How to design a language curriculum

Xue Zhang

3 May 201604:31

Summary

TLDRThis video script offers a comprehensive guide to designing a language curriculum. It outlines five critical steps: conducting a needs analysis of students, setting clear goals and objectives, preparing teaching materials, presenting effective teaching, and planning for assessment. The process emphasizes understanding student needs, aligning goals with proficiency standards, selecting appropriate materials, engaging students in learning activities, and assessing their progress in relation to their learning process and outcomes.

Takeaways

📚 A language curriculum is a comprehensive plan that includes planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating teaching activities.
🔍 It consists of five main parts: students' needs analysis, goals and objectives, materials, teaching, and assessment.
👨‍🎓 Conduct a thorough students' needs analysis to understand their language proficiency, native language, prior knowledge, expectations, and needs.
🎯 Establish clear goals and objectives, ensuring they align with language proficiency standards and are broken down into attainable lesson outcomes.
📚 Prepare teaching materials by selecting appropriate textbooks, worksheets, and equipment to support the learning process.
🏫 Present teaching in an effective manner, activating students' prior knowledge, facilitating new information acquisition, and providing practice opportunities.
📊 Plan for assessment by determining the types of assessments and their timing, ensuring they are linked to the instruction and focus on the learning process.
🤔 Ask five types of questions during the needs analysis: problem, priority, abilities, attitudes, and solution to fully understand the students' context.
📝 Include both content and language objectives when defining lesson outcomes to ensure a well-rounded curriculum.
🔄 Consider adopting, adapting, or developing teaching materials based on the students' needs and the curriculum's goals.
👀 Focus on assessing what students have learned and their learning process, not just the outcome, to motivate and understand their performance.

Q & A

What is a language curriculum?
-A language curriculum is an overall product of planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating teaching activities, composed of five parts: students' needs analysis, goals and objectives, materials, teaching, and assessment.
What are the five steps to design a language curriculum?
-The five steps to design a language curriculum are: 1) conducting students' needs analysis, 2) writing clear goals and objectives, 3) preparing teaching materials, 4) presenting teaching effectively, and 5) planning for assessment.
What should be included in a students' needs analysis?
-Students' needs analysis should include English language proficiency, native language literacy, previous schooling, prior knowledge, learner expectations from the course, and learner needs for the target language.
What are the five types of questions to ask during the gathering of information for students' needs analysis?
-The five types of questions to ask are: problem to identify issues, priority to identify important learning areas, abilities to identify strengths and weaknesses, attitudes to identify feelings and attitudes towards language study, and solution to ask about cultural, linguistic, family, interest, and other related questions.
How should goals and objectives be defined in a language curriculum?
-Goals should be general statements of learning outcomes, while objectives are specific statements of attainable lesson outcomes. Goals should be aligned with English language proficiency standards, and then broken down into objectives.
What types of objectives should be addressed when writing a language curriculum?
-Both content objectives and language objectives should be addressed when writing a language curriculum.
What materials should be prepared for teaching in a language curriculum?
-Teaching materials should include proper textbooks, worksheets for practice, and useful equipment to engage students in the teaching process.
How should teaching be presented effectively in a language curriculum?
-Teaching should be presented by activating students' prior knowledge, considering useful teaching and learning activities for acquiring new information, and providing opportunities for students to practice and refine their knowledge and language skills.
What should be considered when planning for assessment in a language curriculum?
-Assessment should consider the forms of assessment to use and when to use them, always linking assessment to instruction. It should focus on what students have learned, their motivation, attitude, learning performance, and achievement.
Why is it important to link assessment to instruction in a language curriculum?
-Linking assessment to instruction ensures that students are assessed on what they have learned rather than what they haven't, focusing on the learning process and not just the outcome.
What is the expected outcome of following the five steps to design a language curriculum?
-Following the five steps will produce an effective language curriculum that meets students' needs and supports their language learning effectively.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Language Curriculum Design

This paragraph introduces the concept of a language curriculum, which is a comprehensive plan encompassing planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of teaching activities. It is composed of five parts: students' needs analysis, goals and objectives, materials, teaching, and assessment. The paragraph outlines a five-step process for designing an effective language curriculum: conducting a students' needs analysis, setting clear goals and objectives, preparing teaching materials, presenting teaching effectively, and planning for assessment. Each step is crucial for creating a curriculum that meets students' language learning needs and aligns with proficiency standards.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Language Curriculum

A language curriculum refers to the structured planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of language teaching activities. It includes the goals, materials, and assessments designed to guide learners in acquiring language skills. In the video, it is explained as the overall product created by following specific steps, such as needs analysis and assessment.

💡Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is the process of gathering and analyzing information about the learners' language proficiency, previous schooling, literacy levels, and expectations. This step is crucial for designing a curriculum that addresses learners' specific language needs, as emphasized in the first step of the video.

💡Goals and Objectives

Goals are broad statements of what learners are expected to achieve, while objectives are specific, measurable outcomes that align with those goals. In the video, the curriculum design process includes breaking down the general goals into specific objectives to ensure clarity in instruction and assessment.

💡Materials

Materials refer to the resources used to support language learning, such as textbooks, worksheets, and equipment. The video highlights the importance of either adopting, adapting, or developing materials that align with the learners' needs and the teaching goals. Choosing appropriate materials is a key step in the curriculum design process.

💡Assessment

Assessment is the process of evaluating learners' progress and understanding throughout the course. The video stresses the importance of linking assessments to what has been taught, focusing on learners' achievements and their learning process rather than just outcomes. Different forms of assessments are discussed.

💡Proficiency Standards

Proficiency standards refer to the benchmarks used to measure learners' language skills at different levels. In the video, aligning curriculum goals with proficiency standards ensures that the learners' progress meets established criteria, helping to guide the objectives and assessments within the curriculum.

💡Teaching Strategies

Teaching strategies refer to the methods and approaches used to present lessons and engage students in learning. The video outlines how teachers should activate prior knowledge, choose appropriate activities, and provide opportunities for practice to enhance the learning experience. Effective teaching strategies are vital for achieving curriculum objectives.

💡Learner Expectations

Learner expectations encompass the goals, aspirations, and requirements that students bring to the language course. These expectations must be identified during the needs analysis stage, as described in the video, to tailor the curriculum to address the students' desires and motivations for learning the language.

💡Cultural and Linguistic Factors

Cultural and linguistic factors include students' background influences, such as family language practices, cultural norms, and personal experiences. The video emphasizes that understanding these factors helps teachers frame their instruction in a way that resonates with students and supports effective learning.

💡Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes refer to the specific skills or knowledge that learners are expected to gain by the end of the course. The video discusses how learning outcomes should be tied to both the goals and assessments, ensuring that the curriculum is designed with clear expectations for student achievement in mind.

Highlights

A language curriculum is a comprehensive product of planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating teaching activities.

It consists of five parts: students' needs analysis, goals and objectives, materials, teaching, and assessment.

Conduct a students' needs analysis to understand their language learning needs.

Gather and analyze information including English language proficiency, native language literacy, previous schooling, prior knowledge, learner expectations, and needs for the target language.

Ask five types of questions to identify problems, priorities, abilities, attitudes, and solutions related to the target students.

Define clear goals and objectives, with goals being general statements of learning outcomes and objectives being specific, attainable lesson outcomes.

Align goals with English language proficiency standards and break them down into objectives.

Prepare teaching materials by adopting, adapting, or developing them to support the teaching of what students should learn.

Choose proper textbooks, worksheets, and equipment to engage students in the teaching process.

Present teaching in an effective way by activating students' prior knowledge, considering useful activities for new information acquisition, and providing practice opportunities.

Plan for assessment by considering the forms of assessment and linking them to instruction.

Assess students on what they have learned, focusing on the learning process and not just the outcome.

Consider students' motivation, attitude, learning performance, and achievement in the assessment.

Following the five steps will produce an effective language curriculum.