DESIGNING

ESP COURSES
 BASIC QUESTIONS
We need to ask a very wide range of
questions: general and specific, theoretical
and practical.
We need to know:
- Why does the student need to learn?
- Who is going to be involved in the process?
Students Teachers Sponsors- Inspectors
Evaluators
- Where does the learning take place? What
potential does the place provide? What
limitations does it impose?
BASIC QUESTIONS
(CONT.)
- When does the learning takes place? How much
time is available? How will it be distributed?
- What does the student need to learn? What
aspects of language will be needed and how
they will be described? What levels of
proficiency must be achieved? What topics
areas must be covered?
- How will the learning be achieved? What
learning theories will underlie the course? What
kind of methodology will be employed?
 FACTORS AFFECTING COURSE
DESIGN

WHAT? LANGUAG HOW?

Syllabus E Methodolog
Language y
Learning
COURSE
Description
Theories

Nature
of
particula
r target
and
learning
situation

WHO? WHY?
WHERE? WHEN?
Needs Analysis
PROCESSES OF COURSE
DESIGN
The most commonly agreed
components of course design are:
- Conceptualising content
- Assessing needs
- Formulating goals and objectives
- Organising the course
- Developing materials
- Designing an assessment plan
- Evaluation
APPROACHES TO COURSE
DESIGN
1- Language-centered course design:
aims to draw as direct a connection as
possible between the analysis of the target
situation and the content of the course.
Weaknesses:
-It is not truly learner-centered, but simply
learner-restricted
- It is too static and inflexible, without
feedback channels and error tolerance built in
Language-centered course
design
(Cont.)
- It appears to be systematic. However learning
must be an internally-generated system not
an externally-imposed system.
- It does not take into account other important
factors in language learning such as
motivation, attitude, interests
- It analyses the data of target situation only at
the surface level. It reveals very little about
the competence that underlines performance.
 Identify learners target Select theoretical view
situation of language

Identify linguistic features of the

target situation

Create syllabus

Designing materials to exemplify syllabus

Establish procedure to evaluate the

acquisition of the syllabus
A language-centered approach to course design (Hutchinson & Water,
APPROACHES TO COURSE
DESIGN (cont.)
2- Skill-centered course design
Founded on two fundamental principles, one
theoretical, one pragmatic.
a- Theoretically, underlying any language
behavior are certain skills and strategies. This
approach presents the learning objectives in
terms of both performance and competence.

b- Pragmatically, this approach differentiates

between goal-oriented courses and process-
oriented courses.
2- Skill-centered course design
(cont.)

* Strong points:
It views language in terms of how the mind of the
learner processes it rather than as an entity itself.
It tries to build on positive factors that the learner
brings to the course, rather than just on the
negative idea of "lacks".
It frames objectives in open-ended terms, so
enabling learners to achieve at least something.
* Weak point:
still approaches the learner as a user of language
rather than as a learner of language.
APPROACHES TO COURSE
DESIGN (cont.)
3- A learning-centered approach
This approach looks beyond the
competence that enables someone to
perform, because what we really want to
discover is not the competence itself but
how someone acquires that competence.
According to this approach:
- Course design is a negotiated,
interactive process
- Course design is a dynamic process
SOME COURSE DESIGN
MODELS

1- Rowntree (1982):
2- Bell (1981)
3- Hutchinson and Water (1987)
4- Yalden (1983)
GRAVES FRAME WORK OF COURSE DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS
PROCESSES OF COURSE DESIGN
(CONT.)

- This framework shows:

. No hierarchy in the process
. No sequence in their accomplishment
This means:
You can begin anywhere in the framework as
long as it makes sense to you (depending
on your beliefs and understanding and the
reality of the context and what you know
about your students)
PROCESSES OF COURSE DESIGN
(CONT.)
This framework also shows asystems
approach to CD. This means:
- Components are interrelated and each
of the processes influences and is
influenced by the others in some ways.
- Planning for one component will
contribute to others; changes to one
component will affect others
 PRODUCTS OF COURSE DESIGN
Language course or curriculum products are
the tangible results of the processes in the
framework in Figure 1.1.
For example:
- The products of formulating goals and
objectives are the lists of goals and objectives;
- The products of assessing needs are
questionnaires or interview questions
designed for Need Analysis
- The products of conceptualising content are a
mindmap, grid for flow chart
 DESIGNING A LANGUAGE COURSE
IS A
WORK IN PROGRESS
. The process of Thinking - Planning
Teaching is a dynamic process
. It is not a good use of a teachers
time to try to get each detail or each
aspect of a course right prior to
teaching it, because the process
always requires regular adjudge and
modifications
 DESIGNING AN ESP COURSE IS
A
WORK IN PROGRESS (cont.)
Alan Water (1986):
Nature of Syllabus Nature of Language
Learning
serial/linear holistic
Segmental developmental
pre-determined unpredictable

So, designing a language course is a work in progress in

its whole, its parts and its implementation. Each aspect
of CD, the content, objectives, needs assessment,
materials, and evaluation are works in progress both in
their conception and in their implementation.
THE CYCLE OF COURSE DEVELOPMENT