Product-Oriented Syllabus

A product-oriented syllabus focuses on things learned at the end of the learning process
(outcomes) Process oriented syllabuses are developed as a result of a sense of failure
in product oriented syllabi to enhance communicative language skills.
A product-oriented syllabus focuses on things learnt at the end of the learning process
(outcomes) rather than the process itself. It can be compared with a process-oriented
syllabus, which focuses on the processes of learning. Many people have questioned the
validity of separating syllabi into process- and product-oriented and argue that most
syllabi are, and must be, a combination of processes and outcomes.
Example
Grammatical, functional and lexical syllabi are product-oriented as they focus on
grammatical, functional and lexical outcomes.

A Grammatical syllabus
A Grammatical syllabus refers to the syllabus in which grammatical criteria will be used
to break the global language into discrete units.A grammatical syllabus is based on the
structures of a language. It can be compared to other types of syllabi based around
tasks, vocabulary, functions or topics. Learners learn grammatical structures in a
sequence that reflects their complexity, rather than their use in communication, leading
to many artificial contexts for practice, and perhaps an inability to transfer learning to
real communication. Organising learning around a grammatical syllabus has been
criticised because of this, but it is still the most common type of syllabus in published
materials, mostly because it is the easiest type of syllabus to sequence.
Example
A grammatical syllabus may start with the present simple, then the present continuous,
then the past simple, and so on. Learners are not usually exposed to more difficult
structures than the ones they are learning.
In the classroom
Teachers may find it useful to blend a grammatical syllabus with other elements. For
example, it may be suitable to teach verb times explicitly but structures such as the use
of would' in requests and advice in a functional framework instead.
Theoretical Bases of Grammatical syllabus:
Language is a system which consists of a set of grammatical rules; learning language
means learning these rules and then applying them to practical language use.The
syllabus input is selected and graded according to grammatical notions of simplicity and
complexity. These syllabuses introduce one item at a time and require mastery of that
item before moving on to the next.
This type of syllabus maintains that it is easier for students to learn a language if they
are exposed to one part of the grammatical system at a time.

The content of the syllabus is determined by giving top priority to teaching the grammar
or structure of the target language. The Grammatical / Structural Syllabus generally
consists of two components:
A list of linguistic structures, that is, the grammar to be taught, and
A list of words, that is, the lexicon to be taught.
Selecting and Grading contents :
Very often the items on each list are arranged in order showing which are to be taught in
the first course, which in the second, and so on. The criteria for sequencing are various.
The teacher regards the items from the point of view of levels or stages. For example,
beginning, intermediate, advanced, or grades, 1,2,3, etc.
Grammar makes up the core of the syllabus. Whatever rules are followed, learning a
language means learning to master the grammar rules of the target language. In
addition it also expected that the students will learn adequate basic vocabulary.
The teacher in following the syllabus may use either Audio-lingual Method or Grammar
Translation Method, or a combination of the two or an eclectic approach. Whichever he
uses, the content of the syllabus is determined by giving top priority to teaching the
grammar or structure of the language.
In the initial stage of teaching, the linguistic components of the type of performance
desired are analyzed. Next the language is broken down into small grammatical
components and presented in a strictly controlled sequence. The sequence is arranged
in accordance with increasing complexity, from simple grammatical structure to more
complex grammatical structure.
The learners are exposed at one time to a limited sample of the target language. The
teacher moves progressively through the syllabus until, theoretically, all the structures of
the target language have been taught. The learners job is to re-synthesize language
that has been taken apart, and presented to him in small parts. This synthesis takes
place only in the final stage of leaning, the so called the advanced stage.
DISADVANTAGES / DRAWBACKS
Despite its numerous advantages it has few shortcomings too. The drawbacks of a
Structural Syllabus are as follows:
The potential disadvantage of the Structural Syllabus is that it over-emphasizes
language structure and neglects communicative competence. It does not address the
immediate communication needs of the learner who is learning a language within the
context of a community where the language is spoken. In fact, the sociolinguistic
aspects of communicative competence are not in focus at all in a strictly structural
syllabus. It is therefore more useful in a context where the language learner does not
have immediately communication needs.
It hampers the students creative sides because it confines him/her within the walls of
some specific rules.
Here the role of the student is passive, since it is the teacher who is deciding what to
teach in which stage. It is, thus, a teacher dominated syllabus.

Notional Functional Syllabus

A notional-functional syllabus is an approach where the organization of the material is
determined with notions or ideas that learners expect to be able to express through the
target language and the functions acts learners expect to be able to accomplish . In this
type of syllabus, it contains the same teaching materials as traditional syllabus but
organizes them in different way such as around uses or functions.
According to Wilkins (1972), proponents of this kind of approach believe that the usage
of language for learners is more important than the digestion of an unapplied system of
grammatical forms. Therefore, a notional-functional syllabus is a kind of communicative
syllabus which organize units with the foundation of some functions such as asking
question, expressing opinions, expressing wishes, making suggestions,
complaining, and apologizing rather than including units instructing noun gender or
present tense ending .
Theory of notional-functional syllabus
A notional-functional syllabus is an approach where the organization of the material is
determined with notions or ideas that learners expect to be able to express through the
target language and the functions acts learners expect to be able to accomplish. The
functional-notional syllabus takes semantic knowledge as primary and attempts to
answer the question what do users of the language need to express?. This implies a
belief in language as a system but a system of meaning rather than forms. It answer
that learning language consists of learning how to mean. Such a syllabus would seek
correlations between form and function but would define the link as being between the
forms of the language available to the user and the meanings he wishes to express .
Selecting and Grading Contents
Richard and Rodgers also distinguish between two basic types of learning theories:
process-oriented theories which "build on learning processes, such as habit formation,
induction, inference, hypothesis testing, and generalization" and condition-oriented
theories, which "emphasize the nature of the human and physical context in which
language learning takes place". Although it is true that teaching notions and functions
must be with using behaviorist techniques. And teachers are "not bound to interpret the
syllabus in line with its intentions". In practically, there came to be a strong alliance
between the functional view of language represented by the notional-functional syllabus,
and a condition-oriented, communicative approach to learning.
As Wilkins points that the meaning must be considered through the study of language
in use, language in discourse. So we study the communicative functions of language
and their relation to grammatical forms through approach language in this way.
Moreover, the goal of learning language is communicative and not formal perfection in
the learner. Language is seen as essentially a function of society, serving an
interpersonal role, and making each speaker a member of a speech community through
its use.
The third merit is that language functions are quite generalizing. According to Wilkins
(1973,1976), eight types of communicative functions are recognized, that is, eight kinds
of things learners can do with language, such as:
1. Modality (to express degrees of certainty, necessity, conviction, obligation, and
tolerance)
2. Moral discipline and evaluation (judgment, approval, disapproval)

3. Suasion (persuasion, recommendation, predictions)

4. Argument (information asserted or sought, agreement, denial, concession)
5. Rational inquiry and exposition (authors note: similar in sub-categories to
argument and evaluation)
6. Personal emotions (positive and negative)
7. Emotional relations (greeting, flattery, hostility)
8. Interpersonal relations (politeness and status: degree of formality and informality)
The weaknesses of the functional-notional syllabus
he first problem is that language functions alone are not a satisfactory organizing
principle. In the first place some realizations of functions are in fact little more than fixed
phrases (e.g. You must be joking! Come off it!). It may be important to learn them, but
that is all we learn! In other words, some functional exponents are just single items- we
cannot use them to generate more language as we can with grammatical structure.
The second problem lies in the selection of items for the syllabus and the grading and
sequencing of the items. Which should be selected and come first? As White notes that
there was "a dearth of evidence for the frequency of functions" and that when selecting
which forms should be used to realize functions, textbook writers had to "depend on
intuition". What order should the grammar be taught in for students to be able to apply it
to functions? White also notes that the small amount of empirical evidence regarding
the natural order of acquisition of functions by children was not directly applicable to
adult language learning (White, 1988). This problem was exacerbated by the fact that
linguistically complex forms could appear in more basic and essential functions, such as
requesting (e.g. "Would you mind closing the window?")