Navigating educational frameworks in language learning

In the field of language learning, various frameworks guide instruction. Understanding the difference between a curriculum, a syllabus, and a textbook is crucial for language teachers and learners alike. These terms, often used interchangeably, hold distinct meanings that influence teaching strategies and learning outcomes.

Defining curriculum, syllabus, and textbook

A curriculum is a comprehensive educational plan that outlines the overall goals, objectives, content, and assessment methods for a particular programme. As such, it serves as the foundation for what students are expected to learn throughout their educational journey in terms of knowledge, life skills and competencies. It is a wide scope document set out by the government or the administration of an educational establishment such as a school or a college. Because of its prescriptive nature, all teachers are required to follow it until it changes. Furthermore, as it is an official document, it contains elements that are not only knowledge-related but also related to the behaviour, critical thinking, problem-solving strategies, collaboration skills and performance of students. It also details the recommended teaching methods. Coming back to language learning, a foreign language curriculum would not only  outline the grammatical and lexical objectives to be achieved, but also the objectives to reach and the concepts to be taught in the communicative and pragmatic fields, the level of confidence to reach, the requirements in terms of pronunciation etc.

In contrast, a syllabus is a detailed document, provided by an instructor but determined by an examination board, that outlines all the concepts covered in a subject: the specific topics, assignments, and assessments for a single course. While the curriculum may cover broad educational goals, the syllabus offers a day-to-day structure that guides students on what they will learn during one given course and that describes different aspects of the subject that will be taught. Often it is handed out to students by their teacher so that they can understand what the expectations are from students, the consequences of failure, the dates of tests etc. It is usually set out for a fixed term. A narrow scope document, it is more descriptive than prescriptive and can vary from teacher to teacher. Once again, if we want to go back to language learning, a syllabus would often take the form of a descriptive table or list.

A textbook, on the other hand, is easy to define as we have all seen textbooks and know that it is a published academic resource that contains information, theories, practices, and exercises pertaining to a specific subject. Textbooks are typically created for students and are consequently often aligned with curricula. In many schools and institutions, they are used as primary sources of information during instruction. The enormous progress that has been made is such that the language textbooks available in bookshops today are often very attractive and easy to understand, which is why many educational establishments choose to use them.

The good and the bad

Choosing between following a syllabus, a curriculum or simply the progression of a textbook comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. A well-structured curriculum provides a solid framework that ensures consistency and progression in learning. However, it may lack flexibility, restricting how instructors adapt their teaching to meet student needs and often presenting a standardised approach to education. Therefore, it is to be taken with a pinch of salt.

While the syllabus offers a more focused approach, it is also not a good idea to rely only on a syllabus. Although it gives instructors the freedom to customise their teaching methods and to address the unique dynamics of each classroom, this can sometimes lead to disparities in what students learn if not aligned closely with the overall curriculum. Also, different teachers might spend different amounts of time on a given item if they don't have a curriculum to remind them which items are the most important ones that should not be neglected and which ones are only secondary.

So what about school textbooks? Are they enough? After all, they seem to offer fairly solid and detailed learning objectives and definitely appear to be a valuable resource that can enhance the teaching experience by providing structured content and activities. However, reliance on textbooks can lead to a narrow pedagogical approach, limiting critical thinking and creativity in the learning process. In addition, textbooks tend to become obsolete fairly quickly and need to be changed frequently, not only to match new curricula, but also to adapt to changes in society, such as inclusivity for example. Furthermore, institutions that choose to rely solely on textbooks are condemned to perpetuate teaching practices that are limited to the written word, ignoring audiovisual and other media, and ignoring the need to draw parallels between the knowledge acquired and everyday events in real life. Finally, asking students to buy textbooks can create a situation in which teachers want to maximise the use of textbooks in order to make their purchase profitable, which could lead students to a form of saturation due to the repetitiveness of textbook formats and content.

So what's the best option?

Understanding the differences between teaching with a curriculum, a syllabus, and a textbook is essential for effective educational practices. Each framework has its unique benefits and potential drawbacks that institutions must consider when designing their instruction. By examining these structures thoughtfully, language teachers can create engaging, adaptable learning experiences that cater to the diverse needs of students. The ideal situation would obviously be to have all three types of reference available, but where this is not possible, it is essential not to rely exclusively on a textbook. The absence of a syllabus and/or a curriculum impairs teaching by making the programme - as perceived collectively by the teaching staff - narrower than what it could and should actually be.

Ultimately, language teachers provide instruction but they are also creators of educational and cultural content. In this respect, helping them to save time by providing them with a textbook can enable them to supplement the syllabus' recommendations with teaching material taken from elsewhere, making their lessons more complete and more in line with the curriculum.

***Disclaimer: Although this content is produced by a human being, the author has enlisted the help of machine translation to make some sentences of this text more pleasant to read for an English-speaking readership.