Syllabus Design
Syllabus design is the process of selecting and organising the content of a language course — deciding what to teach and in what order. It is a subset of the broader field of Course Design (or curriculum development), which also encompasses needs analysis, methodology, materials, and assessment. The syllabus itself is the document or plan that specifies the linguistic and/or experiential content of a course.
The Fundamental Question
Every syllabus designer must answer: What is the unit of organisation? The answer reveals deep assumptions about language and learning.
Syllabus Types
| Type | Unit of organisation | Example content | Tradition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structural | Grammar structures | Present simple → Present continuous → Past simple | Synthetic |
| Functional-notional | Functions and notions | Requesting, apologising, expressing time | Synthetic |
| Lexical | Vocabulary / chunks | High-frequency words, collocations, phrasal verbs | Synthetic |
| Skills-based | Language skills | Scanning, note-taking, turn-taking | Synthetic |
| Situational | Situations / contexts | At the airport, at the doctor's | Synthetic |
| Topic-based | Themes / topics | The environment, technology, health | Can be either |
| Task-based | Communicative tasks | Solving a problem, planning an event | Analytic |
| Process | Learning processes | Observation, hypothesis formation, experimentation | Analytic |
See Syllabus Types for detailed treatment of each.
Synthetic vs. Analytic
Long and Crookes (1992) drew the most consequential distinction in syllabus design:
Synthetic Syllabuses
Language is broken into discrete items (structures, functions, lexis, notions) and presented one at a time. The learner's job is to synthesise these accumulated parts into communicative ability. Structural, functional-notional, lexical, and situational syllabuses are all synthetic.
- Assumes language can be decomposed and recomposed
- Teacher/designer controls the input
- Sequencing follows linguistic logic (simple → complex)
- Risk: produces learners who know parts but cannot integrate them
Analytic Syllabuses
Language is presented in whole chunks — tasks, texts, problems — and the learner analyses the language encountered within them. Task-based and process syllabuses are analytic.
- Assumes acquisition occurs through engagement with meaning
- Learner encounters language in context, not isolation
- Sequencing follows communicative or cognitive logic
- Risk: may not provide sufficient systematic coverage of forms
Design Principles
1. Needs Analysis First
Effective syllabus design begins with Needs Analysis — who are the learners, what do they need English for, what can they already do? Without this, the syllabus is based on assumptions.
2. Selection
What content to include? Criteria include frequency, learnability, coverage, usefulness, and relevance to learner needs.
3. Grading
Grading and Sequencing — ordering content from easier to more difficult, or from more frequent to less frequent. Criteria vary by syllabus type: structural complexity for grammar syllabuses, cognitive demand for task-based ones.
4. Sequencing
How items relate to each other across the course. Linear sequencing teaches each item once; spiral sequencing revisits items at increasing depth.
5. Integration
Most modern courses use a multi-layered or multi-strand syllabus — combining structural, functional, lexical, and skills components within a topic or task framework. Pure single-type syllabuses are rare in practice.
Syllabus vs. Curriculum
In British usage (and in most ELT literature), syllabus refers to the content specification for a single course, while curriculum refers to the entire educational programme — philosophy, aims, syllabus, methodology, materials, and assessment. In North American usage, the terms are sometimes reversed or used interchangeably.
Practical Considerations
- Coursebooks impose syllabuses: Most teachers work with published materials that embed a syllabus. Materials Adaptation is the reality — adapting the given syllabus to local needs.
- Backward design: Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998) starts from desired Learning Outcomes and works backward to syllabus content — an increasingly influential approach.
- Negotiated syllabuses: Some approaches (process syllabus, Breen, 1987) involve learners in syllabus decisions, blurring the line between design and delivery.