Elements of the language curriculum design process

The curriculum is concerned with making
general statements about language learning, learning purpose, experience, evaluation, and the role and relationships of teachers and learners.

Curriculum is concerned with planning, implementation, evaluation, management, and administration of education programs.

On the other hand

Syllabus, focuses more narrowly on the selection and grading of content.

Content and Sequencing

The content of language courses consists of :

The language items

Ideas

skills

strategies that meet the goals of the course.

Is important for the curriculum designer

Keep some check on vocabulary, grammar, and discourse to make sure that important items are being covered and repeated.

Format and Presenting Material

The material in a course needs to be presented to learners in a form that will help to learn.

One way of trying to check this balance of opportunities is to see a course consisting of four strands which are each given a roughly equal amount of time.

Meaning-focused input.

Meaning-focused output.

Language-focused learning.

Fluency development.

Monitoring and Assessing

This can have both informational and affective goals that can provide a teacher and learners with information about the learners’ present knowledge and progress, and a means of encouraging involvement and participation.

Evaluating a Course

An evaluation of a course can have many purposes, the main ones being to continue or discontinue the course, or to bring about improvements in the course.

Responsible curriculum design includes ongoing evaluation of the course.

Summary of the Steps

1 Examine the environment.

2 Assess needs.

3 Decide on principles.

4 Set goals, and choose and sequence content.

5 Design the lesson format.

6 Include assessment procedures.

7 Evaluate the course.

Considering the Environment

It is an important part of the curriculum design because at its most basic level it confirms that the course is suitable and very useful where the environment is practical and realistic

Environment Analysis

work on list of questions

Brainstorming

Focus on the nature of students, teachers and the teaching situation

Efficient environmental factors

Needs

Necessities, Lacks and wants

Gather information about objective needs

Such as questionnaires

Personal interviews

Data collection

Observation etc.

Ways to evaluate test

Reliability

Validity

Practicality

Principles

principles on the importance of repetition and thoughtful processing of material

Importance of taking account of individual differences

Learning style

Learner attitudes and motivation

Goals

Is essential to decide why a course is being taught and what the learners need to get from it.
G

Goals can be expressed in general terms and be given more detail when considering the content of the course.

Encourage students to exploit all the elements of the language

Having a clear statement of goals is important for:

Determining the content of the course, for deciding on the focus in presentation, and in guiding assessment.