Now use the text of Listen and Discuss 2.3. activity to design an exercises that will help students to improve their use of articles with countable nouns.

Discuss and Write 2.3.

Think about syllabus for studying the English Language for foreign students in Smolny College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Consider the General Concepts of education and take them into account when working out your syllabus.

Follow the Instructions provided in Lead 2.3.

Find and present information 2.3.

Find websites of the universities which provide information about their educational programs. Speak about those dealing with teaching FL.

Unit 2.4.Types of syllabi

Terminology to Study 2.4.

Choose 2- 3 terms and work out Word Map in Visual Thesaurus Style. For reference you might resort to A Handbook of English-Russian Terminology for Language Teaching

Type of syllabus

A priory syllabus/ a posteriory syllabus

Negotiated syllabus

Skills centered syllabus

Content-based syllabus

Functional based

Notional/functional syllabus (NFS)

Lexical syllabus

Structural/Grammatical/

Language-centered syllabus

Task-based syllabus

Procedural syllabus

Lead-in 2.4.

Do you see any drawbacks of the notional /functional syllabus? Read the abstract below and voice your opinion regarding Julian Dakin’s viewpoint.

'My guinea pig died with its legs crossed'

Robert's criticisms of functional/notional syllabuses, in this article, would equally apply to communicative language teaching syllabuses.

The gist of the article is that language use can be so personal that no notional/functional or communicative syllabus designer could predict that a child would want to tell a teacher that 'her guinea pig died with its legs crossed'. Julian Dakin recounts that this was uttered by an eight-year old girl in a tape-recorded interview.

However, structural syllabus design fosters the generative use of language and allows speakers to form sentences that have never been uttered previously.*

Read and Discuss 2.4.

Read this conclusion to the article An Overview of Syllabuses in English Language Teaching by Mohammad Mohseni Far. To what extend do you share author’s opinion?

***

There are many essential points when considering a syllabus to be designed and implemented. The various syllabi touched upon in this investigation all present valuable insights into creating a language program and course. Although the thirteen types of syllabus were examined and defined here as if in isolated contexts, it is uncommon for one type of syllabus to be utilized fully in actual teaching settings. Syllabuses are frequently combined in more or less integrated ways with one type as the organizing starting point around which the others are arranged and connected. To put it another way, in arguing about syllabus choice and design, it should be kept in mind that the question is not which type to choose but which types and how to connect them with each other. Finally, and perhaps preferably, a hybrid syllabus needs to be constructed and designed due to pragmatic reasons. As Hutchinson and Waters (1987:51) state “it is wise to take an eclectic approach, taking what is useful from each theory and trusting also in the evidence of your own experience as a teacher”.

In closing, it is of great importance to note that no single type of syllabus is appropriate for all teaching settings. This is due to the fact that the needs and conditions of each setting are so characteristic and idiosyncratic that particular proposals for integration are not easily possible. The possibility and practicality aspects of a particular syllabus to be developed and implemented are of great significance while processing the issue. To put in more tangible terms, in making practical decisions about syllabus design, one must take into account all the potential factors that may affect the teachability of a specific syllabus. By beginning with an assessment and investigation over each syllabus type, keeping track of the choice and integration of the different types according to local needs, one may find a principled and practical solution to the problem of suitability and efficiency in syllabus design and implementation. The investigation on how subtly and carefully a syllabus can be designed and implemented opens a new horizon for future research.