© 1991 by Oxford University Press
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Articles |
The Negotiated Syllabus: What is it and How is it Likely to Work?
University of East Anglia
The so-called ‘communicative’ era of language teaching has seen enormous development in the area of syllabus design. The present paper considers the characteristics of a radical syllabus type known as the Process or Negotiated syllabus. This type, based on designs proposed much earlier in the field of general education, takes the basic principles of communicative language teaching to their logical conclusion. The Negotiated model is totally different from other syllabuses in that it allows full learner participation in selection of content, mode of working, route of working, assessment, and so on. It should by this means embody the central principle that the learner's needs are of paramount importance. The present contention is that the strong version of the negotiated model, involving full learner participation, would for all practical purposes be unworkable in any other circumstances than with a very small group or in a one-to-one situation. Both learners and teachers would have considerable difficulty in operating such an extreme negotiated model. However, the concept of negotiation is an extremely valuable one and it is therefore here proposed that, rather than rejecting negotiation entirely, anegotiated element might be built into each component of a syllabus. In this way, learners might be allowed a degree of choice and self-expression, unavailable in most existing syllabus types.