9

Approaches to Curriculum Design

About starting point for curriculum design,
and a way of covering the steps
Models of Curriculum Design

Figure 9.1 is taken from

Designing Language Courses by
Kathleen Graves (2000). This is
very readable, practical book on
curriculum design which draw
strongly on the experience of
teachers.

This diagram is intended to be

easy-to-remember, so that teachers
can use it whenever they face
curriculum design issues or are
reading articles on curriculum
design.
Models of Curriculum Design
We can see in Table 9.1, each of the
models has eight parts and there is
considerable overlap between the two
models. There are two major
differences :
1. Content and sequencing in the
Language Curriculum Design model
matches two parts of the Graves
(2000) model – organizing the
course and conceptualizing content.
2. Monitoring and assessment and
evaluation in the Language
Curriculum Design model are
included in one part of the Graves
(2000) model – designing an
assessment plan.
Doing Curriculum Design

The process like writing where the curriculum design could begin at any of
several places. Some models of curriculum design see it occurring as a series of
steps in a fixed order. Tessmer and Wedman (1990) describe this view as a
“waterfall” model, where one stage of curriculum design is done thoroughly, and
then the next stage of it is done thoroughly, and so on in much the same way as the
flow of water fills one container in a stepped-down series and then flows over to fill
the next.
Main factors to consider when applying a model of curriculum design:
1. what is the starting point for the curriculum design process, that is, what is
already available?
2. how will we move through the process of curriculum design as shown in the
curriculum design model?
The Process of Curriculum Design

3. A “layers of necessity” model

The curriculum design is seen initially as a choice between various layers. Each
layer is complete in itself and includes the major parts of the curriculum design process.
This layer would involve all the following steps:
1) Decide on the most severe environmental constraint on the course and how it will
affect the curriculum design.
2) Decide on the most urgent necessity that learners have to meet at the end of the
course.
3) Make a short list of items to cover.
4) Decide on a simple lesson format that will make use of available material.
5) Gather the material for the course.
6) Decide on a simple form of assessment.
Deciding on an Approach
Choosing which path to take will depend on the starting point, the time available for course
preparation, the availability of needs analysis information, the availability of a usable course
book, and the skill of the curriculum designer. We will assume that time is short and that only a
small amount of needs analysis information is available.
Clearly the least demanding approach is to choose an existing course book as a source of
material, and then apply a focused opportunistic approach to gradually improve and eventually
replace it. We have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

Summary of the Steps

1. Decide on your starting point.
2. Decide what kind of path to follow through the process of curriculum design.
THANK
YOU