Curriculum and Materials

MODALIDAD ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA

Departamento de Ciencias de la Educación Sección Lenguas Contemporáneas

Curriculum and Materials

Guía didáctica

5 créditos

Titulación

Ciclo

Ciencias de la Educación, Mención: Inglés

VII

Autora:

Mgstr. Alba Bitalina Vargas Saritama

La Universidad Católica de Loja

Asesoría virtual:

www.utpl.edu.ec

CURRICULUM AND MATERIALS

Guía didáctica Alba Bitalina Vargas Saritama

UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA PARTICULAR DE LOJA

_C_C Ecuador 3.0 By NC ND Diagramación, diseño e impresión:

EDILOJA Cía. Ltda. Telefax: 593-7-2611418

San Cayetano Alto s/n

www.ediloja.com.ec

edilojainfo@ediloja.com.ec

Loja-Ecuador

Primera Edición Décima primera reimpresión

ISBN físico-978-9942-08-323-4 ISBN digital-978-9942-04-519-5

Esta versión impresa y digital, han sido acreditadas bajo la licencia Creative Commons Ecuador 3.0 de reconocimiento -no comercial- sin obras derivadas; la cual permite copiar, distribuir y comunicar públicamente la obra, mientras se reconozca la autoría original, no se utilice con fines comerciales, ni se realicen obras derivadas. http://www.creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/3.0/ec/

Abril 2018

Index

2.

2. Index .............................................................................................................................................................

3

3. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................

5

4. Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................

6

4.1. Basic ............................................................................................................................................

6

4.2. Complementary .......................................................................................................................

6

5. General Guidelines to S tudy .........................................................................................................

8

6. Teaching-learning process to attain competences .......................................................

11

FIRST TERM

6.1. Generic Competences ............................................................................................................

11

6.2. Planning for the student ’s work .........................................................................................

11

6.3. Evaluation System of the Subject (first and second term) ........................................

15

6.4. Specific guidelines for the achievemen t of the competences ..................................

16

UNIT 1. LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN ......................................................................................

16

1.1. Parts of the curriculum design process ............................................................................

17

1.2. Environment Analysis ............................................................................................................

20

Self-evaluation 1 .................................................................................................................................

23

UNIT 2. NEEDS ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................

25

2.1. Focuses of Needs Analysis ....................................................................................................

25

2.2. Evaluating needs analysis ....................................................................................................

26

2.3. Issues in Needs analysis ........................................................................................................

27

Self-evaluation 2 .................................................................................................................................

28

UNIT 3. PRINCIPLES .............................................................................................................................

29

3.1. Methods and Principles ........................................................................................................

29

3.2. The twenty principles ............................................................................................................

29

3.3. The use of principles ..............................................................................................................

30

Self-evaluation 3 .................................................................................................................................

32

UNIT 4. GOALS, CONTENT AND SEQUENCING .................................................................................

33

4.1. Guidelines for deciding or checking the c ontent and sequencing of a course ....

33

4.2. Goals and con tent ...................................................................................................................

34

4.3. The units of progression in the course .............................................................................

35

4.4. Skills, sub-skills

and strategies ...........................................................................................

35

4.5. Sequencing the content in a course ..................................................................................

36

Self-evaluation 4 .................................................................................................................................

37

UNIT 5. FORMAT AND PRESENTATION OF UNITS AND LESSONS .................................................

39

5.1. Guidelines for Deciding on a F ormat of a lesson ..........................................................

39

5.2. Following a set Format ..........................................................................................................

39

5.3. Blocks and Threads .................................................................................................................

40

5.4. Techniques and Activities .....................................................................................................

42

5.5. Tasks and Presentation .........................................................................................................

42

Self-evaluation 5 .................................................................................................................................

43

UNIT 6. CURRICULUM MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT ..............................................................

45

6.1. Types of Monitoring and Assessment ...............................................................................

45

6.2. Good Assessment: Reliabilit y, Validity and Practicability ..........................................

46

Self-evaluation 6 .................................................................................................................................

48

SECOND TERM

6.5. Generic Competences ............................................................................................................

49

6.6. Planning for the student ’s

work .........................................................................................

49

6.7. Specific guidelines for the achievemen t of the competences ..................................

51

UNIT 7. EVALUATION ............................................................................................................................

51

7.1. Evaluation, steps, purpose and audience ........................................................................

51

7.2. Type and Focus of the Evaluation ......................................................................................

53

7.3. Gaining Support for the Evaluation ..................................................................................

54

7.4. Formative Evaluation as a Part of a Course .....................................................................

55

7.5. How to use the Results of an Evaluation .........................................................................

56

Self-evaluation 7 .................................................................................................................................

57

UNIT 8. APPROACHES TO CURRICULUM DESIGN ............................................................................

58

8.1. Models of Curric ulum Design ..............................................................................................

58

8.2. Doing Curriculum Design .....................................................................................................

59

8.3. The Process of Curriculum Design ......................................................................................

59

8.4. Deciding on an Approach .....................................................................................................

59

Self-evaluation 8 .................................................................................................................................

61

UNIT 9. SYLLABUSES AND COURSE MATERIALS .............................................................................

62

9.1. Negotiated Syllabuses ...........................................................................................................

63

9.2. Disadvantages and Advantages of a Negotiated Syllabus ........................................

64

9.3. The adoption and adaptation of course books ..............................................................

65

9.4. The Teacher and the Course Material ................................................................................

66

9.5. Evaluating a Course Book .....................................................................................................

66

Self-evaluation 9 .................................................................................................................................

68

UNIT 10. CHANGES IN THE EXISTING CURRICULUM ......................................................................

69

10.1. Steps in introducing changes in the curriculum ...........................................................

69

10.2. Need and size of the change ...............................................................................................

70

10.3.

Teacher´s beliefs .....................................................................................................................

70

10.4.

Change stra tegies ...................................................................................................................

71

Self-evaluation 10 ..............................................................................................................................

73

UNIT 11. PLANNING AN IN-SERVICE COURSE .................................................................................

74

11.1. Features of an Effective Workshop ....................................................................................

74

11.2. Procedures and Activities for Reaching the Goals ........................................................

75

11.3. Making Material ......................................................................................................................

75

11.4. Planning Lessons and Units of Work .................................................................................

76

11.5. Sequencing the components of a workshop .................................................................

76

11.6. Teaching and Curriculum Design in daily lessons .........................................................

76

Self-evaluation 11 ..............................................................................................................................

78

7.

Answer Key ..............................................................................................................................................

79

Guía didáctica: Curriculum and Materials

3.

Introduction

Curriculum and Materials is a core subject of the English Major of the Open and Distance System of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL). It is a part of language pedagogy. It is worth 5 credits and it is designed to be taught in the seventh semester of the English major.

This course provides a systematic introduction to: the concept of curriculum, the role of curriculum in the teaching learning process, issues involved in developing, designing, managing and evaluating language programs. In addition, it familiarizes students with dynamic and engaging language teaching materials.

Curriculum design not only promotes effective classroom learning, but also teacher’s development. Indeed, curriculum design is an element that significantly contributes to the improvement of higher education. Thus, this course attempts to prepare EFL teachers in this field. The course is organized as follows: six units for the first term and five units for the second term.

In the first term, you will start with unit one which presents an overview of language curriculum design and the situational factors which strongly affect the design of a course. Then, in unit two, you will discover how to determine what needs to be learned and what the learners want to learn in a language course. Unit three provides key information to decide how learning can be encouraged in the curriculum design process. In unit four, you will focus on the content and sequencing of the items to be taught in a course. This information will be complemented with an extensive explanation provided in unit 5 regarding to the way how to choose the teaching and learning techniques and how to design lesson plans. This term will end with the study of unit six, in which you will learn to decide what to test and how to test it when designing a course.

In the second term you will study six units. Unit seven and eight are focused on a careful analysis of all the aspects involved in curriculum design as well as of the different approaches. In unit nine there is a clear description of how to make decisions, negotiate syllabuses (making adaptations) and how to choose and systematically adapt a course book.

Unit ten analyses the importance of the innovation and changes in language teaching courses. There is additional information about the planning of in-service courses (professionals who are working at an educational institution for training purposes). There are clear examples that illustrate decisions taken while planning a language course, and the model of curriculum design which was already studied in unit eleven. The unit ends with a general analysis of the reasons why the curriculum design should be seen as a process with a variety of starting points and with continual opportunity to return to parts of the curriculum design model to revise, reconsider and re-evaluate.

Dear students, remember that you will be aided, during the learning by the tutor who will interact with you via the use of technological tools and resources available at the university, like EVA, videoconference, telephone, and e-mail.


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4.

Bibliography

4.1. Basic

Nation,I.S.P. & Macalister, J. (2010). Language Curriculum Design. NY: Roughtledge.

This textbook has been selected because it comprehensively describes contents related to curriculum, to the steps involved in the curriculum design process, and to the elaboration and justification of these steps. It also provides opportunities for practicing and applying the steps. Additionally, it integrates knowledge from many of the areas in the field of Applied Linguistics, such as language acquisition research, teaching methodology, assessment, language description and materials production.

While studying the material in the textbook, you will come across useful information that will help you to develop and design your own curriculum. In addition, the textbook can be useful for all educational professionals interested in learning how to develop and design their own curriculum to be taught by them or by others. It presents curriculum as a “how-to-do-it” activity with examples from the writers’ experience and from published research.

Vargas, A. (2012). Guía Didáctica de Curriculum and Materials. Loja, Ecuador: UTPL.

This didactic guide has been designed to provide you guidance in your learning process. The guide is organized in units; it contains clear explanations and information to study the textbook, and to complete the activities proposed to develop the competences and to guarantee the autonomous learning.

4.2. Complementary

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2011). [online] Available at: http://www.merriam-webster. com/

This online dictionary is very useful for language learners because you will better understand key terms related to curriculum and look for meaning of new vocabulary.

Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching.Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.

This text provides a systematic introduction to the issues pertaining to planning, developing, and managing effective language programs. It provides a systematic introduction to the issues involved in developing, managing, and evaluating effective second and foreign language programs and teaching materials. Additionally, it examines key stage in the curriculum design including situation analysis, needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, materials development and adaptation, teaching and teacher support, and evaluation.

Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador (2014). National Curriculum Guidelines. Quito:Ecuador.

It is a document which provides English curriculum guidelines shaped by the CEFR and their underlying philosophy considering the Communicative Language Teaching approach. The syllabus is organized in

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terms of the different language functions in order to prepare learners to express, understand and to communicate effectively in English.

Mackenzie, A., S. (2002).TEFL curriculum reform in Thailand. Retrieved from:

http://jalt.org/pansig/2002/HTML/Mackenzie1.htm

This website contains a deep analysis of the curriculum in Thailand and the curriculum reform in the early nineties. This information will help you to identify the aspects when implementing current curriculum reforms.

TESOL (2003).TESOL/NCATE Program Standards. Retrieved from: http://www.ncate.

org/ProgramStandards/TESOL/TesolStd.pdf

This website describes the standards for the accreditation of initial programs such as language, culture, instruction, assessment and the core, which is academic professionalism. Each one of the domains is further divided into Standards. There are a total of 13 standards. The standards themselves are divided into performance indicators. These indicators will help you identify evidence of candidate performance.


9


5. General Guidelines to Study

Dear students, in distance learning, students are autonomous learners. This means that you are responsible for conducting your own learning at your own pace. This looks like something difficult to achieve, but if you are a well-organized and responsible it will be easy for you to succeed in this curriculum and materials course.

During this course you will use the basic textbook and the didactic guide (cited in the reference section). The didactic guide has been designed to guide you throughout the learning process. The basic textbook to be used is “Language Curriculum Design” by I.S:P. Nation and John Macalister. This textbook has fourteen units.

The textbook is accompanied by the Curriculum and Materials didactic guide which has been designed specifically for this subject as a useful resource since it guides you to better understand the scientific contents of the course, and helps you to develop competences in the curriculum design process, as well as in the selection and designing of materials and resources for teaching English.

In addition to using the textbook and the didactic guide, it is important to consider the following study guidelines:

Ø Organize your time for each subject you have taken this semester. You are required to spend at least 10 hours per week studying.

Ø Use dictionaries to better understand the contents. Online dictionaries are an excellent tool.

Ø Use summaries, charts, concept maps, graphic organizers and other techniques. In this way, you will be able to remember the most relevant information presented in each unit and chapter of the book.

Ø Underline or highlight the most important information in each one of the units and chapters of the guide and book.

Ø Read and research about topics related to curriculum design. You should search on websites suggested in the reference section and find out more information on-line.

Ø Participate actively in the online learning environment (EVA). Interact with your teacher and classmates.

Ø In the EVA you will find different technological resources like the virtual library, blogs, mail, chats, videoconferences, the social network, as well as Open Educational Resources (REA’s in Spanish) which are excellent learning resources. To get access to EVA you only need to use your username and password.

Ø Participate in the chats, videoconferences and forums established in the academic calendar.

Ø Complete the distance assignments (one per semester). These assignments are provided as a learning strategy that prepares you for the on-site exams.

Ø Complete the self-evaluations included at the end of each unit.

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Ø Revise the evaluation system in order to have a clear picture of the way how learning will be assessed.

Ø Contact your teacher if you have any doubts or questions. You can do this by e-mail, or telephone. If you prefer using the telephone, please remember that there is a schedule that has been established by the teacher in charge of the subject; so before calling please check the tutorial schedule.

Ø Read the planning for the student’s work matrix because it contains all the specific competences and the learning indicators to be reached with the study of each of the units. Moreover, it presents activities that are to be developed in each unit and set times.


11

Planning for the student’s work

Social responsibility and commitment

6.2.

6.

Teaching-learning process to attain competences

FIRST TERM

6.1.

Generic Competences


schedule

^Gûⁱ^dⁱⁿ^g

Week 1

hours for

self-study

6

hours for

interaction

4

Learning indicators

Defines curriculum

Identifies and uses the parts of the curriculum design

process to overview the planning of a course

Analyzes the role and design of

different English

language

curriculums

•

•

•

Learning activities

To read, investigate and highlight the most

important information in chapter 1 of your basic

textbook and unit 1 of your didactic guide and other sources.

To complete graphic organizers and suggested

and the ones established in your basic textbook

activities related to unit 1 of your didactic guide

To write an essay in which analyze the role and design of various English Language Curriculums

To complete self-evaluation 1 To participate in the EVA To complete the distance evaluations

•

•

•

•

•

•

Contents

Units/ topics

Unit 1. Language Curriculum

Parts of the curriculum design process

Environment

Analysis

onstraints

Steps in

environment

analysis

Self-evaluation 1

1.2.1.

1.2.2.

1.1.

1.2.

Specific competencesof the subject

To create English language courses and

syllabus considering differentiated learning experiences based on

assessment of students’ English

proficiency, learning styles, and prior

formal educational experiences and knowledge.

To apply Resources and Technology Effectively in English and Content

Instruction.

linguistically accessible materials for teaching English to children and adolescents

To select, adapt, and use culturally responsive, age-appropriate, and

Specific

competences of the

english program

Formulate, design,

and execute research

and innovation

projects in the

educational and

linguistic field.

Identify and pose

alternatives to solve

problems related to

professional and

social practice.


13


^Gûⁱ^dⁱⁿ^g

schedule

Week 2

hours for

self-study

hours for

interaction

Week 3

hours for

self-study

and

hours for

interaction

6

4

6

4

Learning indicators

Lists special needs for a group of English language

learners that is being targeted

Designs

questionnaires for

needs analysis

Designs a Needs analysis for an English language program or course

Explains the

principle and

indicates their

application in

curriculum design.

Chooses the most important teaching and learning principles and decides how to incorporate them in the course.

•

•

•

•

•

Learning activities

To read and highlight the most important information in unit 2 and in the textbook.

To complete the recommended activities related to unit 2 of your didactic guide and the ones provided in your basic textbook.

To construct a Needs analysis for an English language program

To review examples of Needs Analysis. To complete self-evaluation 2 To participate in the EVA To complete the distance evaluations

To read unit 3 of your basic textbook and your didactic guide and in your basic textbook

To describe principles based on a pedagogical perspective, focusing on curriculum design and teacher training.

To complete the recommended activities provide in unit 3 of your didactic guide and the ones given in your basic textbook


•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Contents

Units/ topics

Unit 2. Needs Analysis

Focuses of Needs Analysis

Evaluating needs

analysis

Issues in Needs analysis

Self-evaluation 2

Unit 3. Principles

Methods and

Principles

The twenty

principles

The use of principles

Self-evaluation 3

2.1.

2.2.

2.3.

3.1.

3.2.

3.3.


Specific competences of the english program

14



^Gûⁱ^dⁱⁿ^g

schedule

Week 4

hours for

self-study

hours for

interaction

Week 5

hours for

self-study

hours for

interaction

6

4

6

4

Learning indicators

Creates the goals of the course.

Identifies and applies the units of progression in order to grade the progress of a

course.

Chooses and sequences the content of the

course.

Plans and creates the format of the lessons for a course based on any of the four strands: meaning- focused input, meaning-focused output, language- focused learning, and fluency development

Selects the main teaching techniques and activities for designing lesson plans.

Checks the format against principles

of a test.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Learning activities

To read unit 4 of your basic textbook and your didactic guide.

To write goals and contents for a specific language course you teach or want to teach.

To create planning goals and outcomes for their own language teaching curriculum

To check the content of the course you designed against lists of other items to ensure coverage.

To complete the recommended activities provided in the unit 4 of your didactic guide and

the ones given in your basic textbook To complete self-evaluation 4 To participate in the EVA To complete the distance evaluations


To examine the format used in an English course and determine how strictly the format is followed.

Compare the format of three published course books, then list the reasons why it was chosen.

Using the information you have gathered in the previous units design a lesson you teach or want to teach.

To complete the recommended activities related to unit 5 of your didactic guide and the ones established


•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Contents

Units/ topics

Unit 4. Goals, Content and Sequencing

Guidelines for deciding or checking the content and sequencing of a course Goals and content The units of progression in the course Skills, sub-skills and Strategies

Sequencing the content in a Course

Self-evaluation 4

Unit 5. Format and Presentation

Guidelines for Deciding on a Format of a lesson

Following a format Blocks and Threads Techniques and Activities Tasks and Presentation

Self-evaluation 5

4.1.

4.2.

4.3.

4.4.

4.5.

5.1.

5.2.

5.3.

5.4.

5.5.




15


^Gûⁱ^dⁱⁿ^g

schedule

Week 7 and

8

Learning indicators

Learning activities


To summarize the different types of monitoring and assessment by using a graphic organizer.

To write an essay about the three criteria used for examining assessment measures: reliability,

validity and practicality.

To write examples of the different types of monitoring and assessment that can occur as

part of a course.

To complete the recommended activities related to unit 6 of your didactic guide and the ones established in your basic textbook


To review units from 1 to 6 of your basic book and your didactic guide

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Contents

Units/ topics

Unit 6. Curriculum Monitoring and

Assessment

Types of Monitoring and Assessment

Good Assessment:

Reliability, Validity

and Practicability

Self-evaluation 6

Getting ready for the

on-site evaluation

6.1.

6.2.



16



6.3. Evaluation System of the Subject (first and second term)

Formas de evaluación

Competencia: criterio

2. Heteroevaluación

Evaluación a

Evaluación

1. Autoevaluación *

distancia **

presencial

3. Coevaluación

Parte objetiva

Parte de ensayo

Interacción en el EVA***

Prueba objetiva

Comportamiento ético

X X

X

X

X

X

Actitudes

Cumplimiento, puntualidad, responsabilidad

X X

X

X

X

Esfuerzo e interés en los trabajos

X X

X

X

X

X

Respeto a las personas y a las normas

X

X

de comunicación

Creatividad e iniciativa

X

X

X

Habilidades

Contribución en el trabajo colaborativo y de equipo

X

X

Presentación, orden y ortografía

X

X

X

X

Emite juicios de valor

X

X

X

argumentadamente

Conocimientos

Dominio del contenido

X X

X

X

X

X

Investigación (cita fuentes de consulta)

X

Aporta con criterios y soluciones

X

X

X

Análisis y profundidad en el desarrollo de temas

X

X

PORCENTAJE

Estrategia de

aprendizaje

10%

20%

30%

Actividades

en el EVA: 3

puntos en cada

70%

presenciales y en el

Puntaje

2

4

6

bimestre

14

Actividades

EVA

TOTAL

20 puntos

Para aprobar el componente se requiere obtener un puntaje mínimo de 28/40 puntos, que equivale al 70%.

* Son estrategias de aprendizaje, no tienen calificación; pero debe responderlas con el fin de autocomprobar su proceso de aprendizaje. ** Recuerde: que la evaluación a distancia del primero y segundo bimestre consta de dos partes: una objetiva y otra de ensayo, debe desarrollarla y enviarla a través del EVA según las fechas establecidas. *** Estrategias de aprendizaje opcionales y de tipo colaborativa: foro, chat y video colaboración con una valoración de un punto cada una.

Señor estudiante:

Tenga presente que la finalidad de la valoración cualitativa es principalmente formativa.


17


6.4. Specific guidelines for the achievement of the competences

Welcome to the study of Curriculum and materials course. Let´s get ready. It is time to look for a quite but comfortable place equipped with all material you need to read, research, and learn about the different aspects involved in the curriculum design process and in the designing of teaching. This useful and interesting course will provide you with the knowledge about the processes involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating language programs and any course of language instruction.

Now, we start with the contents of the first term. It includes the six units. Let´s start with the first one which provides an overview of the language curriculum design.

UNIT 1. LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN

http://ourladyofholycrossschool.com/images/ladyholy26.jpg

Dear students, now that you know what competences will be achieved this semester, it is time to start studying the contents provided in the first unit.

I would like to invite you to brainstorm ideas about the following questions in order to :

What does curriculum mean?

Why is it important for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners to study curriculum and materials?

Which are the aspects to be considered in language curriculum design?

Good job! . You have a wide range of ideas!. Now let’s confirm or deny your assumptions on these topics, and study them in depth.

Let’s first start defining the term curriculum for better understanding of the topics related to this field. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the word curriculum comes from the Latin curricle, meaning “course, racing, chariot,” and from currere, which means “to run.”

Oliva (2005, p.7) provides a wider definition of curriculum in which he considers that it includes “a number of plans, in written form and of varying scope, that delineate the desired learning experiences”. In other words, curriculum refers to a unit, a course, a sequence of courses, the school’s entire program of studies.

18



The following two authors provide a more precise definition of curriculum in the field of education. Thus, Richards (2001) argues that curriculum is a set of processes which involve the planning what is to be taught or learned, implementing it and evaluating it. Meanwhile, Hall & Hewings (2001) consider that curriculum implies all the issues related to the planning, implementation and evaluation of a series of language learning events, which are conceived as a coherent whole with a specified purpose.

Now that you have a better idea of what curriculum implies, let’s study the parts of the curriculum design process. For this, you will need to work with the textbook and this guide.

1.1. Parts of the curriculum design process

It is a fact that curriculum is very often understood as something very complicated and not always necessary for language teaching. In many cases it is just replaced by the content, of the textbook available for the course, which is why potential teachers need to understand what it implies.

The contents to be studied in this topic are presented in the first chapter of your textbook. Read attentively the information. Remember that the use of study strategies facilitates you to find out and summarize the most relevant information.

The curriculum design process that is studied in this unit is based on the following model (Figure 1).You can observe that it consists of three outside circles and a subdivided inner circle. The outer circles involve practical and theoretical considerations that will have a major effect in guiding the actual process of course production. Meanwhile, the first inner circle deals with the format of the lessons or units of the course, including the techniques and types of activities that will be used to help learning, as well as the monitoring and assessing of a course, whereas the last inner circle contains the goals. Thus, the curriculum design process is connected and ends with an overall evaluation.

Figure 1


19


Source: Nation,I.S.P. & Macalister, J. (2010). Language Curriculum Design.NY:Roughtledge.

After analyzing this figure, let´s study each one of the parts of the curriculum design process. Let´s start Considering the Environment.

Environment factors

In order to grasp better this process of “course design”, it is important to consider a wide range of factors such as: the students’ present knowledge and lack of knowledge, the resources available including time, the skill of the teachers, the curriculum designer’s strengths and limitations, and principles of teaching and learning that influence during a course design.

IMPORTANT:

Environment analysis involves the study of the potential impact of societal factors, project factors, institutional factors, teacher factors, learner factors, adoption factors on the curriculum project.

Suggested activity

Read the textbook and research other sources in order to write examples of factors that must be considered in the curriculum design process.

Time

Factors

Clase size

How did it go?. I am sure that very well!. However, if you have doubts, contact your tutor by phone or send him/her a mail.

As you could realize after reading this topic, the importance of environment analysis is that it enables the course to be suitable, practical and realistic. Now, we are going to study how to discover particular needs when planning English programs/courses.

When designing or renewing English programs you have to do needs analysis in order to collect real information to properly address a general or a specialized English program/course. However, the course

20



designer should also recognize that language programs are developed in diverse and particular contexts or situations. These contexts or situations are the key factors that can potentially facilitate change or hinder successful implementation of an English course.

Therefore, the purpose of this needs analysis is to find out what English language skills students require and what exactly this type of learners use English for. In this sense, you can design a program that s them. In addition, this needs analysis is aimed to identify what students are able to do and what they need to be able to do when using English in the context they actually need, to determine their formal knowledge of English and to ascertain what cognitive and academic skills students need to acquire.

Time to read the textbook! Once you have read the topic about needs, continue reading about Principles.

Remember that the curriculum should be designed on the basis of principles because they assure success in the programs and courses, since they apply to the curriculum at an organizational as well as classroom level or at any other level of setting where teaching takes place.

Other aspect you have to clearly consider in the curriculum design process is to determine the Goals, Content and Sequencing. Because, as you can realize In the curriculum design process, it is essential to decide why a course is being taught and what the learners need to get from a course or program. Goals are a way of putting into words the main purposes and intended out-comes of a course or program you design.

As far as you study this topic, you can realize that setting clear and achievable goals helps you to stay on track while designing and teaching the course. In fact, goals are the benchmarks of a course because they state what students are able to do when they leave the course or program.

In order to have a better idea about how to set goals for language courses, I invite you to analyse the examples provided in the book. Now, What is your opinion about those examples?. What is the relation between goals and assessment?

As you could observe in the examples, goals provide the basis for the focus of a course and guide assessment. Therefore, having a clear statement of goals is fundamental for determining the content of the course. The content of language courses consists of the language items, ideas, skills and strategies that meet the goals of the course.

After determining the goals and content of the course, you must pay special attention to the material which will be presented to learners in a form that will help learning. This presentation will involve the use of suitable teaching techniques and procedures put together in lessons planned on the bases of students’ needs and environment analysis.

Finally, a very important step in the curriculum design process is to assess how well the aims of the course are actually achieved.


21


1.2. Environment Analysis

Before focusing on this topic, let’s think about the following two questions:

What is environment analysis? Is Environment analysis also called situation analysis?

Confirm your answers or ideas about this topic by reading the section environment analysis in your textbook and the information provided below.

As mentioned earlier, environment analysis is a part of the process of designing an English course in which the factors that have a strong effect on decisions about the goals, contents, methodology, and assessment of the course, are identified in order to guarantee the usefulness of an English course.

These factors can arise from:

As a curriculum designer, you must consider all the factors that affect the curriculum design in order to guarantee a well-design course; however, the importance of a factor depends on: a) whether the course will still be useful if the factor is not taken into account, and b) how large and pervasive the effect of the factor on the course will be.

Now! Read the example of an environment analysis on a course for young Japanese learners that is in your textbook. This example guides you to identify the environment constrains.

1.2.1. Environment Constraints

Constraints are the direct opposite of facilitators. These constrains can be general and particular. General constrains are directly derived from learners, teacher, and the situation itself, from which a variety of particular constrains are derived at the same time. Both types of constrains have significant effects on curriculum design, thus deserve special attention from the part of the curriculum designer.

The table 2.1 in your textbook summarizes a list of environment constraints and shows how they affect the design of the course. Among these constrains are: learner’s age, leaner´s level of knowledge, learner’s preferences, teacher’s training, Teacher´s linguistic competence, time, and resources among others.

22



Sometimes it is necessary to consider wider aspects of the situation when carrying out an environment analysis. There may, for example, be institutional or government policies to consider regarding the learning and using of the target language; thus the course needs to be designed considering all these conditions. You will find more details about constrains in your textbook.

Suggested activity

After learning the theory it is important to put it into practice what you have learned: think about a course you want to design and make a list of constrains for an English course you want to design. It is also advisable to research other sources in order to expand your leaning.

Remember that you are not alone in this learning process. If there is any doubt do not hesitate to contact your teacher by phone or mail. Check the EVA too, there you will find further explanation about this topic and other resources that will facilitate your learning.

As it was stated above, environment analysis is one of the basic parts of curriculum design because, at its most basic level, it ensures the usability of the course and the achievement of the intended goals. Now that you can easily conduct an environment analysis for designing an English course, let´s see the steps that you have to follow.

1.2.2. Steps in environment analysis

Good environment analysis draws on both analysis of the environment and application of previous research and theory, plus a systematic application of steps that permit you to identify the factors that facilitate or constrain the curriculum development.


23


ccording to Nation & Macalister (2010), the first thing a course designer has to do when conducting environment analysis is to brainstorm and then systematically consider the range of environment factors that will affect the course. Then, the designer has to choose the most important factors (no more than five) and rank them, putting the most important first. After that, the information about each factor is gathered from the environment, previous research or theory. Then, all the possible effects that the selected factors may have on the course design. Finally, it is time to go through step 1, 2, 3 and 4 again.

Now it is time to know if you have satisfactorily learned what you have studied in this Thus, I encourage you to take the following self-evaluation.

u

n

i

t

.

24



Self-evaluation 1

Choose the alternative that completes the statements below.

1. focuses

_______________

on determining what knowledge, skills, and values students learn in

schools, what experience should be provided to bring intended learning outcomes, and how teaching and learning in schools or educational systems can be planned, measured, and evaluated.

a. Syllabus

b. Curriculum development

c. Environment analysis

2. is the process by which a curriculum designer identifies the factors

_____________________ of the situation in which the course will be used and determining how the course should take

account of them.

a. Syllabus

b. Factor

c. Environment analysis

3. Needs analysis can play a major role in determining the _____________.

a. content of courses, particularly for language items.

b. steps of the environment analysis

c. number of students for the course

4. A

_________________

is a plan for what is to be learned in a particular course or course of study.

a. course designer

b. syllabus

c. needs analysis

5. The three major parts of the curriculum design model are: ______________________.

a. Needs analysis, Environment analysis and principles

b. Learner, Teachers, Situation

c. Time. Constrains and environment analysis

6. Select the effect that Limited class time and contact time with English could have on the curriculum design of a course.

a. the activities should be fun so that the learners look forward to doing them for their own sake

b. The activities should be meaning-focused, and language –focused activities which should mainly involve correction.

c. Learners should be given extra contact with English


25


7. Which of the following are examples of environment constrains: ___________________.

a. Target language studied, group and individual attitudes, and needs analysis

b. Content and sequencing, format and presentation, and monitoring and assessment

c. Time available, cultural background, effects of the first language on the studied language, and special purposes.

8. In curriculum development, the purposes of evaluating a course are:

a. To continue or discontinue a course or to improve it.

b. To assess learners’ knowledge and provide feedback to weak learners

c. To gather information about the curriculum design model

9. Environment analysis is also called ________________.

a. Language curriculum design

b. Situation analysis

c. General factor

10. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divides learner’s needs as: __________.

a. Necessities, lacks, and wants

b. Constrains, facilities and needs

c. General, specific and individual

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UNIT 2. NEEDS ANALYSIS

Richards (2001) considers that any educational program should be based on an analysis of learner’s needs. Need analysis is a cyclical process that involves the identification and evaluation of learners’ needs. It has a vital role in the process of designing or conducting any language course.

In fact, the only way to assure the relevance and usefulness of a course is by the collection of information about the real learners’ needs; since needs analysis provides a profile of the needs of a group of learners in order for the teacher or course designer to be able to make decisions about the goals and contents of a language curriculum and its courses.

Thus, the objective of this unit is to examine the range of information that can be gathered in needs analysis and provide you both theoretical and practical knowledge to conduct need analysis in order to be able to create or renew effective language courses.

2.1. Focuses of Needs Analysis

Needs analysis was introduced into language teaching through English for Specific Purposes in the 1980s (Richards 2001). There is no single approach to needs analysis. Needs analysis is therefore a reliable indicator of what is required to enhance learning.

In curriculum design field, the term needs cannot be understand a straight-forward term. Brindley (1984, p. 28) considers that, the term needs is used to refer to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constrains, and requirements.

A needs analysis may be conducted for a variety of different purposes and users. For example Ecuadorian curriculum officers in the ministry of education may conduct need analysis to evaluate the adequacy of existing syllabus, curriculum, and materials for teaching English in high schools or universities; writers who prepare textbooks, educational academic commission members who want to improve, or renew curriculum at schools, high schools and universities.

Whatever the purpose of needs analysis could be, you have to remember that you need to have a clear purpose based on the target population about whom information will be collected (language learners or potential language learners), and other subcategories of respondents like students currently being involved in a course, students previously enrolled in a course or even students who have never studied a foreign language because they could provide valuable information to take better curriculum design decisions.

Among the procedures that can be used to obtain information for needs analysis are:


27


Considering the importance of need analysis it is advisable to use a triangular approach (use two or more sources) because if only one procedure or source is used the results may be incomplete.

As a future English teacher you will be involved in a situation in which you will need to conduct needs do not worry because you will be prepared for that, all what you have to rremember is that the outcomes of need analysis will be related to:

What is necessary for the learners? What do the learners lack? What do the learners wish to learn?

The following chart illustrates the key aspects of a needs analysis. Look at it.

Figure 3

If you have difficulty understanding how to approach needs analysis, don’t worry! Information in your textbook about The various focuses of needs analysis will help you to clarify your this topic.

Remember that in order to facilitate your learning, it is useful to highlight the most important ideas or make graphic organizer to summarize relevant information.

Was this information useful? I am sure it was. Now that you have a clear idea about approaches to needs analysis, you are able to complete task 1in your textbook.

After having learned approaches to need analysis, we can turn to some issues in needs analysis.

2.2. Evaluating needs analysis

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Take a look at the Planning for the student’s work and evaluate how you are progressing in your learning. Remember that the success in language learning depends on the way you organize your study time.

I invite you to reflect on the validity and reliability of the findings gotten through needs analysis. Do you think it is necessary to evaluate needs analysis?. Personally, I think that

Language courses must be designed on the basis of good needs analysis conducted from a variety of perspectives. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to evaluate it before starting to design a course. Do you agree?. I think so!

Put simply, needs analysis is a kind of assessment, thus you can be evaluated by considering its reliability, validity and practicality.

Please look for further information in your textbook. After reading about needs analysis, complete the following questions: When are the finding gotten in needs analysis reliable?, What does valid needs analysis involve?, How can you conduct practical needs analysis?

This exercise was really useful, wasn’t it?. In order not to forget about what you have learned in this unit,

I recommend that you do this activity that will prepare you to understand better the next topic.

Suggested activity

The study (article) in the following website illustrates the benefits of conducting needs analysis for designing an English course: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/lwati/article/viewFile/36850/37587

2.3. Issues in Needs analysis

There are various issues in needs analysis that have been the focus of continuing debate among language curriculum development researchers. Nation and Macalister (2010) states three issues:

Ø Common core and specialized language

Ø Narrow focus-wide focus

Ø Critical needs analysis

It is time to read more information in the textbook in order to understand the issues in needs analysis.

Needs analysis makes sure that a course will be relevant and satisfying to the learners. To neglect them is to run the risk of producing a course that does not meet the needs of its users. The process of needs analysis can be summarized as follows:


29


Figure 4

Well done! You have finished unit two. It is time to answer the self-test. You are free to review the contents of the unit again and contact the teacher if you have doubts.

30



Self-evaluation 2

Decide if the following statements are True or False. Then write T or F in the parenthesis.

1. Needs analysis is a process aimed at discovering the parts of the curriculum design process.

(

)

2. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987) needs analysis is divided into target needs and learning needs.

(

)

3. The findings of needs analysis must be balanced against constrains found in environment analysis.

(

)

4. A useful question for gathering information about language in needs analysis is How will the learner use the language?

(

)

5. An English teacher who designs an English course for immigrants and a course for medical students choose the same contents to be taught.

(

)

6. A needs analysis is valid when it shows relevant and important information to be used as the basis for language course design.

(

)

7. Self-report, observation and proficiency tests are types of need analysis.

(

)

8. Learners’ scores on standardized proficiency tests like the TOEFL test or the IELTS are useful sources of information in needs analysis.

(

)

9. Information in needs analysis could be obtained from a variety of sources like: samples of writing, tests, questionnaires, surveys, reports by teachers, opinions of experts.

(

)

10.

(

)

Data about the learners’ general proficiency can be gathered by interviewing teachers and authorities.


31


UNIT 3. PRINCIPLES

The purpose of this unit is to show that a sensible basis to guide teaching and to help to design the rests of courses on principles. These principles must be based on research and theory, and must be general and flexible to suit the wide range of conditions in which language can be taught.

As mentioned earlier, language curriculum design is a serious process which requires to be managed with a lot of responsibility for this reason, now it is time to determine how learning can be encouraged. Let’s start studying methods and principles first!

3.1. Methods and Principles

The process of language teaching development began in the twentieth century with the recognition of language teaching as a profession. And central to this process was the emergence of the term methods of language. In fact, the introduction of the method concept in teaching has powerfully influenced the teaching of English throughout the history. Moreover, much of the impetus for the tremendous changes in approaches to language was proposed by applied linguists based on the teaching methods.

Generally speaking, curriculum is seen as a set of courses, course work, and content offered at any educational institution. It also encloses the methods, assessment and material used in instructional courses. How much do you know about this! Let´s see:

Is curriculum design based on any principle? If so which are they? Do language teachers follow a specific method or approach in their language teaching?

Were you able to respond these questions? Were they easy to answer? I hope you did a good job.

If not, do not worry! You can confirm the answers for the questions by reading the information in your textbook.

As you could realize a “method” approach to curriculum design needs not to be adhere to a method (i.e. total physical response or functional approach) because they only suggest small changes in format and presentation with no changes in the selection of what is to be taught or in how it might be monitored or assessed; but not considers all the aspects implied in curriculum design. Thus, it is necessary to base a curriculum design on suitable research and theory. One of the best ways to assure certain desirable qualities of course is by resting them on principles.

3.2. The twenty principles

The focus on the course design can be based on a pedagogical perspective, a leaning perspective, or a more philosophical stance on principles considering the nature of language, the nature of learning, and the role of the culture.

The principled described here are based on a pedagogical perspective and are unique to language teaching. Let’s take a look at the twenty principles proposed by Nation & Macalister (2010). These

32



principles have been divided into three groups: a) content and sequencing, b) format and presentation, and c) monitoring and assessment.

I invite you to check your textbook in order to find out which are those principles. While reading, I recommend underlining the most important information to understand the following chart.

Figure 5

I am sure this activity helped you significantly to identify and understand that the aim of the principles which is to make sure that the learners are gaining something useful from the course. Remember to check the announcements on the EVA or contact your teacher if you need more help.

Suggested activity

It is worth looking at other researchers’ lists of principles to see how they differ from the ones proposed in the chart above. You can research the lists proposed by Ellis (2005), Brown (1993) or any other author.

Check the online library and the resources

3.3. The use of principles

available on the EVA

So far we have looked at the principles and we have attempted to explain them and to identify their importance and application in curriculum design. We have also stated that this list of perspective is not only the one we can rely on in order to design a course. Look for more information about the use of principles in the basic textbook.


33


The list of principles however has such a wide range of uses as follows:

Ø to guide the design of language teaching courses and lessons.

Ø to evaluate existing courses and lessons.

Ø to help teachers integrate and contextualize information gained from keeping up with developments in their field. For example, when reading articles from journals such as TESOL Quarterly, Language Learning, Applied Linguistics or RELC Journal, teachers can try to decide what principle is being addressed by the article and how the article helps in the application of a principle.

Ø to provide a basis for teachers to use reflecting on their practice and professional development. It may provide a basis for action research within their classrooms. It can help them answer the questions as “Is this a good technique?”, “Should I use group work?”, and “Do my learners’ need to speak a lot in class?”.

Ø to act as one of many possible reference points in teacher training courses.

These are some of the most common uses of these principles. What other uses do you think these principles can have?.

To sum up, I would like to highlight that the advantage of using a principle-based approach, on the one hand enhances the development in theory and research which can be easily accommodated by altering, expanding, removing or adding principles without having to discard other principles. On the other side it can be useful to consider certain desirable qualities of a well-designed curriculum that would lead us to prefer one curriculum to another one.

IMPORTANT: In curriculum design you have to:

- select the most important teaching and learning principles

- decide how you will incorporate them in the course

Congratulations! You have finished with unit three. Now, it is time to see how much you have learned.

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Self-evaluation 3

Choose the word or words that complete the following statements

1. The aim of

(

)

is to guide the design of courses which suit the wide range

______________ of conditions in which language is taught.

course

2. The principle that stresses the importance of the learner’ attitudes to what they are studying, this belongs to _______________.

(

)

format and presentation

3.

(

)

One of the possible causes why a course does not provide enough quantity-based activity

may be because

____________

is not aware or convinced of the value of such activity.

receptive skills

4.

(

)

A

___________

should take account of individual differences and learning styles.

Language-focused learning

5. from language use can come from the sender herself, from the people who receive the message, and from an observer of the communication process

(

)

fluency

6. )

(

The more

learners spend on language learning the more they learn

principles

7. In order to achieve better results in a language course, it must contain appropriate amounts of ________________.

(

)

feedback

8. One of the principles of language teaching state that there should be substantial

(

)

quantities of interesting comprehensible

in the two receptive skills.

the teacher

9. is a part of the skill goal of language learning.

(

)

time

10.

(

)

Principles can be used to evaluate existing ______________.

courses or lessons


35


UNIT 4. GOALS, CONTENT AND SEQUENCING

The information studied about principles, need analysis and environment analysis provides essential input in understanding and setting course goals and deciding what goes into a course which is the subject of this unit.

Therefore, I suggest reviewing the chart that contains the student´s work plan. This will guide your self- study. I also suggest you to organize your time in order to study little by little all the contents proposed for this semester. Be sure you study every chapter of the book by following the didactic guide because there, you will find strategies, examples and explanation about the different topics that we are studying.

4.1. Guidelines for deciding or checking the content and sequencing of a course

The process of deciding or checking the content and sequencing of a course involves making responsible choices due to the field of language learning is vast, and because of the various ways to cover it.

Thus, for a given course you need to carefully analyze and take decisions on what you want students to learn in the course, what to emphasized, what to omit ; and how to organize the contents in a way that best facilitates the relationship among the different elements of the course.

Nation & Macalister (2010) state that a course designer must consider the environment in which the course is taught plus needs of the learners, and the teaching and learning principles that are to be used. See the chart below for more details.

Figure 6

In regard to this topic, Graves (2000, p.38) states that conceptualizing content involves answering the following questions among others:

–

What do I want my students to learn in this course, know who they are , know their needs, and purpose of the course?

–

What are my options or what can they learn?

– What are the resources and constrains of my course that can help me to narrow my options?

36



–

What are the relationships among the options I have selected?

–

How can I organize these options into a working plan or syllabus?

–

What is the driving force or organizing principle that will pull my syllabus together?

What do you think about this? Have you had the opportunity to decide or check the contents of a course? I think that you have. If not, do not worry! The information provided in the chapter about Goals, Content and Sequencing in the basic textbook and in this didactic guide will provide you with the knowledge you need to develop the competence on this field.

Remember that, the guidelines provided here for deciding or checking the content and sequencing of a Course will facilitate the understanding of how to set specific goals and content for a course.

4.2. Goals and content

Teaching involves making choices. There are many things that can be taught but they all cannot be appropriate. Careful choices must be done by the teacher, and the only way to make good decisions is to set clear and achievable goals. Goals and content are closely related. Stating your goals helps you bring into focus your visions and priorities for the course you attempt to design.

For example the contents of a course can be chosen based on goals, and they can be focused on different aspects like language, social context, learning or learners as illustrated in the following mind map:

Figure 7

As you can find out in your basic textbook, the goals and contents of a course can also be based on one or more of the following areas: language, Ideas, Skills or Text (Discourse). For gaining better outcomes in a course, it is worth to set smaller goals for the various strands or skill subdivisions of a course. It is also advisable to break goals down into smaller well-specified performance objectives. Objectives help to set learnable and teachable units. They are like the building blocks of the syllabus.


37


Now, I invite you to look at the following example of goals and objectives of an English for specific Purposes (ESP) course designed for medical doctors:

COURSE: ESP Medical Reading

GOAL: Develop reading skills and strategies using a wide range of materials like books and scientific reports

OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to:

Ø Skim and scan relevant information from a text.

Ø Infer meaning from context.

Ø Distinguish medical terminology while reading.

The way these smaller goals are detailed will depend partly on the unit of progression of the course.

4.3. The units of progression in the course

The progression of a course can be graded in terms of the coverage of the range of items set by the course designer (language, Ideas, Skills, or any other focus) which are called by Nation & Macalister (2010) units of progression.

The units of progression in a course are the items that are used to grade the progress of the course. One way to provide a systematic and well-researched basis for a course is to make use of frequency lists depending on the focus of the course (language, skills). For example in a course focused on language the units of progression can be words in vocabulary, grammatical constructions in grammar, or functions in language use.

The information mentioned above provides you with clues in order to understand better this topic which is in your textbook.

How did it go? As you could see the purpose of units of progression in a course are:

Ø to set targets and paths to those targets.

Ø to check the adequacy of selection and order.

Ø to monitor and report on learners’ progress and achievement.

Ok!. You are ready to plan your own course! Let us turn to the next topic.

4.4. Skills, sub-skills and strategies

Teaching a language means helping learners to develop skills and sub-skills, that is why there are a lot of English courses which are planned on the bases of the skills and sub-skills that are likely to be developed through the course.

Do you know how a skill-based course is defined? If your answer is yes, answer this other question: Which are the sub-skills focused on a reading course? If your answer is no, look for information in the textbook to answer these two questions, as well as examples.

38



There are three major ways of defining sub-skills: a) the range of activities covered by a skill; b) the skill as a process; and c) levels of cognitive activity. However, a good language course not only develops the learners’ control of the language but also puts the learners in contact with ideas that help the learning process of language which are useful to the learners.

Suggested Activity

Now, I invite you to investigate more about the ideas content of a course and task-based syllabuses, there is plenty of information available on books and on the internet.

The choice of units of progression in a course is very important for curriculum design and making decisions regarding the selection and sequencing of these units must be guided by well-justified principles and grounded on theory and research.

4.5. Sequencing the content in a course

Let´s start this topic by explaining the term sequencing. In this context, sequencing involves the order in which you will teach the units and the order within each unit. As far as we have learned in the topics before, the content of a course will be sequenced and ordered depending if it is topic or theme-based, process or skill-based. Furthermore, it is important to notice that the contents of the course are usually organized into units and lessons which are built from the simple to the complex.

Regardless of what the focus (principle) of organization of the content is, the content of the unit is derived from the way you conceptualized the content and the way how you articulate goals and objectives which at the same time are based on the need analysis you conduct before designing a course.

In the textbook, you will find specific details and examples about approaches to sequencing contents and how to order them in a hierarchical way. In the basic textbook the authors propose two major approaches: a) a linear approach and b) a modular approach.

Regarding the same topic, Graves (2000) considers that there are three complementary ways to organize the modules, units, or strands in a course: a) a cycle in which the elements occur in a predictable sequence and, once the sequence is completed it starts all over again.; b) a matrix where the elements are selected from certain categories of content; and, c) a combination of cycle and matrix in which the contents of a unit might follow a predictable sequence of learning activities and end with activities drawn from a matrix.

Congratulations! You have study how to make a list of the items to teach in the order in which they will be taught which was the aim of this part of the curriculum design and of this unit. Now, get ready to complete the following self-evaluation.


39


Self-evaluation 4

Read the statements below and select the best option.

1. The selection of content for a course is based on ______________________.

a. case studies and particular needs

b. books and didactic resources

c. topics, themes or situations

2. A good language course _______________________________

a. puts the learners in contact with ideas and develops the learners’ control of the language

b. adds credibility to the educational institution because of the number of students

c. is designed on the bases of teacher´s abilities to teach to all kind of learners

3. A skill can be divided by using _________________________________.

a. contents of the book

b. the most frequent words and phrases

c. levels of cognitive activity.

4. must

__________________

be planned considering the environment in which the course will be

used, the needs of the learners, and principles of teaching and learning.

a. Content and sequencing

b. Principles

c. Task-based syllabus

5. Units of progression can be used to course.

_____________

learners’ progress and Achievement in the

a. identify and list

b. monitor and report

c. divide and order

6. One of the advantages of a _________

is

that it provides easily monitored recycling of material.

a. matrix model

b. spiral model

c. linear model

7. A ______________________

may

focus on skills such as finding the main idea, reading for detail,

note taking, skimming, reading faster, and reading for inferences.

a. reading course

b. speaking course

40



c. survival course

8. defines

a task as “ an activity which requires learners to use language, with

__________________ emphasis on meaning to attain an objective”

a. Crookes (1992)

b. Nation and Wang (1999)

c. Bygate et al.(2001)

9. The unit of progression in a course is usually _________________________________.

a. what the curriculum designer sees as being important for learning

b. the statements of goals and objectives

c. the criterion-referenced testing of learner´s previous knowledge

10. breaks a course into independent non-linear units.

_______________

a. Linear approach

b. Spiral approach

c. Modular approach

Good job!

Let´s see if all the answer are correct

by checking the answer key!

End of unit four!!!!!


41


UNIT 5. FORMAT AND PRESENTATION OF UNITS AND LESSONS

I am looking forward to working together in this unit. I would like to invite you to look at the title of the unit and try to infer what “format” and “presentation” mean.

In curriculum design , format and presentation mean: ______________

_______________________________________

Ok! How did it you do in the task. I am sure you did a great job! Now, read the next topic to extend your ideas and knowledge about this topic. First of all let me tell you that the aim of this unit is to learn how to choose the teaching and learning techniques and design the lesson plans.

As far as you have noticed, organizing language courses involve different overlapping processes like determining the focus or principles that drive the courses; identifying the modules, units or threads of the courses; sequencing contents; determining the specific contents to build and organize each module unit or thread in order to give shape and structure to the courses.

This means that curriculum designers are required to pay special attention on both format and presentation. In fact, it is in this part of the curriculum design process where the data gathered from needs and environment analysis is used to make good decisions to assure desired outcomes of the course.

5.1. Guidelines for Deciding on a Format of a lesson

One of the challenges of developing a course is to make decision on format and at the same time to try to impulse all the parts that build up a course to fit together in an ordered and sequential way in order to facilitate students learning.

The advantages of having a set format for lessons are enormous as you will discover by reading in your textbook. Here you will also find a list of guidelines that will help you to decide on the format of a course and the four strands (meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning and fluency development) , which the author of this book proposes in order for the curriculum designer to propose a balanced range of opportunities for learning and learners.

IMPORTANT!

Dear students: For further ideas you can also see the examples provided by Kathleen Graves’ book, Designing Language Courses: A guide for teachers.

5.2. Following a set Format

Let’s continue studying. The next aspect a curriculum designer needs to consider when designing the format of a lesson is the environment factors such as time, teacher´s skills and role, and the size of the class. Furthermore, it is fundamental to keep in mind that deciding on the format of a lesson involves practical and principled considerations.

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The starting point in course design is the rationale. This means that you should provide a brief and and well-focus description of the reason and nature of the course. Once you have decided Who is the course for?, what is the course about? And what kind of teaching and learning will take place in the course?, you have to review the goals and objectives in order to make decision about a syllabus framework of the syllabus.

Read and analyze the example of lesson format proposed in your textbook. Research other sources to clarify your ideas related to this topic. There is a lot of information on the internet. Check the EVA, there will be some interesting online resources provided there.

Remember that there is an online

library and resources that you can

freely access in the EVA.

Are you ready to set your own language course?. I think so. Go ahead!

Suggested Activity:

Outline the format of a lesson for a language course you want to design.

Strategy: Read the contents of the guide and textbook in order to refresh your knowledge the considerations to do this task.

Congratulations!. You did a good job!.

Now, let’s continue with blocks and threads.

a b o u t

5.3. Blocks and Threads

A language course needs to be mapped in terms of blocks and threads. It is necessary to ensure that the lesson encompasses the objective and contents of the unit, module or thread and syllabus of the course as illustrated in the flow chart.

Figure 8

There are various ways of planning a lesson here are two common ways: blocks and threads. Let´s see! How much do you know about this topic by answering these questions:


43


How are blocks and threads useful in lesson planning? What does a typical block include? How are threads used in planning a lesson?

Some of you have experience using blocks and threads for planning lessons, others have read or heard about it. However, some of you may not have read or heard about them because you have not had the opportunity to be immersed in any teaching experiences. No problem! This is a topic that has been scheduled in the students’ work chronogram at the beginning of the didactic guide to help you to organize time and self-study.

Below is an example of what a lesson plan may include:

Unit: Learn to skim and scan English material for information

Topic: Skimming and scanning information on medical studies about the flue

1. TEFL language objectives:

a. Content Focus:

b. Language Focus:

2. List of the methods and strategies to be used in the lesson:

3. Teacher’s input and guided students practice activities

4. Independent activities used

5. Assessment

6. Closing review and follow up

IMPORTANT

1. Decide on the main teaching techniques and activities

2. Plan the format of the lessons

3. Check the format against principles

4. Write the lessons

Let´s look at the example given in the book. Then read and underline the most important information about the different ways of planning a lesson. You can also make a summary chart, mind map or use any other technique that help you to consolidate learning.

In sum, the use of threads and blocks reduces the need for detailed planning and organization. Threads can be part of blocks. Blocks approach the lesson as a vertical unit meanwhile threads permit to link or relate lessons in a horizontal way through the linked sequence of activities.

44



5.4.

Techniques and Activities

Techniques and activities can be drawn in the moment you design the lessons of a course. Nation and Macalister (2010) consider that that these can be divided into four major types, each having its own cycle of activities, preferred learning goals, and principles of learning.

Dear students! After analyzing the chart below, look for specific information about techniques and activities in your basic textbook. There you will find practical and real examples of teaching techniques and activities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing classified according to the type of task.

See the example below:

Units

Contents

Week

Activities

•

Content Focus

•

Scanning process

Scanning for numbers

Scanning tips

Scanning

for

specialized

•

terms

•

Skimming process

Scanning for definitions of

•

Skimming tips

key terms

Unit 1

•

Language Focus

2 & 3

Scanning for facts

Learn

to

skim

and

scan

•

Verbs

and

tense

Skimming for the general

English

material

for

agreement

(10 hours)

idea in a medical essay

information

•

Adjectives

Selecting the main idea of

•

Adverbs

an article

•

Articles

Group discussion on main ideas

•

Pronouns

Using

compound

•

Vocabulary

adjectives

development

5.5.

Tasks and Presentation

Now that you have analyzed the importance of designing techniques and activities, we can move on to the last topic of this unit.

I invite you to do the following activity.

Suggested activity:

Do the tasks proposed at the end of the chapter of the book.

Strategy: Go through the contents of the unit and book again.

Select a course book you like to do the task

So far, we have looked at goals, content and sequencing, and format and presentation. In the next unit, we will discover how teachers can see where learners are in their learning process and whether they are making effective progress. But before that , please complete the following self-evaluation.


45


Self-evaluation 5

Choose the principle that matches the statement then complete the space:

Fluency

Four strands

Motivation

Integrative motivation

Deliberate learning

Time on task

Depth of processing

Comprehensible input

Output Learning style

1. Learners should process the items to be learned as deeply and as thoughtfully as possible. _____________________

2. There should be opportunity for learners to work with the learning material in ways that most suit their individual learning style. _____________________

3. The course should include language focused learning on the sound system, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and discourse areas. _____________________

4. A course should be presented so that the learners have the most favorable attitudes to the language, to users of the language, to the teacher’s skill in teaching the language, and to their chance of success in learning the language _____________________

5. A course should include a roughly even balance of meaning-focused input, language-focused learning, meaning focused output and fluency activities. _____________________

6. A language course should provide activities aimed at increasing the fluency with which learners can use the language they already know, both receptively and productively. _____________________

7. There should be substantial quantities of interesting comprehensible receptive activity in both listening and reading. _____________________

8. The learners should be pushed to produce the language in both speaking and writing over a range of discourse types. _____________________

46



9. As much time as possible should be spent using and focusing on the second language. _____________________

10. As much as possible, the learners should be interested and excited about learning the language and they should come to value this learning. ____________________


Congratulations!

Now, please check the answer key

at the end of the guide.

47


UNIT 6. CURRICULUM MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

Generally speaking, once the curriculum is implemented it must be carefully assessed, monitored and evaluated. Monitoring and assessing also applies to language courses. Undoubtedly, monitoring and assessing permit the teacher, curriculum or course designer to collect information about learners’ current knowledge and progress, and it can also be a means of encouraging involvement and participation.

Think about a real situation in which a course has been monitored and assessed and answer the following questions: What were the ways in which you evaluate the effectiveness of the last course you taught? Which type of monitoring and assessment did you apply?. If you have not taught a course, choose a course in which you were a learner. And think How and when was the effectiveness of the course evaluated?

The purpose of monitoring and assessing a course is to help you make decisions on both an ongoing and final basis about the course. Now, that you understand the purpose and importance of monitoring and assessing, let’s study the different types.

6.1. Types of Monitoring and Assessment

Let us look at the major types of monitoring and assessment that can occur as part of a course. The graph below contains six types of monitoring and assessment. The choice of one over the other will depend on one’s purpose.

Figure 8

Now! It is time to sit down in a quiet, well-lit and comfortable place to study. There are explanations about each one of the monitoring and assessment types in your textbook. Then, define each type and illustrate with an example.

48



Types of monitoring and assessment

Definition and use

Examples

Placement assessment

Observation of learning

Short-term achievement assessment

Diagnostic assessment

Achievement assessment

Proficiency assessment

I hope you have successfully completed this chart. This information is useful for learning, first, how and when to apply each one of the ways of measuring and evaluating a course or curriculum considering different needs.

REMEMBER TO:

Check the didactic resource provided in the EVA

Dedicate some time every week to study and complete the distance evaluations.

We should now take a look at the criteria for addressing assessment needs.

6.2. Good Assessment: Reliability, Validity and Practicability

Assessing is by nature, a complex undertaking part of the curriculum process and involves not only students but teachers and educational authorities. All assessment needs to be checked to see if it is doing its job properly and if it is not causing unnecessary extra work.

Dear students, as you are going to be future English teachers, you will probably responsible for designing effective English courses ( in our Ecuadorian schools and high schools) based on the conception of assessment as a process not as an end. Assessment, as you have already seen, is a process and not simply something that is done at the end of a course to test students’ knowledge. Consequently, you have to be careful and verify that the procedures including the tools for needs analysis, course evaluation procedures, and tests and other measures for assessment meet the criteria of reliability, validity and practicality.

Part of taking charge of your own learning involves research and reading. For that reason, I would like to invite you to research more in-deph about reliability, validity and practicability.

You have to keep in mind in order to gain a good assessment. How did it go?. I am sure that you did it very good. Now write an essay in which you summarize the three criteria considered for good assessment.


49


The best way of understanding and consolidating learning is by practicing. Tasks 1 and 2 at the end of the chapter of your book are an excellent opportunity for you to practice.

Suggested Activity

Do some research on the washback effect of external test on teaching? List these effects and consider how they would apply to teaching within a course.

Strategy: First do some background reading on what washback means. You can read Prodromou (1995) and Alderson and Wall (1993)

Dear students, we have come to the end of the unit and it is a good opportunity to do the self- evaluation.

50



Self-evaluation 6

	Titulación	Ciclo
	Ciencias de la Educación, Mención: Inglés	VII

				Index
			2.

2. Index .............................................................................................................................................................						3
	3. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................					5
4. Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................						6
	4.1. Basic ............................................................................................................................................					6
	4.2. Complementary .......................................................................................................................					6
	5. General Guidelines to S tudy .........................................................................................................					8
	6. Teaching-learning process to attain competences .......................................................					11
					FIRST TERM
	6.1. Generic Competences ............................................................................................................					11
	6.2. Planning for the student ’s work .........................................................................................					11
	6.3. Evaluation System of the Subject (first and second term) ........................................					15
	6.4. Specific guidelines for the achievemen t of the competences ..................................					16
		UNIT 1. LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN ......................................................................................				16
		1.1. Parts of the curriculum design process ............................................................................				17
		1.2. Environment Analysis ............................................................................................................				20
	Self-evaluation 1 .................................................................................................................................					23
		UNIT 2. NEEDS ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................				25
	2.1. Focuses of Needs Analysis ....................................................................................................					25
	2.2. Evaluating needs analysis ....................................................................................................					26
	2.3. Issues in Needs analysis ........................................................................................................					27
	Self-evaluation 2 .................................................................................................................................					28
	UNIT 3. PRINCIPLES .............................................................................................................................					29
	3.1. Methods and Principles ........................................................................................................					29
	3.2. The twenty principles ............................................................................................................					29
	3.3. The use of principles ..............................................................................................................					30
	Self-evaluation 3 .................................................................................................................................					32
	UNIT 4. GOALS, CONTENT AND SEQUENCING .................................................................................					33
	4.1. Guidelines for deciding or checking the c ontent and sequencing of a course ....					33
	4.2. Goals and con tent ...................................................................................................................					34
	4.3. The units of progression in the course .............................................................................					35
	4.4. Skills, sub-skills				and strategies ...........................................................................................	35
	4.5. Sequencing the content in a course ..................................................................................					36

5.1. Guidelines for Deciding on a F ormat of a lesson ..........................................................		39
5.2. Following a set Format ..........................................................................................................		39
5.3. Blocks and Threads .................................................................................................................		40
5.4. Techniques and Activities .....................................................................................................		42
5.5. Tasks and Presentation .........................................................................................................		42
Self-evaluation 5 .................................................................................................................................		43
UNIT 6. CURRICULUM MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT ..............................................................		45
6.1. Types of Monitoring and Assessment ...............................................................................		45
6.2. Good Assessment: Reliabilit y, Validity and Practicability ..........................................		46
Self-evaluation 6 .................................................................................................................................		48
	SECOND TERM
6.5. Generic Competences ............................................................................................................		49
6.6. Planning for the student ’s	work .........................................................................................	49
6.7. Specific guidelines for the achievemen t of the competences ..................................		51
UNIT 7. EVALUATION ............................................................................................................................		51
7.1. Evaluation, steps, purpose and audience ........................................................................		51
7.2. Type and Focus of the Evaluation ......................................................................................		53
7.3. Gaining Support for the Evaluation ..................................................................................		54
7.4. Formative Evaluation as a Part of a Course .....................................................................		55
7.5. How to use the Results of an Evaluation .........................................................................		56
Self-evaluation 7 .................................................................................................................................		57
UNIT 8. APPROACHES TO CURRICULUM DESIGN ............................................................................		58
8.1. Models of Curric ulum Design ..............................................................................................		58
8.2. Doing Curriculum Design .....................................................................................................		59
8.3. The Process of Curriculum Design ......................................................................................		59
8.4. Deciding on an Approach .....................................................................................................		59
Self-evaluation 8 .................................................................................................................................		61
UNIT 9. SYLLABUSES AND COURSE MATERIALS .............................................................................		62
9.1. Negotiated Syllabuses ...........................................................................................................		63
9.2. Disadvantages and Advantages of a Negotiated Syllabus ........................................		64
9.3. The adoption and adaptation of course books ..............................................................		65
9.4. The Teacher and the Course Material ................................................................................		66
9.5. Evaluating a Course Book .....................................................................................................		66
Self-evaluation 9 .................................................................................................................................		68
UNIT 10. CHANGES IN THE EXISTING CURRICULUM ......................................................................		69
10.1. Steps in introducing changes in the curriculum ...........................................................		69
10.2. Need and size of the change ...............................................................................................		70

	Self-evaluation 10 ..............................................................................................................................	73
	UNIT 11. PLANNING AN IN-SERVICE COURSE .................................................................................	74
	11.1. Features of an Effective Workshop ....................................................................................	74
	11.2. Procedures and Activities for Reaching the Goals ........................................................	75
	11.3. Making Material ......................................................................................................................	75
	11.4. Planning Lessons and Units of Work .................................................................................	76
	11.5. Sequencing the components of a workshop .................................................................	76
	11.6. Teaching and Curriculum Design in daily lessons .........................................................	76
	Self-evaluation 11 ..............................................................................................................................	78
7.	Answer Key ..............................................................................................................................................	79

1. Needs analysis is a process aimed at discovering the parts of the curriculum design process. ( )
2. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987) needs analysis is divided into target needs and learning needs. ( )
3. The findings of needs analysis must be balanced against constrains found in environment analysis. ( )
4. A useful question for gathering information about language in needs analysis is How will the learner use the language? ( )
5. An English teacher who designs an English course for immigrants and a course for medical students choose the same contents to be taught. ( )
6. A needs analysis is valid when it shows relevant and important information to be used as the basis for language course design. ( )
7. Self-report, observation and proficiency tests are types of need analysis. ( )
8. Learners’ scores on standardized proficiency tests like the TOEFL test or the IELTS are useful sources of information in needs analysis. ( )
9. Information in needs analysis could be obtained from a variety of sources like: samples of writing, tests, questionnaires, surveys, reports by teachers, opinions of experts. ( )
10. ( )	Data about the learners’ general proficiency can be gathered by interviewing teachers and authorities.

5. from language use can come from the sender herself, from the people who receive the message, and from an observer of the communication process ( )
	fluency
6. ) (	The more learners spend on language learning the more they learn
	principles
7. In order to achieve better results in a language course, it must contain appropriate amounts of ________________. ( )
	feedback
8. One of the principles of language teaching state that there should be substantial ( )
	quantities of interesting comprehensible	in the two receptive skills.
	the teacher
9. is a part of the skill goal of language learning. ( )
time
10. ( )	Principles can be used to evaluate existing ______________.

–	What do I want my students to learn in this course, know who they are , know their needs, and purpose of the course?
–	What are my options or what can they learn?

–	What are the relationships among the options I have selected?
–	How can I organize these options into a working plan or syllabus?
–	What is the driving force or organizing principle that will pull my syllabus together?

Types of monitoring and assessment	Definition and use	Examples
Placement assessment
Observation of learning
Short-term achievement assessment
Diagnostic assessment
Achievement assessment
Proficiency assessment

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Mgstr. Alba Bitalina Vargas Saritama

Asesoría virtual:

Index

2.

3.

Introduction

4.

Bibliography

5. General Guidelines to Study

UNIT 1. LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN

Self-evaluation 1

UNIT 2. NEEDS ANALYSIS

Self-evaluation 2

UNIT 3. PRINCIPLES

Self-evaluation 3

UNIT 4. GOALS, CONTENT AND SEQUENCING

Self-evaluation 4

UNIT 5. FORMAT AND PRESENTATION OF UNITS AND LESSONS

Self-evaluation 5

UNIT 6. CURRICULUM MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

Self-evaluation 6