English Language Course Planning: Overview of Syllabus Types

Abstract

This paper aims at reviewing syllabus types in order to raise university teachers' awareness of the features of these different syllabus types. The ultimate aim is to help teachers chose the appropriate type when they plan their courses. Knowing the characteristics of each type in addition to its merits and drawbacks will enable teachers to make the right choice and adopt a syllabus that is suitable to their students' needs and level and in harmony with their goals of teaching English as a foreign language. In order to fulfill these aims, a thorough documentary investigation was conducted using up-to-date references to cover all syllabus types. Features of each type in addition to its advantages and disadvantages were covered in more detail to facilitate teachers' decisions regarding selecting the most appropriate syllabus type when planning to teach English to their university students. Because such decisions regarding adopting the right syllabus should be based on certain theoretical frameworks, and consistent with the student's level in the language, some idea is given about these two preliminary aspects of planning language courses. The paper was concluded with some recommendations to teachers of how to follow a logical approach in creating their course plans .