SITUATIONAL SYLLABUS

Introduction

Among the various aspects of second or foreign language teaching, one aspect that is
most ignored has been the content of the teaching, what is generally referred to as
curriculum or syllabus design. While teachers and administrators frequently speak of
differences in method, differences in the content of instruction are examined much
less often. The content of language teaching has generally been discussed in terms of
three types of syllabus, the structural, the situational, and, most recently, the
notional/functional. Generally there are six types of syllabus. They are structural (or
formal) syllabus, notional / functional syllabus, situational syllabus, skill based
syllabus, task based syllabus, and content based syllabus. Situational syllabus will be
discussed deeper in this paper.

Language is always used in a social context and cannot be fully understood without
reference to the context. We restrict our choice of linguistic forms according to social
situations. We use different language in different situations that we encounter.
Situational syllabuses can meet our needs in this respect. The contents of a situational
syllabus usually “consist of an inventory language situations and a description of the
linguistic content of each of these situations” (Wilkins, 1976:16). The learner is
taught the correct and standard linguistic utterances which are used for different
situations.

The situational syllabus has a long history in language teaching, but situational
content has mostly been used as an adjunct to instruction that is primarily focused on
language form and structure.The formulation of a new type of syllabus became
inevitable when dissatisfaction was targeted to the grammatical syllabus. Even
though the grammatical syllabus has been used with considerable success over a long
period of time, many modern linguists have come to see grammar as the wrong
organising principle for a syllabus, since effective language use cannot be ensured

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unless it is contextualised, involving ample social interaction. Therefore, the most
commonly proposed alternative is to take situational needs as the starting point and
thereby to construct a situational syllabus to replace the grammatical syllabus.

History of Situational Syllabus

The most prevalent syllabus type is the structural syllabus introduced in 1950s. It
considers structural aspects of language as the basis for language learning. It holds
the idea that functional ability arises from linguistic competence. The structural
syllabus is also known as a linguistic syllabus or grammatical syllabus. Wilkins has
defined a grammatical syllabus as one that consists of a list of grammatical items
selected and graded in terms of simplicity and complexity. In a structural syllabus
there is a list of grammatical items. It is teacher oriented. The focus is on the form,
use and accuracy than meaning, usage and fluency. These limitations led to an
alternative type of syllabus where the situational needs are of prime importance than
grammatical rules. This new form of syllabus is known as a situational syllabus. The
central idea behind this syllabus is that language is always used in a social context.

Few language teachers today are familiar with the term Situational Language
Teaching, which refers to an approach to language teaching developed from the
1930s to the 1960s by British applied linguists Harold Palmer and A. S. Hornby, two
of the most prominent figures in British twentieth-century language teaching. In fact,
they attempted to develop a more “communicative” approach to language teaching.
Like many others, Palmer and Hornby believed that a grammatical or structural
syllabus was neither efficient, nor effective for language learning since this model
offers language samples outside their social and cultural contexts which makes
transfer of learning from the classroom to the real world quite difficult. Hornby’s
Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, first published in 1954, is based on a
sequenced language syllabus together with procedures for introducing each new item
by linking it to a particular classroom situation and in this way, meaning would be
established.

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Situational syllabuses are the most commonly proposed alternative to replace the
grammatical syllabuses. It is the only other kind of syllabus that is at all widely used
as a basis for the construction of teaching materials. It takes situational needs as the
starting point. Units in the syllabus have situational instead of grammatical labels.
The aim of the Situational Syllabus is communicative competence; the nature of its
contents will not necessarily lead to total communicative competence. This
shortcoming led to the development of the Functional-Notional syllabus.

Concept of Situational Syllabus

A situational syllabus is often defined as one in which the contents are organized
according to situations in which certain language is likely to be employed
(Richards,1985:260). A situational syllabus is one in which the content of language
teaching is a collection of real or imaginary situations in which language occurs or is
used (Krahnke, 1987:10). According to Wilkins the situational syllabus has
constructed on the analysis of situations and behaviours. In a situational syllabus the
content is either real or imaginary situations where language occurs. This language is
in dialogue form or in conversations. The learner has to practice the dialogues and
memorize useful expressions.

Another theory underlying the Situational Syllabus is the problematic assumption that
the learner can cope with all situations in the life by putting together the learning of
language patterns appears in each single situations. Wilkins believes that this
assumption on the learning process is a “behavioral” one in nature (Wilkins, 1976:
21), which we think is appropriate. Further, Long and Crookes (1992) interpreted the
notion “synthetic syllabus” as “…syllabus relies on learners' assumed ability to learn
a language in parts (e.g., structures and functions) which are independent of one
another, and also to integrate, or synthesize, the pieces when the time comes to use
them for communicative purposes.”(Long and Crookes, 1992:30) Thus, in the
framework Wilkins circumscribes in the same book (Wilkins, 1976:2), the
assumption of learning could be termed as a synthetic one: at the final phase of

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learning, that is the production of a language, the knowledge of the language is
synthesized by putting together what have been learned. As will be seen in this report,
this assumption is fatal to the Situational Syllabus.

A Situational syllabus is more efficient than a grammatical syllabus. It emphasise the

practical use than abstract usage. It is learner centred. It enables learners to make
proper use of language in everyday communication. The syllabus is designed
according to situations. Its aim is to prepare the learner for the future situation in
which he might use the language. It takes account of the learner and his needs. The
learner is taught with the language that is necessary for him to perform linguistically
in the situation in which he is likely to need the language. It is supposed to be a more
efficient process because it includes only what is relevant to the learner. It is also
supposed to be more motivating because it is the learner- rather than subject-centered.

The situational syllabus did a lot to fill the vacuum that was caused by the drawbacks
of the grammatical syllabus. These range from short dialogues to lengthy themes with
casts of characters acting and behaving in complex ways. Many collections of
conversation or communication activities are organized in terms of situations. The
situational syllabus came as an alternative to the grammatical syllabus. It is based on
the view that language always occurs in a social situation (or a social context) and
that the teaching of language should not be isolated from its context. In the situational
syllabus, a series of situations will form the main organizing principle, and each
situation is associated with a particular activity or task. Situational syllabi are also
associated with various theories of language. A syllabus that relied almost exclusively
on realistic situations, rather than contrived or artificial situations devised simply to
exemplify linguistic structures, would, however, be most closely associated with a
broadly communicative view of language and an experiential theory of learning.
Current approaches to situational syllabus design, however, go beyond the classroom
and introduce various “real-life” situations.

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Components of Situational Syllabuses

Situational syllabus has some components as follow:

1) Aims/Goals
2) Objectives
3) Non-language outcomes
4) Learning contents: knowledge, topics, language items and skills
5) Implementation
6) Evaluation
Appendix 1 provide more explanation about the components of situational syllabus.

Content of Situational Syllabus

As the content of a situational syllabus, in most cases, is organized in order of

different authentic situations, it certainly has the potential advantage of tapping
students’ knowledge of the world as an aid to learning, and also of providing realistic,
and hence motivating, materials. Thus, as has been observed, there exists a
correspondence between students’ personal experience and the materials, on one
hand; on the other hand, it can facilitate the process of grounding so-called indirect
knowledge into schemata which is generally viewed as the ultimate phase of language
learning.

Moreover, especially when it comes to ESL environment, like in China, the situation-
based method of selecting and organizing materials may well serve the purpose of
bridging cultural gap by various conversations and topics that are implied with typical
social conventions and customs of the countries and people the learners are interested
in.

Last but not least, situational syllabus is flexible in nature. It is manageable to take
situational syllabus as a pedestal, upon which we can incorporate many other syllabus
types, for instance, grammatical/structural, functional/notional syllabi, etc. Granted,

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students learn more rapidly about how to use different lexical items or linguistic
structures, given specific situations in which they are often employed.

Process of Designing Situational Syllabus

Process refers to the manner in which language is learned. Here we would like to
emphasize the role that teachers often play under the guidance of situational syllabus.
Dr. Andrew Finch (2008) gives some steps for teachers in designing situational
syllabus as follow:

1. Analyzing needs
2. Listing situation
3. Analyzing and matching the situation with the daily life of students
4. Creating in conversation based on the situation

Certainly, teachers have a larger knowledge base than that of students’, so it is

plausibly assumed that teachers are able to relate to the different situations listed in
the syllabus, and come up with a specific plan concerning how to teach students and
what aspects of learning shall be given more priorities. Taking “Coursebook for
PETS (Level 1)” for an example,

Unit 7 At Home

Dialogues

Passage:ＡChildlike Father

Words and Expressions

Notes

Exercises

Supplementary Reading: The British Bobby

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 Unit 8 Receiving Friends

Dialogues

Passage: My Friend Charlie

Words and Expressions

Notes

Exercises

Supplementary Reading: American Senior Citizens

Under such circumstances, teachers do not have to figure out by themselves how to
make up some rigid and lifeless situations in which certain words or structures should
be used. Conversely, the syllabus provides such contents beforehand. In accordance
with the functional viewpoint of the nature of language, language is a social semiotic
system and a meaning potential which is composed of infinite words and structures.
Bearing this in mind, as far as our imagination goes, those teachers, if conscientious
enough, will go and glean as many similar materials as possible which fix their
central themes on the given topic of the situation. Anyhow, situational syllabus makes
the case in description more apt to happen.

As is known to all, the number of situation types is innumerable, and therefore,

situational syllabus will definitely have a countless resource to utilize, so as to
construct and design a variety of courses without worrying about repetition and
boredom. Also, as time goes by, society changes as well as the mode of people’s
thinking and perceiving; thus, if we adopt a situation-oriented approach to design
syllabus, the adaptability of the syllabus to social needs will, expectedly, be greatly
improved.

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Product of Situational Syllabus

Product in syllabus design is mainly concerned with what students are expected to
learn; or in other words, the objectives of the syllabus. It has been commonly
acknowledged that under a situational syllabus, the communicative competence is
given first priorities. Of course, this has much to do with and shares a lot in common
with functional syllabus. By and large, students’ communicative competence will be
improved in terms of learning and understanding language more thoroughly and
comprehensively by knowing language in use, and to be exact, the language will be
more smoothly transformed into procedural knowledge that would be stored into the
long-term memory, and according to the connectinalist view, the procedural
knowledge could be activated in real life situations with no signs of transfer. As a
result, students’ communicative competence will be naturally enhanced. The example
of situational syllabus is provided in appendix 2.

Advantages of Situational Syllabus

The situational syllabus offers guidelines for organising language teaching materials
on a relatively limited scope, yet it has proven to be beneficial in several ways
according to Wilkins (1976) and Krahnke (1987) as follow:

1. Materials designed according to situational syllabuses are generally interesting and

learners are involved in practicing the language in a created environment. As a
result, the classes could be more lively and interesting. What’s more, learners are
more motivated and more likely to have a sense of achievement.
2. Learning process following a situational syllabus will be naturally learner-centered
rather than subject-centered since it takes account of the learner and his needs.
Then thereby it will be more motivating to the learner.
3. It enables the learners to behave appropriately in various social contexts.

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4. Language teaching begins with the spoken language, and material is taught orally
before it is presented in written forms. Then it will improve students’
communicative competence
5. Presenting language in context and teaching language of immediate practical use.
It may motivate learners to see that what they are learning is “real-life” language
that actually meets their most pressing everyday communication needs.
6. Situations provide contexts of discourse in which form and meaning coincide.
Students are not asked to learn disembodied forms with multiple potential
meanings or uses, but to hear and use the forms in contexts that illustrate and
reinforce the form, meaning relationship. In this way, situations can break the
sentence level barrier and demonstrate to learners, to some degree, how language
operates in larger units of discourse (Krahnke, 1987:45).
7. The use of situations in language teaching can help to provide some social and
cultural information about the language and its users in a non didactic way. Well-
prepared situations can show how native speakers act and what they talk about and
are concerned about (Krahnke, 1987:45).

The Disadvantages of Situational Syllabus

Even though the situational syllabus is widely used as a replacement for the
Grammatical Syllabus to organise language teaching materials, there is still strong
criticism against this model:

1. The main disadvantage of the Situational Syllabus is that it is less appropriate for
the students of general English, since it tries to teach language in the context of
some specific linguistic situations, which cannot be considered as an all-
encompassing yardstick for fulfilling the learners’ general language needs. That
is, because it is difficult to guarantee that one specific situation will be useful in
another.
2. Although some situations have a predictable script, unanticipated things can
happen in any situation, requiring a change of script or topic. Wilkins points out,

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 that a physical situational setting such as “At the Post Office” or “In a
Restaurant” does not necessarily predict the language forms that will be used.
One may go into a restaurant not to order a meal but to ask directions to a nearby
museum or to change money for a telephone call. While certain language
functions will most likely occur in certain situational settings, physical setting
cannot really predict language use. It depends on who the students are and where
they are learning. Thus determining the appropriate list of situations for a general
class is difficult.
3. The Situational Syllabus is probably most appropriate for short-term special-
purpose courses: giving prospective tourists survival skills or preparing service
personnel, such as waiters or waitresses, to deal with routine requests or fire
fighters to handle emergency situations. It has limited potential for the language
learner interested in acquiring global language proficiency. For this reason it is
generally used as the component of a Multi Syllabus rather than as the central
organising principle for a general language syllabus design.
4. The presence of “artificial” dialogues in many existing materials, which both
illustrate recurrent grammatical patterns and present practical phrases for a
situational context, often include discourse that would never be used in natural
language. Thus, language as practiced in the classroom and language as spoken
in the real world will often have little in common. In general, there are no clearly
defined criteria for sequencing material.
5. A reliance on situational content can cause problems where the learners or the
instructional setting do not want cultural values to accompany the language. For
example, when the purpose of teaching English or other languages is academic,
business-related, bureaucratic, or otherwise purely instrumental, the culture in
which the language is being taught may have a low tolerance or acceptance level
for the cultural values associated with the language. Unless the situations are
written to reflect local values or the specific activities for which the language is
being learned, they may reflect unwanted foreign language values (Krahnke,
1987:46).

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Implication in Language Teaching

Teacher has main role in situational syllabus in choosing and creating materials in
teaching. by considering material with students’ level, it will make the situational in
the classroom can be like a real situation as the experts’ state. And also the method or
strategy is used teaching to make teaching go smoothly. The practice to communicate
is one of the key to make the student feel that is like the real situation. situational
syllabi rarely carry the entire content weight of an instructional program. One
exception is the conversational course whose objective is limited conversational
ability with specific topics. Another is instruction intended fort learners with specific
situations in which to use the language being learned, where the language that will
occur is highly predictable (e.g., with waiters in restaurants). A third case for
situational content is as a corrective tool for learners who have already received a
great deal of formal instruction but who have weak functional ability in the language.
In general, however, situational content is most useful when mixed with other types
of instructional content and used for the reasons mentioned earlier to introduce new
material, to practice material in realistic ways, to provide a continuous story line
through some set of materials or a course, or to provide opportunities for learners to
create their own discourse in defined Situations. Situational content is usable with
learners of all ages, though it is especially useful for children who neither want nor
are ready for formal analysis.

Richards and Rodgers (1986) summarized the main characteristics of situational

language teaching as follows:

1. Language teaching begins with the spoken language. Material is taught orally
before it is presented in written form.
2. The target language is the language of the classroom.
3. New language points are introduced and practiced situationally.
4. Vocabulary selection procedures are followed to ensure that an essential general
service vocabulary is covered.

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5. Items of grammar are graded following the principle that simple forms should be
taught before complex ones.
6. Reading and writing are introduced once a sufficient lexical and grammatical basis
is established.

Conclusion

The situational syllabus came as an alternative to the grammatical syllabus. It is based

on the view that language always occurs in a social situation (or a social context) and
that the teaching of language should not be isolated from its context. In the situational
syllabus, a series of situations will form the main organizing principle, and each
situation is associated with a particular activity or task. The situational syllabus
regards meaningful interaction as of primary importance and considers linguistic
forms dependent on the situation. Linguistic forms are not, therefore, selected on the
basis of grammar but on their occurrence in a particular context of situation such as
"at the post office" or "a job interview" …etc.
A Situational syllabus emphasises the practical use than abstract usage. It is learner
centred. It enables learners to make proper use of language in everyday
communication. The syllabus is designed according to situations. The aim of the
Situational Syllabus is communicative competence; the nature of its contents will not
necessarily lead to total communicative competence. It will prepare the learner for the
future situation in which he might use the language. It takes account of the learner
and his needs. As discussed above, Situational Syllabus is to be remembered both for
its pros and cons. The members of this group share the consensus that it might be
more insightful to combine Situational Syllabus with other syllabus design
approaches in the design of a single syllabus.

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References

Finch A. 2008.EFL Syllabus Design. Finchpark.

<http://www.finchpark.com/afe/tbsyll.htm>.

Hornby, A.S. 1954. A Guide to Patterns and Usage in English. London: Oxford
University.

Krahnke, K. 1987. Approaches to Syllabus Design for Foreign Language Teaching.

New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Long, M.H. & Crookes, G.1992. Three approaches to task-based syllabus design.
TESOL Quarterly, 26(1): 27-56.

Palmer, H. E., West, M.P. & Faucett, L. 1936. Interim Report on Vocabulary
Selection for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language. Report of the
Carnegie Conference, New York 1934, and London 1935. London: P. S. King and
Son.

Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers. 1986. Approaches and methods in

language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Richards, J. C. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

Wilkins, D. 1976. Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford University.

Wolfson, N., & Judd, E. (1983). Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition. Rowley,
MA: Newbury House.

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Appendix 1. Components of Situational Syllabus

AIMS to prepare learners for future situations where they might use the language

OBJECTIVES to learn grammar, build vocabulary and develop four basic skills in particular situations

other reasons instead of knowledge

1. Affective Cultivation
NON-LANGUAGE
e.g.: confidence, high motivation and interest
OUTCOMES
2. Learning Strategy

e.g.: cultural understanding, thinking skill and interpersonal skill

Knowledge

a collection of real or imaginary situations, which are always chosen according to the following factors

 Communicative needs

 Language items involved

 The learners’ interest

LEARNING
CONTENTS  Cultural differences

Topic

those the students can talk about in a certain situation

Language items

vocabulary or structure related to the communication in a situation

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 Skill : speaking, writing, listening

taking part in the activities, through

o choral imitation,

o Elicitation (role play)

IMPLEMENTATION
o substitution drilling and

o question-answer drilling,

hence, students grasp the basic principles to communicate in a situation

Oral or written test and performance

EVALUATION
(mastering some vocabulary and structures, students get to communicate in different situations)

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Appendix 2. Example of Situational Syllabus

NON-
AIMS OBJECTIVES LANGUAGE LEARNING CONTENT IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION
OUTCOME

The students The students Affective A. Conversation Imitation, Oral Test

will learn will be able to
Cultivation IN THE CLASSROOM (teacher read aloud Written Test
how to practice simple
the conversation)
practice conversation in e.g.:confidence, Asti : Good morning, Zaki. Performance

conversation the classroom high motivation Zaki : Good morning, Asti.

Elicitation,

in the and interest

(teachers allow
Asti : Any homework today?
classroom Learning students to do role play
Strategy Zaki : I don't know for sure. Just ask with mate)
Madya.
e.g.:cultural
understanding, Asti :Madya, is there any homework?
Question-answer
thinking skill and Madya: We have Math homework.
drilling
interpersonal skill
Zaki : Have you finished it, Madya? ( teachers can take role

Madya: Not yet. to ask question or

student are allowed to
Asti : Let's do it together.
ask answer-question

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 B. Expressions: with their partners

Good morning

Any homework today?

I don’t know for sure

We have Math homework

Have you finished it?

Let’s do it together

Source: Dr. Andrew Finch, 2008, “EFL Syllabus Design.”

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 SITUATIONAL SYLLABUS

GROUP TASK

By:
Intan Trine Chodija (NPM 1423042054)
Lutfan Adli (NPM14230420 )
Meutia Pebriani (NPM 14230420 )
Sulastri (NPM 14230420 )

Postgraduate Program of English Education

Education and Teacher Training Faculty
Lampung University
2015

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