Lesson 3: Between Planning and Improvisation

The Syllabus

The building blocks of a traditional paper-based syllabus are expanding and transforming as instructors move toward the interactive, web-mediated syllabus. The latter assumes multiple electronic documents and directories that evolve constantly with input from both the instructor and the students.

The syllabus, one may argue, is a roadmap to success—the success of the student, the instructor, and the academic institution. Examined in the context of academic discourse, "the syllabus" can be viewed as an academic genre with specific characteristics that define both its content and the manner in which this content is delivered.

Afros and Schryer (2009:225) suggest that as a document that mediates the interactions between students and instructors and between instructors and their colleagues, a syllabus has to be "balanced so that it can appeal to students, motivate and structure their learning, while, at the same time, can convince (senior) colleagues and external evaluators of the instructor's professionalism and the course quality."

A Legislated Syllabus?

An amendment to the Texas Legislature House Bill 2504, which became effective in June 2009, includes instruction on the contents of a syllabus:

Texas Legislature House Bill 2504

What was the purpose of the amendment? What challenges does it pose for institutions and individual instructors?

The Texas Legislature, claiming "the right of the public to know," dictates to language teachers what our syllabus should include, as well as the manner in which it should be disseminated. Consider, for example, such terms used like brief, major, and general as used in the amendment.

The Legislature, so it seems, has become a party to the discussion on the length (brief), weight (major), and depth (general) of items as we envision them in our curriculum or choose to express them in communicating with our students.

If a syllabus for a language course is written in the target language, can we comply with HB 2504? Or should we write the syllabus in English? Or in both languages?

Where Does This Leave Us?

Keeping all factors in mind, here are points to consider when crafting a syllabus.

  • The syllabus should be clear, concise, and effective in the way it conveys information.
  • Precision and accountability will serve our students well, while diminishing our concerns about the legal ramification of what we say or fail to say.
  • Excessive detail has the potential of confusing the students, and overplanning will quickly and systematically erase the spontaneity that is so essential to language instruction.
  • Unless institutional policies dictate otherwise, list activities by weeks as opposed to days, and include built-in unplanned segments of time in the weekly program.
  • The syllabus is often a first-impression giver, and our voice as instructors should come through it clear, knowledgeable, authoritative, excited, and, most of all, reasonable and inviting.