Organization and Coverage of the Syllabus
Organization and Coverage of the Syllabus
The ELT profession nowadays has available a range of different types of syllabus from which a choice will be made for a specific situation. So, however diverse our teaching contexts, our courses will be based on one, or a combination of , these principles of organization. Therefore, one of the simplest ways of surveying the types of syllabus available is to examine the contents pages of published English language teaching textbooks, because they reveal the underlying principles and assumptions on which the writers have based their material. At the same time, they tell us something both about the approach and the design adopted, thus bringing together principle and practice in a directly observable way.
We can now identify five broad types of syllabus: 1.Grammatical or structural, 2. Functional-notional, 3. Situational , 4. Skills-based, 5. Topic-based. The first of these obviously is organized according to a set of grammatical structures, and is one that will easily recognized by most English language teachers. The second is based on the communicative and interpersonal uses to which language is put and, in contrast to the formal structural system of the first type, highlights what people do through language. It is normally referred to as a 'functional' syllabus. This design principle is often found together with the other list of items in the same box: they are technically called 'notions', a term used to describe the rather general and abstract categories which a language is able to express, such as concepts of time and place. The third type presents a set of everyday situations or settings. The fourth focuses on language skills, and is concerned with what learners do as speakers, listeners, readers, and writers. The fifth uses topics or themes as its starting points. Our professional activities as language teachers are not carried out in a vacuum and , in Richards'(1985:11) words, 'Planning a successful language program involves consideration of factors that go well beyond mere content and presentation of teaching materials'. Although we work in specific situations with specific groups of learners, according to a specified set of aims, our work can be described along a number of shared and generalizable dimensions. These dimensions are: the characteristics of learners; the range of factors in the teaching situation itself; and the syllabus types available to us as a profession. The differences lie in the relative importance of these factors, and the actual choices that are made.
Several of these approaches come together in the "multi-syllabus framework". Swan justifies this approach in the following terms: 'When deciding what to teach to a particular group of learners, we need to take into consideration several different meaning categories and several different formal categories. We must make sure that our students are taught to operate key functions….to talk about basic notions…….to communicate appropriately in specific situations …..to discuss the topics which correspond to their main interests and needs….At the same time, we shall need to draw up a list of phonological problems ….of high priority structures, and of the vocabulary which our students will need to learn. In addition, we will need a syllabus of skills….' (1985:79).
The ability to evaluate teaching materials effectively is a very important professional activity for all EFL teachers. Cunningsworth(1984) suggests that there are very few teachers who do not use published course materials at some stage in their teaching career. Many language teachers find that it is something that they do very regularly in their professional lives. We may make a distinction between teaching situations where 'open-market' materials are chosen on the one hand, and where a Ministry of Education produces materials which are subsequently passed on to the teachers for classroom use on the other.
The nature of the evaluation process in each of these scenarios will probably differ as well. In the first type of situation, teachers may have quite a large amount of choice in the materials they select. However, there are many situations where teachers ,in fact, get a very limited choice or perhaps no choice at all, and this second scenario may well obtain for teachers who are 'handed' materials by a Ministry or a Director and have to cope as best they can within this framework. For the vast majority of teachers working in the first situation , having a good deal of choice in the selection of appropriate materials, writing their own materials can be very time consuming and not necessarily cost-effective; hence, there is a need to be able to discriminate effectively between all the course books on the market.
Another fairly typical factor to consider is that teachers/course organizers are often under considerable professional and financial pressure to select a course book for an ELT program which will then become the textbook maybe for years to come. Added to this pressure is the fact that in many contexts materials are often seen as being the core of a particular program and are often the most visible representation of what happens in the classroom. Even though some practitioners may take issue with O'Neill's comment that 'no other medium is as easy to use as a book',(1982:107), the reality for many is that the book may be the only choice open to them. For some teachers the selection of a good textbook can be valuable. No textbook or set materials is likely to be perfect and even though ' it is clear that course book assessment is fundamentally a subjective, rule-of-thumb activity, and no neat formula , grid or system will ever provide a definite yardstick'(Sheldon,1988:245).
It is useful for us as teachers to perform an external evaluation of materials first of all in order to gain an overview of the organizational principles involved. After this, we move on to a detailed internal evaluation of the materials to see how far the materials in question match up to what the author claims as well as to the aims and objectives of a given teaching program.
An external evaluation offers a brief overview of the materials from the outside (cover, introduction, table of contents), which is then followed by a closer and more detailed internal evaluation. First, we try to provide a comprehensive, external overview of how the materials have been organized. Our aim is basically that of examining the organization of the materials as stated explicitly by the author/ publisher by looking at: the 'blurb', or the claims made on the cover of the teachers/students book, and the introduction and table of contents. We need to know who the materials are targeted at (the intended audience), what level they are (the proficiency level), the context in which the materials are to be used, and how the language has been presented and organized into teachable units/lessons. There are also many other factors which are to be taken into account at this external stage as follows:
-Are the materials to be used as the main 'core' course or to be supplementary to it?
- Is a teacher's book in print and locally available?
-Is a vocabulary list/index included?
-What visual material does the book contain(photographs, charts, diagrams) and is it there for cosmetic value only or is it actually integrated into the text?
-Is the layout and presentation clear or cluttered?
-Is the material too culturally biased or specific?
-Do the materials represent minority groups and/or women in a negative way? Do they present a ' balanced' picture of a particular country/society?
It is possible that the content of some materials will cause offence to some learners. The investigation by Littlejohn and Windeatt(1988) into teaching materials shows how textbooks may be biased in subtle, and in some cases not so subtle, ways in their representation of class, ethnic background and reference to smoking and drinking.
-The inclusion of audio/video material and resultant cost. Is it essential to possess this extra material in order to use the textbook successfully?
-The inclusion of tests in the teaching materials (diagnostic, progress, achievement); would they be useful for your particular learners?
During this external evaluation stage , we have examined the claims made for the materials by the author/publisher with respect to : the intended audience, the proficiency level, the context and presentation of language items, whether the materials are to be core or supplementary, the role and availability of a teacher's book, the inclusion of a vocabulary list/index, the table of contents, the use of visuals and presentation, the cultural specificity of the materials, the provision of audio/video material and inclusion of tests.
After completing this external evaluation, we can arrive at a decision as to the materials' appropriacy for selection purposes. If our evaluation shows the materials to be potentially appropriate and worthy of a more detailed inspection then we can continue with our internal or more detailed evaluation. If not, then we can exit at this stage and start to evaluate other materials if we wish so.
We now continue to the next stage of our evaluation procedure by performing an in-depth investigation into the materials. The essential issue at this stage is for us to analyze the extent to which the factors in the external evaluation stage actually match up with the internal consistency and organization of the materials as stated by the author/publisher. In order to perform an effective internal inspection of materials, we need to examine at least two units or more of a book or set of materials to investigate the following factors:
-The presentation of the skills in the materials
-The grading and sequencing of the materials
-Where reading/discourse skills are involved, is there much in the way of appropriate text beyond the sentence?
-Where listening skills are involved, are recordings 'authentic' or artificial?
-Do speaking materials incorporate what we know about the nature of real interaction or are artificial dialogues offered instead?
-The relationship of tests and exercises to (a) learner needs and (b) what is taught by the course material.
-Do you feel that the material is suitable for different learning styles; is a claim and provision made for self-study and is such a claim justified?
Are the materials sufficiently 'transparent' to motivate both students and teachers alike, or would you foresee a student/teacher mismatch?
In the internal evaluation stage, we have to consider that as evaluators we need to examine the following criteria: the treatment and presentation of the skills, the sequencing and grading of the materials, the type of reading, listening, speaking and writing content contained in the materials, appropriacy of tests and exercises, self-study provision and teacher-learner 'balance' in use of the materials.
1. The usability factor. How far the materials could be integrated into a particular syllabus as 'core' or supplementary. For example, we may need to select materials which suit a particular syllabus or set of objectives that we have to work to. The materials may or may not be able to do this.
2.The generalizability factor. Is there a restricted use of 'core' features which make the materials more generally useful? It may be that not all the material will be useful for a given individual or group ,but some parts might be.
3.The adaptability factor. Can parts be added/extracted/used in another context or modified for local circumstances? There may be some very good qualities in the materials, but for example, we may judge the listening material or the reading passages to be unsuitable and in need of modification. If we think that adaptation is feasible, we may choose to do this.
4.The flexibility factor. How rigid is the sequencing and grading; can the materials be entered at different points/used in different ways? In some cases, materials which are not so steeply graded offer a measure of flexibility which permits them to be integrated easily into various types of syllabus.
Thus, when all the criteria have been analyzed we can then reach our own conclusions regarding the suitability of the materials for specified groups or individuals. But, once materials have been appropriate for use on a particular course we must keep in mind that their ultimate success or failure can only be determined after trying them in the classroom with real learners.
III. Adapting ELT Materials
An important perspective on evaluation is to see it as a management issue whereby educational decision-makers formulate policy and work out strategies for budgeting and for purchasing and allocation of resources. In this sense, teachers do not always have direct involvement. So, activity among teachers is that of adaptation since they are changing and adjusting the various parts of a course book and they are more closely related to the reality of dealing with learners in the dynamic environment of the classroom.
External factors comprise both the overt claims about materials and the characteristics of particular teaching situations. Internal factors are concerned with content, organization and consistency. Thus :
External(what we have) Internal (what the materials offer(
Learner characteristics Choice of topics
Physical environment Skills covered
Resources Proficiency level
Class size Grading of exercises
To adapt materials is to try to bring together these individual elements under each heading, or combinations of them, so that they match each other as closely as possible. Madsen and Bowen(1978) refer to this matching as the principle of 'congruence': Effective adaptation is a matter of achieving "congruence"….The good teacher is…. Constantly striving for congruence among several related variables: teaching materials, methodology, students, course objectives, the target language, and its context, and the teacher's own personality and teaching style. With an emphasis on materials, Stevick(1972)talks of bridging a gap: 'the teacher must satisfy the demands of the textbook, but in ways that will be satisfying to those who learn from it'. It is worth mentioning that adapted material does not necessarily need to be written down or made permanent. While satisfying students 'short-term needs, teachers may need to introduce extra material. Madsen and Bowen (1978) make the point clearly:' the good teacher is constantly adapting. He adapts when he adds an example not found in the book or he adapts even when he refers to an exercise covered earlier, or when he introduces a supplementary picture. Therefore , adaptation is essentially a process of matching. Its purpose is to maximize the appropriacy of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a course book to better suit our particular circumstances.
The Reasons for Adapting ELT Materials
There are many reasons for making modifications to our materials, These reasons depend on the whole range of variables operating in our own teaching situation, and one teacher 's priorities may differ from those of another. Some think that materials should aim to be 'communicative' and 'authentic'. However , these priorities are relative, and there is no absolute notion of right or wrong, also, priorities change over time even within the same context. Nor does a need to adapt necessarily imply that a course book is defective.
It will be useful to state a list to show some of the possible areas of mismatch(no congruence) that teachers identify and that can be dealt with by adapting.
-Not enough grammar coverage in general -Not enough practice of grammar points of particular difficulty to these learners -The communicative focus means that grammar is presented unsystematically -Reading passages contain too much unknown vocabulary -Comprehension questions are too easy, because the answers can be lifted directly from the text with no real understanding -Listening passages are inauthentic, because they sound too much like written material being read aloud -Not enough guidance on pronunciation -Subject-matter inappropriate for learners of this age and intelligence level -Photographs and other illustrative materials not culturally acceptable -Amount of material too great/too little to cover in the time allocated to lessons -No guidance for teachers on handling group work and role play activities with a large class -Dialogs too formal, and not really representative of everyday speech -Audio material difficult to use because of problems to do with room size and technical equipment -Too much or too little variety in the activities -Vocabulary list and a key to the exercises would be helpful -Accompanying tests needed Undoubtedly much more could be added to this list, but it must serve as an illustration of some of the possibilities. All aspects of the language classroom can be covered: these examples above include: (a) aspects of language use ,(b) skills, (c) classroom organization and (d) supplementary material.
برگرفته از نشریه ی راگا پژوهه , شماره اول زمستان 87
دانش آموخته فوق ليسانس رشته مديريت آموزشی هستم. پس از سالها خدمت دلسوزانه و صادقانه درحوزه ی تعلیم تربیت ، تدریس در تربیت معلم و دانشگاه تصمیم گرفتم از طریق راه اندازی این وبلاگ و طرح مباحث و مقالات آموزشی، پژوهشی در حوزه ی مدیریت ، برنامه ریزی و بطور کلی علوم تربیتی گامی هرچند کوچک در جهت انتشار و انعکاس نوآوریها برای استفاده دانشجویان ، دست اندرکاران و علاقمندان در حوزه ی مذکور بردارم. بدیهی است پیشنهادها و انتقادهای سازنده ی شما موجب امتنان و راهگشای ما در ارتقاء کیفیت نجام کار می باشد. ضمنا" نام وبلاگ (آی) واژه ی ترکی و به معنی "ماه" است!