Curriculum

and
Syllabus

LUIS OCTAVIO CANSECO GARCIA

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Curriculum and Syllabus:

The term curriculum is open to a variety of

definitions; in its narrowest sense is
synonymous with the term syllabus, as in
the specification of the content and the
ordering of what is to be taught.
Finney (2002:70)

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Curriculum and Syllabus:

In the wider sense it refers to all the aspects of

the planning, implementation and evaluation of
an educational program, the why, how and how
well together with the what of the teaching-
learning process.
Finney (2002:70)

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

Curriculum:
It can be defined, as an educational program which
states:

a) “The educational purpose of the program (the ends)

b) The content teaching procedures and learning

experience which will be necessary to achieve this
purpose (the means)

c) Some means for assessing whether or not the

educational ends have been achieved.”
( Richards, Platt and Platt 1993: 94)

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

Curriculum:

“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.”
(Allen quoted in Nunan, 2000: 6)

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Syllabus: A Definition

Defining a Syllabus: some conceptual difficulties

Clarifying the concept of syllabus is extremely

problematic. There seem to be as many
definitions as definers, each apparently covering
similar ground, whilst containing various nuances
and differences in emphasis.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Syllabus: A Definition

If the curriculum is “all the relevant

decision-making processes of all the
participants” (Johnson, 1989), the
syllabus is its result.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Syllabus

A syllabus is an expression of opinion on

the nature of language and learning; it
acts as a guide for both teacher and learner
by providing some goals to be attained.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Syllabus

Hutchinson and Waters (1996:80) define

syllabus as follows:

“At its simplest level a syllabus can be

described as a statement of what is to be
learnt”.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Syllabus

Nunan (1999:73) refers to syllabus as:

“A syllabus consists of list of content to be

taught through a course of study. Key tasks
for the syllabus designer are the selection of
the items and their sequencing and
integration”.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

Pienemann (1985: 23) sees the syllabus as
“the selection and grading of linguistic
teaching objectives”,

Breen (1984: 47) considers syllabus as “a plan

of what is to be achieved through our
teaching and our students’ learning”.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

Stern (1984) defines syllabus as connected with
content, structure, and organization.

For Lee (1980:108). syllabus is “essentially a

statement of what should be taught, year by
year– through language – syllabuses often also
contain points about the method of teaching and
the time to be taken”.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

(Candlin,1984:30), describes syllabus as follows:

“Syllabuses are concerned with the specification

and planning of what is to be learned,
frequently set down in some written form as
prescriptions for action by teachers and learners.
They have, traditionally, the mark of authority”.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

Dubin & Olshtain, (1997: 28) say:

“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”

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

A syllabus can also be seen as a "summary of
the content to which learners will be exposed"

(Yalden.1987: 87).

It is seen as an approximation of what will be

taught and it cannot accurately predict what will
be learnt.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

Given these definitions it is suggested that
it seems helpful to define a curriculum and
a syllabus as separate entities.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

To sum up it is possible to see syllabus
design as part of course design, which
in turn, forms part of the design of the
curriculum as a whole.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México

 Bibliography
Breen, M.P. (1984): “Process Syllabuses for the Language Classroom” in Brumfit, C.J. (ed): General English Syllabus
Design, ELT Documents 118. London, Pergamon Press/British Council.

Candlin, C.N. (1984): “Syllabus Design as a Critical Process.” in Brumfit, C.J. (ed): General English Syllabus Design,
ELT Documents 118. London, Pergamon Press/British Council.

Dubin, F. & Olshtain, E. (1997) Course Design: Developing Programs and Materials for Language Learning, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Finney, D. (2002): The ELT Curriculum iin Richards, J.C. and Willy A. Renandya (ed): Methodology in Language
Teaching. USA: Cambridge University Press.

Hutchinson, T. & Waters, A (1996) ESP A learning centred approach. Great Britain Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, R.K. (1989): “ A Decision-Making Framework for the Coherent Language Curriculum.” in Johnson, R.K. (ed):
The Second Language Curriculum. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Lee, W. R. (1980) National Syllabuses Construction for Foreign-Language Teaching: Reconciling the Approaches ELT
documents 108- Pgs.81-85, England: The British Council.

Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching and Learning . Canada: Heinle & Heinle.

Pienemann, M. (1985): “Learnability and Syllabus Construction.” in Hyltenstam and Pienemann (eds): Modelling and
Assessing Second Language Aquisition. Clevedon, Multilingual Matters.

Luis Octavio Canseco García / Escuela de Idiomas / URSE / Oaxaca / México