structural syllabus design

Reported by: SyaoSTRUCTURAL SYLLABUS

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: Enumerate the characteristics of a

structural syllabus. Distinguish a structural syllabus from all

other types through its key feature of “syntheticity”

Evaluate the pros and cons of a structural syllabus

Understand the place of structural syllabus relative to the teaching and learning of language.

Do you remember this?

Which later became like this:

How many of these elements do you remember?

This is an example of aSTRUCTURAL SYLLABUS

YOUare a product of this syllabus.

So, what is a Structural Syllabus?

(a.k.a. Grammatical Syllabus, Formal Syllabus, Traditional Syllabus, or Synthetic Syllabus)

Characteristics most familiar of

syllabus types

grammatical / structural aspects of language form are the most basic or useful.

functional ability  arises from structural knowledge

Theory of

learning

Theory of

language

ability to use or communicate in

the new language

What can we find in a structural syllabus?

language form / grammatical form

traditional, Latin-based, descriptive/prescriptive grammatical classification and terminology

Sentence – largest unit of discourse that is regularly treated in a structural syllabus

• Semantics• Interrogative• Declarative• Exclamations• Conditionals

• Structure• Simple• Compound• Complex• Compound-Complex

Types of Sentences

Morphology

Number

• Singular / Plural

Tense

• Past / Present, etc.

Special morphology• Determine

rs and articles

• Prepositions and postpositions

• Gender

Vocabulary

• Affixes

SYNTHETICanalysis of the language content isolation of elements

VERB!

NOUN!

2 Ways to Synthesize

1) analyzed info is AVAILABLE for production and checking accuracy

BLUE!BLUE!

2 Ways to Synthesize2) analyzed info is TRANSFORMED from possibly conscious knowledge

to unconscious behavior

BLUE SKY!BLUE!

Types of Structural Knowledge

Explicit / Descriptive • ability to

describe rules or explain why an utterance is right or wrong

Recognition /Judgmental • ability to merely

to judge whether a given form is acceptable or not, and to correct unacceptable form

Accurate Productive Behavior • ability to use the

structures being taught without necessarily describing or making judgments about them.

What structural knowledge type do you have?

Lee Grane impressed Bamboo and Sarah.

What structural knowledge type do you have?

Neither my friends nor myself like the revolving chairs too much.

AssociationsCognitiv

e Methods

of Languag

e Teaching

Audio-Lingualis

m

Grammar

Translation

Method

Silent Way

Audio-Lingualism

3,333

Grammar Translation Pang-ilang pangulo si Noynoy Aquino? 1. How many presidents were

there before President Noynoy Aquino? 

2. Which/What number does Noynoy Aquino come in the list/order of Philippine presidents?

3. What is Noynoy Aquino's ordinal place in the line up of all Philippines presidents? 

Selection of Content

vs.Sequencing

(Which is harder?)

Criteria for Content Sequence Kelly: Complexity ("facility"), regularity ("grammatical analysis"), and productivity, or the usefulness of the structure

Canale and Swain: Grammatical complexity via intuitive criteria ; communicative facility, communicative generalizability, degree of facilitation of acquisition of other structures, perceptual accessibility, and dialectal markedness.

Criteria for Content Sequence Other criteria: degree of difference between the structure concerned and its equivalent in the learners' first language, the learners' communicative need for the structure, and the order in which the structure occurs in a natural acquisition sequence.o In practice, sequencing decisions are generally

based on presumed simplicity, frequency, and need.

Master at initial presentationor

Learn via spiraling?

LEARNING THEORY:

Textbooks: ALMOST like a structural syllabi

Positive Characteristics

1) It’s the most general component of communicative competence.

Positive Characteristics

2) Familiarity

Positive Characteristics

3) It’s relatively easy to describe

Positive Characteristics

4) It’s the most measurable of the components of communicative competence.

Positive Characteristics

5) Prevents later fossilization or cessation of learning.

Positive Characteristics

6) Serves as basis for learner to Monitor, check, and self-correct (Krashen’s Monitor /Acquisition Theory)

Positive Characteristics

7) Offers basis for teachers or others to provide learners with feedback on the accuracy of their production

Positive Characteristics

8) Value- and culture-free.

Negative Characteristics1. Lack of usability, applicability, or transferability of structural knowledge.

Negative Characteristics2. Misleading: Learning a language

vs. Learning facts or information

about a language.

Negative Characteristics

3. Strictly structural syllabi prevent students from producing structures they have not been taught.

ApplicationsLow transferability

limited application to language instruction that aims for functional use

Passive structural knowledge 

Improved second language accuracy 

Monitoring roleGeographical, cultural, or political limitations

Applications

Role of Structural Syllabus 

Instruct in new language via “easy rules”

Serve as organizing framework for other language instructional content types

QUESTIONS?