Assignment 1: Critical analysis of a curriculum resource
Critically analyse a TESOL curriculum resource relevant to your teaching context (e.g. a course outline, syllabus or textbook, a curriculum policy document or framework).
Drawing on your understanding of the institutional, community and societal contexts, you should critique:
1. How the target learners and their needs and interests are represented in the document
2. How the target teachers and their needs and interests are represented in the document
3. The aims and learning outcomes of the curriculum resource in relation to institutional, community and societal priorities
4. The extent to which the curriculum resource:
- achieves its stated intentions
- responds to societal, community and institutional priorities
- meets your understanding of the needs and interests of the learner/teacher group
This assignment requires you to draw on the course content for Weeks 1 to 6 and apply it to the curriculum resource in ways that address problems and reflect social responsibility.
EDUC1076: Language & Literacy for Learning Topic 2: Factors affecting curriculum Week 2: Teachers & Learners Factors EDUC5112: Curriculum & Evaluation in TESOL Dr Toan Pham
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[email protected] Workshop Outline 1. Selection of your curriculum 2. From Week 1: What is it that should/could be taught 3. Teacher factors 4. Learner factors 5. Reflection question Selection of your curriculum Week 1 • What is it that should/could be taught? – Form – Function? – Language – Culture? – Skills – Competencies? – Authentic – Classroom language? • Aim: Students will be able to communicate in English with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. • Examples of courses included – Core courses: o English linguistics 1 o English linguistics 1 o Cross-country studies (Britain & the US) o British literature o American literature Comments: 1. What does communicative competence mean? 2. What does “culture” mean? 3. To what extent do the courses meet the program aim? Brainstorm learner & teacher factors/identities (Refer to Word handout) In what ways do they affect your teaching/learning? How are they/can they be represented in the curriculum document? Thank you Curriculum Development in Language Teaching Cambridge Books Online http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ Curriculum Development in Language Teaching Jack C. Richards Book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667220 Online ISBN: 9780511667220 Hardback ISBN: 9780521800600 Paperback ISBN: 9780521804912 Chapter 4 - Situation analysis pp. 90-111 Chapter DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667220.006 Cambridge University Press 4 Situation analysis The goal of needs analysis is to collect information that can be used to de- velop a profile of the language needs of a group of learners in order to be able to make decisions about the goals and content of a language course. However, other factors apart from learner needs are relevant to the design and implementation of successful language programs. Language programs are carried out in particular contexts or situations. Clark (1987, xii) com- ments: A language curriculum is a function of the interrelationships that hold between subject-specific concerns and other broader factors embracing socio-political and philosophical matters, educational value systems, theory and practice in curriculum design, teacher experiential wisdom and learner motivation. In order to understand the foreign language curriculum in any particular context it is therefore necessary to attempt to understand how all the various influences interrelate to give a particular shape to the planning and execution of the teaching/learning process. The contexts for language programs are diverse and the particular variables that come into play in a specific situation are often the key determinants of the success of a program. Some language curricula are planned for centrally organized state school systems where a great deal of direction and support for teaching is provided. Others take place in settings where there are lim- ited human and physical resources. Some proposals for curriculum change are well received by teachers, but others may be resisted. In some situations, teachers are well trained and have time available to plan their own lesson materials. In other situations, teachers may have little time for lesson plan- ning and materials production and simply teach from their textbooks. Each context for a curriculum change or innovation thus contains factors that can potentially facilitate the change or hinder its successful implementation (Markee 1997). It is important, therefore, to identify what these factors are and what their potential effects might be when planning a curriculum change (Bean 1993). Pratt (1980, 117) observes: The designer should estimate both the direct and indirect effects a proposed curriculum will have on the students, on other programs, and on other people in 90 0521804914p090-111.qxd 8/26/03 10:02 AM Page 90 Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 130.220.8.238 on Sun Jul 17 00:08:43 BST 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667220.006 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2016 and outside the institution. These effects must be taken into account in the design and made clear to decision-makers when the curriculum proposal is submitted. This is the focus of situation analysis. Situation analysis is an analysis of factors in the context of a planned or present curriculum project that is made in order to assess their potential impact on the project. These factors may be political, social, economic, or institutional. Situation analysis comple- ments the information gathered during needs analysis. It is sometimes con- sidered as a dimension of needs analysis, and can also be regarded as an as- pect of evaluation (see Chapter 9). Some examples of language teaching changes that were attempted with- out an adequate analysis of the context of the innovation will clarify the im- portance of situation analysis in curriculum planning. Example 1: A team of foreign experts under contract to an international funding body is given a contract to write a new series of English textbooks for the state school system in an EFL country. They base themselves in an attractive small town in a rural setting and set up their writing project. They do a series of interviews with educational officials and teachers to deter- mine students’ language needs and make use of the latest thinking on lan- guage teaching and textbook design to produce an oral-based language course that reflects the recommended language teaching methodology of the time – Audiolingualism. Textbooks are developed and provided to sec- ondary schools at no cost and teachers are given the choice of using the new books or their old outdated government textbooks. After a period of initial enthusiasm, however, very few teachers end up using the new course and most revert to using the old government-provided textbooks. Comment: The project team members spent insufficient time familiariz- ing themselves with the local school situation. Most English teachers had a limited command of English. Teachers found the new materials difficult to teach because they required a high level of oral fluency in English and an English-only methodology that was difficult to implement in large classes. A more successful reception might have occurred if the introduction of the new materials had been gradual, so that problems were addressed as they occurred. In addition, there could have been more provision for teacher training. Example 2: The education department in an EFL country decides to intro- duce English from the third year of elementary school rather than in high school. New textbooks are required. A group of teachers is seconded from schools to join a curriculum unit in the ministry to produce the books for the next school year. There is an element of secrecy in the work of the unit Situation analysis 91 0521804914p090-111.qxd 8/26/03 10:02 AM Page 91 Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 130.220.8.238 on Sun Jul 17 00:08:43 BST 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667220.006 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2016 and few people have an opportunity to review the materials before they are published. When the books are published, they receive many complaints from teachers. They are found to be difficult to teach, they contain too much material, and they are prepared to poor standards of design and production. Comment: Several factors had not been addressed in planning the proj- ect. None of the members of the writing team had experience or training in writing elementary language teaching materials. More consultation with classroom teachers should have been provided, as well as pilot testing of the materials. In addition, there was an unrealistic budget for design and pro- duction. And the time framework the writers were working with did not al- low for adequate development and review of the materials. Example 3: A large private university of an EFL country decides that, rather than use commercial materials in its language institute, it will produce its own materials and publish them. It is hoped that they will compete on the market with materials produced by commercial publishers. A large amount of money is invested in setting up a materials writing team and the books are prepared. When they are finally published, however, it is found that few other institutes or schools want to use them. Comment: Private universities in this country are highly competitive, and the fact that the materials were produced by one institution meant that other institutions did not want to use them. Some basic market research should have been carried out at the initial stages of the project to determine if there would be a commercial market for the materials. These examples illustrate the kinds of factors that can have an impact on the success of a curriculum project and emphasize the importance of determin- ing the potential influence of such factors on the implementation of a cur- riculum change. In this chapter, we will consider societal factors, project factors, institutional factors, teacher factors, learner factors, and adoption factors. (Some of these factors will be considered further in later chapters in relation to issues of teaching, methodology, and materials design.) Analy- sis and appraisal of the potential impact of these factors at the initial stages of a curriculum project can help determine the kinds of difficulties that might be encountered in implementing a curriculum change. Procedures used in situation analysis are similar to those involved in needs analysis, namely, (a) consultation with representatives of as many relevant groups as possible, such as parents, students, teachers, administrators, and govern- ment officials; (b) study and analysis of relevant documents, such as course appraisal documents, government reports, ministry of education guidelines, and policy papers, teaching materials, curriculum documents; (c) observa- 92 Chapter 4 0521804914p090-111.qxd 8/26/03 10:02 AM Page 92 Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 130.220.8.238 on Sun Jul 17 00:08:43 BST 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667220.006 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2016 tion of teachers and students in relevant learning settings; (d) surveys of opinions of relevant parties; (e) review of available literature related to the issue. Societal factors Second or foreign language teaching is a fact of life in almost every coun- try in the world. Yet countries differ greatly in terms of the role of foreign languages in the community, their status in the curriculum, educational tra- ditions and experience in language teaching, and the expectations that mem- bers of the community have for language teaching and learning. Van Els, T. Bongaerts, G. Extra, C. Van Os, and A. Janssen-van Dieten (1984, 156), for example, comparing foreign language teaching experience in Holland and the United States, point out that the circumstances of foreign language teaching are completely different in both countries. In Holland, a command of one or more foreign languages has long been accepted as a necessity. Schools are expected to offer a range of foreign languages, and there is both a strong tradition and considerable expertise in foreign language teaching. New proposals are therefore met with informed skepticism. In the United States, by comparison, there is much less collective wisdom or experience in foreign language teaching. The position of foreign languages in the school curriculum is neither strong nor secure. More promotion