Development of Syllabus

Development of Syllabus

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Development of ESL Syllabus

Development of ESL Syllabus for Students of a Japanese University

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Table of ContentsIntroduction......................................................................................................................................4

Phase I: Selection of Good Books for the ESL Syllabus: Evaluating Reading Texts.....................5

Types of ESL Textbooks and Textbook Components.................................................................6

Core Textbooks........................................................................................................................6

Ancillaries................................................................................................................................6

Supplement Textbooks.............................................................................................................6

Grammar Texts.........................................................................................................................6

Content-based Textbooks.........................................................................................................7

Dictionaries..............................................................................................................................7

Textbook Components.............................................................................................................7

Selection Criteria..........................................................................................................................7

Phase II: Creating a Good Syllabus.................................................................................................8

The Place of the Syllabus in Language Teaching........................................................................9

Types of Syllabus.........................................................................................................................9

Structural syllabus..................................................................................................................10

A notional or functional syllabus...........................................................................................10

A situational syllabus.............................................................................................................10

A skill-based syllabus.............................................................................................................10

A task-based syllabus.............................................................................................................10

A content-based syllabus........................................................................................................11

Goals and Objectives.................................................................................................................11

Constraints.................................................................................................................................11

Course description......................................................................................................................11

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Required textbooks....................................................................................................................12

Grading criteria..........................................................................................................................13

An un-completed grid................................................................................................................13

Phase III: Vocabulary Building.....................................................................................................14

Principles for building vocabulary.............................................................................................15

Vocabulary Activities................................................................................................................15

Vocabulary Activity 1............................................................................................................16





The framework of the four strands.............................................................................................17

The meaning-focused input strand.........................................................................................17

The meaning-focused output strand.......................................................................................17

Language-focused learning strand..........................................................................................17

The fluency development strand............................................................................................18

Balancing the Four Strands....................................................................................................18

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18

References......................................................................................................................................19

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Development of ESL Syllabus for Students of a Japanese University

Introduction

Development of the ESL syllabus for Japanese University needs sincere attention and concern.

The paper aims to discuss the different phases of development of the syllabus. There are three

phases of the development of the syllabus:

1. Selection of good books for the syllabus,

2. Creating a good syllabus and

3. Development of a process of improving vocabulary.

The three phases mentioned above will be discussed in three different parts in this paper. The

first part will provide an explanation on how to choose good textbooks for a reading or writing

class in a Japanese university. This explanation will aim to guide the university staffs for

selecting good English learning textbooks for students. A rubric is provided describing different

criteria of selecting good reading textbooks for the university class. The discussion also includes

the importance of different criteria recommended in the rubric and how are they relevant to

teaching reading or writing in relation to the students’ language acquisition.

The second phase of the syllabus development will focus on how to go about preparing to create

the syllabus and how each step would influence the development of the syllabus. Then, using the

same class as the one for the textbook choice, it will provide a polished syllabus, including the

information such as course description, course objectives, required textbooks, grading criteria

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and a un-completed grid for each class session. The third phase of the syllabus development will

focus on developing a strategy of increasing vocabulary considering that the students of Japanese

university have low ability in this situation and they need higher vocabulary as they are about to

do a difficult exam. Many of the students of the Japanese university have expressed a need for

more vocabulary knowledge to do well on the exam. The strategy discussed here will assist

learners in acquiring the vocabulary knowledge necessary to pass a big English exam. The

strategy of developing vocabulary is described within the framework of the four strands e.g.

meaning focused input, meaning-focused output, language focused learning, and fluency

development (Bitterlin, 2003).

Phase I: Selection of Good Books for the ESL Syllabus: Evaluating Reading Texts

The selection of good books for the ESL syllabus for the students of Japanese university can be

ensured by adapting a well-planned strategy of selecting good books on the basis of evaluation of

the reading texts. The process of selection of good books must ensure that students already know

90 percent vocabulary or higher so that they understand the content of the reading texts and their

importance. The books must have tasks for building vocabulary as the reading and writing skills

cannot be developed without good vocabulary. It must also be ensured that the vocabulary

building tasks are within the framework of the four strands e.g. meaning focused input, meaning-

focused output, language focused learning, and fluency development. The books must also have

adequate tasks for pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading sessions in order to ensure that

the reading text has been grasped by the Japanese students properly (Brown, 1993).

Nation (1993) said that selection of textbooks is very crucial as it is liked by the learners and

they consider it as an essential thing for learning a second language. Books are preferred because

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it provides a logical progression and consistency of the course and its definite structure helps

teachers in preparing for the course. It helps readers in reviewing and previewing the content and

provides something concrete to them for study.

Types of ESL Textbooks and Textbook Components

Core Textbooks

The core textbooks are different levels meant for pre-beginners to intermediate or advanced

levels integrating reading, writing, speaking and listening skills based on grammar, vocabulary,

and content of the text.

Ancillaries

Ancillaries support the core textbooks with work books, help books for teachers, literacy

workbooks, audio CDs/cassettes, activity books, assessment sheets, CD-ROMs, etc.

Supplement Textbooks

Supplementary textbooks for ESL syllabus are additional books other than core textbooks which

aim to develop Grammar, Vocabulary, pronunciation, and reading, writing, listening and writing

skills of students. Books that can be used alongside a core textbook are called supplemental

texts. At the NCPDC

Grammar Texts

The grammar textbooks are of two types: core books and reference books. Core grammar books

have rules and usage with practice and activity tasks for both speaking and writing skills.

Reference grammar books are used for developing a better concept of the subject and they don’t

have practice or activity tasks.

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Content-based Textbooks

Content based textbooks refer to textbooks covering specific areas such as social studies,

citizen’s responsibilities, and other relevant issues.

Dictionaries

A wide range of dictionaries is available including picture dictionaries to help ESL students, but

they should be selected carefully and the dictionaries with direct instructions, lesson plans and

activity tasks for ESL students should be preferred. They should have common English words

ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 words.

Textbook Components

The ESL textbooks for Japanese university students must be selected by considering its various

components such as Introduction, Scope and sequence, Units (structures, content, vocabulary,

etc.), practice activities, evaluation or assessment sheets, Grammar appendices, Index, Answer

keys, etc. They might include the scripts of the audio-visual activities also (Knowles, Holton and

Swanson, 2005).

Selection Criteria

The selection of textbooks for ESL students of a Japanese university must be based on the

following criteria:

Whether the book is for beginners or advanced learners

Whether it has learner-oriented content

Whether it has instructions and reference materials for both teachers and students

Whether the instructions incorporate learning skills throughout

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Whether the instructions incorporate four major skills of ESL learning throughout such as

reading, writing, speaking and listening

Whether the format, design and context of the lessons are according to the principles of

ESL syllabus

Whether the layout, print, artwork, font style and size are appropriate for the effective ESL syllabus

Whether the textbooks and reference books are affordable for the students

The selection of textbooks for ESL students must be made by ensuring that they have relevant

content and are up to date. They focus on cultural and linguistic diversity of students with clear

and appropriate content supported by graphics and visuals having clear voice and sound quality.

It must address a wide range of learning styles with exercises, activity sheets, assessment sheets,

etc. and above all it must integrate speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. It also must

incorporate life skills, receptive skills, learning styles like aural, oral, visual and kinesthetic,

thinking skills, problem solving skills, group activities, practice exercises, vocabulary building

exercises and activities, reading exercises including pre-read, read, post-read activities, writing

exercises, assessment and self-evaluation formats, final test series, etc. (Parrish, 2004).

Phase II: Creating a Good Syllabus

After selecting good books for the syllabus, the next important activity of the syllabus is a

creation of the syllabus for the students of the same class of the Japanese university for whom

the books have been selected. The creation or designing of an effective and efficient ESL

syllabus for students of a Japanese university must be done by determining the desired learning

outcomes of the course. Without determining the goals and objectives of the course it is difficult

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to design an effective course. Another important factor in designing the ESL syllabus for

students of Japanese universities, is considering the constraints of both the teachers and the

students and English is a second language for both of them. The syllabus must be designed by

evaluating available the instructional resources available. The syllabuses are of various types and

it must be analysed properly that which syllabus type (s) would be most effective and usable for

this particular teaching situation and whether one syllabus type is enough of there should be an

integration of two or more syllabus types. If syllabus types are integrated, it must be done in a

fixed and required proportion. Finally, the syllabus should be divided or translated into actual

teaching units and the paper includes the actual syllabus on a grid paper. The steps mentioned

above are crucial for preparing to create the syllabus and they influence the development of the

syllabus significantly. The above mentioned steps of syllabus development are discussed in

detail in the following paragraphs (Krahnke and Christison, 1983).

The Place of the Syllabus in Language Teaching

The teachers of ESL are more concerned about the methodology of teaching than the design of

the syllabus. There are three types of syllabus for ESL – the structural syllabus, the situational

syllabus and the notional or functional syllabus. There can be six different types of syllabus for

ESL students of a Japanese university. It is irrelevant to discuss the difference between

curriculum and syllabus, but syllabus is a part of the curriculum being more concrete and specific

and a curriculum may include different syllabi (Brown, 2007).

Types of Syllabus

Primarily there are six types of ESL syllabus which are described below;

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Structural syllabus

A structural syllabus is also called a formal syllabus which includes grammatical structures and

forms of teaching ESL. These structures include structures of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs,

adjectives, questions, statements, simple, compound and complex sentences, coordinate and

subordinate clauses, different tenses, etc. Sometimes structural syllabus also includes

morphology or pronunciation.

A notional or functional syllabus

A notional or functional syllabus refers to the content based on functions or notions for teaching

English as a second language. These functions or notions are used in expressions of the language

being learnt and functions include requesting, informing, promising, agreeing, apologizing, etc.

while notions include time, size, colour, age, comparison, etc.

A situational syllabus

A situational syllabus is based on imaginary or real situations which are used for teaching

English as a second language. This syllabus is activity specific involving two or more

participants.

A skill-based syllabus

A skill-based syllabus refers to developing linguistic skills of the ESL students and the linguistic

skills include grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, sociolinguistic skills, etc.

A task-based syllabus

A task-based syllabus is different from a content-based syllabus and is based on a number of

tasks with specific objectives of teaching ESL.

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A content-based syllabus

A content-based syllabus does not focus on the language but on the content and the language

used for teaching content is English which helps students in learning ESL.

Goals and Objectives

The ESL syllabus for the students of Japanese university must be set with clear goals and

objectives which are to enable them to read, write, speak and listen to English. English is spoken

and understood in almost the entire world and Japanese students must have communication skills

in English.

Constraints

Both Japanese students and teachers have their own constraints in English language as their own

language, Japanese, is entirely different from English in all respects and neither the teachers nor

the students have exposure to English language. They also have minimum chances of any

interaction in the English language which further limits the possibility of learning it fast.

Course description

The course must contain the basic topics which are important for Japanese students to learn

reading, writing, speaking and understanding English. These topics include This and That,

Singular present tense, My and Your, Simple past, Be, Present tense, Negative questions, Subject

pronouns, Going to future, Predicate adjectives, Could as possibility, Subject pronouns, Plural

Adjectives of comparison - -er, -est, Possessive adjectives, Two-word verbs, Demonstrative

pronouns, Could – past of can, Imperatives, Infinitives, Negative of be, Tag questions, Indirect

object position, Count, Non-count, Will future, Present continuous, Would like, Would rather,

Possessive pronouns, Must, must not, Past of be, Past continuous, Simple present, Embedded Wh

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clauses – relative clauses, May, May not, Reflexives, Can, can’t -ly adverbs, Simple present,

Negative Should, Count and mass nouns, If + real condition, Frequency adverbs, Questions -

yes/no, Wh-questions, Negative questions, Tag questions, Singular and plural, Subject-verb

agreement, Pronoun agreement, Some singular, Plural usages of nouns – irregular, Noun plurals,

Count and non- count nouns, etc., Verb tenses, Irregular verbs and spelling, An overview of

English verb tenses – simple, progressive, perfect, etc., Using verb tenses – simple present,

present progressive, etc., The passive, Modal auxiliaries, Gerunds and infinitives, Adjective

clauses, Noun clauses, Conjunctions, Adverb clauses and related structures, time, cause, and

effect, Opposition and condition, Comparison, Conditional sentences, Gerunds and infinitives

(advanced), etc.

Required textbooks

On the basis of the above discussion the books which can be recommended for ESL syllabus for

students of a Japanese university are:

English Fast & Easy by Marianna Pascal

English Grammar in Use with Answers: Reference and Practice for Intermediate Students

by Raymond Murphy

Teaching English To Children In Asia by David Paul

The Practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer

Learning Another Language Through Actions by James J. Asher

Reading English News on the Internet: A Guide to Connectors, Verbs, Expressions, and

Vocabulary for the ESL Student by David Petersen (Goodreads Author)

Compelling American Conversations by Eric H. Roth

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The Classroom and the Language Learner: Ethnography and Second Language

Classroom Research by Leo Van Lier

Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers by Penny Ur

Reading English News on the Internet: A Guide to Connectors, Verbs, Expressions, and

Vocabulary for the Japanese ESL Student by David Petersen (Goodreads Author)

Teaching English Abroad, 8th by Susan Griffith

Business One:One Intermediate Teacher's Book by Rachel Appleby

Intermediate Communication Games by Jill Hadfield

Teaching English One To One by Jane Downman

Business One:One Advanced Student's Book by Rachel Appleby

Really Learn 100 Phrasal Verbs For Business by Dilys Parkinson

Test It, Fix It Business Grammar by Kenna Bourke

Business One:One Intermediate Student's Book by Rachel Appleby

Grading criteria

The grading criteria is very important to ensure the communication skills in ESL of the students

of a Japanese university and it must ensure that there is a balanced development in all the four

skills of English communication which include reading, writing, speaking and listening where

listening skill refers to ability of the student in understanding what he/she listens to. The tests

and assessments should be made on the basis of the performance of the students for all these

skills (Nation, 1989).

An un-completed grid

Class

Date Topic Readings Assignments

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1 1/8

2 1/15 3 1/22 4 1/29 5 2/5

2/12 Holiday 6 2/19 7 2/23 8 2/26 9 3/5 10 3/12 11 3/19 12 3/26 13 4/2

4/9 Holiday 14 4/16

Mon.4/22

Phase III: Vocabulary Building

The last phase of the development of the ESL syllabus for students of a Japanese university is

vocabulary building or vocabulary development. The vocabulary building for the Japanese

student is very crucial as they don’t possess a good vocabulary and without good vocabulary it is

difficult to master any language. Another factor, which requires good vocabulary is that they are

about to do a difficult exam for which they need a good vocabulary. Most of the students have

expressed their concern for better vocabulary knowledge so that they can do well on the exam.

This phase of the syllabus development aims to assist learners in acquiring the vocabulary

knowledge necessary to pass the big English exam which will be done within the framework of

the four strands e.g., meaning-focused input, meaning focused output, language focused learning,

and fluency development including examples of specific activities (Brown, 2007).

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Principles for building vocabulary

For a student of Japanese university, it is enough if he/she knows about 2,000 general academic

high frequency words. They should be taught phrases, and learning both implicit and explicit

words to develop their capacity. They should learn new words by seeing its form and listening its

pronunciation clearly and then speaking the word aloud. They must be encouraged to elaborate

word knowledge and develop word fluency. While reading a text if they come across a new word

they should be encouraged the guess the meaning of the word from the context and after that

consult a dictionary to find the actual meaning of the word. The use of dictionary will enhance

the vocabulary of the students tremendously. It is also very important to diagnose vocabulary of

the students individually so that specific attention can be given to develop their strengths

individually. They must be given regular vocabulary level tests in order to find the kind of

vocabulary they possess and what can be done to develop an adequate level of vocabulary. Since,

most of the students of a Japanese university have a vague idea about English words which might

work in multiple-choice tests, but they never used those words in their communication and they

hardly have any idea about how to use those words. This problem can be solved by encouraging

students to elaborate their word knowledge which can be done by giving them a writing

assignment with a list of words that they have to compulsorily use in the given assignment.

Another way of enhancing vocabulary is engaging Japanese students in vocabulary activities

(Kathleen, 2009).

Vocabulary Activities

Vocabulary activities can be a more practical and entertaining way of enhancing vocabulary and

the vocabulary activity should be designed in a manner that they are cognized, deep and

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elaborate for enabling clear understanding and use of the word. The vocabulary activity with an

objective of acquiring new words must have following features:

It should promote noticing

It should be engaging and interesting

It should build a bridge between learner's schema and the new words

It should target specific words meant to be taught

It should promote repetition of form and meaning.

It should encourage a high degree of productive or receptive generation.

Vocabulary Activity 1

This activity encourages students to read a text and guess the meanings of specific words and

then marks are given for correct guesses. Sometimes, they are given options to use the words in

‘fill in the blanks’ type exercises.


In this activity students are given a passage to read and categorize selected words in different

groups and name the group and finally they are encouraged to discuss their action with another

student.


This activity encourages students to guess the correct use of the given word in different

sentences. The given word is used in different sentences in which only one sentence is correct.

They are also encouraged to discuss their solutions with other students.

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In this activity students are encouraged to guess the relation between underlined words and

discuss the outcome with other students.


In this activity, students are encouraged to find similar words in a given text. They are given few

words and search for similar words in the given passage.

The framework of the four strands

The vocabulary building is enhanced within the framework of the four strands e.g., meaning-

focused input, meaning focused output, language focused learning, and fluency development.

These four strands are meant to develop skills of communication i.e. reading, writing, speaking

and listening (Nation and Wang, 1999).

The meaning-focused input strand

The meaning focused input refers to learning English through reading and listening. This

involves reading newspapers, books, magazines and watching English movies, serials, news and

other programs in English. The fundamental principle behind learning is that everybody learns a

new language by listening only. A newly born child learns a new language by listening and the

child starts speaking the language without knowing how to write the language (Krashen, 1985).

The meaning-focused output strand

The meaning-focused output strand refers to learning a new language through speaking and

writing. The learning is achieved by conversations, delivering speeches or lectures, writing

letters or notes to someone, maintaining the habit of diary writing, narrating a story and giving

instructions to someone for doing something (Krahnke and Christison, 1983).

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Language-focused learning strand

Language-focused learning strand is known by different names such as intentional learning,

learning as opposed to acquisition, form focused instruction or focus on form, deliberate teaching

and deliberate study, etc. It is called deliberate learning of language because it focuses on special

features of the language such as vocabulary, pronunciation, discourse, spelling, and grammar

(Krashen, 1985).

The fluency development strand

The fluency development strand refers to the development of all skills of communication making

fluent in Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. This strand encourages students to use what

they know. The learners use their skills for receiving and conveying messages through activities

like speed reading, repeated reading, scanning, skimming, repeated retelling, listening and

writing, etc. (Nation, 2000).

Balancing the Four Strands

Every course must maintain a balance of all these four strands for developing productive and

receptive skills. These all strands require equivalent time and effort and have equivalent benefits.

Hence, a balance between them must be ensured by the instructor by giving 25% of time to all of

them.

Conclusion

The development of ESL syllabus for students of a Japanese university needs to focus on three

key issues such as selection of good books for the syllabus, creating an effective ESL syllabus

and development of a process of improving vocabulary. These are crucial decisions which must

be taken considering various factors like constraints of Japanese students and teachers, goals and

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objectives of the syllabus, learning and practice exercises and vocabulary building exercises.

Vocabulary is an integral part of any language and it is impossible to master a language without

good vocabulary, hence, the syllabus must emphasize on vocabulary building within four

strands.

References

Bitterlin, G. (2003) TESOL Standards for Adult Education ESL Programs. TESOL: Alexandria,

Virginia

Brown, H.D. (1993) Requirements for methods. Journal of Intensive English Studies 7, 1 12.

Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy

(3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

Knowles, Holton and Swanson (2005) The Adult Learner. Elsevier Publishers: Burlington,

Maine

Kathleen S. W. (2009) How to Choose a Good ESL Textbook, For Adult Education and Family

Literacy Learners, Northern Colorado Professional Development Center, 303 772-1845

Krahnke, K.J. and Christison, M.A. (1983) Recent language research and some language

teaching principles. TESOL Quarterly 17 (4), 625 649.

Krashen, S. (1985) The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications . London: Longman.

Nation, I.S.P. (1989) Improving speaking fluency. System 17 (3), 377 384.

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Nation, I.S.P. (1993) Sixteen principles of language teaching. In L. Bauer and C. Franzen (eds)

Of Pavlova, Poetry and Paradigms: Essays in Honour of Harry Orsman (pp.209 224).

Wellington: Victoria University Press.

Nation, I.S.P. (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Nation, I.S.P. (2000) Teaching Vocabulary: Strategies and Techniques . Heinle Thomson.

Nation, P. and Wang, K. (1999) Graded readers and vocabulary. Reading in a Foreign Language

12 (2), 355 380.

Parrish, B. (2004) Teaching Adult ESL A Practical Introduction, McGraw Hill: New York, NY

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Development of Syllabus