1. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT ANDCURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND
SYLLABUS DESIGN IN THESYLLABUS DESIGN IN THE
POSTMODERN ERAPOSTMODERN ERA
XIII NATIONAL ELT CONFERENCEXIII NATIONAL ELT CONFERENCE
CHALLENGES FOR THE ELT SYLLABUS:CHALLENGES FOR THE ELT SYLLABUS:
DEVELOPING COMPETENCIES FOR THE 21STDEVELOPING COMPETENCIES FOR THE 21ST
CENTURYCENTURY
UNIVERSIDAD DE LA SALLEUNIVERSIDAD DE LA SALLE
APRIL 21APRIL 21 –– 23, 201023, 2010

2. CONTENTS AND INTRODUCTIONCONTENTS AND INTRODUCTION
• Understanding curriculum and syllabus
• Curriculum: definitions, model, and proposal.
• Syllabus: definitions, types, and proposal.
• Postmodernism: definitions, characterization, and education.
• The ELT postmodern curriculum and syllabus.
• Visual, critical and media literacies: an example.
Postmodern schooling must reconnect students and teachers, space
and time, meaning and context, the knower and the known,
humanities and sciences, and especially past, present, and future.
What modernity has rent asunder (torn apart/to pieces),
postmodernity reevaluates as radically eclectic by embracing the
fragmented beauty [of reality]. (Slattery, 2006, p. 293)
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3. UNDERSTANDING CURRICULUM ANDUNDERSTANDING CURRICULUM AND
SYLLABUSSYLLABUS
•• SyllabusSyllabus refers to the content
or subject matter of an
individual subject, whereas
curriculumcurriculum refers to the
totality of content to be
taught and aims to be realized
within one school or
educational programme.
(White ,1988)
• A curriculumcurriculum will be
understood in the broadest
sense as the philosophy,
purposes, design, and
implementation of a whole
program. A syllabussyllabus will be
narrowly defined as the
specification and ordering of
content of a course or courses.
(Graves, 1996)
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4. DEFINITIONS OF CURRICULUMDEFINITIONS OF CURRICULUM
Thomas (2002) & Cornbleth (1990)Thomas (2002) & Cornbleth (1990)
Curriculum asCurriculum as
product (Tyler,product (Tyler,
1949)1949)
It transmits facts, skills, and values to students.
It stresses mastery of conventional school subjects through
traditional teaching methods.
Curriculum asCurriculum as
practicepractice
(Stenhouse, 1975)(Stenhouse, 1975)
It provides opportunities for students and teachers to construct
knowledge.
It provides a basis for planning a course, studying it empirically
and considering the grounds of its justification.
Curriculum asCurriculum as
praxis (Grundy,praxis (Grundy,
1987)1987)
It strives to emancipate students from the ideological
distortions that might disempower or bias their minds.
It enables individuals to become critically aware of how they
perceive the world and their acting in it.
Curriculum inCurriculum in
contextcontext
(Cornbleth, 1990)(Cornbleth, 1990)
It develops socially valued knowledge and skills to contribute to
personal and collective autonomy.
It exposes and approaches the impact of structural and socio-
cultural processes on teachers and students.
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5. MODEL OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENTMODEL OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
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Graves, 2000, p. 4Graves, 2000, p. 4

6. THE 21ST CENTURY CURRICULUMTHE 21ST CENTURY CURRICULUM
• Curriculum must be understood as a sociocultural process consisting of a series
of pedagogical actions activated when planning, developing, and assessing a
critical and transformative educational program aimed at integrating
contextually shaped teaching and learning realities, practices, and experiences.
• Goals
- provide opportunities to construct knowledge with others.
- enable to become critically aware of ideological distortions.
- develop socially valued knowledge and skills.
• Characteristics
- open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective application.
- based on informed action and critical reflection.
- in favor of a dynamic interaction of students, teachers, knowledge, and
contexts.
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7. DEFINITIONS OF SYLLABUSDEFINITIONS OF SYLLABUS
•• Candlin (1984)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.
•• Dubin & Olshtain (1997)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.
•• Hadley (1998)Hadley (1998) A syllabus is an endorsement of a specific set of
sociolinguistic and philosophical beliefs regarding power, education,
and cognition … that guide a teacher to structure his or her class in a
particular way.
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8. SYLLABUS TYPESSYLLABUS TYPES
White (1988)White (1988)
Type A (interventionist) syllabi are concerned with what should be learned. They
divide the language into small, discrete units and evaluate the outcomes in terms of
mastery of the language.
Type B (non-interventionist) syllabi are concerned with how the language is learned
and how this language is integrated with learners’ experiences. Evaluation criteria are
set by the learners themselves.
Long and Robinson (1998)Long and Robinson (1998)
Synthetic syllabi present L2 in a course of gradual accumulation of separately taught
parts, and rely on the learner’s ability to combine the pieces accurately.
Analytic syllabi present L2 in a process of natural sets of chunks, without linguistic
control, and rely on the learner's competence to use the language appropriately.
Rabbini (2002)Rabbini (2002)
Product-oriented syllabi emphasize the product of language learning and are prone
to intervention from an authority.
Process-oriented syllabi focus on the specification of communicative tasks and
learning activities that learners will undertake during the course.
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9. THE 21ST CENTURY SYLLABUSTHE 21ST CENTURY SYLLABUS
• Syllabus is the thoughtful specification and ordering of the conceptual,
procedural, and attitudinal content of a particular course that adheres to the
philosophy and purposes of a curriculum to ensure valuable teaching and learning.
• In general, it must:
- translate a set of beliefs, values and assumptions regarding power, education,
and cognition into course contents, teaching practices, and learning experiences.
- result in an ongoing interdependence in classrooms of teachers and learners.
• In particular, it must:
- present natural chucks of language in realistic situations and authentic texts.
- specify learning tasks and communicative activities to be undertaken during the
course.
- focus on processes and/or projects that integrate critical discourses and
transformative actions.
- seek the best ways of learning according to learners’ realities and society’s
demands.
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10. POSTMODERNISM (IRVINE, 2009 & KING, 2010)POSTMODERNISM (IRVINE, 2009 & KING, 2010)
POSTMODERNISMPOSTMODERNISM
A reaction against rationalism, scientism, logics or
objectivity.
There is no universal truth. Instead, there are coexisting
and relative truths.
Skepticism of idea of progress, anti-technology reactions.
Pursuit of localizing and contingent theories. Networked
and distributed knowledge.
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Firehammer (2007) Postmodernism is a reaction to the assumed certainty of
scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. For this reason, postmodernism is
highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures,
traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person.

11. POSTMODERNISM IN EDUCATIONPOSTMODERNISM IN EDUCATION
Usher and Edwards (1994) Beck (1993)
Education is ambiguous. It both seeks and
rejects closure. It is both closed and
open. It can be an instrument/a device
control and legitimization, but it has the
potential to question the status of the
definitive, the certain and the 'proven'.
Education must, then, avoid aiming at
achieving universally applicable goals pre-
defined by the grand narratives. Instead,
it should be diverse in terms of goals and
processes. It should become the vehicle
for the celebration of diversity, a space
for different voices against the
authorative one.
Postmodernism in education is a paradigm
that challenges how we learn and
appreciate knowledge in our lives. It
questions the idea of a universal,
unchanging, unified self or subject which
has full knowledge of and control over
what it thinks, says, and does.
Therefore, postmodernist educators must
emphasize diversity and heterodoxy;
reject hierarchical relationships between
educators and learners; recognize and
value emotions, attitudes, and
inclinations; and emphasize critique and
deconstruction of all theories and social
practices.
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12. THE POSTMODERN ELT CURRICULUMTHE POSTMODERN ELT CURRICULUM
AND SYLLABUSAND SYLLABUS
• Finch (2006)
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Postmodern metanarratives
Classroom-based assessment using portfolios, journals,
formative self- and peer-assessment.
Social learning: Teamwork balanced by autonomous learning.
Plurality of genres: Learning English through pop-culture,
comics, the internet, etc.
Postcolonialism: Use of diverse Englishes as variants of a lingua
franca.
Recognition of affective, social and cultural filters.
Non-linear and self-reflexive learning of the language as
experience.
Student-centered learning (Decentralization) and student
autonomy (Decentralization)

13. THE POSTMODERN ELT CURRICULUMTHE POSTMODERN ELT CURRICULUM
AND SYLLABUSAND SYLLABUS
• Breen (1999)
• The pedagogy of the language classroom
Questioning absolutes - Welcoming ambiguity - accepting uncertainties -
participating in different and new discourses - exploring other identities - studying
local and other cultures - creating and negotiating - surfing technological sources.
• The roles of the teacher
A guide who explicitly encourages diverse interpretations.
A commentator and facilitator of experiences, ideas and proposals of learners.
A cultural worker who facilitates ethnographic research.
• The roles of the learner
A language player who re-invents rules and conventions governing language.
A curious explorer of different text types and discourses across languages.
A polyglot who acquires new voices and ways of articulating experiences and ideas.
A critical discourse analyst who reflects on uses and realities of language.
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14. THE POSTMODERN ELT CURRICULUM ANDTHE POSTMODERN ELT CURRICULUM AND
SYLLABUS (SYLLABUS (Slattery, 2006)Slattery, 2006)
In terms of goals,
- redirect schooling to the development of autobiographical, aesthetic, and intuitive
experience, and the sociocultural and sociopolitical relations emerging from an
understanding of the individual in relation to knowledge, other learners, the world,
and ultimately the self .
In terms of content, activities, and materials,
- promote a creative search for deeper understanding through interdisciplinary and
inclusive tasks, projects and narratives.
- include hermeneutics, gender studies, cultural studies, and critical literacy.
- problematize, interrogate, contextualize, challenge any kind of text (written, visual,
etc).
In terms of assessment,
- understand knowledge as reflecting human interests, values, and actions that are
socially constructed and directed toward emancipation and human agency.
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http://www.adidaupclose.org/FAQs/postmodern.gifhttp://www.adidaupclose.org/FAQs/postmodern.gif

16. 21ST CENTURY LITERACY (21ST CENTURY LITERACY (Luke &Luke &
Dooley, 2009)Dooley, 2009)
• Traditional literacy: mastery of capabilities in reading and writing print text.
• New literacy: the rapid expansion of new modes of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) demands knowing how to engage with a range
of semiotic forms ranging from visual to aural and digital multimodal texts.
• ICTs also require a variety of skills that enable individuals to communicate and
participate in the wider society and contribute actively to creating a new culture.
• Consequently, the 21st ELT curriculum and syllabus should not simply look for
better and newer ways of teaching and assessing grammar, vocabulary,
pronunciation and the four language skills. They should be developed and designed
to help learners be wise consumers and responsible producers of information
available in multiple media-based formats, which will ultimately allow them to
participate critically in multicultural knowledge construction.
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17. VISUAL, CRITICAL AND MEDIA LITERACIESVISUAL, CRITICAL AND MEDIA LITERACIES
• Visual literacy is the ability to identify, describe, make meaning, interpret,
negotiate from information presented in the form of an image and ultimately to
think, create, and communicate graphically.
• Critical literacy focuses on the relationship between languages and world views,
social practices, power, identity, citizenship, inter-cultural relations and global/local
issues.
• Media literacy consists of a repertoire of competences that enable people to access,
analyze, evaluate and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and
forms. It offers opportunities for learners to broaden their experience of media, and
helps them develop creative skills in making their own media messages.
• Together visual, critical and media literacy can help students both critically interpret
the powerful images of a multimedia culture and express themselves in multiple
media forms. The integration of these literacies can also help develop the necessary
interdisciplinary skills needed to establish student voice and democratic conditions
for authentic exchange around issues of ethical, social and cultural significance.
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18. VISUAL, CRITICAL AND MEDIA LITERACIESVISUAL, CRITICAL AND MEDIA LITERACIES
SUGGESTED PLAN
I – Introduce the document (source,
author/artist, period, context)
II – Describe it as precisely as possible
(from more general to more specific)
III – Classify the different themes at work
and/or interpret the vision of the author
basing yourself on the elements from the
description.
IV - Analyze and interpret
V – React stating your personal opinion and
experience
wikieducator.org/ELT.../visual_and_critic
al_literacy
SUGGESTED QUESTIONS
1.Who sent this message? Knowing who the
author is and what is behind the message.
2.What techniques are used to attract my
attention? Knowing about the power of
arts over us.
3.How might other people understand this
message differently from me? Knowing
about other alternative interpretations.
4.What values, lifestyles and points of
view are represented in or omitted from
this message? Knowing the value system
being projected to us.
5.Why was this message sent? Knowing
what profit or power is being gained.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzeVjA
M-drg
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19. REFERENCESREFERENCES
Baudrillard, J. (1991). Simulacra and simulations. Translated by Sheila Faria. Michigan: University of Michigan press.
Beck, C. (1993). Postmodernism, pedagogy, and philosophy of education. Retrieved from http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/eps/PES-Yearbook/93_docs/BECK.HTM
Breen, M. (1999). Teaching language in the postmodern classroom. BELLS: Barcelona english language and literature studies, 10, pags. 47-64
Candlin, C.N. (1984). Syllabus design as a critical process. In C.J. Brumfit (Ed.). General English Syllabus Design. ELT Documents No. 118. London: Pergamon Press & The British
Council. 29-46.
Cornbleth, C. (1990) Curriculum in Context, Basingstoke: Falmer Press.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of Grammatology. Translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
De La Fuente, M. (2008). National cultural representations. Critical literacy for ELT project. Retrieved from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Materials_National%20Cultural%20Representations.pdf
Dubin, F. & Olshtain, E. (1997) Course Design: Developing Programs and Materials for Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Finch, E. (1996). The postmodern language teacher. Studies in British and American Language and Literature, 78, 221-248.
Firehammer, R. (2007). Postmodernism. Retrieved from http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Postmodernism.htm
Graves, K. (2000) Designing Language Courses. Canada: Heinle & Heinle.
Grundy, S. (1987) Curriculum: Product or Praxis, Lewes: Falmer.
Hadley, G. (1998). Looking Back and Looking Ahead: A Forecast for the Early 21st Century. The language teacher, July. Retrieved from http://www.jalt-
publications.org/tlt/articles/2001/07/hadley
Irvine, M. (2009). Approaches to Po-Mo. Retrieved from http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html
Long, M. H., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research and practice. In Doughty, C. J., & Williams, J. (eds.), Focus on form in second language acquisition (pp. 15-
41). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lyotard, J. (1979). The postmodern condition: A Report on Knowledge. Theory and History. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Luke, A., & Dooley, K. (2009). Critical literacy and second language learning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning (Vol II). New
York, London: Routledge. (In press). Retrieved from http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/LukeDooleyCritical_Literacy_in_SLEDec09.pdf
Rabbini, R. (2002). An Introduction to Syllabus Design and Evaluation. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(5). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Rabbini-Syllabus.html
Richards, J. (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Slattery, P. (2006). Curriculum development in the postmodern era. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis.
Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) 'Curriculum theory and practice' the encyclopaedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm
Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to Curriculum Research and Development, Heinemann Educational Books. Traducción española: Investigación y desarrollo del curriculum, (2ª
ed.), Madrid, Morata, 1987.
Tyler, R. W. (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Usher, R. and Edwards, R. (1994). Postmodernism and Education. Routledge, London.
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White, R. (1988). The ELT Curriculum, Design, Innovation and Management. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
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