A Syllabus For The Remedial Course

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction to the Problem
English for Specific Purpose, (ESP) is “an approach to language teaching which include the following absolute characteristics: it is designed to meet specific needs of the learner it makes uses of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves, and it is centered on the language, skill, discourse, and genreappropriate to these activities” (Dudley-Evans and Saint-John 1998, p.4-5). In other words, ESP is a method for education that is including the total characteristic: it is planned to get precise requirements students; it focuses on the methodology and activities of the discipline it serves. It points out the language, skill, discourse and the correct genre to these activities”. Thus, the ESP determines thestudents’ needs in order to establish the students’ level and suitable course for those students. Curriculum is an “educational program which states: the purpose of the program, the content, teaching procedure and learning experiences which will be necessary to achieve the purpose and evaluation to see if the goals have been achieved” (Nunan, 1988, p.112). Curriculum refers an educational coursethat express: the reason of course, teaching process and learning experiences that will be essential to get the point, and assessment to see if the goal has been done. Hence, the curriculum is a general educational concept which involves different steps that permit to get the objectives. In order to develop a syllabus, this is “a description of a course of instruction and the order in which theyare to be taught. A syllabus may be on, a) grammatical items and vocabulary, b) the language needed for different type of situations, c) the meaning and communications functions which the learner needs to express in the target foreign language”(Richards, 1992, p.368). It is an explanation of a lesson of training and the order in which they are to be taught based on a) grammatical glossary, b)language required for different forms of situations, c) the significance of interactions functions which the students needs to communicate in the second language, thus, we can assume, the syllabus is a simple framework within which activities can be carrying out in a easy way for the learners.
In the USA (Fly, 2007) developed a remedial English course for Division of Art and Sciences for thestudents who do not pass the English portion of the THEA, or an equivalent test. This course included a study of sentence types, sentences variations, and sentences combining. The focus on this course was on the development and writing of various types of paragraphs. Ancillary short readings that was required. The point of this syllabus was not only to prepare the students to pass the writing portionof the THEA test or is equivalent, but was to succeed in college English. At the end of the course the successful students were able to write essays of at least 5000 words with minimal mistakes.
In Mexico the remedial courses are very popular in English as EFL classes, so in the State of Puebla at the preparatory Alfonso Calderon Moreno from BUAP is not the exception, due to there are students whofailed the normal English course of the first year of the preparatory and they need to take a remedial course of English, if they want to stay in the next level (second year). For that reason, we have engaged ourselves in the exploring the perceptions of design of a course syllabus to the teacher that is going to give the remedial courses for first year at preparatory Alfonso Calderon Morenofrom BUAP.

1.2 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this thesis is to develop a syllabus for remedial course (it is taken by the students who have failed the normal courses) in the first year in the preparatory Alfonso Calderon Moreno from the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP). This syllabus is expected to help the teachers to develop this course and improve the students’...