The Curriculum

The Curriculum

1. DEFINITION

   • specification of the content and the ordering of what is to be taught
   • An educational programme
     • * educational purposes.
     • . *means for assessing
       • the planners, the administrators, the teachers and the learners
     • *the content

2. THE ‘NEW PRAGMATISM’: A MIXED-FOCUS CURRICULUM

   • CURRICULUM POLICY
     • represent the needs of the learners, of the institution, of society, of the teachers and administrators
     • the concept of curriculum renewal
   • NEEDS ANALYSIS
     • ‘one aimed at collecting factual information for the purposes of setting broad goals related to language content
     • aimed at gathering information about learners which can be used to guide the learning process once it is underway
     • The results are applied in the development of programme objectives
   • SYLLABUS DESIGN
     • be expressed in the form of goals or learning objectives
     • Course content is usually presented in the form of a syllabus
     • principles
       • a view of how language is acquired
       • a view of how language is learned
       • a view of how language is used
     • . The syllabus includes all levels all the time,
   • METHODOLOGY
     • Teachers must be reflective, analytic and creative, open to new methods and ideas
     • teaching methodology can reflect curriculum goals, and teachers’ experiences in turn contribute to the process of curriculum renewal.
   • EVALUATION
     • to determine whether or not the curriculum goals have been met
     • to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum
     • It takes place at all stages of planning and implementation of the curriculum

3. MODELS OF CURRICULUM PLANNING

   • THE CONTENT MODEL: CLASSICAL HUMANISM
     • The central focus is the content that It will be transmitted to the learner
     • to think effectively, to communicate thought, to make relevant judgements, to discriminate among values”-Hirst
     • In the English language teaching is underpins the grammar based curriculum
     • the syllabus is concerned with the grammar and vocabulary of the language
   • THE OBJECTIVES MODEL: RECONSTRUCTIONISM
     • the main purpose of education is to bring about some kind of social change.
     • it provides: Clarity of goals, Ease of evaluation and Accountability
     • essential characteristics
       • They must unambiguously describe the behaviour to be performed.
       • They must describe the conditions under which the performance will be expected to occur.
       • They must state a standard of acceptable performance
   • THE PROCESS MODEL: PROGRESSIVISM
     • The purpose of education is to enable the individual to progress towards self-fulfilment
     • rests on learner needs, interests and development processes
     • open to the criticism of subjectivity in the definition of these concepts