Download - Structural Syllabus Design
Reported by: SyaoSTRUCTURAL SYLLABUS
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Enumerate the characteristics of a
structural syllabus. Distinguish a structural syllabus from all
other types through its key feature of “syntheticity”
Evaluate the pros and cons of a structural syllabus
Understand the place of structural syllabus relative to the teaching and learning of language.
Do you remember this?
Which later became like this:
How many of these elements do you remember?
This is an example of aSTRUCTURAL SYLLABUS
YOUare a product of this syllabus.
So, what is a Structural Syllabus?
(a.k.a. Grammatical Syllabus, Formal Syllabus, Traditional Syllabus, or Synthetic Syllabus)
Characteristics most familiar of
syllabus types
grammatical / structural aspects of language form are the most basic or useful.
functional ability arises from structural knowledge
Theory of
learning
Theory of
language
ability to use or communicate in
the new language
What can we find in a structural syllabus?
language form / grammatical form
traditional, Latin-based, descriptive/prescriptive grammatical classification and terminology
Sentence – largest unit of discourse that is regularly treated in a structural syllabus
• Semantics• Interrogative• Declarative• Exclamations• Conditionals
• Structure• Simple• Compound• Complex• Compound-Complex
Types of Sentences
Morphology
Number
• Singular / Plural
Tense
• Past / Present, etc.
Special morphology• Determine
rs and articles
• Prepositions and postpositions
• Gender
Vocabulary
• Affixes
SYNTHETICanalysis of the language content isolation of elements
VERB!
NOUN!
2 Ways to Synthesize
1) analyzed info is AVAILABLE for production and checking accuracy
BLUE!BLUE!
2 Ways to Synthesize2) analyzed info is TRANSFORMED from possibly conscious knowledge
to unconscious behavior
BLUE SKY!BLUE!
Types of Structural Knowledge
Explicit / Descriptive • ability to
describe rules or explain why an utterance is right or wrong
Recognition /Judgmental • ability to merely
to judge whether a given form is acceptable or not, and to correct unacceptable form
Accurate Productive Behavior • ability to use the
structures being taught without necessarily describing or making judgments about them.
What structural knowledge type do you have?
Lee Grane impressed Bamboo and Sarah.
What structural knowledge type do you have?
Neither my friends nor myself like the revolving chairs too much.
AssociationsCognitiv
e Methods
of Languag
e Teaching
Audio-Lingualis
m
Grammar
Translation
Method
Silent Way
Audio-Lingualism
3,333
Grammar Translation Pang-ilang pangulo si Noynoy Aquino? 1. How many presidents were
there before President Noynoy Aquino?
2. Which/What number does Noynoy Aquino come in the list/order of Philippine presidents?
3. What is Noynoy Aquino's ordinal place in the line up of all Philippines presidents?
Selection of Content
vs.Sequencing
(Which is harder?)
Criteria for Content Sequence Kelly: Complexity ("facility"), regularity ("grammatical analysis"), and productivity, or the usefulness of the structure
Canale and Swain: Grammatical complexity via intuitive criteria ; communicative facility, communicative generalizability, degree of facilitation of acquisition of other structures, perceptual accessibility, and dialectal markedness.
Criteria for Content Sequence Other criteria: degree of difference between the structure concerned and its equivalent in the learners' first language, the learners' communicative need for the structure, and the order in which the structure occurs in a natural acquisition sequence.o In practice, sequencing decisions are generally
based on presumed simplicity, frequency, and need.
Master at initial presentationor
Learn via spiraling?
LEARNING THEORY:
Textbooks: ALMOST like a structural syllabi
Positive Characteristics
1) It’s the most general component of communicative competence.
Positive Characteristics
2) Familiarity
Positive Characteristics
3) It’s relatively easy to describe
Positive Characteristics
4) It’s the most measurable of the components of communicative competence.
Positive Characteristics
5) Prevents later fossilization or cessation of learning.
Positive Characteristics
6) Serves as basis for learner to Monitor, check, and self-correct (Krashen’s Monitor /Acquisition Theory)
Positive Characteristics
7) Offers basis for teachers or others to provide learners with feedback on the accuracy of their production
Positive Characteristics
8) Value- and culture-free.
Negative Characteristics1. Lack of usability, applicability, or transferability of structural knowledge.
Negative Characteristics2. Misleading: Learning a language
vs. Learning facts or information
about a language.
Negative Characteristics
3. Strictly structural syllabi prevent students from producing structures they have not been taught.
ApplicationsLow transferability
limited application to language instruction that aims for functional use
Passive structural knowledge
Improved second language accuracy
Monitoring roleGeographical, cultural, or political limitations
Applications
Role of Structural Syllabus
Instruct in new language via “easy rules”
Serve as organizing framework for other language instructional content types
QUESTIONS?