6. Implicit statement of views on the nature of language and learning
7. Provides a set of criteria for materials selection and / or writing
8. Make Uniformity
3. On What Criteria Can a Syllabus Be Organized?
We noted above that one of the main purposes of a syllabus is to break down the mass of knowledge to be learnt into manageable units. This breakdown (unless it is to be completely random) has to base on certain criteria.
a. Topic Syllabus
b. Structural / situational syllabus
c. Functional / national syllabus
d. Skills syllabus
e. Situational syllabus
f. Functional / task-based syllabus
g. Discourse / skills syllabus
h. Skills and strategies
Each of the syllabuses shown represents a valid attempt to break down the mass of a particular area of knowledge into manageable units. Each carries certain assumptions about the nature of language and learning. But these assumptions may not be very explicit.
The syllabuses shown above are as important for what they don’t say, as for what they do say, because they only show one or two of the elements of the materials. Any teaching materials must, in reality, operate several syllabuses at the same time. One of them will probably be used as the principal organizing feature, but the others are still there, even if they are not taken into account in the organization of the material. For example, every function is realized by one or more structures, thus in writing a functionally organized syllabus, a structural syllabus (good or otherwise) is automatically produced. Texts must be about something, thus all textbooks have a topic syllabus. Similarly, exercises demand the use of certain language processing skills: so, in writing a sequence of exercises, a skills syllabus of sorts is generated.
The syllabus that we see is only a statement of the criteria used to organize the mass of language use into linear progression. Behind the stated syllabus are the other syllabuses, acknowledged by the authors or not, as the case may be.
Any syllabus which claims to teach people how to communicate (in whatever specialized area) should acknowledge the complexity of communication. A syllabus that is framed in only one aspect (be it structures, functions, content or whatever) will probably miss the opportunity to develop the unacknowledged elements effectively.
4. What Role Should a Syllabus Play in the Course Design Process?
We can look at this question in terms of the approaches to course design.
a. A language-centered approach
Analyze target situation |
Write Syllabus |
Write or select texts to illustrate items in syllabus |
Write exercises to practice items in the syllabus |
Devise test for assessing knowledge of the items in the syllabus |
This sort of approach is still widely used in ESP. the syllabus is quite clearly the determiner of the entire course. It is, so to speak, the crystallization of what the course is all about-the inspiration for the production of texts and exercises and the basis on which proficiency will be evaluated.
b. A skills-centered approach
Analyze target needs |
Select interesting and representative texts |
Devise a hierarchy of skills to exploit the texts |
Order and adapt the texts as necessary to enable a focus on the required skills. |
Devise test for assessing knowledge of the items in the syllabus |
Devise a system to assess the acquisition of the skills |
In this approach the syllabus is not prime generator. Although Holmes presents it as a linear process, it is more likely that there is a degree of negotiation between texts and skills. Thus, for example, the skills syllabus, as well as establishing criteria for the ordering and adaption of texts, wills probably also plays a role in their initial selection. At the same time, the texts available will affect what can be focused on in exercises and assessment.
c. A Learning-centered approach
It will be noticeable that in the two approaches described so far the learning activities (task, exercises, and teaching techniques) are almost the last factor to be considered. This may produce materials which faithfully reflect the syllabus in language or skills content, but it has a very constricting effect on the methodology. Learning, however, is more than just matter of presenting language items or skills and strategies. In other words, it is not just the content of what is learnt that is important but also the activity through which it is learnt (Prabhu, 1983)
In learning centered approach the methodology cannot be just grafted on to the end of an existing selection of syllabuses items and texts: it must be considered right from the start. To achieve this, the syllabuses must be used in a more dynamic way in order to enable methodological consideration, such as interest, enjoyment, learner involvement, to achieving this is to break down the syllabuses design process into two levels.
The ESP syllabus is, as we have seen, usually derived from a detailed analysis of the language features of the target situation. It is the detail of this analysis which ion our view produces the restricting influence on the methodology. But this need not occur. It is unnecessary to analyze language features in detail before the materials are started. A general syllabus outlining the topic areas and the communicative tasks of the target situation is all that is required at the beginning. For example, a general syllabus for technician students might look this:
Topics | Tasks |
Name of tools Electricity Pumps Materials Construction Etc | Expressing and purpose Understanding safety instruction Describing a system Reporting experiments Describing measurement Etc. |
This general syllabus can be used as the basis for the initial selection of texts and writing of exercises/activities: it has enough detail to guide the materials writer, but not so much as to stifle creativity. It, therefore, allows the materials writer to take full account of factors emerging from the analysis of the learning situation.
The materials themselves will produce a detailed language syllabus. This material generated syllabus can then be checked against an independent syllabus produced from the needs analysis. Gaps and overlaps can then be dealt with.
Thus, instead of using the syllabus as the initial and once-for-all determiner of the content of materials and methodology, syllabus and materials evolve together with each being able to inform the other. In this way the syllabus is used creatively as a generator of good and relevant learning activities rather than as just a statement of language content with restricts and impoverishes the methodology. Yet, at the same time it maintains relevance to target needs. It, therefore, serves the needs of the students both as users and learners of the language. The syllabus acts in the first instance as a compass to show the general direction. Then it becomes a sketch map. When the possibilities have been explored, obstacles noted and available resources collected, more detail can be filled in on the map, until the route is clear.
Analyze learning situation |
Analyze target situation |
LEVEL 1
Create interesting and enjoyable materials |
Establish general syllabus of topics and tasks |
Produced detailed language/skills syllabus |
LEVEL 2
Check language and skills content of materials and make necessary adjustments |
d. The Post hoc approach
Write cosmetic syllabus satisfy sponsor, teachers, students, et al. |
Write materials on undefined criteria |
MATERIALS EVALUATION
Having completed the needs analysis and course design, we must now decide what we are going to do with it. There are three possible ways of turning your course design into actual teaching materials:
a. Select from existing materials: materials evaluation
b. Write your own materials: materials development
c. Modify existing materials: materials adaptation
1. Why evaluate materials?
Evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular purpose. Given a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of a number of possibilities can represent the best solution? Evaluation is, then, concerned with relative merit. There is no absolute good or bad - only degrees of fitness for the required purpose.
In any kinds of evaluation, the decision finally made is likely to be the better for being based on a systematic check of all the important variables. The results of an evaluation will probably lead to a large investment of money in published course or a large investment of time in home-produced or adapted materials. A careful evaluation, then, can save a lot of expense and frustration. On the positive side, it can also help in justifying requests to sponsors or other members of an ESP team for money to buy materials or time to write them.
2. How do we evaluate materials?
Evaluation is basically a matching process: matching needs to available solution. If this matching is to be done as objectively as possible, it is best to look at the needs and solution separately. In the final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective grounds.
We can divide the evaluation process into:
1. Defining criteria, on what bases will we judge materials? Which criteria will be important?
2. Subjective analysis, what realizations of the criteria do you want in your course?
3. Objective analysis, how does the material being evaluated realize the criteria?
4. Matching, how far does the material match your needs?
We can now present our own checklist of criteria for objective and subjective analyses. This is not an exhaustive list. We may find other criteria which you feel are important.
Subjective Analysis (materials requirements) | Objective Analysis (materials evaluation) |
Audience | |
1A Who are the learners? | 1B Who is the material intended for? |
Aims | |
2A What are the aims of the course? | 2B What are the aims of the materials? |
Content | |
3A The Language description -Structural -Notional -Functional -Discourse-based -Some other kind 4A The Language points that should be covered • Particular structures • Functions • Vocabulary areas 5A The Proportion of work on each macro-skill (e.g. reading) Skill-integrated work 6A The needed Micro-skills 7A The text types that should be included -Manuals, Letters, Dialogues, Experimental Reports, Visual texts (pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, cartoons etc.), Listening texts 8A • What subject-matter area is required? • What level of knowledge should be assumed? • What topics are needed? • What treatment should be the topics given? 9A How should a content be organized throughout the course? 10A How should a content be organized within the course units? 11A How is the content sequenced throughout the course? 12 A How should the content be sequenced within a unit? | 3B The Types of linguistic description used in the materials 4B The Language points that the materials cover 5B The Proportion of work on each skill Skill-integrated work 6B The Micro-skills that are covered in the material 7B The kinds of texts in the materials 8B • What are the subject-matter areas, assumed level of knowledge and types of topics in the materials? • What treatment are the topics given? 9B How is the content organized throughout the materials? 10B How is the content organized within units? 11B How is the content sequenced throughout the book? 12 B How is the content sequenced within a unit? |
Methodology | |
13 A What theory of learning should the course be based on? 14A What aspects of the learners' attitudes to learning English should the course take into account? 15A What kinds of exercises\tasks are needed? (guided ßàfree?) 16A What teaching-learning techniques are to be used? 17A What aids are available for use? 18A What guidance for teaching the course will be needed? 19A How flexible do the materials need to be? | 13B What theory of learning are the materials are based on? 14B What attitudes to learning English are the materials based on? 15B What kinds of exercises\tasks are included in the materials? 16B What teaching-learning techniques can be used with the materials? 17B What aids do the materials require? 18B What guidance do the materials provide? 19B In what ways are the materials flexible? |
Other Criteria | |
20A What price range is necessary? 21A When and in what quantities should the materials be available? | 20B What is the price? 21B When and how readily can the materials be obtained? |
The following steps should be followed in using the checklist:
1. Answer the A question first to identify your requirements. You can then use this information either as a basis for writing your own material or as input to the later stages of material evaluation.
2. Analyze the materials you have selected by answering the B question. If possible, test your ideas by teaching extracts from the material.
3. Compare the A and B findings. This can be done impressionistically or by awarding points:
0 : does not match the desired features
1 : partly matches the desired features
2 : closely matches the desired features
Total the points and analyze the result. Note that the highest number of points does not necessarily indicate the most suitable materials, since the points may be concentrated in one area. Look for the widest spread of desired features and concentrations in the areas you consider most important.
4. Make your choice and use your findings to prepare any documentation needed for defending your decision.
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