SYLLABUS DESIGN for

TEACHING ENGLISH
IN THE CONTEXT OF SCHOOL-LEVEL
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT(SLCD)
(competence-based syllabus design)

By
Wachyu Sundayana

1
A. Objectives of the Seminar& Workshop:
At the end of the seminar & workshop, the
participants should be able:
1. to identify different types of syllabi used in
foreign language teaching;
2. to compare, at least, two different types of
syllabi used in TEFL (Teaching English as a
Foreign Language);
3. to develop competence-based syllabus for
TEFL in the context of School-Level
Curriculum (SLC or KTSP)

2
B. Seminar & Workshop Coverage:
• Part I : Theoretical foundation of
syllabus design

• Part II: Workshop on EFL syllabus

development, focusing on
Competence-Based Syllabus

3
Part I: Foundation of Syllabus
Design

4
 1. WHAT IS SYLLABUS DESIGN?
• Syllabus design can be defined as selection
and organization of instructional content
including suggested strategy for presenting
content and evaluation ( Brown, 1995)

• Whereas, Curriculum is a broad description of

general goals by indicating an overall
educational-cultural philosophy which applies
across subjects together with a theoretical
orientation to language and language
learning.

5
• Syllabus is a detailed and operational
statement of teaching and learning
elements which translates the philosophy
of the curriculum into a series of planned
steps leading towards more narrowly
defined objectives at each level. The
relationship between language
curriculum and syllabus can be shown in
the following figure:

6
 Syllabus Audience
Level

Theories of Theories of
language Language
A model of learning

Curriculum

Educational-cultural
viewpoints

7
 2. WHAT IS COMPETENCE-BASED
SYLLABUS?
• Competency (or competence) is synonymous
with ability or proficiency (or skill), implying a
high level skill, well-developed knowledge, or a
polished performance (Hadley, 2001)

• Competence-based syllabus is similar to skill-

based syllabus (in language teaching) which
defines what a learner is able to do (in terms of
specific skills) as result of instruction.
Competencies (or skills) here refers to
observable behaviors that are necessary for the
successful completion of real-world activities
(Richards, 2001).

8
• A unit of competence (e.g. covered in the
textbook) might be a task, a role, a
function, or a learning module. And an
element of competency can be defined as
any attribute of an individual that
contributes to the successful performance
of a task, job, function, or activity in an
academic setting and/or a work setting or
others (Richards & Rogers, 2001)

9
 3. Syllabus components

In general, the components of syllabus

consist of :
• Objectives (or competencies in
competency-based syllabus)
• Instructional contents
• Learning experiences
• Evaluation

10
 4. Why syllabus must be
developed ?

• To address students’ needs

• To actualize the institutional goals and
objectives
• To develop content standard (standard
competencies and basic competencies
into teachable materials used in teaching
and learning process in related schools

11
 5. Who develop syllabus?

• A group of teachers in one school

• National Council of Teachers of English
(MGMP)
• Curriculum developer and other related
resource persons
• Supervisor

12
 6. How to develop syllabus?

• Ideally, syllabus is developed based on

needs analysis conducted by a group of
teachers in collaboration with needs
analysts/experts and a team of curriculum
development
• Approaches used in developing syllabus
can be analytic or synthetic approach

13
 Technically, the steps of syllabus design
cover the following:
• Planning
• Dissemination
• Implementation
• Evaluation
• Revision
The steps can be reflected in the
following figure

14
 Systematic Model for Syllabus Design
(adapted from Brown,1996)

Planning
NEEDS ANALYSIS E
(1) V
GOALS&OBJECTIVES A
L
TESTING U (3)
A
Implementation T
MATERIALS
I
O
(2) TEACHING N

15
 The steps in developing
syllabus:
A. Planning and Specification stage:
1.Identify existing content standard,
resourceful materials, and textbooks
2.Use the information collected through
needs analysis related to students’
background knowledge and expectation

16
3. Identify competencies given in the content
standard (competence standard and basic
competencies/SK KD)
4.Identify contents in basic competencies
(instructional contents and competencies)
5. Analyze core contents, using ‘learning task
analysis’, to identify both grammatical
elements/textual meanings and Ideational
meanings (main ideas, supporting ideas etc.)
by considering:

17
• three learning domains as suggested in the
goals of teaching English
(cognitive/intellectual skills, psycho-
motor, and affective domains);
• supporting competencies, e.g. linguistic,
socio-cultural, and discourse competencies
explicitly or implicitly covered in
instructional content mandated in KD/basic
competencies
• students’ prior knowledge and skills ( use
information collected through need
analysis)

18
• the existing learning resources including
teacher’s competencies
6. Decide evaluation tools by considering
the formulated indicators
7. Determine time allocation by considering,
indicators, material coverage, students’
prior knowledge/level, etc.

19
8. Determine learning resources used
B. Dissemination and Implementation
stage:
1.Develop testing (eg. Pre-test, Formative
test, and Achievement test)
2. Develop teaching materials
3. Train teachers or socialize the syllabus
and its components
4. Conduct on-going evaluation of the
program implementation

20
C. Evaluation and Revision Stage
Evaluation is conducted by a team of
curriculum development or related experts
The result of evaluation is used to
reconstruct the syllabus

21
 7. Factors affecting syllabus
design and choice ?

• Goals and objectives of the overall instructional

program as stated in the school level curriculum,
for example, in the content standard, the goal of
teaching English is the ability to develop
communicative competence in both spoken and
written medium at functional levels (for SMP/ MTs)
and informational levels ( for SMA/MA)

22
• Functional level: the ability to use
language to fulfill daily needs, such as
reading news paper, manuals, or direction

• Whereas, informational level is the ability

to use language to access/to get
information

23
• Broadly defined settings and structural
knowledge (except for young learners) and
communicative ability in specific situations as a
result of need analysis. This can lead to the
practice of selecting combination of topical,
functional, structural, situational, and skill (or
competence) in syllabus design ( Krahnke,
1987)
• Teacher factors (teacher’s competencies in
teaching English)
• Student factors (student’s prior knowledge,
skills, level, and motivation)

24
8. Types of Syllabi

• Syllabuses: Ways of Organizing Courses and

Materials

• Structural syllabus: Grammatical and

phonological structures are the organizing
principles – sequenced from easy to difficult
or frequent to less frequent

• Situational syllabus: Situations (such as at the

school, at a restaurant, at the supermarket
etc.) form the organizing principle –
sequenced by the likelihood students will
encounter them

25
• Topical syllabus: Topics or themes (such as
our body, our house, our family, etc.) form the
organizing principle- sequenced by the
likelihood that the students will encounter
them

• Functional syllabus: Functions (such as

introduction, ask and give information, etc.)
are the organizing principle – sequenced by
some sense of chronology or usefulness of
each function

26
• Skills syllabus: Skills (such as listening for
main ideas, scanning a reading passage for
specific information, etc.) serve as the basis
for organization sequenced by some sense of
chronology or usefulness for each skill.

• Task or activity based syllabus: Task or

activity-based categories (such as drawing
maps, following directions or instructions,
etc.) serve as the basis for organization –
sequenced by some sense of chronology or
usefulness of notions

27
• Notional syllabus: Conceptual categories called
notions (such as quantity, duration, location,
etc.) are the basis of organization – sequenced
by some sense of chronology or usefulness of
each notion

• Competence-based syllabus: Description of

essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and
behaviors required for effective performance or
real-world task or activity serve the basis for
organization of instructional content (Richards&
Rogers, 2001; 144).

28
References:
1. Brown, JD.1996. The Elements of Language Curriculum; A
Systematic Approach to Program Development.
Boston, Mass.: Heinle&Heinle Publishers
2. Krahnke, Karl.1987. Approaches to Syllabus Design for
Foreign Language Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice
Hall Regents
3. Hadley, Alice Omaggio.2001. Teaching Language in
Context. Boston: Heinle&Heinle Publishers.
4. Richards&Rogers. 2001. Approaches and methods.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. Wachyu S, dkk. 2006. Competece-Based English;
Developing Competencies in English for SMP and Mts.
Bandung: Grafindo Media Pratama

29
Part II: Competence-Based
Syllabus Design

30
1. Steps of competence-based
Syllabus Design
a. Read and identify the given content standard ,
eg, for Grade VII, Smt 1 or 2. Look at
competence standard and basic competencies
for listening, speaking, reading, and writing as
the main competencies. Then, identify
instructional contents in terms of various texts
such interpersonal, transactional, descriptive,
recount types of texts. Then, analyze the
mandated texts into teachable and gradable
teaching materials. Use your analysis as the
basis for formulating indicators by considering
the following:

31
1) Learning domains (cognitive, psychomotor, and
affective domains). Look at the verbs used for
each domain and level
2) Read and analyze the given texts both dialogue
and monologue (taken from Standard English
Textbook for SMP ). Do the following:
a) identify grammatical elements found in the
written texts you have read ( e.g. Phonemes,
words, phrase, or sentence ) including tenses
used. Then, formulate indicators for linguistic
competencies based on these grammatical
elements. Use map of instructional content
based on your text analysis. Look at the example
below (for recount text type)

32
Structure; One very spooky encounter with a Language Features:
Introduction UFO (an unidentified flying object) Use of pronouns to
that introduces occurred in May 1974 involving a show where and
an orientation when.
couple driving from Zimbabwe to
South Africa.
Sequence of As they carefully drove throughout Use past tense
Events that re- the night they saw a flashing blue-
constract the
white light that was going on and
past in the order
In which events
off in a slow, steady rhythm.
occurred Shortly after noticing this, the car
was covered in a bright circle of

light.

33
b) identify grammatical elements found in spoken
(dialogue or monologue) (e.g. phonemes, words, phrase,
or sentence ) including tenses used. Then, formulate
indicators or linguistic competencies based on these
grammatical elements

c) Identify ideational meanings found in the written texts

and interpersonal or transactional meanings found in
spoken texts. Then, formulate indicators based on what
you find in the spoken texts, e.g. cultural elements (for
socio- cultural competence)

34
d. Write basic competencies you take from the
national standard into the given form of
syllabus (matrix is suggested; look at the
given example) Then, write your indicators
based your analysis of the texts (learning task
analysis)

3) Write suggested core material on the next

column, eg. ‘topic chosen’; text types
(transactional or interpersonal); ‘major
grammatical elements found in the texts, eg.
‘noun phrase’, ‘simple present tense’, etc.

35
4) Formulate learning experiences provided to
help Ss attain the given indicators on the next
column

5) Decide evaluation tools, types, instrument,

etc. on the given column

6) Write the learning resources used, eg.

English Textbook, teaching media used, eg.
Flashcards, pictures etc.

36
 Exercise #1: Analyze the text using
instructional map (use table to indicate text
structure and language features) :

•People with a television set can sit in their house

and watch the president makes a speech or visits a
foreign country. They can see a war being fought,
and they can watch government leaders try to bring
about peace. Through television, viewers at home
can see and learn about people, places, and things
in far away lands. Television even takes viewers
out of this world as the astronauts explore outer
space.

37
•In addition to all these things, television
brings its viewers a steady stream of
programs that are designed to entertain.
In fact, TV provides many more
entertainment programs than any other
kind of information media. The programs
include action-packed dramas, light
comedies, soap operas, sports events,
cartoons, quizzes, variety shows, and
motion pictures.

38
•More than 83 million homes in the United
States or 98% of all the country’s homes-
have at least one television set. On the
average, a television sat is in use in each
home for about 6 hours each day. As a
result, television has an important
influence on how people spend their time,
as well as on what they see and learn.
After they arrive from work, they usually
watch TV. Then, the importance of
television is proven.

39
After reading and analyzing texts, do the
following tasks:

Task # 1: Identify the social function or purpose

of the text

Task # 2 : Identify language features found in

the text (the tenses used, specific
participants, noun phrase etc)

Task # 3: Identify the generic structure of the

text (how the ideas are organized in the
beginning, middle and the end of the text)

40
e. Use the result of your analysis of
the text as sources from which you
formulate indicators

Task # 4: Now, based on your text

analysis, formulate the indicators.
Use the form suggested.

41
 Exercise # 2: Analyzing Text:
Procedure
The Chinese make bean sprouts from the mug
bean. This is how you can grow your own food in a
jar.
1. Choose a bean or seed, for example, the mug or
adzuki bean or the sunflower seed.
2. Put 75 grams of the beans of the seed in a bowl
3. Cover them in water for 12 hours.
4. Pour out al the water
5. Put the beans or seeds into a large jar. This must
be clean

42
6. Put a thin piece of cloth over the top of the jar.
Hold the cloth in place with an elastic band.
7. Put the jar on its side in a warm, dark place.
You must not put the jar in sunlight
8. Pour a cup of cold water carefully through the
cloth into the beans and seeds twice a day – in
the morning and at night
9. Make sure that you pour all the extra water out.
Finally, when the beans look growing, they are
ready to eat.

43
After reading and analyzing texts, do the
following tasks:

Task # 1: Identify the social function or

purpose of the text

Task # 2 : Identify language features

found in the text (the tenses used,
conjunctions used, etc)

Task # 3: Identify the generic structure of

the text (goals, steps used)

44
e. Use the result of your analysis of the
texts as sources from which you
formulate indicators

Task # 4: Now, based on your text

analysis, formulate the indicators. Use
the form suggested.

45
 Exercise #3: Read the following
dialogue. Then, analyze it.
Situation: In the class, Anna and Nina have a
drawing lesson
Anna: Can I borrow your red pencil?
Nina: Sure, here it is.
Anna: Thank you very much.
Nina: You’re welcome
Anna: Your drawing is good, Nina.
Nina: Thank you, Anna.
Anna: That’s all right.

46
 Task1 : Do the following with your friends
in a group of four or five

1.Find the prominent expressions used

in the dialogue (e.g. thanking
2. Find interpersonal meanings in the dialogue as
they are indicated in the expressions used.
3. Identify the prominent phonemes, intonation or
stress patters in the dialogue.
4. Identify the cultural elements (if any) found in the
dialogue, e.g. explicitly attached to the expressions
used.

47
Task 2: Write indicators based on your
analysis of the dialogues in the given form
Notes : 1.The syllabus form suggested given in appendix

2. Suggested Teaching steps of Text (for monologue):

The most familiar sequence for teaching involves these steps

(though be flexible):

(i) introduce and build a knowledge of the field;

(ii) introduce model(s) of the target genre;
(iii) ‘deconstruct’ the genre, discussing its
elements & their functions;
(iv) write an instance of the genre & discuss;
(v) research & write other examples.

48
Format: Formulasi Standar
Kompetensi, Kompetensi Dasar ke
dalam Indikator
Standar Kompetensi Materi Indikator
Kompetensi Dasar (lihat Pokok(lihat (Kembangkan
(lihat Standar Standar Isi uraian berda-sarkan
Isi dan SKL) dan SKL) indikator) analisis
Teks/bhn ajar)

49
 Appendix 1:The Form of Syllabus:

Nama Sekolah:
MataPelajaran:
Kelas/Semester:
Standar Komptensi:
Kompeten Materi Indikator Pengalama Evaluasi Alokasi Sumber
si Dasar Pokok n Belajar Waktu & Media

50
Thank you for joining the training &
workshop
Wachyu Sundayana
Jurusan Pend.Bhs. Inggris, FPBS
UPI, Jl. Dr.Setiabudhi 229 Tlp/Fax
(022)2002443
email address:
[email protected]
[email protected]

51