ENGL585 Syllabus Planning & Materials Design
Status Compulsory
Level of Study5
Hours42
Credits3
Design Length1 semester
Mode of Assessment100% Continuous Coursework
Role and Purpose
The subject provides structured opportunities for participants to reflect on their roles and responsibilities with respect to the planning of teaching and the provision of appropriate instructional materials. It helps learners to develop increased capacity for reflection, critical thinking, and teacher autonomy.
Learning Objectives
On successfully completing the subjects, learners will be able to:
- understand the concepts of syllabus and – in reference to English language teaching - the relationship between syllabus, methods and materials
- understand different approaches to language syllabus design and the consequences of these differences for teaching methods, instructional materials and learner assessment
- critically evaluate, in the light of their reading and subject inputs, the syllabuses with which they are familiar
- critically evaluate materials in use in their teaching contexts, and select from, adapt or supplement these as appropriate
- reflect on the planning and delivery of teaching programmes in their own institutions
- have developed strategies to work autonomously and collaboratively
Indicative Content
- Concepts of syllabus
- Approaches and methods with respect to syllabus design and materials writing
- Types of English language syllabus
- Syllabus evaluation and design
- From syllabus to materials: materials evaluation for selection
- Materials design, with specific reference to tasks
- Materials adaptation
- Supplementation: the choice and exploitation of authentic materials; the Internet as a resource for language learning
Forms of Teaching and Learning
Interactive lectures and seminars and online learning take the learner deeper into the concepts, ideas and techniques in syllabus planning and materials design. All assignments are designed to provide students with tasks that require the evaluation, synthesis and application of all relevant concepts, methods and approaches to the learners’ own teaching contexts.
Subject Assessment
The subject is assessed entirely through coursework: two written and one spoken assignments. Students are assessed in terms of both subject knowledge and generic skills, especially in the areas of critical and creative thinking. Each assignment requires the critical application of the subject knowledge to a real-life context of teaching and learning.
Reading List
Cunningsworth, Alan. 1995. Choosing Your Coursebook.Oxford: Heinemann.
Dubin, Fraida. 1986. Course Design: Developing Programs and Materials for Language Learning. Cambridge [England]; New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Grant, Neville. 1987. Making the Most of Your Textbook. London: Longman.
Hutchinson, Tom and Waters, Alan. 1987. English for Specific Purposes: A Learning-centred Approach.Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Johnson, Keith. 2003. Designing Language Teaching Tasks. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
McDonough, Jo and Shaw, Christopher. 2003. Materials and Methods in ELT: a teacher’s guide. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell.
McGrath, Ian. 2002. Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching. Edinburgh: EdinburghUniversity Press.
Morris, Paul. 1998. (2nd ed.) The Hong KongSchool Curriculum: Development, Issues and Politics. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Nunan, David. 1996. Syllabus Design. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
Richards, Jack C. 2000. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversity Press.
Richards, Jack and Rodgers, Theodore S. 2001 (2nd ed.). Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Sheldon, Leslie E. (ed.) 1987. ELT Textbooks and Materials: Problems in Evaluation and Development. ELT Documents: 126. London: Modern English Publications.
van den Branden, Kris. (Ed.). 2006. Task-based Language Education: From Theory to
Practice. Cambridge, UK ; New York : CambridgeUniversity Press.
White, Ron. 1988. The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation and Management. Oxford: Blackwell.
Willis, Dave. 2007. Doing Task-based Teaching. Oxford [England]: OxfordUniversity Press.
Woodward, Tessa. 2001. Planning Lessons and Courses: Designing Sequences of Work for Language Classroom.Cambridge ; New York : CambridgeUniversity Press.
Prepared by: Prof Winnie Cheng
Date:23 August 2007