GOALS, CONTENT AND

SEQUENCING

Prepared by : LAGHRIBI Siham

 Contents:
2. The Units of 1. Introduction
Progression in the Course

Vocabulary
Grammar 3. What Will the Progression
Functions be Used For
Discourse
4. Starting points:
skills, sub-skills, strategies
ideas 5. Sequencing the
Task based syllabuses Content in a Course
6. Linear and modular
approaches to sequencing

conclusion
 Introduction: a re
We re!
he

“The aim of this part of the

curriculum design process is to make
a list of the items to teach in the
order in which they will be taught.”

A model of the parts of the curriculum design process (Nation & Macalister, 2010).
Introduction:
The goals of a language lesson can focus on one or more of
the following:
• Language
• Ideas
• Skills
• Discourse(text)
• For example: Language  unite are based on vocabulary (as in
advanced English vocabulary by Helen Barnard)
Introduction:

some curriculum designers break down goals into smaller,

well-specified performance objectives,
• which can be useful for monitoring and assessing
learners’ progress.
• Even if a course designer doesn’t want to detail to this
level, there’s value in setting smaller goals for the
various strands or skill subdivisions of a course.
• The detailing of these smaller goals will partly depend
on the unit of progression for the course.
The Units of Progression in the Course :
• They are item that are used to grade the progress of the course :
• They can be classified into two types:
• Series: Language items
• Ex: vocabulary  words as unit of progression (word frequency
level)
• Fields ( Topics):
• Ex: progress through the course being marked by an increasing
number of topics covered
What Will the Progression be Used For?
 Units of progression can be used to set targets and paths to those
targets.
 Units of progression can be used to check the adequacy of selection
and ordering in a course.
 Units of progression can be used to monitor and report on learners’
progress and achievement in the course.
Starting points:
Vocabulary

• Frequency-based research provides clear indications of beneficial

vocabulary for learners.

>
• High-frequency vocabulary is crucial for learners low-frequency
vocabulary
• The first 1,000 words account for 75% of the words in a text.
• The second 1,000 words account for an additional 5% of the words in a
text.
• 570 academic words account for 10% of the words in an academic text.
Starting points:
Grammar

• Many courses use grammar as the major unit of progression.

• There are several frequency counts of verb form usage in English
which can act as the basis for the selection and sequencing of items in
a course (George et. all 1963).
• According to frequency and usefulness, the verb forms are sequenced
in three stages:
includes the most common and
basic verb forms, such as the
Grammar
imperative, the simple present,
and the simple past

Stage 1
includes the verb forms that are
Stage 2
rare or depend on the type of text
that the It’s
students
a gas giant will read.
with an averageThese
radius of about
adds some more verb forms
verb forms arethatnot
nine times essential to
on Earth that are less common but still
learn(for advanced levels) useful, such as the past perfect,
Stage 3 : the present continuous, and the
modal verbs.
Starting points:
Functions

• Some courses use functions as their unit of progression with each lesson
focusing on a different function or set of functions.
"functional“ courses claim to be based on language functions, but they actually
focus more on grammar rules.
Ex: Van Ek and Alexander (1980)
1 Imparting and seeking factual information
2 Expressing and finding out intellectual attitudes
3 Expressing and finding out emotional attitudes
4 Expressing and finding out moral attitudes
5 Getting things done (suasion) 6 Socialising.
Starting points:
Discourse

• Discourse as the basis for units of progression is more likely to be

used in pre-university courses where learners systematically cover a
range of relevant genres such as recounts, information reports, and
arguments.
• • Attention to elements of spoken discourse, such as ellipsis between
speakers and negotiation of discourse, may occur early in language
courses but is rarely the unit of progression for a course.
• • Curriculum designers should check the genres that are covered in
their courses to make sure that learners are not getting a distorted
view of language features.
starting points:
Skills, Subskills and Strategies

Some courses use skills and subskills as their units of progression.

Reading courses for example may focus on skills such as:
 reading for detail
 note-taking
 skimming
 reading faster
 reading for inferences.
A rangeare
There of three major ways of defining subskills:
rocess
activities s k i l l as a p to use levels of
n d to di vi de it cognitive
covered by a skill a
rts
into the pa activity.
 Speaking = writing
interactional and  Process Blooms
taxonomy
transactional
starting points:
Ideas

• A good language course not only develops the learners' control of the
language.
The ideas content of a course can take many forms:
Imaginary happenings (typical activities or adventures of a group of learners)
 An academic subject. Ex: Agriculture, tourism, commerce or computing.
 Learner survival needs (topics like shopping, going to the doctor, getting a
driver's license, and making friends).
 Interesting facts. These might include topics like the discovery of penicillin,
whales and solar power.
 Culture(aesthetic, sociological, semantic, and sociolinguistic)
Starting points:
Task-based Syllabus

• "A task is an activity which requires learners to use language, with

emphasis on meaning, to attain an objective" (Bygate et al., 2001).
• Task-based syllabuses serves communicative language teaching
Prabhu (1987)
• Long and Crookes (1992), argue that pedagogic tasks provide a vehicle
for presentation of appropriate language samples to learners and
allow negotiation of difficulty (p. 43). They suggest that the most
appropriate tasks are those that a needs analysis determines are most
useful for the learners.
 Six questions that can help teachers and the curriculum designers
determine the extent of which an activity is task-like.
• 1. Does the activity engage learners' interest?
• 2. Is there a primary focus on meaning?
• 3. Is there an outcome?
• 4. Is success judged in terms of outcome?
• 5. Is completion a priority?
• 6. Does the activity relate to real world activities?
• Choose and sequence the units of progression in a
language course carefully
• Use sound principles and research evidence to
guide the decisions
• Cover the different areas of language knowledge in
the course material
• Evaluate the course material against other criteria
to ensure its quality and effectiveness
Sequencing the Content in a Course

• The lessons or units of a course can fit together in a variety of ways:

Linear
The two majorapproaches
divisions are whether the Each lesson is separated from the others
material in one lesson depends on the
include: so that the lessons can be done in any
learning
aathat hasdevelopment
spiral
linear occurred in previous a modular
order arrangement
and no need to cover all of them
curriculum lessons
matrix models,
revision units
field approaches
to sequencing
 Linear Approaches
• 1. Developing a spiral curriculum involves deciding on the major items to cover, and then
covering them several times over a period of time at increasing levels of detail.
• 2. A matrix model is somewhat similar to a spiral curriculum, the main difference being that the
change when meeting old material again is one of diversity rather than complexity. In a matrix
model one unit of progression is systematically varied against another, so that the same items
are met with different contexts.
• 3. Revision units At certain points in the linear progression, time is spent revising previously met
material. Logically, the relative amount of time given to revision should increase as the course
progresses.
• 4. In a field approach the items to be covered are decided upon and then the learners can start
anywhere with the material and end anywhere as long as it is all covered. A field approach to
sequencing material involves:
• (1) deciding what items need to be covered i.e. make up the field,
• (2) providing a variety of opportunities to meet these items,
• (3) checking that each important item will be met sufficient times.
A Modular Approach to Sequencing

• The second major type of approach, a modular approach, breaks a

course into independent non-linear units.
• These units may be parts of lesions, lessons or groups of lessons.
• Each unit or module is complete in itself and does not usually assume
knowledge of previous modules.
 Conclusion:

• 1. Describe the goals of the course.

• 2. Decide on the unit of progression for the course.
• 3. Choose and sequence the content of the course.
• 4. Check the content against lists of other items to
ensure coverage.