The Structural Syllabus and its advantage and disadvantage
Explain The Structural Syllabus and its advantage and disadvantage
Introduction
A structural curriculum/Syllabus, also known as a grammar curriculum, formal curriculum, traditional curriculum, and synthetic curriculum. It is one in which grammatical structures form the central organizational feature. The structural or grammatical syllabus is one of the most common types of syllabus and even today we can see the content pages of many textbooks organized by grammatical elements. The Structural Syllabus derives much of its content from Structural Linguists.
It is a content-based, product-oriented degree program. The focus is on the knowledge and skills that the students should acquire through the lessons, not how they can acquire them.
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Main Features
The main features of the Structural Studies program are as follows: Theoretical Foundations:
The underlying assumptions of the structural curriculum are as follows:
• Language is a system made up of a set of grammatical rules; Learning a language means learning these rules and then applying them to the practical use of the language.
• The syllabus entry is selected and evaluated according to grammatical notions of simplicity and complexity. These study programs each introduce one element and require mastery of that element before proceeding. to the next.
• This type of program argues that it is easier for students to learn a language if they are only exposed to a part of the grammatical system at a time.
Content: The content of the syllabus is determined by giving the highest priority to teaching the grammar or structure of the target language. The structural curriculum generally consists of two components:
1. a list of linguistic structures, i.e. the grammar to be taught, and
2. a list of words, i.e. the lexicon to be taught. Order and Grading: Very often the items on each list are ordered to show what is taught in the first course, what is taught in the second, and so on.
Sequencing and Grading: There are several ordering criteria. The teacher looks at the items from the perspective of levels or stages. For example Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced or grades, 1,2,3 etc.
Objectives: Grammar forms the core of the curriculum. Regardless of the rules followed, learning a language means learning to master the grammatical rules of the target language.
In addition, students are also expected to acquire a reasonable basic vocabulary. In following the syllabus, the teacher may use the audiolingual method or the grammar-translation method, a combination of both, or an eclectic approach. Regardless of its use, the content of the syllabus is determined by giving the highest priority to teaching grammar or language structure.
Procedure: In the initial phase of the apprenticeship, the language components of the desired form of performance are analyzed. Speech is then broken down into smaller grammatical components and presented in a strictly controlled order. The order is in order of increasing complexity, from a simple grammatical structure to a more complex grammatical structure. The learners are once confronted with a limited choice of the target language. The teacher steps through the curriculum until theoretically all structures of the target language have been taught. The task of the student is to re-synthesize the language that has been separated and presented to him in small parts. This synthesis only takes place in the last learning level, the so-called advanced level. Benefits Many learning principles embodied in a structural approach are sound.
Advantages
The benefits of a structural curriculum are as follows:
• The student moves from simpler grammatical structures to more complex structures and can understand the grammatical system more easily.
• Teaching and testing are relatively easy as teachers handle discrete points of knowledge and skills Teachers do not need to be proficient in the language they teach as grammar explanations and exercises do not require a high level of language proficiency
• It is very useful for developing writing skills.
• Enriches the student's basic vocabulary.
• The sequencing and selection of teaching elements are not as difficult as in other curricula.
Disadvantages
Despite its numerous advantages, it also has some shortcomings. The disadvantages of a structural curriculum are as follows:
• The potential disadvantage of a structural curriculum is that it overemphasizes the structure of the language and neglects communicative skills. immediate communication needs of the student learning a language in the context of a community where the language is spoken.
In fact, the sociolinguistic aspects of communicative competence do not focus on a strictly structural curriculum at all. Therefore, it is most useful in a context where the language learner has no immediate need to communicate.
• It hampers the student's creative capacity. Pages because it confines him within the walls of specific rules
• Here the role of the student is passive since it is the teacher who decides what to teach and at what stage. So this is a teacher-dominated curriculum.
Conclusion
Despite its disadvantages, it remains the most widely used model for curriculum design. Therefore, we cannot completely reject or discriminate against this type of curriculum. a perfect type of curriculum, and the structural curriculum is no exception in this respect.
It is therefore advisable to choose an integrated or combined curriculum rather than a specific one. And the structural curriculum is adequate enough to provide some important guidelines for the blended curriculum.
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