Some Aspects of EFL Syllabus Design

Shoko TANAKA
Introduction
In a language teaching operation， various decisions and plans are

made at various levels：At the highest level， government and ministriesのdecide the fundamental course of action， such as whether to teach languages，

which languages to teach， who to teach them to． Such fundamental politicaldecisions having been made， the regional education authorities decidematters based on economic， administrative and social consideration within

the area；the second level is concerned with the implementation of thesedecisions；that is， the problems of what to teach and how to organize it
are discussed at this level；the third level where decisions are made about
Ianguage teaching is that of the classroom． Here， the individual classroom
teacher is leftto dec．ide｝10w to teach in the clas．s．

The syllabus is partly an administrative instrument， partly a day．to．

day guide to the teacher， partly a statement of what is to be taught andhow， sometimes partly a statement of approach． It is the document in which
is listed， ideally， the items to be taught， in a particular course， to aparticular set of defined learners， on a given number of occasions per
week or day， in a given sequence， with the aim of achieving stated interim

and final goals or objectives， and according ．to particular teaching
techniques for each and every item

， writes Strevens．1）

1） Strevens， P．， New Orientations in the Teaching of English，London： O． U． P．， 1977， P． 25‑147一The task of syllabus design has traditionally been carried out by
experienced teachers， but these days， this is being done as a cooperative
effort； that is， experienced teachers and linguists work together devising

the syllabuses and the preparation of materials． Since the planning andexecution of a language teaching programme requires a knowledge of
linguistics， linguists will be able to make a contribution to a number ofpractical tasks connected with language teaching．
In this paper 1 would like to discuss the guidelines for planning
syllabuses and 'also investigate the contribution of linguistics to language
teaching．

1． Planning a course of study

Planning a course of study for students and constructing the syllabus

they will follow may be the most important operation of the whole
educational process． We cannot， however， outline．a course until we know
something about the students for whom the course is intended， because thecontent of the syllabus depends on the aim or the aims of the stqdents．

Corder writes，ln government things go best when what the electors

want and what the government does match up． So in language teaching weare successful to the degree that we achieve the best match between theobjectives of teaching and the needs or demands of the learnets．

2' Thelearners， however， do not hold just one opinion or objectives； they
have， like the electors do， a wide range of opinions and objectives as well

as a wide range of backgrounds， interests， attitud6s， aptitudes， skills
and understanding． Therefore， we usually． have difficulty in finding out2） Corder， S．P．， lntroducing Applied Linguistics， Harmondsworth：Penguin， 1973， p．202

一148一

exactly what the learners want．
According to Corder， the objective of language teaching is to turnout people who possess sufficient skill in， and knowledge of， the target

language for their needs， and in order to deterniine the linguistic
characteristics of the learner's repertoire，

we must be able to specify，in sociological terms， what functions the learner will require of thelanguage， state in what domains and for what purposes he is going to need

the language， in which social group and language communities he is going
to operate and in what roles in these communities．

3｝But， in reality，

it is almost impossible for us to do this；in other words， we don't know
the way to find out all these points． It is true that the precise linguistic

implications of the objectives must be understood， but still some varying
degree of compromise will be．necessary in analysing any objectives．

According to Wilkins，

there are no immutable and ideal objectives

in language teaching． Objectives are set in relation to the particularteaching situation with which the．teacher is faced． This means that， as

far as circumstances allow， it is necessary to predict what kinds oflanguage skill will be of greatest value to the learners．

Halliday and others also mention it as4［what was rarely attempted，

but is now becoming more general， was a study of the needs of the learnerin close detail and the preparation of a course that was specially designed
for one particular group of learners．

5｝

While planning a course of studY， we ana｝yse the aims of the course，

︶
︶
9︶U4
FO

Ibid．， p．202

Wilkins， D．A．，Second‑language learning and teaching， London：
Edward Arnold， 1974， p．58

Halliday， M．A．K．， Mclntosh， A． and Strevens， P．D．， The Linguistic

Sciences and Language Tcaching， London： Longman，
1964， P．188‑149一

describe the students and specify what the students should be able to do
as the result of the course． But one important fact to consider here iswhether the aims of the course are general or detailed and specific． After

deciding this， then we should consider how the syllabus can justify its
aims in the social or pedagogical context，' how its aims conform to social
or pedagogical needs， and how its aims are relevant to the learners' needs．

As'Corder writes，

lf the learner？s motivations vary from a more

Willingness' to submit to being taught a language to a positive intention tolearn a language for some reasonably we｝1‑defined purpose， the linguistmust be able to devise syllabuses which best meet the two extremes of demand．
It has been customary， in fact， to speak of them as two separate tasks； theteaching of theeveryday' language and the teaching ofspecial lapguages'，or， in more recent terms， the teaching of a language for general and special
purp，oses

C6'@so Howatt writes，，

A British child learning French may never

have to use his foreign language， except perhaps during short holiday
trips to France． So when we ask why we teach French in this country
the answer must stress the general education value of French， quite apartfrom its usefulness as a practical skill． On the other hand， if a language

is a second language in the pupil's own community， it has a clear
practical use in everyday life， and the pupil will be aware of this．

Similarly， if the learner knows that he is learning an international
lingua franca， he will see its practical relevance for his future life，and more g6neral questions concerning the educational and literary valueof the language will seem less important．

The best results in language︶ρ︶07Corder， S．P．， op． cit．，1973， pp．204‑205
Howatt， A．，

The Background to Course Design' in Allen， J． P．B．

and Corder， S．P． （eds．） The Edin'burgh Course in
Amplied Linguistics， Vol． 3， London： O．U． P．， 1974，
P．2

‑150一

teaching， therefore， will be attained when the aims of the course meet thelearner's functional needs．
According to Wilkins，

the skill of the teachers， the size of theclasses， the time available and many other factors have to be taken into
account in the framing of the objectives，8' so that we cannot talk aboutsyllabuses without・referring to questions likecompleted in the time available'，
Qver the whole course'，

whether the work is evenly spaced

whether the learners are able to complete therequired work sufficient｝y'，whether the teachers are well qualified

to cope with the syllabus satisfactorily'，are motivated'，

how the syllabus can be

how strongly the learners

whether the syllabus makes use of any motivation' andso on．

Howatt sums up these points in a figure as follows：

即一モ：二：：諜∴一、

foreign language

MATERIALSI一 AIMS

member of ＃ second language
community

learner 一 L lingua franca

age
member of

motivation

learning groupprevious learning
aptitude（Howatt， A．， 1974： p．3， Fig． 2）8） Wilkins， D．A．， op． cit．，1974， p．58

‑151一

2． Organizing the course
2．1' Selection

We can neither teach the whole of any language nor can we teachindividuals， ，so we must select teaching materials which go to make up
the content of a syllabus． Since the objectives are reasonably clear ina spe，cial course， the choice of what to teach can be made fairly easily．

But in a general course we often find difficulty in choosing the teaching
points．

Although selecting material for a syllabus depends on the language
teaching '唐奄狽浮≠狽奄盾氏C

selectability'，

appropreateness' andclassroom need'can be regarded as general criteria which we can apply to linguistic items，even if items are sometimes categorized sociologically or psycologically．
Meanwhile，

frequency'，

availability'，

coverage' andrange' might beregarded as more specific criteria and they wi｝1 be used particularly
for vocabulary or lexis selection． Some other criteria likeregularity' or

simplicity'，learnability' might be regarded as pragmatic in nature．

While selecting the material according to the criteria mentioned above，
we must remember， as Halliday and others say，

throughout this processof limitation， whether in choosing which register to teach or in selecting

the items within that register， the process must be earried out at alllevels of language．

9'

2．2 Gradation
It is impossible for us to teach all of what we have selected at one
time， so that we are forced to grade the material； that is， to put something9） Halliday， M．A．K et al．， op． cit．， 1964， p．205

T152一

before or after something else．

Grading' material takes the majorpart in syllabus design as well as

selecting' material． The task ofgrading' is to organize the material 'in terms of order in which thb
material is presented to the class and the purpose of it is to make thecontent easy and quick to learn．

According to Pa｝mer，

gradation means passing from the known to theunknown by easy stages， each of which serves as a preparation for thenext'O' This implies that more important， useful and fundamental things

should be presented first， and less important， useful and fundamental
things later on， and it does not necessarily imply passing from the easy
to the difficult．

The language teaching process is usually

linear'， where new points

are introduced one after the other with the implication that each pointis learnt then and there before moving to the next． But， since no partof the structure of language is wholly independent or wholly dependent
upon another， a simple linear sequence of items or groups of items for asyllabus cannot be regarded as appropriate， and furthermore，no matter

how interesting each separate bit might be， it is better that the student

should be given the opportunity to experience the same features turning
up in many different combinations， so that he may gradually

the language as his experience of it increases．

igrow into'

Now the idea of acyclical， or spiral， syllabus is regarded as a suitable way to solve these

problems．
The cyclic or spiral process of language learning means that the10） Palmer， H．E．， The Princ iples of Language S tndor， London： O．U． P．，
1964， p．67

11） Howatt， A．， op． cit．，1974， p．21

一153一一isame things keep turning up in different combinations with different
meanings， so that the learner is required to continually'??垂?窒奄?獅モ?a

new word or phrase，returning time and again to some general area of syntax
or semantics， for example， or domain of language use． Howatt points out，ss

ln the case of our own language， we learn new bits of language graduqlly

by experiencing them intermittently in different contexts． Of course， wehave to notice that they recur‑and in language instruction it is part of

the teacher's job to draw the pupil's attention to those features oflanguage that it is important for him to notice． ln addition， we needto have repeated experience of the same features of language， always incontext and preferably in different contexts．7

Z

According to Halliday and others， the total process of grading canbe subdivided into two distinct pro6esses；

In the first process ofstaging' and 'sequencing'． i'3'

staging'， we are due to divide a course into

time segments such as years， terms， monthsi weeks， days and classes；
whereas in the second process ofsequencing'， we try to decide in which

order new teaching points should come． Even if these practical mattersseem to have nothing to do with linguistics， we should respect， as Halliday

and others emphasize， that

linguistics provides the description of thelanguage being taught behind and throughout the whole task， and linguistics

reminds us that the items being subdivided into units of teaching time
belong to different levels of language and are being taught in relation tofour difterent skills．

ie12） lbid．， p．20

13） Halliday， M．A．K． et al．， op． cit．，1964， pp．207‑21214） lbid．， p．208

一154一

3． Practical work

3．1 Language skills and Language components
Before talking about the practical operation ofgrading'， we had

better look at the content of syllabus traditionally categorized in the
linguistic terms． lt has been subdivided into two dimensions；

Ianguageskills'and'language components'． The first dimension consists of four
different skills； listening／understanding， speaking， reading and writing．

Some linguists regard the two skills together such as listening andreading as passive skills， whereas speaking and writing are regarded as
active skills． Others think of the combination of skills in a different way；

they regard listening and speaking in one group， which are transmitted

through air， whereas reading and writing are in the other transmitted
by books or paper． The second dimension， language components， is also
subdividcd intoandsubstance' （phonology and morphology），

form' （syntax）

meaning' （lexis and semantics）． These stages are summed up in a

figure as follows：

listening／understanding
speaking

language skills
reading

writingSYLLABUS

CONTENT
language components 一 form 一syntax
meaning ｛geeXmiaSntics

一

P55一

language skills and language components is

The relation between
summarized as follows：

Example：Substance

Listening skill

一 hearing sounds
一 perceiving significant sounds， word stressForm

一 recognition of word， word classes， grammat‑

ical categories

一 recognition of syntax， clause patterns，clause sequences

一 recognition of form， and function of
intonation

Meaning

一 recognition of word meanings， implicationsof grammatical words
一 appreciation of the accumulative affect ofwords， syntax， intonation
一一@distinction major‑minor information

一 understand situation， context

一 modify meaning what is heard

一 recognition of what the speaker is doing
一 understanding of flow of argument， etc．

Example：Substance

Speaking Skill

articulating sounds

producing significant sounds， word stresspronunciation of words

Form

一 choosing and producing appropriate form of

word， clause patterns， clause sequences
一一@choosing and ptoducing appropriate
intonation form

一156一

Meaning

一一@choosing and producing appropriate words

一 producing meaningful sensible sentences
一 coherent discourse

一 producing utterances appropriate tocommunicative functions（source from lectures given at UWIST in 1978一

79）

Halliday and others show these interrelations between

languageskills and the main linguistic categories on a diagram as fol｝ows：

7 ．

CATEGORIES OF LANGUAGE﹁LANGUAGE

GRAMMAR

SKILLS

Structures・

System of

Situations'

Patterns：writing andof sound'spelling'

Patterns'

Dependent on

1．UNDER一

what has been

STANDING

奄獅狽窒盾р浮モ??in

Some grammatical andlexical items

needed from the

皿．READING

Full rangeNot?唐唐?獅狽奄≠P?唐唐?獅狽奄≠P

the precedingfrom thecolumn；allitems moutsetSPEECH
1．SPEAKING

lGRAPHOLOGYNOLOGY

Vocabulary'Grammatical

PHO＿

CONTEXT

LEXIS

grammar and1exis must be

areoutset；they can beincreased
progressively

fully under一stood fromNot

the outset；

essentla】

new items
高浮唐?be intro＿

duced in

FuU
「ange

but

essential

盾?狽?

?窒盾?thehelpfuloutset︵高?≠獅奄獅№?浮
contextuar︶ways

W．WRITING

7

‑¶

噸

（Halliday， M．A．K． et aL， 1964：p．209）

We can derive from the study of this relation that the different skills
do not make equal demands on the different levels of language．

一157一

Corder sums up his

account of the linguistic skills in a figure as

follows：

R N E RL E A

PERCEPTIVE SKILLSPRODUCTIVE SKILLSSEMANTIC SKILL

GENERATIVEANALYTIC
VISUAL AUDITORY

ARTICULATORYORGANISATIONALSKILLS

一 PERCEPTIVEMANUAL MOTORSKILLS

Speaker Hearer（Corder， S．P．， 1966： p．11）
From the figvre above， we can summarize
aspracticing one particular sound'

we are focusing our attention on the motor．perceptive level'， whereas

discussing about so血ething with friends'is

we involve all three levels

at the same time'． We can also derive from the above that language
learning can be focused specifically on the motor‑perceptive skills or
the organisational skills before moving on to the semantic skill， that is，

it is possible to learn phonology or grammar as substitution， completion，

conversion exercises or drills of all sorts in isolation at a certain
time， but we should bear in mind， as Corder points out， thatwhen wehave succeeded in teaching a measure of organisational skill we still
have to teach the learner semantic skill， how to rpake use of the language

meaningfully，
15）i5）Then when we are・teaching pronunciation or grammar， it

Corder， S．P．，The Visual Element
Longman， 1966， P．22

一158一

in Language Teaching， London：

should be possible to design materials in such a way

as to ．force thelearner to operate on a semantic level as well．

3．2 Staging and Sequencing
Corder writes，Howevet we define an

item' or agrouping of items'，

we still have the problem of ordering them， and ordering， if it is not tobe purely random， must be based upon some logical criteria． The ideal
syllabus would be one in which the sequencing of items follows that ofa system of deductive logic， in which each item taught logically derives

from and presupposes the learning of some previous items：'ia Now ourattention must be directed to the matter ofBothstaging' andof the relation between

gradation'．

sequencing' are affected by the considerations
language skills' andlanguage components' that

we have studied so far， together with the aims of the course：

staging

will be affected because the teacher must decide the point in time，measured from the beginning of the course， by which a given standard of
attainment in each skill must be reached； but sequencing is also affected．

because he must decide to introduce items from one‑aspect of language
before or after items from another：' iT

There are many practical examples of sequencing， which is now
regarded as the total taSk of

grading' materials， in the shape ofsyllabuses and textbooks， but unfortunately there are few statements ofprinciples fot the guidance of others who wish to do it in a similar
wgy． Some criteria， which will guide us in sequencing a list of teachingitems， areavailability'，learnability' and16） Ditto， op． cit．，1973， p．308
17） Halliday， M．A．K et al．， op． cit．， 1964， p．209

一159一classroom need'． lngeneral， items、 in frequent use should be taught before those in rare use，

whether we are talking of grammatical and lexical items， or grammaticalcategories， or types of context．

So the criterion of frequency not only

helps to decide whether an item shall be selected for inclusion at all；it also helps to decide the sequence in which the items selected shallり

be taught，

1aLet's take vocabulary gradation for example：

Which words come at the beginning ？ 'QUESTION：ANSWERS：一words with concrete meaning‑words with regurality in form
一一一

翌盾窒р?with one to one correspondencewith mother tongue‑words with the association of contrast or
opposlte meanmg
eg． large／small； always／never
CRI］rERIA：

availability' （how useful the words are in agiven situation），
range'，

teachability／learnability'，

coverage'

When one examines the arguments for log'icai sequencing ofgrammatical forms in a syllabus， they usually'@boil down to some vagae

notion of relative ease or difficulty， without foundation in linguistic theory

or description． This is not， of course， to deny that some items in thesyllabus are not more difficult than others for speakers of certain otherlanguages． ' ' i9）18）

Ibid．， p．210

19）

Corder， S．P．， op． cit．，1973， p．311

一160一

To take the following example：

QUESTION：

How do you arrange the following items inorder； simple present， present progressive，
passive voice ？'ANSWER： simple present 一 present progressive 一＋
passlve volce

CRITERIA：

frequency'，
ationl，availability'，learnability' andrange of situ‑

classroom need'

Concerning the matter of frequency， the passive
voice occurs frequently in English， but it has a rather

more complex syntactic structure than the simple
present， so it is better to be delayed until thelater stage．

Simple present has a much w'ider range of situation
than the progressive form．

The progressive form might be more useful than
the simple present for class， because it can be

introduced with demonstration， but when it iscompared with the mother tongue， the simple present
is easier to manage than the progressive；theprogressive form is not incompatible with an habitualinterpretation；
She's always making that mistake．

and the progressive form would be wrong with thesesentences；
1 （can） hear some music．
1 think it's going to rain．

Mary resembles her brotherbut the verbs are not simply exceptions to thegeneral rule since in other instances progressive
forms are possible；
1 am hearing you loud and clear．
He's thinking about it all the time．

Mary is reseVmbling her brothermore and more7'20）

20）

Wilkins， D，A．， Linguistic・s in language teaching， London： Edward
Arnold， 1972， pp．75‑77

t

一161一

From the study of the rules governing relations between items oflanguage， we can get some indications for sequencing the material of thesyllabus． But as Wilkins points out， 2

it is an item approach whichrisks creating a situation in which we teach only the form of the item，

together with a part of its semantics， qnd neglect of a great deal of

the structural relations that the forms may enter into as well as muchof the semantic aspect of the item． Furthermore， Corder says，

What

could be shown to be a logical sequence of items in terms of some lin‑

guistic description might nOt be logical in psychological terms． But
learning is a psychological process． The fact is‑that at the present
time we simply do not know to what extent linguistic categories hdve

psychological reality， and therefore to what extent what might be alogical linguistic sequencing of items in a syllabus is psychologically
logical， and therefore the optimum ordering from a learning point ofview． Meanwhile， therefore， we may have to rely on whatever 16gic we
can derive from linguistic descriptions．

2×

4． Further considerations
No two syllabuses have quite the same purpose， but whether they

are mandatory or advisory， they aim to make explicit the linguistic
content of teaching in a particular sitgation，writes Wilkins． 23'

Since the learning of a language is commonly identified with acquiring
mastery of its linguistic，system， there are courses which have a gram‑

matical pedagogic organization and adopt synthetic approaches； in these21）

Ibid．， pp．80一一81

22）Corder， S．P．， op． cit．，1973， p．308

23）

Wilkins， D．A．， op． cit．， 1972， pp．77‑78

一162一

courses the global language is broken down into a detailed list ofgrammatical structures and into a limited list of lexical items， and thelearner re‑synthesizes pieces of language which are presented to him stepby step． The global ）anguage is re‑established in all its structural

diversity at the final stages of learning． The organization of thegrammatical content is， here， regarded as the essential structure fordesigning courses and syllabuses．
There are， however， other ways of defining the content of language
courses；

bomponents of language are not seen as building b16cks whichhave to be progressively accumulated． A much greater variety of linguis‑
tic structure is permitted from the beginning and the learner's task is
to approximate his own linguistic behaviour more and more closely to・the

global language． Significant linguistic forms can be isolated from thestructurally heterogeneous context in which they occur， so that learning
can be focussed on important aspects of the language structure． lt is

this process which is referred to as analyticl'24 The situational，
functional and notional syllabuses are analytic in this sense．

Although a grammatical syl｝abus， which has an ordered list ofgrammatical structures as its core， can provide the framework for mostforeign language teaching， we cannot conclude that language learning iscomplete when the learner has mastered the content of a grammaticalsyllabus， for language is always used in a social context and cannot be
fully understood without reference to that context． We should， therefore，predict the situations in which the language is used and describe thesignificant features of situations；the c'

窒奄狽?窒奄?for '№窒盾浮垂奄獅?thematerial are derived from the natural interests and objectives of the24）

Ditto， Notional Sorllabuses， London： O．U． P．， 1976， p．2

一163一

learner， and typically take the form of a series oforcentres of interest'

狽盾垂奄モ?as：the house， the family， the school， the post office， thestreet， etc． These situations are culturally， socially or behaviourally
coh6rent and obviously connected with the notion of semantic fields：'25）

Since languages are learned for the purposes of communication， the．

communicative facts of language should be taken into account together
with grammatical and situational factors．

The notional syllabus takes

the desired communicative capacity as the starting．point：it is poten‑
tially superior to the grammatical．syllabus because it will produce a
communicative competence and because its evident concern with the use oflanguage will sustain the motivation of the learners． It is superior
to the situational syllabus because it can ensure that the most important

grammatical forms are included and because it can cover all kinds oflanguagefunctions， not only those that typically occur

situations，incertainwrites Wilkins．26But． we should bear in mind that no seman。

tic framework is readily available in the case of the functional or theノ

notional syllabus． This is the major difficulty that．has to be overcome
in planning such a syllabus．

Conclusion
One of the major decisions that has to be taken in the teaching of

foreign languages is on what basis we will select the language to which
the learner will be exposed and which we will expect him to acquire，writes Wilkins． 27'

25） Corder， S．P．， op． ci． cit．，1973， p．318
26） Wilkins， D．A．， op． cit．， 1976， pp．18‑1927） lbid．， p．1

一164一

In a grammatical syllabus， which is now regarded as the conventional

approach to language teaching， 'either phonological systems or syntactic
systems or lexical systems are presented separately from the rest of thesystem of the language in synthetic approaches． But to some extent they
depend on each other， then there is no clearcut linguistic justification

for teaching one system before， or indePendently of the other systems．
Corder summarizes this point aswith lexical'
graphic） form．

we exemplify the grammatical categories@items and interpret the whole in phonological （or ortho‑
28，）

In a situational syllabus， the grouping of vocabularies may be organ‑
ized on the basis of non‑linguistic criteria such asorcentres of interest'

狽盾垂奄モ?， because semantic fields are not so much linguisticallywelldefined' areas of the vocabulary as those in a grammatical framework．
For the logic of sequencing materials in such a syllabus， some sort ofprogression from the more famiiiar situation to the iess famiiiar area olexperience will be taken into 'account． Situational or functional based
syllabuses， which take language situations as the starting‑point， adopt
analytic approaches， where there is no careful linguistic control of thelearning environment． According to Wilkins，

analytic approaches areorganized in terms of the purposes for which people are learning language

and the kinds of language performance that are necessary to meet those
purposes， and the units in any language teaching material based on an

analytic approach are not primarily labelled in grammatical terms．

29i

He emphasizes that analytic approaches are behavioural， and the linguistic
content of any unit， while it is possible and desirable to be stated， is28） Corder， S．P．， op． cit．，1973， p．315

29） Wilkins， D．A．， op． cit．，1976，p．13

一165一

a cnotent that is derived from the initial behavioural analysis and it

cannot be established independently of it． The analytic approach basedon the learner's analytic capacities is therefore in contrast with those
approaches that rely more upon his synthetic capacities．
In the case of the notional syllabus，

the process of deciding what

to teach is based on consideration of what the learners should mostusefully be able to communicate in the foreign language．

3e' Here， thelabelling for the learning units is primarily semantic and the linguistic
content will be planned according to the semantic demands of the ｝earner．

The difficulty which has to be overcome is that the linguistic 'forms
needed to express the learner's semantic demands are extremely varied，and furthermore， it is neither possible to bring all the relevant language

within a single language teaching unit， nor easy to categorize the formsof every utterance．

Whichever syllabus the languagb course may use， the content of thesyllabus depends on the aim or the aims of the learners． Therefore weshould consider the future language needs of the learners and then decide

what knowledge of the grammatical system， the sociolinguistic system，
the lexical and the phonological system will be necessary to be taught
during the course． Beside， in framing the syllabus， we should take into

account various environmental factors such as the size of the classes，

the characteristics of the learners， the time available， the physicalconditions of learning， our ability as teachers and so on．

There is no course to solve all the problems occuring in language
teaching， but cycli'cally organized course can be regarded as an option
in solving the problems to some extent． One more point to be made here30） lbid．， p．19

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is that the syll・abus is not an assigned task but a guideline for the teacher．

The items of the syllabus， therefore， should be presented as the individual

teacher thinks it relates to various teaching and learning situations．
Here we should bear in mind that language is not a subject like science ormathematics， and that learning a foreign language is not identified withacquiring mastery of its linguistic system．

References
Bennet，

W・A・， Applied Lingdistics ＆ Language Learning， London：

Brooks，N．， Language and Language Learning， New York： Harcourt，

HutchinsQn，1974

Brace ＆ World， 1964

Hill， L．A ．， Selected Articles on the Teaching of English as a Foreign
Language， London： O．U． P．， 1967

Mackey， W．E，

The Meaning of Metkod' in Lee， W． R． （ed．）， E．L．T・Selection 2， London： O．U．P．， 1967

Rowntree， D．， Educational Technologor in CurTiculum Development，London： Harper ＆ Row， 1974

Acknowledgements
The basis of this essay was made during my stay in the Departmentof English， UWIST， Cardiff， as a foreign student． 1 acknowledge thevaluable advice and the helpful criticism of the teachers in the department．

1 benefitted greatly from lectures and seminars， to which t owe myunderstanding of TEFL．

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