The Basis for Curriculum

1. Definition of curriculum and syllabus

Definition of curriculum

1. According to Tyler

It transmits facts, skills, and values to students. Its stresses masterly of conventional school subjects trough traditional teaching methods.

2. UU No. 20 tahun 2003

Kurikulum adalah seperangkat dan pengaturan mengenai tujuan, isi dan bahan pelajaran serta cara yang digunakan sebagai pedoman penyelenggaraan kegiatan pembelajaran untuk mencapai tujuan pendidikan tertentu.

Definition of syllabus

1. Candlin (1984)

A syllabus is a social construction produced interdependently by teachers and learners. It is concerned with the specification and planning of what is to be learned.

2. Dubin & Olshtain (1997)

A syllabus is a more detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level

After we know about those definitions we can differentiate both of them. Syllabus is more specific than curriculum and syllabus is also the application of curriculum. As Graves stated “curriculum will be understood in the broadest sense as the philosophy, purposes, design, and implementation of a whole program. A syllabus will be narrowly defined as the specification and ordering of content of a course or courses.”

Before we make a curriculum and syllabus we should make three operational decisions:

1. They used the operation gathered in order to set broad policy
2. They define the audience as fully as possible
3. They consider how the program can best be suited to the particular school system, community or language course.

2. Establishing realistic goals

• At the national level, the authority might be a curriculum advisory committee.

A draft document specifying overall educational goals would be prepared then passed on to a syllabus committee.

• At the local

The teachers’ committee would prepare both the specifications of the goals and the course syllabus with its more specific objectives.

1. In an EFL (English as a foreign language) setting

A national document usually defines goal in very broad such as “The purpose of introducing an additional language into our educational system is to allow communication with the rest of the world.” If the particular educational system gives high priority on personal aspect of language learning the objective might be “The main objective in learning an additional language is to allow for personal group and enrichment.

2. In an ESL (English as a second language) setting

The goal of ESL in broad is “Learners are expected to eventually use the language as “near” native speaker”

Young learners in the second language situation should:

1. Learn school subjects which are part of the general curriculum such as science, history, math, etc.
2. Be able to participate in the social life outside the classroom.

Adult learners in the second language situation should:

1. Cope with English in classes such as understanding the lecturer; take a notes, reading text book, etc.
2. Be able to acculturate and socialize in the new community.

The course must set up goal that incorporate both academic-professional and survival situations faced by students.

3. Planning for courses outside the school system

Beside EFL and ESL there is also ESP (English for specific purpose) that has individual purpose to develop the learners’ ability in negotiating in English with client, corresponding with foreign companies, leading business meeting in English, developing a richer business vocabulary, communicating over the telephone, etc.

4. Language analysis or language use as course goals

In this case, the purpose of studying English is to analyze linguistic theories.

3. Surveying existing programs

Most new programs are designed either to remedy the deficiencies in existing ones or to expand and improve them. In describing a program currently in operation, five basic components of the program should be examined. They are:

1. The existing syllabus and curriculum
2. The materials in use
3. The teacher
4. The learners
5. The resources

4. When the material in use constitute the curriculum and syllabus

When no curriculum or syllabus exists for a program in operation, the teacher has put together instructional plans based entirely on commercial textbooks. These commercial textbooks, together with interviews and classroom observation, tell the program designer a great deal about decisions which have been made, either implicitly or explicitly, concerning the program of the course.

5. The separate purposes of curriculum and a syllabus

From the last discussion, curriculum has a broad objective and it can be the basis for developing a variety of specific syllabuses.

1. The Component of a curriculum

1. Rolf and Pechman (1995) note that a curriculum framework may contain the following components:

• Vision statement that sets the rationale for a state framework in relation to state needs.
• Content expectations/standards, often defined as a combination of subject-area topics and student skills and often reflecting some of the concepts identified in the national documents available when the frameworks were developed in the individual states.
• Pedagogy and teacher practices in combination with presentation of subject content.
• Equity linkages (such as opportunity-to-learn objectives or standards).
• Policy linkages (a comprehensive approach to the relationships of content to student assessment, professional development, teacher preparation and certification, support services, school governance, facilities, community involvement, and other areas of policy).
• Performance expectations/standards and recommendations for the use of alternative forms of assessment.
• Rationale for the use of technology and tools in the classroom.

2. Bartells (cited in Curry & Temple, 1992, p. 9) suggests that a curriculum framework may include the following information:

• "Philosophy/rationale/goals.
• Learner and school outcomes.
• Content standards.
• Assessment/student performance standards.
• Themes and concepts of the discipline.
• Professional development/instructional strategies.
• Instructional technology strategies.
• Sample programs/curriculum units.
• Instructional materials criteria.
• Interdisciplinary strategies."

3. Komponen Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP)

• Tujuan Pendidikan Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
• Struktur dan Muatan Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
• Kalender Pendidikan
• Silabus

2. Types of syllabus

STRUCTURAL SYLLABUS

1. Collection of forms and structures, normally grammatical of language being taught.
2. Examples: noun, verbs, past tense.

NOTIONAL/FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUS

1. Functions of language performed when the language is used or notion to express.
2. Examples of function: informing, greeting, apologizing, requesting, promising. Examples of notion: size, age, color, comparison, time.

SITUATIONAL SYLLABUS

1. Situation of real or imaginary in which language occurs, involving participants to take parts, engaged in activity in a specific setting.
2. Involves functions combined with segment of discourse.
3. Main goal: to teach the language that occurs in the situation.
4. Examples: seeing the dentist, complaint, buying a book at the bookstore, asking direction.

SKILL-BASED SYLLABUS

1. A collection of specific ability to use language. Skills: things that people must be competent in a language, relatively independent.
2. Main goal: to learn the specific language skill.
3. Use linguistic competencies: pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, sociolinguistic, and discourse together into behavior, e.g. listening to spoken language, giving oral presentation, taking language test, reading texts.

TASK-BASED SYLLABUS

1. Content: a series of complex and purposeful tasks the students need to perform using the language. Task is activities with a purpose, learning is subordinate of the task. Task integrates language skills in a specific setting. The focus is communication.
2. Examples: applying a job, talking with a social worker, getting housing information through telephone, preparing a paper for a course, reading textbook for another course.

CONTENT-BASED SYLLABUS

1. Purpose: to teach the content or information using the language the students are learning. The subject matter is primary, language learning occurs incidentally to the content of learning.
2. Content based focuses on information.
3. Examples: science class, English for special purposes.

References:

http://www.philseflsupport.com/csd1.htm

http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/ukrainian_canadian/hlynka/courses/132756/syllabus.html

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/currclum/cu3lk4.htm

www.britishcouncil.org/colombia-ingles-elt-conference-2010-presentaciones-yamith-fandino.pdf