DiversifiedApproachesandCurrentTrendsofSyllabusDesign

靳亦诗

1.What is Syllabus Design

According Nunan （2004），syllabus design is essentially concerned with the selection and grading of content，methodology with selecting and sequencing appropriate learning experience and evaluation with appraising learners and determining of the curriculum as a whole.Thus syllabus design has vital importance for the implication of the curriculum.

The design of syllabus definitely is not an easy job.It is full of complicity.Generally speaking，syllabus design is comprised of the following six elements： needs analysis，goals and objectives，testing，material，teaching and evaluation （Brown，1995）.However in this paper，this issue will not be the focus.

2.Diversified Approaches to Syllabus Design

2.1.The Categories of Syllabus Design.The approaches to syllabus design are diversified，the most frequently discussed ones since 1970s include structural syllabus design，grammatical syllabus design，functional syllabus design，situational syllabus design，notional syllabus design，task-based syllabus design and etc.In the following part of this paper，I will try to offer a detailed demonstration of several most frequently discussed approaches to syllabus design of ELT in recent decades and some current trends of syllabus design will also be mentioned，aiming to offer English learners and teachers a general acknowledgement and to pave for future research in this field.

2.2.Structural/Grammatical Syllabus Design.In the field of ELT，syllabus design always synchronizes with the theory development in teaching.One generally accepted approach before 1970s was structural syllabus design，which is also called grammatical syllabus.This kind of approach assumes that the form and meaning learning of English is a one-by-one process.Based on this approach，meaning is reckoned as self-evident，thus there is no need to focus too much on meaning.For instance，many language syllabuses are organized around grammatical items，“based on the premise that learners acquire one grammatical item at a time and that they should demonstrate their mastery of one thing before moving on to the next” （Quoted from Ian Bruce，2005： 240）.

After 1980s，this kind of syllabus was replaced by new communicative syllabuses in many regions of the world，however，in some areas for instance mainland China in 1990s，according to my English learning experiences，the grammatical syllabus design approach was still dominating.

2.3.Functional Syllabus Design.In 1970s，functional language use began to be incorporated into syllabus design in large scale，which is known as functional syllabus design，also known as notional syllabus design or functional-notional syllabus design，however functional syllabus design has become more widely used.Some advocators of this approach claim that the merits of this model are tremendous，such as： it sets realistic learning tasks； it allows for the development of flexible，modular courses and etc.However，there are criticisms.Functional syllabus has been criticized for providing discrete language rather than developing communicative competence.

2.4.Situational Syllabus Design.This kind of approach is concerned with language in a social context.Within this framework，real situations in communication are taken as an organizing principle when selecting and sequencing the contents.The components of this syllabus design approach include： participants，settings and communicative goals.

However，situational syllabus design is definitely not perfect，and until now，there is no perfect syllabus design approach.That is why a new approach will be proposed every few years.Situational syllabus design is criticized that it can only promote learners language competence but not their language capacity.

2.5.Task-based Syllabus Design.During 1980s，the dominant theory of language teaching is CLT （Communicative Language Teaching）.Therefore most syllabus design approaches at that time are communicative approaches.There is a shift from communicative syllabus design to task-based syllabus design.However，task-based syllabus design still has drawbacks.For instance，it is difficult to grade the difficulty level of tasks.Some scholars present that，within this approach learners will not pay sufficient attention to the form of language.

3.Current Trends of Syllabus Design

Due to the complexity of language teaching，any approach to syllabus design will have its merits and drawbacks.Until now，there is no perfect syllabus in ELT.Thus people are still exploring better syllabus design approaches.Generally speaking，currently，the syllabus design trends can be summarized in the following aspects.Firstly，old approaches and new approaches of syllabus design will co-exist，because the traditional syllabuses have not been completely abandoned，and the new models have not been accepted universally （Cheng Xiaotang，2005： 4）.Secondly，the syllabus design is experiencing a shift from method-based pedagogy to post method pedagogy.Thirdly，multi-syllabus will emerge.As no one of the existing type of syllabus design is perfect or much better than the others，the integrated syllabus will emerge，which is also known as multi-syllabus.

4.Conclusion

To sum up，syllabus design is always full of shifts with the changing and development of theories in the field of ELT.The previous and current approaches to syllabus design all proved to be not with merits and shortcomings，thus language researchers are still exploring better syllabus design approach.The current trends in this field can be briefly categorized into three aspects as I have mentioned in part 4 of this paper.In-depth study in this field will be worthwhile.

References：

[1]Bruce， Ian.（2005）.Syllabus Design for General EAP writing courses： A cognitive approach.Journal of English for Academic Purposes 4（2005）， 239-256.

[2]Cheng， Xiaotang.（2005）.Current Trends in Syllabus and Materials Development.School of Foreign Languages and Literature， Beijing Norman University.4-5.

[3]Nunan， David.（2004）.Task-based Language Teaching.Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.