Outcome-Based Syllabus Designs for the Teaching of English to Students of Medicine Faculty, University of Mataram, Indonesia

Abstract

The results of needs analysis from Competency Standards of Indonesian Medical Doctors (SKDI) and the Profile of Faculty of Medicine, the University of Mataram, Lombok Indonesia, show that English has a strong position for students at this Faculty. English is needed for study preparation, graduation requirements, apprenticeship in a hospital, a job competition, and professional development. However, the high demand for English is not supported by well-designed language programs. This article is a part of a three-year project aiming at redesigning language programs based on the gaps between necessities (TSA) and current levels of English. It employs R & D approach. From the analysis, seven syllabi are designed to fulfill various demands, i.e., short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. These goals produce various kinds of syllabus such as General Academic Reading, Academic Reading, TOEFL Preparation Course (Listening, SWE, and Reading), English for Communication, and English for Presentation. Those syllabi are realized by employing different approaches to syllabus design, depending on the goals and characteristics of the courses. The study yields a number of approaches to cater to students’ needs, i.e., Structural-Based (for TOEFL – SWE section), Skill-Based (for Reading and Listening on TOEFL), Genre-Based (General Academic Reading and English for Presentation), and Content-Based (for academic English), and Topic-based. Syllabi (for English for Communication). This study signifies that different purposes of language learning need different approaches to syllabus design.