AΓΓ 53

ASSIGMENT 2

TITLE

«CRITICAL ANALYSIS
OF CURRICULUM AND SYLLABUS»

TSOLAKIDOU DIMITRA, 24930

Dimitra Tsolakidou, ΑΓΓ 53, 24930, Assignment 2, January 2006 0

 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ………….2

2. CURRICULAR FRAMEWORK ………………2

2.1. LANGUAGE ORIENTATION OF CURRICULUM ……………..4

3. SYLLABUS DESIGN …………………..5

3.1. THE ENGLISH SYLLABUS ……………..6

4. CONCLUSION ………………………………7

5. REFERENCES ……………………………...8

6. APPENDICES ……………………………...9

Dimitra Tsolakidou, ΑΓΓ 53, 24930, Assignment 2, January 2006 1

 1. Introduction

The social, political, financial and cultural conditions of living form the context of the
educational framework and affect the planning and implementation of the curriculum,
which is the official, theoretical document of a nation’s educational policy. The guidelines
of a curriculum are implemented in practice through the syllabus, which consists of the
specific subjects taught in schools.

This assignment analyses the curricular framework of my present teaching situation,

identifies the educational and language orientation underlying the curriculum and
describes the particular syllabus used in my group of students. There is also a
commentary on the compatibility of the curriculum and syllabus with the students’ needs.

2. Curricular Framework

A ‘curriculum’ can be defined as the substance of a program of studies of an

educational system, describing the philosophy, purposes, design and implementation of
the whole program. It refers to the entire teaching/learning process, including materials,
equipment, examinations and training of teachers or, as Eisner and Vallance (1974:2) put
it in a few words, “what can and should be taught to whom, when and how”. The design
of a curriculum is influenced by many factors and is usually shaped on the basis of a
country’s current educational reality. One could generally say that the ultimate goal of
education, conveyed in a curricculum, is the well-rounded development of the pupils’
personality and their successful integration in society through developing humanistic
values and cognitive, affective and psycho-kinetic skills and abilities.

There are mainly three models of curriculum design, each viewing from a
different perspective the nature and purpose of education. The first one is the ‘objectives
model’, pioneered by Tyler, also called the means-ends or rational planning approach. In
this model ends or goals are pre – specified and constitute the first step in the curriculum

Dimitra Tsolakidou, ΑΓΓ 53, 24930, Assignment 2, January 2006 2

development process in order to ensure accuracy and precision in education. Its content is
linear and assessment is measured in the end by evaluating students’ behaviour.

In opposition to Tyler, Stenhouse proposes a curriculum which specifies

principles of procedure and activities rather than pre-specifying the anticipated outcomes
in terms of objectives. The ‘process model’ focuses on developing students’
understanding and emphasizes learning experiences rather than content-based knowledge.
The process of development is subject to constant re-assessment and modification as
result of student – teacher interaction.

A more flexible model would be the ‘situational’, advocated mostly by Skilbeck

(1976), which begins with an analysis of the context where teaching takes place and then
formulates the goals to be achieved. As White (1988:41) states, in this model “aspects of
either the process or objectives model are not excluded, since the concern is how learning
takes place as well as the content and outcomes of learning’.

If I had to describe the curricular framework that I currently teach in and decide
on a model, I would say that it includes elements of all three curricular models described
above, the objectives, the process and the situational. Although there isn’t any official
document stating the essence of the institution’s curriculum clearly, one can infer some
relevant information based mainly on its practical implementation. The conclusions
drawn indicate that in the curricular framework that I currently teach, there is emphasis
both on content (in the form of pre-specified objectives) and proccess (relating to the way
individuals learn), but the context/situation is also taken into account. To make things
clearer, I must mention that my current teaching context is in a Greek TEE, that is a
Technical Vocational School, and the curricular framework in question is that of
Secondary Technical Education.

A TEE is an alternative to Junior High School leavers who don’t want to attend a
Senior High School. In a Technical Vocational School students don’t get a general type of
education; they specialise in various sciences and technical subjects. Not every TEE

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covers all sciences and specializations but they are divided according to different fields of
vocational education, such as Mechanics, Electronics, Health Services, Finance and
Management, Shipping, Aesthetics, Computers and other professional specializations.
Emphasis is on technical subjects and the school curriculum aims at equiping students
with technical skills and abilities in order to prepare them for an effective performance on
their vocational labors.

From the definition of a TEE and its thematic content, along with the subjects
taught and the structure of the time schedule one can infer that its curricular framework
focuses on promoting active and cooperative methods of acquiring knowledge, providing
each individual with the necessary skills that will enable them to meet the need for
specialization in the job market. Students get in contact with new developments, learn
about technological advancements that concern their future job, practice in laboratories
and training centers, analyse their professional opportunities and learn through a
vocational perspective the principles of critical thinking and social communication.

This technical orientation of the curriculum is not reinforced at the expence of

democratic and humanitarian values; students must become responsible citizens and
members of a global society, embracing democratic and humanitarian principles, free
from religious or cultural prejudice. For this reason some basic theoretical subjects, such
as literature, linguistics, religion, physics and foreign language learning are also taught in
the TEE, according to the relevant curriculum.

2.1. Language orientation of curriculum

As far as foreign language teaching is concerned it is proven that the subject of

English holds an important position in the technical curriculum and the purpose of its
teaching is not self-evident. One could say that the basic ideology which influences the
curriculum design in relation to the role of language learning is that of ‘social and
ecomomic efficiency’, a theory advocated by Bobbitt (1918). This educational
philosophy emphasizes the practical needs of learners and the role of an educational

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program in producing learners who can cope with the social, economic and other needs of
society. In relation to foreign language teaching this leads to an emphasis on practical and
functional skills.

The language orientation of the curriculum is also influenced by other educational

philosophies such as constructivism and cultural pluralism. The former –constructivism-
emphasizes the role of experience in learning. According to Clark (1987,49) ‘Growth
through experience is the key concept’, thus urging for individualized teaching and
learning through practical operation. In relation to the ideology of cultural pluralism, it is
obvious that today more than ever, there is necessity for students to develop cross-
cultural competency through intercultural communication and the subject of English
language can be the vehicle towards achieving cultural globalisation.

All those features mentioned above, constitute the language orientation

underlying the curriculum of secondary technical education. This orientation is also
reflected in the English language syllabus, which implements in practice all those
theoretical goals of the underlying curriculum ideology.

3. Syllabus Design

The definition of a syllabus is more specific than –and is included in – the notion
of curriculum. A syllabus is a detailed document which specifies the content of every
subject taught in each grade and has to do with the design of a series of lessons, the
methodology used and the selection and grading of tasks in order to accomplish the
specific educational aims. According to McKay (1978:11) ‘a syllabus provides a focus for
what should be studied, along with rationale for how the content should be selected and
ordered’. Ur (1996:177) refers to the common characteristics of syllabi and mentions that
a syllabus is a public document with a comprehensive list of content (words, structures)
and process items (tasks, methods) which has explicit objectives.

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 Apart from the common features of syllabi, there are also many differences in
relation to their perspective and educational approach.

White (1988) suggests that there are two main categories of syllabi; Type A and
Type B. Type A syllabi are content or skills-based syllabi, they have a product orientation
and are also called ‘synthetic’-that is they teach parts step by step and students synthesize
the whole. Examples of Type A syllabi are the structural, the notional/functional, the
situational, the topical and the lexical syllabus, all of them viewing language as a
linguistic rather than a psycholinguistic or sociolinguistic process.

Type B syllabi are methods-based syllabi, which ‘focus on the process of learning
rather than the subject matter’ (White 1988:44) and have the communicative task as the
basic unit of the syllabus structure. The content is not pre-select and teacher-learner
negotiation of objectives or methodology is favoured. They are ‘analytic’ (Wilkins,
1976), meaning they operate in terms of the purpose for which people learn the language.
The process syllabus, the procedural and the task-based syllabus fall under Type B
category.

3.1. The English Syllabus

The particular syllabus of english used in secondary vocational education

emphasizes the learning process as a social act and not as a self-evident system of notions
and functions. Its main focus is to reinforce the learning experience through a learner –
centred approach and promote the ability of students to ‘learn how to learn’ by means of a
motivating syllabus structure. The development of pupils’ communicative skills through a
critical way of thinking is the basic goal of the syllabus which aims to create competent
language users, able to handle successfully different linguistic situations in their future
social and professional environment.

One can say that the type of the syllabus used in the present teaching context is
the integrated or multi - strand syllabus, which includes units from all models of type A,

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synthetic syllabi. Technical and specific vocational vocabulary is taught through a topic-
based stucture, refering to the contexts in which language and behaviour occur in the
‘real world’. Moreover, it introduces notions and functions of the english language
without excluding the grammar focus. Emphasis is given mostly on teaching skills such
as reading and speaking mainly through authentic texts and the tasks used throughout the
syllabus promote learner autonomy but also a collaborative approach to learning. The
grading and sequencing criteria of the syllabus have to do with the importance of the
target language and its communicative value. Task difficulty is also taken into account,
thus moving from the simple to the more complex notions and from the general to the
more specific structures.

Concerning the compatibility of the curriculum and syllabus with the students’
needs one could commend that in general the guidelines underlying the institutional
documents of technical education cover the needs of students. There is a clear promotion
of technical knowledge through a framework of professional orientation and students are
offered scientific specialization in their field of interest. Especially in the english syllabus
the laguage is taught through a vocational perpsective and teaching aims to equip
students with the nessecary qualification of english language acquisition, useful for future
professional – and not only – needs; and this is something that students seek to have.

4. Conclusion

From all the above one can perceive the major role of curriculum design and
syllabus structrure in education, as these official documents guide the whole educational
process. The model, type and methodology of a curriculum affects the syllabus’ design
and all together influence directly the learning expreriences of students. The final
outcome depends on the point of view education is conceived.
Words count: ~1750

Dimitra Tsolakidou, ΑΓΓ 53, 24930, Assignment 2, January 2006 7

REFERENCES

Clark, J.L. (1987). Curriculum renewal in school foreign language learning. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Eisner, EW & Valance, E. (eds). (1974). Conflicting conceptions of Curriculum.

Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing Corporation.

Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculumresearch and development. London:

Heinemann.

Skillbeck, M. (1976). The Curriculum development process in Mcmahon H. (ed.) Styles

of Curriculum Development. Milton Keynes: Open Universtiy Press

Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic Principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: The
University of Chicago.

Ur, P. (1996) A course in language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

White, R.V. (1988). The ELT curriculum. Design, Innovation and Management. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishers Inc.

Wilkins, D. (1976). Notional Syllabuses. London: OUP.

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 APPENDICES

Dimitra Tsolakidou, ΑΓΓ 53, 24930, Assignment 2, January 2006 9

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