Course and syllabus designFrom circumstancial to language issues

ObjectivesIn todays class, you are going to...Consider some of the decisions that are necessary to take for general ESP course design.From there, analyze in more detail the aspects and different types of ESP syllabuses.Examine some of the published material to understand the underlying decisions as towards course and syllabus design.

Course design Decisions:(Dudley-Evans / St John 1998: 145ff.)intensive vs. extensiveassessedvs. non-assessedimmediatevs. delayed needsTeacher as.. Provider vs.Facilitator/ consultantBroadvs. Narrow focusPre-experience vs. In parallel with experienceCommon-corevs. Specific materialHomogeneousvs. Heterogeneous learner levelHomogeneousvs. Heterogeneous skills needsFixed vs. Flexible negotiated syllabusOne-off coursevs. Repeatable/Durable course

Some routes towards a syllabus: (Hutchinson / Waters 1987: 80ff.)Evaluation syllabus: What the successful learner will know by the end of the course.Organisational syllabus: In what order will content be delivered/learned (contents page of a textbook).Materials syllabus: Context for language, skills, exercises, recycling/revision etc.Other routes: Teachers interpretation of syllabusClassroom-negotiated syllabusKnowledge developing and networking in the learners brain learner syllabus

Why is a syllabus important? (Hutchinson / Waters 1987: 83ff.)To break down the language content into manageable units.To give structure and moral support to the teacher and the learners.To provide a visible basis for testing.To achieve standardisation between various courses.To provide visible proof for the planning of the course.

Some typical forms of ESP syllabus organization: (Hutchinson / Waters 1987: 85ff.)Topic syllabusSituational syllabusSkills/strategies syllabusTask-based syllabusDiscourse/skills syllabusStructural/situational syllabusFunctional/notional syllabus

Task: Materials reviewTake a look at the extracts from Infotech: English for computer users (2nd ed. 1999) and examine it in relation to the following criteria:What kind of syllabus is the course based on?Does it have a broad or a narrow focus (skills, common-core/specific)?How is the language material organized from easy to increasingly difficult?How does it help the teacher to work with heterogeneous groups? Are the tasks and exercises differentiated, open-ended or staged?

Homework Reading: Tip: Use metacognitive and social strategies to deal with the workload!Dudley-Evans/St John: Chapter 8 Course design (pp. 145-169).Hutchinson/Waters: Chapter 8 The syllabus (pp. 80-95).Hutchinson/Waters: Chapter 9, Materials evaluation pp. 96-104.Dudley-Evans/St John: Chapter 9 The role of materials pp. 170-185.

To sum up

What was the point of todays lesson?What did I learn?What did I find interesting?What questions do I have about what I learned?What connections did I make to previous ideas or questions?

Bibliography:Dudley-Evans, T. & St. John, M.J. (1998) Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Hutchinson, T. / Waters, A. (1987) English for Specific Purposes. A learning-centred approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Give out photocopies of Hutchinson pp 85-88, to classify the different syllabuses.What are the advantages of the various types of syllabuses for varying contexts? Discuss in groups.