Topic 4

Considerations in Designing a Curriculum

(1) Needs Analysis

 Needs analysis is a process of collecting and analyzing information about learners in order to
set goals and contents of a language curriculum based on their needs.
 It examines what learners already know and what they need to know.
 Many scholars indicate that knowing about learners’ needs such as “their learning
objectives, language attitudes, expectations from the course” are necessary in order to
design an efficient curriculum (Brindley, 1984; Nunan, 1988).
 By gathering such information, therefore, the needs analysis can guarantee that the course
will contain the relevant and useful things for students to learn.

(2) Target Group

 Curriculum designers should design a curriculum with their target group’s needs,
expectations, and goals in mind.
 With a target group in place, they can ensure the course material is relevant to the target
learners’ lives, and ultimate educational and career goals.

(3) Aims and Objectives

 Objectives are usually specific statements of educational intention which delineate either
general or specific outcomes. There are different types of objectives. For example:
 Behavioural objectives
 Non-behavioural objectives
 Problem solving objectives
 Currently, most objectives are written in behavioural terms.
 Behavioural objectives usually employ observable verbiage and can be divided into specific
domains — cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.

Cognitive: Students will identify and list 5 slang terms they have heard from their peers.

Affective: Student will choose 3 of the most offensive slang terms from a list developed by the
entire class.

Psychomotor: Students will create expressive gestures to go with their favourite slang terms.

(4) Content
 1. Content comprises the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to be learned.

(5) Learning Theories, Approaches, and Methods

5. 1 Learning Theories:

1. The Cognitive Learning Theory

 explains why the brain is the most incredible network of information processing and
interpretation in the body as we learn things.

2. Social Learning Theory 

 posits that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can
occur through observation or direct instruction.
3. Behaviourist Theory
 All behaviours are caused by external stimuli.
 Learners are essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli.
4. Constructivism 
 A theory which says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the
world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

5.2 Approaches

 Approach refers to the theoretical framework.

 For example: Communicative Language Teaching is an approach. The principles underlying it
can be applied in different ways.
 Teachers adopting an approach have considerable flexibility in how they apply the principles
to their own contexts.

5.3 Methods

 Method is the way in which something is done.

 Method is always organized, structured and systematic.
 It can refer to a step by step description of tasks to be completed in order to perform a task. 
 The teacher’s role is to implement the method.
 Example of methods: Total Physical Response, Silent way, Audio-lingual method, etc.
(6) Personnel

 The learners are the very reason a curriculum is developed.

 Learners in all levels make or unmake the curriculum by their active or indirect involvement.
 Teachers shapes the school curriculum by sharing the experiences that they have and the
resources they are capable of giving and imparting to the learners.

(7) Material Selection

 When designing a curriculum we need to ensure that learning resources support the
learning activities and the evaluation/assessment planned for the course.
 They also need to align with the needs, interests and abilities of the learners.
 Learning materials may be developed or selected from existing resources.
 Questions to consider when choosing, developing or assessing learning materials:
o Are there sufficient learning resources identified to help learners achieve the expected
learning?
o Are the learning materials appropriate to the learners’ needs, interests and abilities?
o ting resources.
o Do learners have an opportunity to work with primary sources and authentic (real world)
materials?
o Are learning materials focused? Do they target the key concepts and skills to be learned?
o Are the learning materials available at a reasonable cost?

(8) Monitoring and Support

 Monitoring is a periodic assessment and adjustment during the try-out period of a

curriculum.
 It determines how the curriculum is working, such that the monitoring report becomes the
basis of a decision on what aspects of the curriculum have to be retained, improved or
modified.
 Usually, monitoring is done by the module writers, curriculum experts or outside agencies.
 Question asked in monitoring process: Is the curriculum accomplishing its intended
purposes?
 A curriculum can be best implemented if there is support of the school administration.
 A school principal, for instance, has a distinct responsibility of a curriculum manager or
manager of learning.
(9) Evaluation and Assessment

 Curriculum evaluation refers to a systematic process of judging the value, effectiveness, and
adequacy of a curriculum: its process, product and setting will lead to informed decision.
 The information gathered should be important for the improvement of and for final
judgment of the curriculum being evaluated.
 Learning occurs most effectively when a student receives feedback, i.e. when they receive
information on what they have (and have not) already learned.
 The process by which this information is generated is assessment, and it has three main
forms:

a) Self-assessment, through which a student learns to monitor and evaluate their own
learning.
 This should be a significant element in the curriculum because we aim to produce
graduates who are appropriately reflective and self- critical.
b) Peer assessment, in which students provide feedback on each other's learning.
 This can be viewed as an extension of self-assessment and presupposes trust and
mutual respect.
 Research suggests that students can learn to judge each other's work as reliably
as staff.
c) Tutor assessment, in which a member of staff or teaching assistant provides commentary
and feedback on the student's work.
 Assessment may be formative (providing feedback to help the student learn more)
or summative (expressing a judgement on the student's achievement by reference
to stated criteria).
 Many assessment tasks involve an element of both, e.g. an assignment that is
marked and returned to the student with detailed comments.
d) Summative assessment usually involves the allocation of marks or grades.
 These help staff to make decisions about the progression of students through a
programme and the award of degrees but they have limited educational value.
 Students usually learn more by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of
their work than by knowing the mark or grade given to it.
 For this reason summative assessment tasks (including unseen examinations)
should include an element of formative feedback if at all possible.
 (10) Constraints

 Various sources have cited a number of factors which need to be given consideration in the
successful implementation of a language syllabus.
 These factors would also affect the choice of an appropriate syllabus for use.
 Maley (1984) gives the following factors:
 cultural
 educational
 organizational
 learner
 teacher, and
 material

 Cultural factors are cited as the most powerful factors in the implementation of any language
programme.
 It depends on whether a society is outward-looking and welcomes innovation, or inward-
looking, seeking inspiration from deeply-rooted traditional values.
 The attitudes of a given society towards the learning process, towards books, towards
teachers are also of key importance.
 Educational factors refer mainly to educational philosophy.
 Other factors are whether the system is authoritarian or participatory, whether it views
learning as acquiring knowledge or acquiring skills, whether learning is considered a
product-oriented business or as a life-long process, and whether the system encourages
dependence or learner initiative.
 It is also important that top-level administrators are well-informed about the syllabuses. It
is also important to take account of the role of exams in a given educational system.
 Organizational and administrative factors will affect the implementation of a programme especially if
the national educational system is highly centralised or highly decentralised.
 This will be reflected in the way decisions are arrived at and communicated to others, that is,
whether they are by open consensus or by closed decree. 
 It is equally important that there is a clearly defined structure of communication between
the administration and those executing a programme.
  There should be sufficient channels of communication between syllabus designers and
classroom teachers.
 There should also be a clear structure of communication between technical and secretarial
staff on the one hand and the teaching staff on the other.
 Learner factors involve the age and background of the learners as being highly significant.
 It is also significant how learners are selected for the programme because certain syllabuses
may not suit the study habits of certain learners.
 Teacher factors refer to the training and experience of teachers which provide an important criteria
for successful implementation.
 The availability of teacher training is a key factor.
 It is important that the teacher is proficient in the target language. Teachers' language
proficiency and training may well favour the choice of one syllabus vs. another.
 Teachers will have to understand why the syllabus is as it is so that they see the necessity of
having to change their teaching procedure if necessary.
 Teachers, administrators and educators must be familiar with the objectives of the syllabus.
 It is also important that teachers are aware from the start about the number of hours they
are expected to work as this will have important consequences for time-tabling and teacher
morale.
 Material factors mean that there should be an adequate budgetary provision for all aspects of the
programme.
 The hardware ordered for the programme should be appropriate and not just ordered for
prestige reasons.
 Spares for the hardware should be readily available and they should be serviceable in the
vicinity.
 Software should also be appropriate and available to those who need it.
 There should also be adequate provision for secretarial assistance.