Curriculum Development in Language Teaching

Summary

This video series episode delves into curriculum development in language teaching, outlining key processes and considerations. It begins with defining curriculum and its development, then explores needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, methodology, and evaluation. The discussion highlights different curriculum designs, emphasizing the importance of understanding learner needs, setting clear objectives, and selecting appropriate teaching methods to achieve desired learning outcomes.

Takeaways

• 📚 Curriculum refers to the overall plan or design for a course, including how content is transformed into a blueprint for teaching and learning to achieve desired outcomes.
• 🔍 Curriculum development is the process of making decisions about what to teach, how to teach it, and how to assess what is learned, considering goals, content, implementation, and evaluation.
• 📊 Needs analysis is the first step in curriculum development, involving data collection about the target language, learners, delivery system, and learning theory.
• 🎯 Goal setting involves identifying objectives of the teaching-learning program, such as behavioral, content, process, and proficiency objectives.
• 🗂️ Syllabus design is about selecting, presenting, and organizing language content or teaching procedures, with two main categories: linguistic syllabus and procedural syllabus.
• 🏫 Methodology selection depends on linguistic, psycholinguistic, and teaching dimensions, influencing the choice of teaching techniques and strategies.
• 🔍 Evaluation is the final process to determine if the curriculum's goals and objectives are being met, involving formative and summative evaluation.
• 🔄 The order of curriculum development processes can vary: forward design starts with syllabus, central design focuses on methodology, and backward design begins with outcomes.
• 📈 Historically, different curriculum development designs have emerged, prioritizing different processes, but needs analysis and evaluation are universally crucial.
• 🌟 Curriculum development aims to improve the quality of teaching and learning by carefully considering and integrating these five processes: needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, methodology, and evaluation.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of a curriculum in language teaching?

A curriculum in language teaching serves as an overall plan or design for a course, transforming content into a blueprint for teaching and learning to achieve desired learning outcomes.

How does curriculum development differ from curriculum?

Curriculum development refers to the process of making decisions about what to teach, how to teach it, and how to assess what is learned, while curriculum is the plan designed for selecting, presenting, and teaching the content of a course to achieve predetermined outcomes.

What types of data are collected during the curriculum development process?

During curriculum development, data is collected about the target language, learners, delivery system, and learning theory to inform the teaching theory and evaluate difficulties faced by various stakeholders.

What are the five processes involved in curriculum development?

The five processes involved in curriculum development are needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, methodology, and evaluation.

What is the role of needs analysis in curriculum development?

Needs analysis identifies the needs of learners, teachers, administrators, and future employers by providing descriptions of language needs in real-world situations, types of tasks and activities, and the skills, behaviors, attitudes, and motivations necessary for successful language learning.

What are the four types of objectives that must be determined while planning a language curriculum?

The four types of objectives are behavioral objectives, content objectives, process objectives, and proficiency objectives, which relate to the improvement of language proficiency and mastery of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

What is the difference between a linguistic syllabus and a procedural syllabus?

A linguistic syllabus focuses on presenting language content such as grammar, vocabulary, functions, and pronunciation, while a procedural syllabus specifies activities, tasks, and teaching procedures or techniques to be used in teaching.

How does the choice of teaching methodology depend on the dimensions of curriculum development?

The choice of teaching methodology depends on the linguistic, psycholinguistic, and teaching dimensions, which indicate views to language, learning, and teaching techniques and strategies, respectively.

What are the two types of evaluation identified in curriculum development?

The two types of evaluation are formative evaluation, which is ongoing and aims to diagnose and solve problems, and summative evaluation, which measures the effectiveness of a program or curriculum at its end.

What are the three strategies of curriculum development mentioned in the script?

The three strategies of curriculum development are forward design, central design, and backward design, which start with determining what to teach, how to teach it, and expected learning outcomes, respectively.

Why are needs analysis and evaluation processes considered crucial in all curriculum development designs?

Needs analysis and evaluation processes are crucial as they diagnose the needs of stakeholders and evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum, ensuring that the curriculum development is aligned with the actual requirements and outcomes.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Curriculum Development in Language Teaching

This paragraph introduces the topic of curriculum development in language teaching. It begins with defining curriculum as a plan for course content transformation into a teaching and learning blueprint, aiming to achieve desired outcomes. The paragraph discusses the importance of curriculum development, which includes setting learning objectives, selecting content, designing implementation methods, and deciding on evaluation procedures. It emphasizes the need for data collection about the target language, learners, delivery system, and learning theories to inform the curriculum development process. The paragraph outlines the five processes of curriculum development: needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, methodology, and evaluation.

05:02

🎯 The Processes of Curriculum Development

Paragraph 2 delves into the processes of curriculum development, focusing on goal setting. It explains that goal setting involves identifying objectives related to language proficiency improvement across listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Four types of objectives are discussed: behavioral, content, process, and proficiency objectives. Behavioral objectives describe expected learner behaviors and conditions for assessment. Content objectives specify topics and language functions to be covered. Process objectives detail the strategies and techniques learners should use. Proficiency objectives describe different levels of proficiency. The paragraph also introduces syllabus design, distinguishing between linguistic syllabi, which focus on language content, and procedural syllabi, which focus on teaching procedures and activities.

10:03

🏫 Choosing a Teaching Methodology in Curriculum Development

Paragraph 3 discusses the fourth process of curriculum development: selecting a suitable teaching methodology. The choice of methodology depends on three dimensions: linguistic, psycholinguistic, and teaching dimensions. The linguistic dimension views language through structural, functional, or mentalist lenses, influencing the syllabus type. The psycholinguistic dimension considers views on language learning, aligning with second language acquisition theories. The teaching dimension outlines teaching techniques and strategies. The paragraph also explains the difference between formative and summative evaluation, with formative evaluation being ongoing and aimed at improving the program, while summative evaluation measures program effectiveness at the end.

15:05

🔍 Strategies in Curriculum Development

The final paragraph discusses the non-linear nature of curriculum development and the strategies involved. It outlines three main strategies: forward design, central design, and backward design. Forward design starts with determining what to teach and ends with evaluating the product. Central design begins with defining teaching and learning processes, influencing the syllabus and outcomes. Backward design starts with defining learning outcomes and works backward to select a suitable syllabus and methodology. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of each process in curriculum development and how historically, different designs have prioritized certain processes over others.

Keywords

💡Curriculum

Curriculum refers to the overall plan or design for a course, including the content and the blueprint for teaching and learning. It is crucial for achieving desired learning outcomes. In the video, curriculum is discussed as a map that guides how to conduct effective teaching and learning, shaping content into a plan for student performance outputs.

💡Curriculum Development

Curriculum development is the process of making decisions about what to teach, how to teach it, and how to assess what is learned. It encompasses setting learning objectives, selecting content, designing implementation methods, and deciding on evaluation procedures. The video emphasizes that curriculum development is essential for creating an educational system that aligns with the goals and needs of learners.

💡Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is the first step in curriculum development, identifying the needs of learners, teachers, and other stakeholders. It serves to describe language needs in real-world situations, types of tasks and activities for learners, and the skills and motivations necessary for successful language learning. The video uses needs analysis as a foundation for tailoring curriculum to specific contexts and learner requirements.

💡Goal Setting

Goal setting in curriculum development involves identifying the objectives of the teaching and learning program. These objectives are related to improving language proficiency and mastering the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The video highlights that goal setting is crucial for defining the desired outcomes and expected final products of the teaching-learning process.

💡Syllabus Design

Syllabus design is about selecting, presenting, and organizing the language content or teaching procedures for a course. The video distinguishes between linguistic syllabi, which focus on content like grammar and vocabulary, and procedural syllabi, which focus on activities and teaching techniques. Syllabus design is central to structuring the curriculum to meet defined goals.

💡Methodology

Methodology in curriculum development pertains to the teaching techniques, strategies, and procedures used to facilitate learning. The choice of methodology is influenced by views on language, learning, and teaching. The video discusses how different methodologies like audiolingual, communicative language teaching, and task-based language teaching reflect various linguistic and psycholinguistic dimensions.

💡Evaluation

Evaluation in curriculum development is the process of determining whether the goals and objectives of a language teaching program are being attained. It includes formative evaluation, which is ongoing and aims to improve the program, and summative evaluation, which measures the program's effectiveness at the end. The video underscores the importance of evaluation in ensuring the quality and effectiveness of the curriculum.

💡Behavioral Objectives

Behavioral objectives describe the specific behaviors learners should be able to perform, the conditions under which they should perform them, and the criteria for assessing their performance. These objectives are crucial for defining what learners should achieve in terms of language use. The video mentions behavioral objectives as part of the goal-setting process, focusing on observable and measurable learner behaviors.

💡Content Objectives

Content objectives specify the linguistic and communicative content that learners are expected to cover, including topics and language functions. They are presented in terms of what learners will engage with, such as discussing popular topics or performing specific language functions. The video uses content objectives to illustrate what learners should know and be able to do within a curriculum.

💡Proficiency Objectives

Proficiency objectives offer a description of different levels of proficiency in language skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They help create performance indicators or standards to identify the level of learners, from beginners to advanced. The video discusses proficiency objectives as part of the goal-setting process, aiming to outline the developmental trajectory of learners' language skills.

💡Forward Design

Forward design is a strategy in curriculum development that starts with determining what to teach, followed by how to teach it, and concluding with assessing the product. This design is used in developing curricula where the syllabus and input are given priority. The video mentions forward design in the context of traditional methods like the audiolingual approach, where the syllabus is a central focus.

Highlights

Curriculum development in language teaching involves creating a plan for course content and teaching strategies to achieve learning outcomes.

Curriculum is defined as a plan for selecting, presenting, and teaching course content to achieve predetermined outcomes.

Curriculum development includes setting learning objectives, selecting content, designing implementation methods, and evaluating effectiveness.

Data collection is essential for curriculum development, including information about the target language, learners, delivery system, and learning theory.

Needs analysis is the first step in curriculum development, identifying the needs of learners, teachers, and administrators.

Goal setting involves determining objectives related to language proficiency and the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Syllabus design focuses on selecting and organizing language content or teaching procedures for effective teaching.

Two main categories of syllabi are identified: linguistic syllabus and procedural syllabus.

Teaching methodology is chosen based on linguistic, psycholinguistic, and teaching dimensions, influencing the language elements and learning processes.

Evaluation is the final process of curriculum development, ensuring that the program's goals and objectives are being met.

Formative and summative evaluations are used to diagnose and measure the effectiveness of language teaching programs.

Curriculum development processes may not always follow a linear order and can vary based on the design approach.

Forward design emphasizes the syllabus and input, central design focuses on methodology, and backward design stresses goal setting and outcomes.

Needs analysis and evaluation are considered crucial in all curriculum development designs for diagnosing needs and evaluating effectiveness.

Curriculum development aims to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process through a structured approach.

Transcripts

hello everyone welcome again to this

video series in which we discuss

issues related to applied linguistics in

this video we are going to talk about

curriculum development in language

teaching

we are going to cover the following

points we will start with some basic

definitions of curriculum and curriculum

development

and then we will proceed with presenting

the main processes of curriculum

development

and finally conclude with different

designs of curriculum development

first let's agree on a definition of the

key terms

according to richards curriculum refers

to the overall plan

or design for a course and how the

content of this course

is transformed into a blueprint for

teaching

and learning which enables the desired

learning outcomes to be achieved

the same line of thought has been

maintained by wiggins and mactae

stating that curriculum takes content

and shapes it into a plan

for how to conduct effective teaching

and learning

it is a map for how to achieve the

outputs

of desired students performance what we

can take from these two definitions

is that a curriculum is a plan that is

designed for

selecting presenting and teaching the

content of a course

in order to achieve some predetermined

outcomes

or objectives this plan

also includes evaluation procedures that

measure

the extent to which the course has

helped learners to achieve

the intended objectives or learning

outcomes

curriculum development according to

richards refers to the process of making

decisions

about what to teach how to teach it and

how to assess

or measure what is learned in other

words

it is the study of the goals content

implementation and evaluation of an

educational system

a teaching program or a course in light

of this definition

one can understand that curriculum

development consists of

setting the learning objectives

selecting the contents to be taught

designing a method of implementation and

finally deciding on the procedures which

should be followed

in order to evaluate the effectiveness

of the curriculum

richards claims that developing a

language teaching curriculum

requires the collection of data which

serves as

input to the curriculum development

so before we start curriculum

development

we need first to collect information

about the target language

that we intend to teach such as its

linguistic

varieties language usage and the context

in which it is used

second we need to collect information

about the learners

such as their age gender occupations

motivation interests needs attitudes

proficiency and learning styles

third we need to collect data related to

the delivery system

including information about the teaching

learning context

which includes collecting information

about schools

classrooms institutions administrators

teachers materials and the timing

alerted to the teaching learning process

the fourth type of data to be collected

is related to the learning theory

this step consists of deciding on the

most suitable second language

acquisition theory

that will facilitate the learning

process

after this we need to collect data that

inform the teaching theory which

specifies the exact teaching techniques

strategies and methods to be adopted by

teachers finally

curriculum developers have to determine

the procedures that they think

are most effective in evaluating and

assessing

difficulties that are faced by teachers

learners

administrators and material designers

once we have collected these pieces of

information

we can engage in the task of curriculum

development

which in turn is composed of five

processes

or five stages needs analysis

goal setting syllabus design methodology

and evaluation curriculum development

starts with the needs analysis that

allows to identify the needs of learners

teachers administrators and future

employers

the process of needs analysis serves

three principal functions

first it provides a description of the

language needs in real-world situations

second it offers a description of the

types of tasks and

activities in which learners need to

engage so that they could function well

in different contexts and situations

third needs analysis gives a description

of the language

skills behaviors attitudes and

motivations

which language learners must possess in

order to become successful language

learners

the second process of curriculum

development is that of goal setting

goal setting consists of identifying the

objectives of the teaching learning

program

they are generally related to the

improvement of the language proficiency

of the learner

with regard to the mastery of the four

skills

listening speaking reading and writing

generally speaking four types of

objectives must be determined

while planning a language curriculum

these refer to

behavioral objectives content objectives

process

objectives and proficiency objectives

behavioral objectives describe the

behaviors which learners should be able

to perform

such as listening speaking reading

writing as well as the conditions under

which they should perform them

and the criteria which allow the

assessment of the learner's performance

of the behavior

in short behavioral objectives describe

the linguistic

behavior its context and the criteria

for evaluating its appropriateness

process related objectives specify the

processes

techniques and strategies which learners

are expected to use

in order to perform a certain task or

behavior

if the behavior to be performed for

example is

reading a passage process oriented

objectives would indicate whether

learners are expected to use

skimming scanning guessing inferring

or predicting techniques process

oriented objectives are generally

concerned with indicating

how learners are expected to perform a

language behavior

content related objectives specify the

linguistic and communicative content

which learners are expected to cover

including

interesting topics and communicative

language functions

these content-related objectives are

often presented in terms of

topics about which learners will listen

speak

read and write for instance popular

topics in moroccan elt programs

include talking about education food

clothes

culture environment health technology

and human rights to name but a few

content related objectives can also be

presented in terms of

a list of language functions which

should be performed in specific

situations

such as asking for directions making

requests

complaining apologizing and asking for

clarification

proficiency related objectives offer a

description of different levels of

proficiency

these objectives describe the

development of learners proficiency

in the four macro language skills namely

listening speaking reading and writing

they enable teachers and program

developers to create

a set of performance indicators or

standards

that facilitate the task of identifying

the level of learners

whether they are beginners intermediate

or advanced

syllabus design is the third process of

curriculum development

a syllabus generally aims at selecting

presenting

and organizing either the language

content

including grammar vocabulary functions

and skills

or the teaching procedures such as

activities

tasks exercises and techniques to be

used in teaching

thus according to richards one can

identify

two main categories of syllabi the

linguistic syllabus

and the procedural syllabus on the one

hand

the linguistic syllabus focuses on

presenting the language content to be

taught

essentially the language content

consists of

grammar vocabulary functions and

pronunciation

thus two types of linguistic syllabi

are found in the literature of language

teaching

the structural syllabus and the

functional syllabus

the structural syllabus is one that is

organized around grammar and vocabulary

lessons

that prioritize accuracy over fluency

such syllabi are similar to the ones

adopted by the audiolingual

and oral situational methods and the

silent way method

the functional syllabus is organized

around a number of

language functions that aim at

developing communicative competence

based on fluency functional syllabi

are often associated with the notional

functional approach

communicative language teaching and

community language learning for instance

the procedural syllabus on the other

hand is not organized around the

language content

it is developed on specifying activities

tasks and teaching procedures or

techniques which teachers are expected

to use in their classrooms procedural

syllabi

specify the teaching practices and the

learning processes

instead of the language content examples

of this syllabi

are adopted in the task-based language

teaching

the fourth process of curriculum

development involves

choosing a suitable teaching methodology

the choice of a teaching methodology or

method to be used

depends highly on three major dimensions

a linguistic dimension a

psycholinguistic dimension

and a teaching dimension a linguistic

dimension

indicates the view to language there are

three

main views to language which affect the

choice of the language element that

are to be included in a syllabus the

structural view

the functional view and the mentalist

view

the structural view is based on the

correctness of teaching grammar

vocabulary and pronunciation adopting

this view

would lead to a structural syllabus as

in the audiolingual method

the functional view focuses more on

using language as a means of

communication that allows to perform

different functions in different real

life contexts

thus leaning more towards a fluent use

of language

such view is evident in the

communicative approach

and task-based approach the mentalist

view to language states that language

learning can be used to improve the

learner's emotional

cognitive and metacognitive skills by

encouraging critical thinking

problem solving creativity and autonomy

such a view is seen in the silent way

suggestorpedia

and task-based language learning a

psycholinguistic dimension

indicates the view to learning

in order to design a teaching method

curriculum developers must determine

their view to learning

there are many views to how languages

are learned

these have been known as second language

acquisition theories

therefore we find that some methods

adopt the behaviorist view

such as the audiolingual method the

total physical response

and the oral situational approach some

methods

adopt a cognitive approach while others

opt for the

social interactionist or social

constructivist approach

one may observe that most methods which

use a structural view to language

often opt for the behaviorist view to

learning

while others which use a functionalist

view to language

usually adopt a social constructivist or

interactionist view to learning

the teaching dimension specifies the

view to

teaching a method also presents a number

of teaching techniques and strategies

which teachers should use to achieve the

general objectives of the method

for instance the audiolingual method

which adopts a behaviorist perspective

on learning

emphasizes the importance of drilling

repetitions

imitations and error correction as major

teaching techniques

the communicative language teaching uses

interpersonal communication activities

such as role plays conversations problem

solving activities

such astopedia uses music and yoga

techniques to filter out

all negative emotions that may prevent

learners from learning

the last process of curriculum

development is evaluation

the goal of this final process is to

find out whether the goals

and objectives of a language teaching

program are being attained

the evaluation of a curriculum or a

program helps to determine the extent to

which

it is effective in this respect two

types of evaluation are identified

formative evaluation and summative

evaluation

formative evaluation is an ongoing

process that is carried out throughout

the different stages of curriculum

development

and implementation its purpose

is to diagnose potential problems and

weaknesses of the language program

and suggests solutions to these problems

formative evaluation leads to applying

some modifications and revisions to the

program or curriculum

in order to improve its quality and

ensure

higher efficiency formative evaluation

of a language curriculum

addresses several issues such as the

appropriateness of the program's

objectives

the extent to which teachers are

equipped with necessary skills

to teach the new program or the extent

to which

textbooks and other instructional

materials are effective

and suitable to the learners summative

evaluation usually comes at the end of a

program or a curriculum unlike formative

evaluation

summative evaluation does not try to fix

problems of an existing program

it actually measures its effectiveness

in order to make a final decision about

the program

whether to continue using the same

program in case it has succeeded to

attain its objectives

or to opt for an educational reform if

the program

failed to meet its objectives the

decision

is based on evidence and data collected

throughout the period

of implementing the program the

implementation of

curriculum development does not always

follow the same linear order

although it is only logical to start

with needs analysis and conclude with

summative evaluation

the order of the other three processes

of goal setting

syllabus design and methodology is

highly optional to better understand the

different strategies that are used in

curriculum development

richards refers to the dimensions

associated with each one of these

processes

the process of goal setting determines

the overall objectives of the curriculum

in so doing it determines the desired

outcomes

and the expected final products of the

teaching learning process

thus goal setting also explicitly has

the output dimension the process of

syllabus design

has an input dimension as it specifies

the content to be used as input

for the teaching and learning the

methodology defines

how the input is to be taught it

determines techniques

procedures and strategies that

facilitate the attainment of the

objectives

therefore it has the dimension of the

process

developing a language curriculum may

start

with determining what to teach followed

by determine how to teach it

and conclude with assessing the product

the choice of this order

is called the forward design such design

is used in developing curricula of the

audiolingual method

oral situational approach and

content-based instruction another

strategy of curriculum development

is to start with defining the teaching

learning processes or methodology

and then let them determine the input

and the learning outcomes

this is called the central design this

type of curriculum design

emerged in the 70s of the 20th century

with the appearance of the designer

methods

which rejected the idea of a

predetermined syllabus

such as the total physical response

silent way

the natural approach and the community

language learning

the third strategy that is used in

curriculum development

is known as the backward design it

starts with determining the learning

outcomes

expected products and objectives and

then work backward to decide

on a suitable syllabus and methodology

which will facilitate the achievement of

these

outcomes the backward design is more

popular in the task-based language

teaching

competency-based language teaching and

standards-based approach

in conclusion curriculum development

includes five processes

referring to needs analysis goal setting

syllabus design methodology and

evaluation

each one of these processes plays a

central role

in improving the quality of the teaching

learning process

historically speaking there were times

when one process was given

priority over others and this has led

the emergence of

different curriculum development designs

the forward design has given importance

to the syllabus

input the central design has drawn

attention to the methodological

processes

and the backward design has stressed the

importance of goal setting

and predefining learning outcomes

needs analysis and evaluation processes

have been taken for granted

and considered crucial in all three

designs

due to their role in diagnosing the

needs

and evaluating the effectiveness of the

curriculum