CHAPTER ONE

Language Curriculum Design: An overview

Language Curriculum Design

Curriculum design can be seen as a kind of

writing activity and it can be usefully studied
as a process.

There are 3 factors that should be considered

in the curriculum design process:
1. Environment analysis
2. Needs analysis
3. Application of principles
- The result of environment analysis is a ranked
list of factors and a consideration of the
effects of these factors on the design.

- The result of needs analysis is realistic list of

language, ideas or skill items, as a result of
considering the present proficiency, future
needs and wants of the learners.

- The result of applying principles is a course

where learning is given the greatest support.
The curriculum model in Figure 1.1 consists of:
- The outer circles (principles, environment, and needs)
- The inner circles (goals, content and sequencing,
format and presentation, and monitoring and assessing)

- The goals is in the centre. It means to reflect the

importance of having clear general goals for a course.

- The content and sequencing represent the items to learn

in a course.

- Consideration of content makes sure that there is

something useful for the learners to learn to advance their
control of the language.
- The format and presentation
represent the format of the lessons or
units of the course, including the
techniques and types of activities that
will be used to help learning.

- The monitoring and assessment

represent the need to give attention
to observe learning, test the result of
learning, and provide feedback to
the learners about the progress.
Considering the environment
- Environment analysis involves considering
the factors of the situation in which the
course will be used and determining how
the course should take account of them.

- One way of approaching environment

analysis is to work from a list of questions
which focuses on the nature of the
learners, the teachers and the teaching
situation.
Discovering needs
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) make a
useful division of learners’ needs into:
1. Necessities (what the learners have to
know from the function effectively).
2. Lacks (what the learner knows and
does not know already).
3. Wants (what the learners think they
need).
Following Principles
- It
is very important that curriculum design makes the
connection between the research and the theory of
language learning and the practice of designing
lessons and courses.

Goals
- The curriculum design model in Fig.1.1 has goals as
it is the centre. This is because it is essential to decide
why a course is being taught and what the learners
need to get from it.
- Example of goal:
The aim of communicative teaching is to encourage students to
exploit all the elements of the language that they know in order to
make their meaning clear. Students cannot be expected to master
every aspect of the language before they are allowed to use it for
communicative purposes (Orbit, Harrison and Menzies, 1986).
Content and Sequencing
- The content of language courses consists of the language items,
ideas, skills and strategies that meet the goals of the course.
- One way to provide a systematic and well-researched basis for a
course is to make use of frequency lists and other lists of language
items or skills.

Finding a Format and Presenting Material

- The presentation of material in a course involves the use of suitable
teaching techniques and procedures.
- The advantages of having a set format for lesson are:
1. The lessons are easier to make.
2. The course is easier to monitor.
3. The lessons are easier to learn.
Monitoring and Assessing

- The aims of curriculum design are to

make a course that has useful goals, that
achieves its goals, that satisfies its users,
that does all this in an efficient way.
- An important recurring part of the
design process is to assess how well these
aims are achieved.
- Assessing generally involves the use of
tests.
There are 4 kinds of tests:
Proficiency test (measuring what a
learner knows of the language).
Achievement test (measuring what has
been learned from a particular course).
Placement test (used to see if the course
is suitable for a prospective learner or to
see where in the course the learner
should begin).
Diagnostic test (used to see if learners
have particular gaps in their knowledge).
Evaluating a Course

- Information gained from assessment is a

useful source of data about the
effectiveness of a course, but it is only one
of the sources of information that can
contribute to the evaluation of a course.

- An evaluation of a course can have

many purposes. The main one is to
continue or discontinue the course, or to
bring about improvement in the course.
References:
Nation, I.S.P. & Macalister, J. (2010).
Language Curriculum Design. NY:
Routledge