DENISE FINNEY

ELT CURRICULUM: A Flexible Model for a

Changing World

Elt Language Curriculum

Curriculum? What for?Planning (why)Program Implementation (how)Evaluation (how well)

Curriculum Design

The question - what knowledge, skills and attributes as a learner should a student be able to show on successful completion of the learning experience? - frames the key design questions:

How should students' progress towards the intended learning outcomes be assessed?

What learning and teaching interactions should be provided to guide students' learning?

What content (knowledge, skills, values and applications in context) should be incorporated to contribute to the students' learning experience?

Elt Language Curriculum

The key concepts which frame curriculum design in languages education are:

language, culture, and understanding the relationship between the two.

This relationship shapes language learning as an intercultural process, focused on interpreting and creating meaning.

Elt Language Curriculum

The curriculum design for an ELT Curriculum: Languages draws upon the key concepts and understanding.

It is based on a set of aims, interrelated strands and knowledge, skills and understanding that underpin the learning of languages.

Learning another language allows students to gain a knowledge and an understanding of the cultures that use that language.

Models of Curriculum Planning

Content Model*Classical HumanismObjectives Model* ReconstructionismProcess Model* Progressivism

The Content Model

The central focus of the curriculum in this model is the content of what is to be learned by the learner.

The content is Knowledge. It is universal, unchanging and absolute.This model underpins the grammar-based curriculum.

The syllabus is concerned with Grammar and vocabulary :

* Drilling of grammatically correct sentences* Explanation of theory* Memorization of lists of vocabulary

The Content Model

The purposes are to transmit knowledge of the language system and to make sure tha students master grammar rules and vocabulary.

The assessment is based on the learner´s ability to produce grammatically accurate language.

This model does not take into account the abilities or problems of the individual learner or the complexities of the learning process itself.

The Objectives Model: Reconstructionism

The starting point for this modelof curriculum planning is no longer the content, but the Objectives of the teaching learning program.

The main purpose of education is to bring about some kind of social change.

The influential curriculum designer E.W Tyler promoted the use of behavioral objectives (1930’s).

Mager (1962) gave the clearest definition of behavioral objectives:

They have three elements: behavior, conditions, criterion.

The Objectives Model: Reconstructionism

This model provides:

1) Clarity of goals Objectives are clear to the teacher and the

learners2)Ease of Evaluation Specified objectives can be easily evaluated3) Accountability Clear methods for needs clarification

The Process Model: Progressivism

The purpose of education is to enable the individual to progress towards self-fulfillment.

It is concerned with the development of understanding not just the “passive” reception of knowledge r the acquisition of specific skills.

Objectives are set in terms of the process and procedures by which the individual develops understanding and awareness and creates possibilities for future learning.

A Mixed-Focus Curriculum

The framework most applicable ELT today is an integrated approach, an attempted “synthesis of the product-oriented ends-mean model and the “processed-oriented” approach.(Nunan, 1988)

A Mixed-Focus Curriculum

Curriculum policy

Needs analysis According to Brindley, 1989: Product-oriented view of needs which focuses on the

language and carried out by “experts” (Narrow, language content)

Process-oriented view of needs which takes into account learner motivation and interests, and learning styles (Broad, learners)

Syllabus design Merhodology Evaluation