Designing A Syllabus For Teaching

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Thiết kế đề cương môn học để giảng dạy "Tiếng Anh nâng cao" cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Quốc tế học tại Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Đà Nẵng

ABSTRACT

The paper is aimed at presenting some issues related to the designing of a syllabus for teaching "Advanced English" to International Studies Majors at College of Foreign Languages (CFL), The University of Danang. For students majoring in International Studies, English is an indispensable tool in their future jobs, since their later work will be closely associated with matters in international relations, economics, law and foreign policies, etc.

In the most recently updated curriculum for International Studies at the Department of International Studies, which was first implemented in the academic year 2011-2012, "Advanced English", which consists of 4 credits, is an important subject whose content is oriented towards International Studies. On the basis that English for International Studies is also a type of ESP, this paper is an attempt to figure out a content-based syllabus combined with skill-based and task-based ones for teaching the above-mentioned subject. In addition, the choice of materials for teaching is also an important issue.

Key words: content-based syllabus; international studies; English practical skills; teaching medium; task; teaching; learning.

TÓM TẮT

Mục tiêu của bài viết là trình bày một số phương diện liên quan đến việc thiết kế đề cương môn học để giảng dạy học phần "Tiếng Anh nâng cao" cho sinh viên Quốc tế học tại Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, ĐHĐN. Đối với sinh viên chuyên ngành Quốc tế học, tiếng Anh là một công cụ nghề nghiệp quan trọng, vì công việc của các em trong tương lai sẽ gắn liền với các vấn đề về quan hệ quốc tế, kinh tế, luật, chính sách đối ngoại, v.v…

Trong chương trình đào tạo cập nhật nhất tại Khoa Quốc tế học được thực thi từ năm học 2011-2012 có học phần "Tiếng Anh nâng cao" gồm 4 tín chỉ. Đây là một học phần quan trọng với nội dung theo định hướng Quốc tế học. Trên cơ sở quan niệm rằng tiếng Anh Quốc tế học cũng là một loại tiếng Anh chuyên ngành, bài viết này phác thảo một đề cương môn học có sự kết hợp giữa các định hướng nội dung, kỹ năng và nhiệm vụ. Bên cạnh đó, việc chọn lựa tài liệu giảng dạy cũng là một vấn đề quan trọng.

Từ khóa: đề cương môn học dựa trên nội dung; quốc tế học; các kỹ năng thực hành tiếng Anh; phương tiện giảng dạy; nhiệm vụ; dạy; học.

1. Introduction to the Department of International Studies

Among the 7 departments of College of Foreign Languages, the University of Danang, the Department of International Studies is the only non-language major department and also the youngest one. It was founded according to Decision 796/QĐ-TCCB issued on April 13th, 2006 by the President of the University of Danang. The establishment of the Department of International Studies, College of Foreign Languages (DIS-CFL) is aimed at meeting the demand of workforce training for the development of foreign affairs services and international cooperation nation-wide, especially in Central Vietnam and Central Highlands. It is expected that, through carrying out its mission, DIS-CFL can make some contribution to the promotion of better understanding between Vietnam and other nations worldwide in the fast-growing trend of modernization and globalization. Up to now, nearly 200 students trained by DIS-CFL have graduated from the college and approximately 500 students are currently studying at the Department.

With its leading mission - teaching International Studies to full-time students at higher education level, DIS-CFL focuses on the following training objectives:

- Help students fully understand basic and systematic knowledge about International Studies, including world’s history, cultures and civilizations, international relations, Vietnamese and world economy and law, world regions and continents, Vietnamese foreign affairs as well as foreign policies.

- Equip students with necessary skills to effectively use a foreign language to conduct research in their area of speciality and to do business transaction with foreign partners.

- Help students grasp methods to do research on international issues and to communicate in international contexts.

Upon completion of the training programme in International Studies, students should be able to:

- Teach and do research on international issues at colleges, universities, academic institutes, governmental and local diplomatic agencies and departments of international cooperation.

- Do research on international issues and engage in foreign affairs related work at security and defense organizations, media agencies (the press, broadcasting stations), cultural and foreign affairs institutions.

- Work for representative offices, domestic and foreign companies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations in and outside Vietnam.

2. English is a powerful tool for International Studies Majors

When developing the International Studies curriculum to be implemented at DIS-CFL, we decided that English is the compulsory foreign language that students have to master due to its increasingly popular status and important role in various fields worldwide. In addition, for students who major in International Studies, English is an indispensable tool in their future jobs, since their work will be closely associated with matters in international relations, economics, law and foreign policies, etc.

In the most recently updated curriculum for International Studies at our Department, which was first implemented in the academic year 2011-2012, there are 18 English subjects accounting for 46 credits compared to a total of 148 credits for the whole training programme which are implemented in 8 semesters. Most of the English subjects are taught in the first three semesters of the course so that the time of the remaining 5 semesters is reserved for studying the other subjects related to areas of speciality in International Studies.

Table 1. Distribution of the English Subjects

in DIS-CFL Curriculum

Semester

Subject

Number of Credits

1

Listening 1

2

Speaking 1

2

Reading 1

2

Writing 1

2

Pronunciation

3

2

Listening 2

2

Speaking 2

3

Reading 2

2

Writing 2

3

Basic Grammar

2

3

Listening 3

2

Speaking 3

2

Reading 3

2

Writing 3

2

Advanced Grammar

4

4

Advanced English

4

5

English-Vietnamese Translation

3

6

English-Vietnamese Interpreting

4

TOTAL

46

3. The Subject "Advanced English"

Description

In the above table, "Advanced English", which consists of 4 credits, is an important subject whose content is oriented towards International Studies. A prerequisite for studying this subject is that students have to complete the previous 15 English subjects and gain the intermediate level. The subject "Advanced English" is to demontrate the integration of the 4 practical skills as well as aspects of the English language students already learn in the previous semesters namely pronunciation (speech training), basic grammar (practical grammar) and advanced grammar (phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax). Emphasis is laid on the enhancement of students’ language skills so that they are more confident and effective in communicating via English. Although language focus is the leading priority, the subject is designed to provide a broad introduction to the discipline of International Studies from a macro perspective. In other words, it develops a general understanding of the major contents or the "backbones" of International Studies in mainstream classes currently held at colleges and universities in Vietnam. Consideration is given to five fundamental contents namely politics, economics, law, area studies and global issues. The students’ English competence and performance is to be improved through studying language in use, acquisition of special vocabulary and completion of tasks or activities related to the above contents.

The aims and objectives of the subject are set up based on the analysis of students’needs.

Aims

The aims of "Advanced English" are as follows:

-To reinforce and strengthen the 4 practical skills that students have been taught in the previous English subjects in order that they can maintain their English language competence and performance;

- To prepare students to learn some subjects of their major via English. Depending on the level of difficulty and complexity, the International Studies subjects will be taught in whole or in part by means of English so that students can be familiarized with the core subjects of their major.

- To lay the foundation for the translation and interpreting subjects which the students are going to learn in the semesters 5 and 6, as shown in Table 1.

Among the three above-mentioned aims, the chief one is to prepare students to learn some subjects of their major via English. This is justified by the "teaching through English" approach, which is strongly supported by (Graddol 1997:45) in his following statement:

"One of the most significant educational trends world-wide is the teaching of a growing number of courses in universities through the medium of English. The need to teach some subjects in English rather than the national language is well-understood: in the sciences, for example, up-to-date textbooks snd research articles are obtainable much more easily in one of the world languages and most readily of all in English."

Commenting on the global status of English as a medium of teaching in higher education, Kruseman (2003:7) claims, "English is the language of science. That is the language we have to use if we wish to prepare our students for an international career in a globalizing world."

Objectives

The objectives of "Advanced English" are as follows:

- to develop students’ listening and speaking skills to enable them to communicate effectively in direct contacts with foreign customers, visitors, colleagues, business partners, i.e. in a variety of different work situations.

- to develop students’ reading skill to ensure their proper understanding of materials related to their major.

- to train students to write a report, a memo, a contract, an advertisement, an offer.

- to train students to make oral and written presentations about topics related to their major.

Theoretical Background

English for Specific Purposes

ESP (English for Specific Purposes) is one important branch of the EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign/Second Language) system. As Hutchinson et al. (1987:19) state, "ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning". In other words, ESP is not a particular kind of language or methodology, but rather an approach to language learning whereby the content and method are based on the learners’ particular needs to learn the language.

When clarifying the meaning of ESP, Dudley-Evans, (cited by Anthony L., 1998) illuminates the nature of ESP in terms of 'absolute' and 'variable' characteristics, which are presented as follows.

Absolute Characteristics:

ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners.

ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves.

ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre.

Variable Characteristics:

ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines.

ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English.

ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level.

ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students.

Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language systems.

English for International Studies at DIS-CFL is obviously a type of ESP; however, until now it has received little attention, compared to other types of ESP like English for Business or English for Tourism.

The field of International Studies is multidisciplinary. As mentioned above, the curriculum at DIS-CFL has been developed to concentrate on five major contents: politics, economics, law, area studies and global issues. These form the basis for the construction of a syllabus to teach English to DIS-CFL students.

4. A content-based syllabus combined with skill-based and task-based ones

We intend to design a syllabus for "Advanced English" which is a combination of 3 types namely "skill-based", "task-based" and "content-based", with the content-based type playing the dominant role. This is based on the premises which are presented below.

First, in the subject "Advanced English", students are not expected to learn about the English language; they are expected to learn the language through using it. This is the reason why the syllabus is partially skill-based, for using English as a means of communication in the classroom brings students chances of practising and improving their already acquired skills and also the opportunities to express their own ideas and opinions on issues under discussion in the learning materials.

Second, while learning this subject, students have to perform tasks which are designed to encourage them to utilize the language communicatively so as to achieve particular learning goals. In other words, tasks are purposeful activities that are carried out via the English language such as negotiating a contract or a settlement, locating a country on the world map and describing its geographical features, finding a solution to a global issue (e.g. poverty, food security, climate change, environmental poluttion, terrorism, drug, etc.), Tasks integrate language skills and other skills like problem-solving, interpersonal and teamwork skills in specific settings of language use. There is no doubt that on completion of the tasks, students obtain a sense of achievement, which helps to enhance their motivation and interest in learning the subject. In designing a syllabus for "Advanced English", we take Nunan’s view (1989) that a communicative task is "a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right."

Third, many experts in syllabus design agree that while the task-based approach of language teaching is connected with communicative and cognitive processes, content-based language teaching deals with information. To clarify this, Far, M.M. (2008) mentions the case of a chemistry class in which chemistry is taught in the language the learners need or want to learn, possibly with linguistic adjustment to make the chemistry more understandable. He goes on to claim, "This (content-based) syllabus is intended to design a type of instruction in which the crucial goal is to teach specific information and content using the language that the learners are also learning. Although the subject matter is of primary and vital importance, language learning occurs concurrently with the content learning. The learners are at the same time language students and learners of whatever content and information is being taught."

Since the chief aim of the subject "Advanced English" is to prepare students to learn some subjects of their major via English, we decide to take the content-based type syllabus as the dominating and basic one around which the skill-based and task-based syllabi are arranged. In this syllabus, "content" is understood as the use of subject matter as a vehicle for teaching and learning English, with the goal of helping students to acquire the language while using the context of any subject matter so that they learn the language by using it within the context of a specific academic subject.

With such guidelines already established, we take the 5 major contents or the backbones of International Studies as the 5 themes to deal with in the syllabus. Each theme manifests itself in diverse topics that are more or less related to each other. The topics, which explore more specific aspects of the themes, are arranged in such an order that corresponds to the list of subjects the students are to learn according to the curriculum. According to the regulations of the credit-based system currently implemented at colleges and universities in Vietnam, a credit is equivalent to 15 periods of theoretical study, 30-45 periods of practice, experimentation and discussion. Therefore, apart from the time for practising, the total number of periods allocated for the theoretical study of "Advanced English" is 60, which is distributed among the themes and sets of topics as shown in the following table.

Table 2. Distribution of Themes and Topics for Teaching "Advanced English"

Number of Periods Allocated

Themes

Sets of Topics

Topics

Number of Periods Allocated

12

Politics

International Relations

4

Foreign Policies

4

World’s Political Institutions

4

12

Economics

General Economics

4

International Economics

4

International Business Negotiations

4

12

Law

Legal Systems

4

International Public Law

4

International Private Law

4

12

Area Studies

American Studies

4

European Studies

4

Asian Studies

4

12

Global Issues

Order and Security

4

Population and Poverty

4

Environment and Energy

4

5. Materials for Teaching

The choice of appropriate materials for teaching "Advanced English" at DIS-CFL is a matter of great importance. The core of the teaching materials are texts, which are defined in a broad sense by Stoller and Grabe (1997:5) as "content resources (written and oral) which drive the basic plannning of theme units". The selection of the texts is to conform to a number of set criteria such as student interests, teacher preferences, relevance, length, coherence, connection to other materials and curricular objectives. In designing a syllabus for "Advanced English", our selection of teaching materials will be based on the classification of texts given by Stoller and Grabe (1997:5) in the table below.

Table 3. Four Basic Types of Texts Used

in Theme Units

Types of Texts

Examples of Content Resources

Instructor-compiled content resources

Readings of various genres, videos, audiotapes, maps, tables, graphs, software

Instructor-generated content resources

Lectures, worksheets, graphic representations, bulletin board displays

Task-generated content resources

Student freewrites, discussions, problem-solving activities, graphic representations, library searches, debates, surveys/questionnaires

External content resources

Guest speakers, field trips

6. Conclusion

In this paper we have presented some essential aspects to be taken into consideration when designing a syllabus to teach "Advanced English" to 2nd year students of DIS-CFL. Our focus of attention has been put on the aspect of content due to the specific features concerning the aims of the subjects and of the overall curriculum. It is our hoped that a well-written syllabus will soon be constructed to ensure the successful teaching and learning experience for both teachers and students.