Makalah tentang course planning (curriculum design)

PAPER

COURSE PLANNING AND SYLLABUS DESIGN

LECTURER: ABSHARINI KARDENA, M.Pd

Created by :

Hanifah Fajriati (2317090)

Erlin Depianti Putri (2317114)

Amelia Arsy (2317109)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING

STATE ISLAMIC INSTITUTE OF BUKITTINGGI

2018/2019

DISCUSSION

In this chapter we will examine the following diensions of course development :

·         Developing a course rationale

·         Describing entry and exit levels

·         Choosing course conten t

·         Sequencing course content

·         Planning the course content

·         Prepare the scope and sequence plan

1. The course rational

A starting point in course development is a description of the course rationale. This 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 this course for?

What is the course about?

What kind of teaching and learning will take place in the course?

The course rationale answers these questions by describing the beliefs, values and goals that underlie the course.

Developing a rationale also helps provide focus and direction to some of the deliberations involved in course planning. The rationale thus serves the purposes of :

a)      Guiding the planning of the various components of the course.

b)      Emphasizing the kinds of teaching and learning the course should exemplify.

c)      Providing a check on the consistency of the various course components in terms of the course values and goals.

2. Describing the entry and exit level

Language programs and commercial materials typically distinguish between elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, but these categories are too broad for the kind of detailed planning that program and materials development involves. For these purposes, more detailed descriptions are needed of students’ proficiency levels before they enter a program and targeted proficiency levels at the end of it.  Information may be available on students’ entry level from their results on international proficiency tests such TOEFL, or IELTS. Or specially designed tests may be needed to determine the level of students’ language skills. Information from proficiency tests will enable the target level of the program to be assessed and may require adjustment of the program’s objectives if they appear to be aimed at too high or too low a level.

3. Choosing course content

The question of course content is probably the most basic issue in course design. Given that a course has to be developed to address a specific set of needs and to cover a given set of objectives, what will the content of the course look like? Decisions about course content reflect the planners’ assumptions about the nature of language, language use, and language learning, what the most essential elements or units of language are, and how these can be organized as an efficient basis for second language learning.

a)       Grammar (e.g. Using the present tense in description)

b)       Functions (e.g. Describing likes and dislikes)    

c)      Topics (e.g. Writing about world issues)

d)     Skills (e.g. Developing topic sentences)

e)      Processes (e.g. Using prewriting strategies)

f)       Texts (e.g. Writing a business letter)

A speaking course could be organized around :

a)      Functions (expressing opinions)

b)      Interaction skills (opening and closing conversations, turn talking)

c)      Topics (current affairs, business topics)

A listening course could be planned around any of the following types of content :

a)      Asking questions

b)      Opening and closing conversations

c)      Expressing opinions

d)     Dealing with misunderstandings

e)       Social talk

f)       Telephone skills

g)      Situation specific language such as at a bank

h)       Describing daily routines

i)         Recognizing sound contrasts

4. Determining the scope and sequence

Scope is concerned with the breath and depth of coverage of items in the course, that is, with the following questions :

What range of content will be covered?

To what extent should each topic be studied?

Simple to Complex

One of the commnest ways of sequencing material is by difficulty level. Content presented earlier is thought to be simpler than later items.

Chronology

Content may be sequenced according to the order in which events occur in the real world.

Need

Content may be sequenced according to when learners are most likely to need it outside of the classroom

Prerequisites learning

The sequence of content may reflect what is necessary at one point as a foundation for the next step in the learning process.

Whole to part or part to whole

In some cases, material at the beginning of a course may focus on the overall structure or organization of a topic before considering the individual components that make it up. Alternatively, the course might focus on practicing the parts before the whole

Spiral sequencing

This approach involves the recycling of items to ensure that learners have repeated opportunities to learn them.

5. Planning the course structure

The next stage in course development involves mapping the course structure into a form and sequence that provide a suitable basis for teaching. Some of the preliminary planning involved will have occurred while ideas for course content were being generated. Two aspects of this process , however require more detailed planning : selecting a syllabus free work  and developing instructional  block .

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:

1. Situational: organized around different situations and the oral skills needed in those situations
2. Topical: organized around different topics and how to talk about them in English
3. Functional: organized around the functions most commonly needed in speaking
4. Task-based: organized around different tasks and activities that the learners would carry out in English

In choosing a particular syllabus framework for a course, planners are influenced by the following factors:

1)      Knowledge and beliefs about the subject area: a syllabus reflects ideas and beliefs about the nature of speaking, reading, writing, or listening

2)      Research and theory: research on language use and learning as well as applied linguistics theory sometimes leads to proposals in favor of particular syllabus types

3)      Common practice: the language teaching profession has built up considerable practical experience in developing language programs and this often serves as the basis for different syllabus types

4)      Trend: approaches to syllabus design come and go and reflect national or international trends

Many different syllabus frameworks can make a claim to be various of a communicative syllabus: for example, competency-based, task-based syllabuses.

Grammatical (or structural) syllabus: one that is organized around grammatical items. In developing a grammatical syllabus, the syllabus planner seeks to solve the following problems:

1. To select sufficient patterns to support the amount of teaching time available
2. To arrange items into a sequence that facilitates learning
3. To identify a productive range of grammatical items that will allow for the development of basic communicative skills

Grammar remains a core component of many language courses. There are several reasons for this :

1. Teaching a language through its grammar represents a familiar approach to teaching for many people
2. Grammar provides a convenient framework for a course: grammar can readily be linked to other strands of a syllabus, such as fungtions, topics, or situations
3. Grammar represents a core component of language proficiency: communicative competence includes the ability to use grammar and therefore deserves a palace in the curriculum

Grammatical syllabuses thus continue to be widely used in language teaching. Typical, however, they are seen as one stream of a multi skilled or integrated syllabus rather than as the sole basis for a syllabus.

a)      Lexical syllabus: one that identifies a target vocabulary to be taught normally arranged according to levels such as the first 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 words.

b)      Functional syllabus: one that is organized around communicative functions such as requesting, complaining, suggesting, agreeing.

c)      Situational syllabus: one that is organized around the language needed for different situations such as at the airport or at a hotel. Situational syllabuses have the advantage of presenting language in context and teaching language of immediate practical use. However, they are also subject to the following criticism:

• Little is known about the language used in different situations, so selection of teaching items is typically based on intuition
• Language used in specific situations may not transfer to other situations
• Situational syllabuses often lead to a phrase-book approach
• Grammar is dealt with incidentally, so a situational syllabuses may result in graphs in a student’s grammatical knowledge

d)     Topical or content-based syllabus: one that is organized around themes, topic, or other units of content. With a topical syllabus, content rather than grammar, functions, or situations is the starting point in syllabus design.

e)      Competency-based syllabus: one based on a specification of the competencies learners are expected to master in relation to specific situations and activities.

            Example of competencies related to the topic of “telephoning” are:

Read and dial telephone numbers

Identify oneself on the telephone when answering and calling

Request to speak to someone

Respond to request to hold

Respond to offer to take message

Competency-based syllabuses are videly used in social survival and work-oriented language programs.

f)       Skills syllabus: one that is organize around the different underlying abilities that are involved in using a language for purposes such as reading, writing, listening, or speaking.

g)      Task based syllabus: Organized around different tasks and activities that the learners would carry out in English   Planners are influenced by the following factors:

1)      Knowledge and beliefs about the subject are: A syllabus reflect s ideas and beliefs about the nature of speaking, reading, writing, or listening

2)      Research and theory: Research on language use and learning as well as applied linguistics theory sometimes leads to proposals in favor of particular syllabus types.

3)      Common practice: The language teaching profession has built up considerable practical experience in developing language programs and this often serves as the basis for different syllabus types

4)      Trends: Approaches to syllabus design come and go and reflect national or international trends Two kinds of tasks have been proposed as a basis for syllabus design pedagogical tasks and real-world tasks. Pedagogical tasks are based on SLA theory and are designed to trigger second language learning processes and strategies.

The following are tasks of this kind:

1.      Jigsaw tasks: These tasks involve learners in combining different pieces of information to form a whole (e.g. three individuals or groups may have three different parts of a story and have to piece the story together).

2.      Information gap tasks: Tasks in which one student or group of students has one set of information and another student or group has a complementary set of information. They must negotiate and find out what the other party's information is in order to complete an activity.

3.      Problem solving tasks Students are given a problem and a set of information. They must arrive at a solution to the problem. There is generally a single resolution of the outcome

4.      Decision-making tasks Students are given a problem for which there a number of possible outcomes and they must choose one through negotiation and discussion.

5.      Opinion exchange tasks Learners engage in discussion and exchange of ideas. They do not need to reach agreement.

Developing instructional blocks

A course also needs to be mapped out in the terms of instructional blocks or sections. Instructional block is a self-contained learning sequence that has its own goals and objectives and that also reflects the overall objectives, for the course. Instructional blocks represent the instructional focus of the course and may be very specific or more general. Planning the organizational structure in a course involves selecting appropriate blocks and deciding on the sequence in which these will appear.  In organizing a course into teaching blocks one seeks to achieve the following:

• To make the course more teachable and learnable
• To provide a progression in level of difficulty  
• To create overall coherence and structure for the course

Two commonly used instructional blocks are planning by modules and units.

1)      Modules: This is a self-contained and independent learning sequence with its own objectives. For example, a 120-hour course might be divided into four modules of 30 hours each. Assessment is carried out at the end of each module. Modules allow for flexible organization of a course and can give learners a sense of achievement because objectives are more immediate and specific. Care needs to be taken, however, to ensure that the course does not appear fragmented and unstructured.

2)      Units: This teaching block is normally longer than a single lessen but shorter than a module and is the commonest way of organizing courses and teaching materials. It is normally a group of lessons that is planned around a single instructional focus. (sometimes units are referred to as a scheme of work). A unit seeks to provide a structured sequence of activities that lead toward a learning outcome. The factors that account for a successful unit include:

a)      Length: Sufficient but not too much material is included

b)      Development: one activity leads effectively into the next; the unit does not consist of a random sequence of activities.

c)      Coherence: The unit has an overall sense of activities

d)     Pacing: Each activity within the unit moves at a reasonable pace. For example, if there are five activities in the unit, one does not require four times as much time to  compelete as the others.

The issue of unit structure is also crucial in developing instructional materials. In planning an upper-intermediate-level course with a topical organization of units and an integrated syllabus (Richards and Sandy 1998), the following solutions were reached with respect to unit structure.

a)      Each of the two books in the series would have 12 units

b)      Each unit would consist of 8 pages that divide into two 4-page lessons

c)      Each unit is organized around a general theme such as creativity, communication,     education and learning.

d)     Each lesson focuses on a topic related to the unit theme.

6.      Preparing the scope and sequence plan Once a course has been planned and organized, it can be describe. One form in which it can be described is as a scope and sequence plan. This might consist of a listing of the module or units and their contents and an indication of how much teaching time each block in the course will require      

QUESTIONS:

1.