WHAT IS A SYLLABUS?

A syllabus is the formal document that summarizes all the contents that are going to be taught during a course and the different procedures by which these contents are going to be achieved. There are different types of syllabuses, for example the structural, situational, functional, content-based, etc. The decision about which type should be used will depend on what the specific needs of the learners are. Therefore, if the learner is interested in mastering grammatical rules and being skillful in translation, then a structural-syllabus will satisfy his desire, but if the learner wants to learn a little bit of English to deal with a very specific situation at his work as a bank teller, specifically dealing with annoying customers, then a functional-syllabus is the solution.