MOVING TO A NEW SYLLABUS
When something arrives to our lives and changes
the status quo it generates not only resistance, negativity, and preoccupation
but also challenge, enthusiasm, and improvement. These have been just some of the
different reactions experienced by Costa Rican teachers when the new syllabus
was introduced two years ago.
English in primary school was first accepted in
1994 as a pilot program. Since then, many changes have been done. When I started
teaching in 2000, a teaching guide was given to me in which instructions were
written in Spanish and I basically have to teach a list of vocabulary and
encourage students to say phrases and short sentences with that. Everything was
so basic and the syllabus was grammar and content based. There were not many
materials available just that guide.
Then, a new syllabus arrived in 2005 as a
proposal to improve the students’ skills in the target language. An eclectic
approach was the base of this syllabus integrating the Communicative Approach,
Total Physical Response, Cooperative Learning, Multiple Intelligence Theory and
Learning Styles. It focuses the attention in developing the Speaking and
Listening skills in primary. Many efforts were done to support teachers and improve
the English proficiency in students such as the digital materials in the MEPplatform such as Cyberkids and Cyberlab, teachers’ workshops by MEP-CONARE,
Interactive English programs for multigrade schools and Interactive Radio

As a result, and after more than ten years later,
on 2016 a new syllabus was presented and new workshops have been done with
teachers. In the case of the English teachers proficiency levels, the IDP says
that by 2015 59, 3% were part of the highest proficiency levels described by
the CEFR standards. This represents and improvement in the teachers’
proficiency levels, but it still shows a deficiency in the teachers’
preparation. That’s why TOEIC tests are applied to diagnose and hire personnel
as well as workshops to update teachers are developed all over the country.
In like manner, some of the new syllabus goals
are the development of communicative competence, advances and extended coverage
in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), make students
speak English fluently having the new curriculum sequenced so that learners
reach a minimum level of English proficiency according to the levels described
by CEFR standards.
Besides that, there are more positive changes
in the new program. Some of the aspects that are proposed in this new syllabus
are compared in the next chart.
COMPARING COSTA RICAN ENGLISH SYLLABUS
|
|
OLD SYLLABUS (2005)
|
NEW SYLLABUS (2017)
|
Communicative Approach
|
Action-Oriented
Approach
|
Based on linguistic
abilities
|
Based on integrated
competences to the development of the communicative competence
|
Linguistic Objectives
|
Can do Descriptors per
linguistic competence
|
It does not have international
reference
|
It is correlated and
contextualized to the CEFR standards
|
It does not have a
communicative competence exit profile as a national reference
|
It defines a national exit
profile for primary and secondary
|
It does not have an
articulation between cycles
|
It includes an
articulation among all the cycles from preschool to Diversified Education
|
Curricular elements are
correlated neither vertically nor horizontally
|
There is a vertical and
horizontal coherence in all the elements of the program
|
Made based on cognitive
goals
|
Made based on domains (socio-interpersonal,
Transactional, Academic, Professional)
|
It has decontextualized
thematic units
|
It has a holistic
setting within authentic and updated situations or domains
|
There are proposed some
values and attitudes with few or any relationship with other elements of the
curriculum.
|
It proposes an essential
question to create long lasting knowledge
|
It suggests vocabulary
and example of phrases without any sequence
|
It clearly defines the
grammatical structures, the phonologic awareness and the vocabulary related
to each topic knowledge
|
It proposes
communicative functions without any pedagogical sequence and without any
reference
|
It proposes communicative
functions in sequence and based on the CEFR standards
|
It does not include the
use of TIC’s
|
It includes the use of
TIC’s as a support tool
|
The pedagogic mediation
suggests general strategies
|
The pedagogic mediation
is enriched with specific strategies and technical methodologies for each
performance descriptor.
|
It does not include any
task to integrate the pedagogic mediation and the goal achievement
|
It includes an
integrated mini-project at the end of unit
|
The assessment
strategies are so general
|
The assessment is
teaching oriented. It includes indicators to each performance descriptor
within the domains and scenarios. It promotes the self-assessment and
peer-assessment.
|
The teacher’s role is
being a facilitator who participates in the learning process as an expert.
|
The teacher’s role is
being a facilitator who helps the learner to be autonomous. The teachers is
an expert who shares his/her expertise with the learners.
|
The student is the
center of the learning process
|
The student is an agent
for social change through the use of general and specific competences.
|
In sum, moving
to the actual syllabus has been a long journey. Great efforts have being made
to have this new proposal which main purpose is to create bilingual citizen in
Costa Rica. It is a reality that this theory, when started to be applied, shows
that there are some aspects to be improved (like the amount of contents per
week) and others that need to be included (such as specific assessment guidelines).
Nevertheless, it is our duty as English teachers to take this syllabus and make
it works. To do so, English teachers require to be conscious not only of their
own weakness to improve what is required but also of their own strengths to organize purposeful and scaffolded learning experiences.
How have your experience been with this new syllabus? I will wait for your comments.
- Campos, A., Ramírez, Y.,Chaves, Y. & Granados, M. (2016). Propuesta de los nuevos programas de estudio de Inglés Primero y Segundo Ciclos, Tercer Ciclo y Educación Diversificada al Consejo Superior de Educación
- Ministerio de Educación Pública (2005) Programa de Estudio de Inglés Primer y Segundo Ciclos.
- Ministerio de Educación Pública (2016) Programa de Estudio de Inglés Primer y Segundo Ciclos.