INSTITUTE OF MODERN LANGUAGES

UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA

Professional MA in English Language Teaching

Syllabus: 2018 – 2019
ELT 506: Syllabus Design & Materials Development (4 credits)
Tutor: Professor Shaila Sultana, PhD

OBJECTIVES

The course intends to acquaint prospective English language practitioners with the central
issues and basic concepts of syllabus design. They will be introduced to different approaches
to syllabus design and underlying theories of language and language learning that provide the
framework for various types of syllabuses. Prospective English language practitioners will
become aware of the concepts and procedures for developing the syllabuses, role of needs
analysis in syllabus design and contextual factors which affect the implementation of the
syllabus. Eventually, they will develop the ability to analyse, evaluate, and modify syllabuses
and the sensitivity about the issues and factors which need to be considered for designing,
implementing, evaluating, or modifying a syllabus.

This course also aims at acquainting prospective English language practitioners with the
process of developing, selecting, adapting, and evaluating materials that optimise the
possibilities of English language acquisition for ESL/EFL learners. They will learn to design
effective learning activities and develop varieties of engaging and meaningful materials that
ensure purposeful language use for English language learners. In the process, they will become
aware of the current research on second language acquisition and principles and practices of
language teaching. They will also assess the existing materials used in any given language
learning context and adapt them to meet learners’ needs. Consequently, they will understand
the interrelationship between learners’ needs with syllabuses, textbooks and materials in EFL/
ESL classrooms. They will also develop a checklist and evaluate published materials in a given
context.

By the end of the course, English language practitioners will be able to

• assess the role of a syllabus in the teaching/learning process and teachers’ role in its
development and implementation;
• identify the major principles and practices of syllabus design and the current theoretical
orientations of it;
• use a range of language syllabus design tools and procedures;
• interpret and critically evaluate different types of syllabuses;
• adapt/modify existing syllabuses to suit particular learning contexts;
• develop a syllabus based on the needs of a specific group of students;
• become aware of features of materials that ensure better learning opportunities for EFL/
ESL learners
• develop adequate knowledge about the criteria of materials evaluation
• understand the procedures of materials development and adaptation
• acquainted with the framework and ways of writing materials for specific skills and
groups of learners

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 • able to develop new teaching materials, considering the needs of learners and individual
and contextual factors that in general affect and influence language learning and
teaching

COURSE CONTENT (SYLLABUS DESIGN)

1. Basic Orientations: The place of syllabus in language teaching; ‘syllabus’,

‘curriculum’, ‘goals’, ‘objectives’, ‘needs’
2. Product, process, synthetic and analytic syllabus planning
3. Six types of syllabuses and their strengths and weaknesses: Grammatical syllabus;
functional- notional syllabus; situational syllabus; skill-based syllabus; task based
syllabus; content based syllabus
4. The scope and content of a communicative syllabus: Language content in
communicative syllabus; problems of designing it and producing materials for it
5. The basis for syllabus designing: Establishing realistic goals, surveying existing programmes
6. Designing a syllabus: Needs analysis, principles for analysing learner needs, assessing societal
factors in syllabus design, from needs to goals
7. Selecting and grading content, tasks, and objectives
8. The relationship between syllabus and materials
9. Evaluating syllabuses
10. Developing syllabuses for a specific learning situation (EAP/ ESP/ EGP)

COURSE CONTENT (MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT)

1. Introduction to materials development: Basic terms for materials development in

language teaching
2. A framework for materials writing
3. Needs analysis in a particular context
4. Materials evaluation
5. Material Adaptation: Principles and procedures
6. Principles and procedures of materials development
7. Developing materials – Grammar
8. Developing materials – Vocabulary
9. Developing materials – Reading
10. Developing materials – Writing
11. Developing materials – Speaking
12. Developing materials – Listening
13. Developing materials - Integrated skills

RECOMMENDED READING (SYLLABUS DESIGN)

Krahnke, K. (1987). Approaches to syllabus design for foreign language teaching. NY:
Prentice-Hall.
Luke, A., Woods, A. and Weir, K. (2013). Curriculum, syllabus design, and equity: A primer
and model. NY: Routledge.
Markee, N. (1997). Managing curriculum innovation. Cambridge: CUP.
Munby, J. (1981). Communicative syllabus design: A sociolinguistic model for designing the
content of purpose-specific language programmes. Cambridge: CUP.
Nation, I. S. P. and Macalister, J. (2009). Language curriculum design. NY: Routledge.
Nunan, David. (1998) Syllabus design. Oxford: OUP.

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Nunan, David. (1988). The Learner-centred curriculum: A study in syllabus design.
Cambridge: CUP.
Read, A. S. J. (1984). Trends in language syllabus design. Singapore: Singapore University
Press.
Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
White, J. (2004). Rethinking the school curriculum: Values, aims and purposes. NY:
Psychology Press.
White, V. R. (1988). The ELT curriculum: Design, innovation and management. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Yalden, J. (1987). Principles of course design for language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

RECOMMENDED READING (MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT)

McDonough J., Shaw, C., Masuhara, H. (2003). Materials and ELT Methods: A Teachers’
Guide. London: Blackwell.

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2011). Materials Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2003). Developing Materials for Language Teaching. New York:
Cromwell Press.

Online Resources for Materials

1. https://www.ihes.com/bcn/tt/tefl_sites.html
2. https://www.britishcouncil.org.br/en/programmes/english/resources-teachers
3. http://linguabanca.com/18-unmissable-resource-websites-for-busy-elt-teachers/
4. https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-teaching-resources/
5. https://learningenglish.voanews.com/
6. https://www.youtube.com/user/VOALearningEnglish
7. https://www.ego4u.com/
8. https://www.ngllife.com/
9. https://breakingnewsenglish.com/

REQUIREMENTS

English language practitioners will be required to undertake recommended readings,

apply them to complete assignments and participate actively in class. 75% attendance is
mandatory.

MARKS DISTRIBUTION

100 marks of each 4 credit course paper will be distributed in the following manner:
a. Final 4-hour written examination: 75 marks
b. In-course assessment: 25 marks

Final results will be converted to letter grades as below:

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(Following the UGC prescribed grading system effective from 13.06.2006)

Numerical Grade Letter Grade Grade Point

80% and above A+ (A plus) 4.00
75% to less than 80% A (A regular) 3.75
70% to less than 75% A- (A minus) 3.5
65% to less than 70% B+ (B plus) 3.25
60% to less than 65% B (B regular) 3.0
55% to less than 60% B- (B minus) 2.75
50% to less than 55% C+ (C plus) 2.5
45% to less than 50% C ( C regular) 2.25
40% to less than 45% D 2.0
Less than 40% F 0.0

In the Transcript/Marks Sheet, only the Letter Grade and the Corresponding Grade points and
final CGPA, not the numerical marks, will be shown.

N.B. Plagiarism in any form will be heavily penalized.