Goals, Content and Sequencing

Goals, Content and Sequencing

1. Sequencing the Content in a Course

   • The lessons or units of a course can fit together in a variety of ways
     • The two major divisions are whether the material in one lesson depends on the learning that has occurred in previous lessons (a linear development) or whether each lesson is separate from the others so that the lessons can be done in any order and need not all be done (a modular arrangement)
       • Linear Approaches to Sequenci
         • Most language courses involve linear development, beginning with simple frequent items that prepare for later more complex items.
           • The worst kind of linear development assumes that once an item has been presented in a lesson, it has been learned and does not need focused revision.
             • These include a spiral curriculum,matrix models, revision units and field approaches to sequencing.
               • If we apply this model to a language curriculum, the blocks ofmaterial could be:
                 • (a) lexical sets or areas of vocabulary with less frequent members occurring later in the spiral;(b) high-frequency grammatical patterns and their elaborations with the elaborations occurring later in the spiral;(c) groups of language functions with less useful alternative ways of expressing the function occurring later in the spiral;(d) genres with longer and more complex examples of the genre occurring later in the spiral
                   • A matrix model is somewhat similar to a spiral curriculum,the main difference being that the change when meeting old material again is one of diversity rather than complexity
                     • A matrix model has similar advantages to a spiral curriculum in that there are repeated opportunities to meet and enrich important items.
                       • Revision units are simply an addition to a linear model. At certain points in the linear progression, time is spent revising previously met material.
                         • In a field approach the items to be covered are decided upon and then the learners can start anywhere with the material and end anywhere as long as it is all covered.
               • The advantages of a spiral model are that it provides easily monitored recycling of material, it allows for learners who were left behind to catc hup at the next cycle, and it makes sure that the full value of the most important aspects of the language are dealt with.
         • A Modular Approach to Sequencing
           • We have been looking at linear approaches to sequencing and ways of ensuring repetition within a linear approach.
             • The second major type of approach,a modular approach, breaks a course into independent non-linear units
               • The modules could be skill-based with different modules for listening,speaking, reading and writing, and sub-skills of these larger skills. The modules could be based on language functions, or more broadly situations, dealing with the language needed for shopping, emergency services, travel, the post office and the bank.

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