Many teachers feel that the primary goal of language education is the development of communicative rather than linguistic competence. This shift in focus has affected syllabus design. However, no single syllabus appears satisfactory by itself. The grammatical syllabus is effective to instill in learners automatic production of accurate structural patterns, but is criticized for failing to teach language in social contexts. The situational syllabus focuses the teaching content on specific communicative situations, but is better suited for special purposes language instruction than for general language teaching. The notional syllabus provides a wider range of semantic repertoire, but is preferred for more advanced learners. The procedural syllabus specifies what to do in the classroom and centers classroom practice on problem-solving activities. Each syllabus type is useful for different purposes. The task of educators is to provide a balanced syllabus by matching the features of the syllabus to the features of the specific educational setting. (MSE)