Advantages and Disadvantages of Topic-based syllabus :
Advantages and Disadvantages of Topic-based syllabus Advantages
Topics interesting and personalized for students can enhance motivation, participation (Hua) and internalization (Nadica);
Teaching around the same topic for several month can create ample chances for recycling and reinforcing grammar and vocabulary (Nazan)
Topics may relate to other courses and make cross-curriculum work possible. (Michael) Disadvantages
Uninteresting topics can be de-motivating (Hua, Nazan)
Improper topics which are too socially or culturally specific may be difficult to adapt to all classes or teaching situations(Michael);
Working on the same topic for a long time could turn out boring (Nadica).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Task-based syllabus :
Advantages and Disadvantages of Task-based syllabus Advantages
Proper tasks can be motivating (Hua) because the accomplishment of tasks bring sense of achievement (Nadica)
The process of doing tasks together can help children learn the skills of cooperating with others (Nazan);
The process of observing children in doing tasks gives teachers insights of children’s language learning (Michael). Disadvantages
It could be difficult to find tasks that can maintain children's’ constant interest and motivation (Hua)
It is not easy to sequence all the tasks and make them achievable (Nadica)
Group tasks may create chances of imbalanced workload among group members (Nazan);
The staging of tasks may become too predictable and somewhat decrease learners’ interest (Is my understanding correct, Michael? )
Advantages and Disadvantages of Activity-based syllabus :
Advantages and Disadvantages of Activity-based syllabus Advantages
Doing activities is the realization of some educational philosophies such as “learning by doing” (Nadica, Hua, Nazan) and “developing the whole child” (Nadica);
Different opportunities can be created for students to practice the newly presented structures. (Nazan)
Doing activities help foster a sense of pride in what has been produced (Michael). Disadvantages
It could be difficult to organize activities in a class of mixed levels or in a large scale class (Hua);
When over-emphasis is placed on the form of activity, the language content sometimes may be ignored by the teacher (Nazan);
Activity-syllabus is time-consuming (Nadica);
Teachers may be constrained by the resources needed for carrying out activities (Michael)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Story-based syllabus :
Advantages and Disadvantages of Story-based syllabus Advantages
Stories arouse children’s interest and help develop their imagination and creativity (Hua, Nazan)
Stories are a useful tool in linking learning with personal experience (Michael), imagination with real world, school and home by enabling children to make sense of their everyday life (Hua);
Stories offer various sorts of language-rich activities (Nadica and Michael) which can cater for different learning styles and achieve different learning objectives (Nadica). Disadvantages
It is not easy to find proper stories and careful choices with consideration of learners’ language proficiency and interest are crucial (Hua, Nadica, Nazan, Michael);
Discipline problems may occur when telling stories especially in a class of mixed language levels (Michael, Hua);
Overuse of stories may create boredom (Nadica)