SYLLABUS AND

MATERIAL DESIGN
Difference between Curriculum and Syllabus
Meeting 2
A clarification of terms

The terms curriculum and syllabus are sometimes

used interchangeably, sometimes differentiated, and
sometimes misused and misunderstood.
WHAT IS A CURRICULUM?
Definition of Curriculum
 A curriculum is the set of courses, course work, and
content offered at a school or university. A curriculum
is a focus of study, consisting of various courses all
designed to reach a particular proficiency or
qualification.
 A curriculum may also refer to a defined and
prescribed course of studies, which students must
fulfill in order to pass a certain level of education.
 Curriculum is a very general concept which involves
consideration of the whole complex of philosophical,
social and administrative factors which contribute to
the planning of an educational program.
Definition of Curriculum
 Curriculum can be defined, as an educational program
which states:
“The educational purpose of the program (the ends) The
content teaching procedures and learning experience
which will be necessary to achieve this purpose (the
means) Some means for assessing whether or not the
educational ends have been achieved.”
 Curriculum defined as, 'All the learning which is planned
and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in
groups or individually, inside or outside the school.
Definition of Curriculum
 Curriculum refers to all those activities in which
children engage under the auspices of the
school. This includes not only what pupils learn, but
how they learn it, how teachers help them learn, using
what supporting materials, styles and methods of
assessment, and in what kind of facilities.
 Curriculum is a theoretical document and refers to
the programme of studies in an educational system
or institution.
Definition of Curriculum
 Curriculum deals with the abstract general goals of
education which reflect the overall educational and
cultural philosophy of a country, national and political
trends as well as a theoretical orientation to language
and language learning.
 A curriculum provides the overall rationale for
educating students.
Four approaches of curriculum theory and
practice
 Theoretically, Curriculum as a body of knowledge to
be transmitted
 Practically, Curriculum as an attempt to achieve
certain ends in students, as the product
 Curriculum as process is the productive process of
syllabus
 Curriculum as praxis is the translation/elaboration of
theoretical idea into specific purpose
What questions does the curriculum
address?

 What is the purpose of educating students in this

particular institution/ educational level?

 What kinds of knowledge should students be taught?

 What kinds of learning experiences do the students

need to go through in order to acquire the knowledge
and achieve our purposes?
What questions does the curriculum
address?

 What kinds of teaching methods should be used to

help students acquire the knowledge and achieve our
purposes?

 How should these learning experiences be organised?

 How should we assess learners in order to see

whether the purposes have been achieved?
What questions does the curriculum
address?
By answering these questions, a curriculum provides
information on:
 the goals of education,
 subjects to be taught,
 activities learners should be engaged in (how)
 methods and materials,
 allocation of time and resources and
 assessment of students and of the curriculum itself.
WHAT IS A SYLLABUS?
Definition of Syllabus?
 At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a
statement of what is to be learnt. Syllabus refers
to the content or subject matter of an individual
subject .
 It is a detailed and operational document which
specifies the content of a particular subject. It is a
kind of plan which translates the abstract goals of the
curriculum into concrete learning objectives.
Definition of Syllabus
 A syllabus is simply an outline and time line of a
particular course. It will typically give a brief overview of
the course objectives, course expectations, list reading
assignments, homework deadlines, and exam dates. A
syllabus is a document which consist, essentially, of list.
This list specifies all the things that are to be taught in
the course.
 A syllabus is a more 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.
What does a syllabus include?
 Narrow view of syllabus design: a syllabus is only
concerned with the specification of learning objectives
and the selection and grading of content.
 The broader view argues that a syllabus is not only
concerned with the selection and grading of content
but also with the selection of learning tasks and
activities. In other words, syllabus design is also
concerned with methodology.
Requirements of making a syllabus
 The course plan should provide an accessible
framework of the knowledge and skills on which
teachers and learners will work.
 It should offer a sense of continuity and direction
in the teacher’s and learners’ work.
 It should represent a retrospective account of
what has been achieved.
 It should provide a basis on which learner progress
may be evaluated.
Requirements of a syllabus
 It should be sufficiently precise so that it may be
assessed through implementation as being more
or less appropriate for its purposes and users.
 It is a document of administrative convenience
and will only be partly justified on theoretical
grounds, and so is negotiable and adjustable.
Requirements of a syllabus
 It must harmonise the three contexts within which
it is located:
 the wider language curriculum,
 the language classroom and the participants within
it,
 the educational and social reality that the course-
plan is supposed to serve.
Types of Syllabus
 Product – oriented syllabus

 Process – oriented syllabus

Two approaches in language syllabus
 A Synthetic syllabus of language teaching strategy is
one in which the different parts of language are
taught separately and step by step so that acquisition
is a process of gradual accumulation of parts until the
whole structure of language has been built up."
 An Analytic syllabus are organized in terms of the
purposes for which people are learning language and
the kinds of language performances that are
necessary to meet those purposes. "
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
CURRICULUM AND SYLLABUS
The differences between curriculum
and syllabus

Curriculum Syllabus
 Curriculum is for a  Syllabus is for a subject
course/program /lesson.
 Curriculum is the superset.  Syllabus is the subset of the
curriculum.
 Curriculum is a consideration
of the objectives, the  Syllabus is the concepts to be
contents, methods chosen to taught.
achieve the objective.
Curriculum vs. Syllabus
A curriculum is A syllabus is more
concerned with making localized and is based
general statements on the accounts and
about language learning, records of what
learning purpose, and actually happens at
experience, and the the classroom level as
relationship between teachers and students
teachers and learners. apply a curriculum to
their situation.
THANK YOU

Assignment 1:
Please make a summary of our discussion today