SUMMARY OF CURRICULUM

Chapter 1

The Origins of Language of Language Curriculum Development

Language curriculum development is an aspect of a broader field of education activity known as curriculum development or curriculum studies. Curriculum development focuses on determining what knowledge, skills and values student learn in schools, what experiences should be provided to bring about intended learning outcomes and how teaching and learning in schools or educational system can be planned, measured, and evaluated.

1.   Historical background 

The history of curriculum development in language teaching starts with the notion of the syllabus design. Syllabus design is one aspect of curriculum development but is not identical with it. A syllabus is a specification of the content of a course of instruction and list what will be taught and tested. Thus the syllabus for a speaking course might specify the kinds of oral skills that will be taught and practice during the course, the function, topics, or other aspects of conversation that will be taught, and the order in which they will appear in the course. Syllabus design is the process of developing a syllabus.

2.   Vocabulary selection

Vocabulary is one of the most obvious components of language and one of the first things applied linguist turned their attention to. What words should be taught in second language? This depends on the objectives of the course and then amount of time available for teaching. Educated native speaker are thought to have a recognition vocabulary of some 17,000 words, but this a much larger number of words then can be taught in a language course.  Not all the words that native speaker know are necessary useful for second language learners who have only a limited time available for learning.                               

3.   Grammar selection and gradation

The need for a systematic approach to selecting grammar for teaching purposes was also priority for applied linguist from the 1920s. the number of syntactic structures In language is large, as is seen from the contents of any grammar book, and a number of attempts have been made to develop basic structure list for language teaching (e.g., Fries 1952; Hornby 1954; Alexander, Allen, Close, and O’Neill 1975). The need for grammatical selection  is seen in the following examples from Wilkins (1976, 59), which are some of the structures that can be used for the speech act of ‘asking permission’.

4.   Assumption underlying early approaches to syllabus design

We can now examine the assumption behind the approaches to syllabus design that emerged in the first part of the twentieth century and in the process reveal the limitations that subsequent directions in syllabus design sought to address.

v  The basic units of language are vocabulary and grammar.

v  Learners everywhere have the same needs.

v  Learners’ needs are identified exclusively in terms of language needs.

v  The process of learning a language is largely determined by the textbook.

v  The context of teaching is English as a foreign language.

5.   Discussion questions and activities

A.    This book is about planning and implementing language courses and materials.

B.    What is difference between syllabus design  and curriculum development

C.    How are syllabus developed in language programs you are familiar with?

D.   What are the characteristics of a language teaching method? In what ways do methods raise issues related to curriculum development?

E.    How relevant are the issues of selection and gradation to language teaching today? What factor influence current views of selection and gradation?

F.    Examine a low-level language teaching text. What factors influence the selection and gradation of grammatical item in the text?

G.   Are the concepts of selection and gradation compatible with the use of authentic texts or sources in language teaching

Chapter 2

From Syllabus Design to Curriculum Development

The approach to syllabus design outline in chapter 1 was largely sufficient to support language teaching up to the 1955s. This consisted of a focus on general English using materials graded for their vocabulary level and linguistic difficultly.

1.   The quest for new methods

All of these developments supported the need for a practical command of English for people in many parts of the world rather than an academic mastery of the language as one might acquire in a typical school course. The initial response of the English-language teaching profession was to explore new directions in methodology. It was assumed that in order to meet the changing needs of language learners. More-up-to-date teaching methods were needed that reflected the latest understandings of the nature of language and of language learning. The methodology had the following characteristics:  

Ø  A structural syllabus with graded vocabulary levels

Ø  Meaningful presentation of structures in contexts through the use of situations to contextualize new teaching points

Ø  A sequence of classroom activities that went from presentation, to controlled practice, to freer production ( the P P P method) 

2.   Changing needs for foreign languages in Europe

In 1969, the Council of Europe (a regional organization of European countries designed to promote cultural and educational cooperation). In order to promote the more effective learning of foreign languages within the community, decided that.

Ø  If full understanding is to be achieved among the countries of Europe, the language barriers between them must be removed;

Ø  Linguistic diversity is part of the European cultural heritage and that it should, thorough the study of modern languages, provide a source of intellectual enrichment rather than an obstacle to unity;

Ø  Only if the study of modern European languages becomes general will full mutual understanding and cooperation be possible in European.

3.   English for specific purpose

The concern to make language courses more relevant   to learners’ needs also led during this period to the emergence of the languages for specific purpose (LSP) movement, known in English-language teaching circles as ESP (English for Specific Purpose). The ESP approach to language teaching began as a response to a number of practical concerns:

Ø  The need to prepare growing of non-English background students for study at American and British universities from the 1950s

Ø   The need to prepare materials to teach students who had already mastered general English, but now needed English for use employment, such as non-English background  doctors, nurses, engineers, and scientists

Ø  The need for materials for people needing English for business purposes

Ø  The need to teach immigrants the language needed to deal with job situations.

4.   Needs analysis in ESP

In ESP learner’s needs are often described in terms of performance, that is, in terms of what be learner will be able to do with the language at the end of a course of study. Whereas in a general English course the goal in usually on overall mastery of the language that can be tested on a global language test, the goal an ESP course is to prepare the learners to carry out a specific task or set of task. Robinson (1980, 11) comments:

Munby (1978), in influential book of the tome, describes a systematic approach to needs analysis in ESP course design and focuses on two dimension of needs analysis: the procedures used to specify the target-level communicative competence of the student, and procedures for turning the information so gathered into on ESP syllabus. The Munby model described the kind of information needed to develop a profile of the learner’s communicative needs and is summarized by Schutz and Derwingn b(1981, 32) as follows;

Profiles of communicative needs:

1.    Personal: Culturally significant information about the individual, such as language background.

2.    Purpose: Occupational or educational objective for which the target language is required

3.    Setting: Physical and psychosocial setting in which the target language is required.

4.    Interactional variables: Such as the role relationship to be involved in the target language use.

5.    Medium, mode, and channel: Communicative means.

6.    Dialects: Information on dialects to be utilized.

7.    Target level: Level of competence required in the target language.

8.    Anticipated communicative event: Micro- and macro-activities.

9.    Key: The specific manner in which communication is actually carried out.

5.   Communicative language teaching

The emergence of ESP with its emphasis on needs analysis as a starting point in language program design was an important factor in the development of current approaches to language curriculum development. a second influence was the communicative approach to language teaching that emerged in the late  1960s and 1970s as a replacement for the structural – situational  and audio-lingual method. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a broad approach to teaching that resulted from a focus on communicating as the organizing principle for teaching rather than a focus o mastery of the grammatical system of the language.

Chapter 3

Needs Analysis

             One of the basic assumptions of curriculum development is that a sound educational program should be based on an analysis of learners’ needs. Needs analysis was introduced into language teaching through the ESP movements. From the 1960s, the demand for specialized language programs grew and applied linguists increasingly began to employ needs analysis procedures in language teaching. By the 1980s, in many parts of the world a ‘needs-based philosophy’ emerged in language teaching, particularly in relation to ESP and vocationally oriented program design (Brindley 1984).

1.   The purposes of needs analysis

Needs analysis in language teaching may be used for a number of different purposes, for examples:

a.    To find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such as sales manager, tour guide, or university student

b.    To help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential student

c.    To determine which student from a group are most in need of training in particular language skills

d.    To identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel is important.

2.   What are needs?

Needs are often described in terms of language needs, that is, as the language skills needed to survive in a English-dominant society. But as Acerbic (1995) and others have pointed out, in many cases, particularly that of immigrant minorities in English-dominant societies, such person also have others kinds of needs. Theses relate to housing, health care, access to schooling for their children, access to community agencies and services, and ways of addressing exploitation and discrimination in the workplace.

a.    The user of needs analysis

A needs analysis may be conducted for a variety of different user. For example, in conducting a needs analysis to help revise the secondary school English curriculum in a country, the end user includes:

A.    Curriculum officers in the ministry of education, who may wish to use the information to evaluate the adequacy of exiting syllabus, curriculum, and materials

B.    Teachers who will teach from the new curriculum

C.    Learners, who will be taught from the curriculum

D.   Writers, who are preparing new textbooks

E.    Testing personal, who are involved in developing end-of-school assessments

F.    Staff of tertiary institutions, who interested in knowing what the expected level will be of students exiting the schools and what problems they face.

b.   The target population

The target population in a needs analysis refers to the people about whom information will be collected. Typically, in language program these will be language learners or potential language learners, but others are also often involved defending on whether they can provide information useful in meeting the purposes of the need analysis. For example, in conducting a needs analysis to determine the focus of an English program in public secondary schools in an EFL context, the target population might include:

v  Policy markers

v  Ministry of education officials

v  Teachers

v  Students

v  Academics

v  Employers

v  Vocational training specialist

v  Parents

v  Influential individuals and pressure groups

v  Academic specialist

v  Community agencies 

c.    Administering the needs analysis

Planning a need involves deciding who will administer the needs analysis and collect and analyze the results. The analyses vary in their scope and demands. From a survey of a whole school population in a country to a study of a group of thirty learners in a single situation. Sometimes a team of personnel is assembled specifically for the purpose of doing the analysis; at other times two or three interested teachers may be the only ones involved.

d.    Procedures for conducting needs analysis   

A variety of procedures can be used in conducting needs analysis and the kind of information obtained is often dependent on the type of procedure selected. Since any one source of information is likely to be incomplete or partial, a triangular approach is advisable.

Procedure for collecting information during a needs analysis can be selected from among the following:

v  Questionnaires

v  Self-rating

v  Interview

v  Meeting

v  Observation

v  Collecting learner language samples

v  Task analysis

v  Case studies

v  Analysis of available information

e.    Designing the needs analysis

Designing a needs analysis involves choosing from among the various options discussed above and selecting those that are likely to give a comprehensive view of learners’ needs and that represent the interest of the different stakeholders involved. Decisions have to be made on the practical procedures involved in collecting, organizing, analyzing, and reporting the information collected.

f.     Making use of the information obtained

The results of a needs analysis will generally consist of information taken from several different sources and summarized in the form of ranked lists of different kinds. For example, it might result in lists of the following kind:

v  Situations in which English is frequently used

v  Situations in which difficulties are encountered

v  Comments most often made by people on learners performance

v  Frequencies with which different transaction are carried out

v  Perceived difficulties with different aspect of language use

v  Preferences for different kinds of activities in teaching.

3.   Discussion questions and activities

A.    Needs analysis is very applicable in situations where students have very specific language needs. However, it can also be used in situation where learners’ needs are not so specific, as in the case of students learning English as a foreign language in a school setting. What might the focus of needs analysis be in this situation?

B.    If you were planning a need analysis for the situation in which you teach, what information would you seek to obtain?

C.    Discuss the concept of “stakeholders” in planning a need analysis in relation to context you are familiar with. How can the concern of different stakeholders be addressed?

D.   If you were designing a needs analysis for secretaries working in business offices, what target population would you include in the needs analysis? What kind of information would you needs from each member of the target population?

E.    Suggest for different needs analysis procedures that could be used to collect information about the language needs of hotel telephone operators. What are the advantages and limitations of each procedure?

F.    Suggest situation in which a case study would provide useful information during a needs analysis

G.   Design a short questionnaire designed to investigate the language needs of tour guides. What issues will the questionnaire address? What type of items will you include in the questionnaire?

Chapter 4

Situation Analysis

This is the focus of situation needs analysis. Situation analysis is an analysis of factors In the context of a planned or present curriculum project that is made in orders to asses their potential impact on the project. These factors may be political, social, economic or institutional. Situation analysis complements the information gathered during needs analysis. It is sometimes considered as a dimension of needs analysis, and can also be regarded as an aspect of evaluation. There many factors we will be explaining in this section such as social factors, project factors, institutional factors, teacher factors, learners’ factors, and adoption factors.

1.   Societal  factors

Second or foreign language teaching is a fact of life in almost every country in the world. Yet countries differ greatly in terms of the role of foreign languages in the community, their status in the curriculum, educational traditions and experience in language teaching, and the expectations that members of the co          mmunity have for language teaching and learning. The promotion of foreign language teaching is consequently needed, and there is a greater interest in novel teaching methods. In examining the impact of societal factors on language teaching, therefore, the aim is to determine the impact of groups in the community or society at large on the program. These groups include:

Ø  Police markers in governments

Ø  Educational and others government officials

Ø  Employers

Ø  The business community

Ø  Politicians

Ø  Tertiary education specialists

Ø  Educational organizations

Ø  Parents

Ø  Citizens

Ø  Students

2.   Project factors

  Curriculum project are typically produced by a team of people. Members of the team may be specialists who are hired specifically for the purpose, they may be classroom teachers who are seconded to the project may be carry out by teachers and others staff of teaching institution as part of their regular duties. Projects are completed under different constraints of time, resources, and personnel and each of these variables can have a significant impact on a project.

3.   Institutions factors

A language teaching program is typically delivered in an institution such as a university, school, or language institute. Different types of institution create their own ‘culture,’ that is, setting where people interact and where pattern emerge for communication, decision making, role relations, and conduct. A teaching institution is a collection of teachers, groups, and departments, sometimes functioning independently, or sometimes with components in a confrontational relationship.

a.    Teachers factors

Teachers are key factors in the successful implementation of curriculum changes. Exceptional teachers can often compensate for the poor-quality resources and materials they have to work form. But inadequately trained teachers may not be able to make effective use of teaching materials not matter how well they are designed.

b.   Learners factors

Learners are key participants in curriculum development projects and it is essentials to collect as much information as possible about them before the project begins. Here the focus is on other potentially relevant factors such as the learner’s backgrounds, expectations, beliefs, and preferred learning styles.

c.    Adoption factors

Any attempt to introduce a new curriculum, syllabus, or set of materials must take into account the relative ease or difficulty of introducing change into the system. Curriculum changes are of many different kinds. They may affect teachers’ pedagogical values and beliefs, their understanding of the nature of language or second language learning, or their classroom practices and use of teaching materials.

d.    Profiling the factors identified in the situation analysis

Situation analysis thus serves to help identify potential obstacles to implementing a curriculum project and factors that need to be considered when planning the parameters of a project. The next step in curriculum planning involves using the information collected during needs analysis and situation analysis as the basis for developing program goals and objectives.

Chapter 5

Planning Goals and Learning Planning

In this chapter we will consider another crucial dimension of decision making in curriculum planning: determining the goals and outcomes of a program. Several key assumptions about goals characterize the curriculum approach to educational planning. These can be summarized as follows:

v  People are generally motivated to pursue specific goals

v  The  use of goals in teaching improves the effectiveness of teaching and learning

v  A program will be effective to the extent that is goals are sound and clearly described.

1.   The ideology of the curriculum

In developing goals for educational programs, curriculum planners draw on their understanding both of the present and long-term needs of learners and of society as well as the planners’ beliefs and ideologies about schools, learners and teacher. These beliefs and values provide the philosophical underpinnings for educational programs and the justification fort he kinds of aim they contain.

2.   Starting curriculum outcomes

In curriculum discussions, the terms goal and aim are used interchangeably to refer to a description of the general purposes of a curriculum and objective to refer to more specific and concrete description of purposes. We will use the terms aim and objective here. An aim refers to a statement of a general change that a program seeks to bring about learners. The purposes of aim statements are:

Ø  To provide a clear definition of the purposes of a program

Ø  To provide guidelines for teachers, learners, and materials writers

Ø  To help provide a focus for instruction

Ø  To describe important and realizable changes in learning.

3.   No language outcomes and process objectives 

A language curriculum typically includes other kinds of outcomes apart from language-related objectives of the kind described above. If the curriculum seeks to reflect values related to learner centeredness, social   deconstructionism, or cultural pluralism, outcomes related to these values will also need to be includes. Because such outcomes go beyond the content of a linguistically oriented syllabus, they are sometimes referred to as no language outcomes. Those that describe learning experiences rather than learning outcomes are also known as process objectives.

Categories of no language outcomes in their teaching:

Ø  Social, psychological, and emotional support in the new living environment.

Ø  Confidence

Ø  Motivation

Ø  Cultural understanding

Ø  Knowledge of the Australia community context

Ø  Learning about learning

Ø  Clarification of goals

Ø  Access and entry into employment, further study, and community life.

Chapter 6

Course Planning and Syllabus design

              A   number of different levels of planning and development are involved in developing a course or set of instructional materials based on the aims and objectives that have been established for a language program. In this chapter we will examine the following dimensions of course development:

v  Developing a course rationale

v  Describing entry and exit levels

v  Choosing course content

v  Sequencing course content

v  Planning the course content (syllabus and instructional blocks)

v  Preparing the scope and sequence plan.

1.   The Course Rationale

The rationale thus serves the purposes of :

v  Guiding the planning of the various components of the course

v  Emphasizing the kinds of teaching and learning the course should exemplify

v  Providing a check on the consistency of the various course components in terms of the course values and goals.

2.   Describing the entry and exit level

         In order to plan a language course, it is necessary to know the level at which the program will start and the level learners may be expected to reach at the end of the course. An approach that has been widely used in language program planning is identifying different levels of performance or proficiency in the form of band levels or points on a proficiency scale. These describe what a student is able to do at different stages in a language program.

3.   Choosing course content

A writing course could potentially be planned around any of the following types of content:

v  Grammar (Using the present tense in description)

v  Functions(Describing likes and dislike)

v  Topic (Writing about world issues)

v  Skill (developing topic sentences)

v  Processes (Using prewriting strategies)

v  Texts (Writing a business letter)

         The planning of course content, as do additional ideas from the following sources:

v  Available literature on the topic

v  Published materials on the topic

v  Review of similar courses offered elsewhere

v  Review of tests or exams in the area

v  Analysis of students’ problems

v  Consultation with  teachers familiar with the topic

v  Consultation with specialists in the area

4.   Determining the scope and sequence

Decisions about course content also need to address the distribution of content throughout the course. This is known as planning the scope and sequence of the course. Scope is concerned with the breadth and depth of coverage of items in the course that is with the following questions:

v  Simple to Complex

v  Chronology

v  Need

v  Prerequisite learning

v  Whole to part or part to whole

v  Spiral sequencing

5.   Planning the course structure

Selecting a syllabus framework

A syllabus describes the major elements that will be used in planning a language course and provides the basis for its instructional focus and content.

v  Situational

v  Topical

v  Functional

v  Task-based

Developing instructional blocks

v  To make the course more teachable and learnable

v  To provide a progression in level of difficulty

v  To create overall coherence and structure for the course.

6.   Preparing the scope and sequence plan

        Once a course has been planned and organized, it can be described. One form in which it can be described is as a scope and sequence plan.

Chapter 7

Providing For Effective Teaching

Quality teaching is achieved not only as a consequence of  how well teachers teach but through creating contexts and work environments that can facilitate good teaching. The following issues will be considered in this chapter:

Ø  Institutional Factors

Ø  Teaching  Factors

Ø  Teaching Factors

Ø  Learner Factors

1.    The Institution

The organizational culture

The organizational culture of a school refers to the ethos and environment that exist within a school, the kind of communications and decision making that place,and the management and staffing structure they support.

Quality indicators in an institution

·         There are clearly stated educational goals

·         There is a well-planned, balance, and organized program that meets the needs of its students.

·         Systematic and identifiable processes exist for determining educational needs in the school and placing them in order of priority.

·         There is a commitment to learning, and an expectation that students will do well.

·         There is a high degree of staff involvement in developing goals and making decisions.

·         There is a motivated and cohesive teaching force with good team spirit.

·         Administrators are concerned with the teacher’s professional development and are able to make the best use of their skill and experience.

·         The school’s programs are regularly reviewed and progress toward their goals is evaluated.

2.    The teaching context

The last set of factors that affect the quality of teaching in a program relate to the institution context in which teachers work.

Ø  Size and staff structure

Ø  Equipment

Ø  Support Staff

Ø  Teacher work space

Ø  Teacher Resource room

Ø  Teaching facilities

Ø  Class size

3.    The Teachers

              Many things can be done to create a context for good teaching, but it is teachers themselves who ultimately determine the success of a program. Good teachers can often compensate for deficiencies in the curriculum, the materials, or the resources they make use of in their teaching. In this section, we will consider the teachers themselves and how their role can be supported in a program.

Skill and qualifications

A profession is characterized by:

Ø  A homogeneous consensual knowledge base

Ø  Restricted entry

Ø  High social status

Ø  Self-regulation

Ø  The legal right to govern daily work affairs

               Support for teachers

Ø  Orientation

Ø  Adequate materials

Ø  Course guides

Ø  Division of responsibilities

Ø  Further training

Ø  Teaching release

Ø  Mentors

Ø  Review

4.    The teaching process

Teaching model and principles

This book emphasized the work of curriculum as a network of interacting systems involving teachers, learning, materials the choice of a particular curriculum philosophy or ideology implies a particular model of teaching.

In language teaching programs, teaching models are often based on particular methods or approaches. For example:

Ø  The communicative approach

Ø  The cooperative learning model

Ø  The process approach

Ø  The whole-language approach

               Maintaining good teaching

              The following are strategies the selection of appropriate measures:

Ø  Monitoring

Ø  Observation

Ø  Identification and resolution of problems

Ø  Shared planning

Ø  Documentation and sharing of good practices

Ø  Self-study of the program

                  Evaluating teaching

Ø  To reward teachers for good performance

Ø  To help identify needs for further training

Ø  To reinforce the need for continuous staff development

Ø  To help improve teaching

Ø  To provide a basis for contract renewal and promotion

Ø  To demonstrate an interest in teachers’ performance and development.

Chapter 8

The Role and Design of instructional Materials

 Teaching materials are a key component in most language program. Whether the teacher uses a textbook, institutionally prepared  materials, or his or her own materials. In the case of inexperienced teachers, materials ay also serve as a form of teacher training –they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lesson as well as formats that teachers can use.

Summarizes the role of materials (particularly course books) in the language teaching as:

ü  A resource for presentation materials (spoken and written)

ü  A  source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction

ü  A reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and so on

ü  A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities

ü  A syllabus (Where they reflect learning objectives that have already been determined)

ü  A support for less experienced teachers who have yet gain in confidence.

   Materials serve the following factions:

ü  As a source of language

ü  As a learning support

ü  For motivation and stimulation

ü  For reference.

1.   Authentic versus created materials

Ø  They provide authentic cultural information about the target culture.

Ø  They provide exposure to real language

Ø  They support a closely to learners

Ø  Created materials can also be motivating for learners

Ø  Authentic materials often contain difficult language

Ø  Created materials may be superior to authentic materials because they are generally built around a graded syllabus

Ø  Using authentic materials is a burden for teachers.

2.   Preparing materials for a program

         In cases where institutionally developed materials are being considered for a language program, both the advantages and the disadvantages of setting up a materials development project need to be carefully considered at the outset.

Ø  Advantages

Ø  Disadvantages

              The nature of materials development

                          It is also important to understand the nature of materials development and the processes that are typically involved if quality materials are to be created. Dudley-Evans and St. john (1998,173) observe that ‘‘ only a small proportion of good teachers are also good designers of course materials. ‘The goal is to create materials that can serve as resources for effective learning.

                           Schulman goes on to describe the transformation phase of this process as consisting of:

Ø  Preparation: critical interpretation and analysis of  texts, structuring and segmentation, development of  a curricular repertoire, and clarification of purposes

Ø  Representation: use of a representational repertoire that includes analogies, metaphors, examples, demonstrations, explanations, and so forth

Ø  Selection: choice from among an instructional repertoire that includes modes of teaching, organizing, managing, and arranging

Ø  Adapting and tailoring to student characteristics: consideration of conceptions, preconception, misconception, and difficulties; language, culture, and motivations; and social class, gender, age ability, aptitude, interests, self-concepts, attention.

3.   Managing a materials writing project

              Materials writing projects are of different scope and dimensions. Some may be the responsibility of an individual teacher; other may be assigned to a team of writer. The management of a team-based writing project involves addressing the following issues:

              Selecting the project team: How many people will take part in the project and what will their roles and responsibilities are? In a small in-house project there may be two or three writers sharing responsibilities for all aspects of the project.

               Planning the number of stages involved: A materials project always goes through several different stages of development.

               Planning the writing schedule: A writing schedule can now be developed with dates assigned for the different stages in the process.Even though aspects of the writing process are often cyclical, as noted, for practical planning  purposes the different stages in the writing process need to be represented whiting a tentative time frame.

                  Piloting the materials: Piloting involves trying out materials with a representative group of learners and teachers before they are made available for wider use in order to identify problems or faults in them that can be identified before they are used more widely.

4.   Monitoring the use of materials

                  These processes of transformation are the heart of teaching and enable good teachers to create effective lessons out of the resources they make use of. Monitoring may take the following forms:

Ø  Observation: classroom visits to see how teaching  use materials and to find out how materials influence the quality of  teaching and interaction the occurs in a lesson

Ø  Feedback  sessions: group meetings in which teachers discuss their experience with materials

Ø  Written reports: the use of reflection sheets or other forms of written feedback in which teachers make brief notes about what worked well and what did not word well, or give suggestions on using the materials

Ø  Reviews: Written reviews by a teacher or group of teachers on their experiences with a set of materials and what they liked or disliked about them

Ø  Students ‘reviews: comments from students on their experience with the materials.

Chapter 9

Approaches to Evaluation

     Curriculum evaluation is concerned with answering questions such as these. Evaluation may focus on many different aspects of language program, such as:

v  Curriculum design: to provide insight about the quality of program planning and organization

v  The syllabus and program content: for Example, how relevant and engaging it was, how easy or difficult, how successful tests and assessment procedures were

v  Classroom processes: to provide insight about the extent to which a program is being implemented appropriately

v  Materials instruction: to provide insights about whether specific materials are aiding student learning

v  The teachers: for example, how they conducted their teaching, what their perceptions were of  the program, what they taught

v  Teacher training: to assess whether training teachers have received is adequate

v  The students ; for example, what they learned from the program, their perceptions of it, and how they participated in it

v  Monitoring of pupil progress: to conduct formative (in-progress) evaluations of student learning.

1.   Purposes of Evaluation

             Weir and Robets (1994) distinguish between two major purposes for language program evaluation, program accountability, and program development. Accountability refers to the extent to which those involved in a program are answerable for the quality of their work. Development-oriented evaluation, by contrast, is designed to improve the quality of a program as it is being implemented.

The different purposes for evaluation are referred to as formative, illuminative, and summative evaluation.

·         Formative Evaluation

     Evaluation may be carried out as part of the process of program development in order to find out what is working well, and what is not, and what problems need to be addressed. This type of evaluation is generally known as formative evaluation.

·         Illuminative Evaluation

     Another type of evaluation can be described as illuminative evaluation.This refers to evaluation that seeks to find out how different aspects of  the program work or are being implemented.

·         Summative Evaluation

     Summative evaluation is concerned with determining the effectiveness of program, it efficiency, and to some extent with its acceptability.

2.    Issues in program evaluation

·         A need for both inside and outside commitment and  involvement to ensure adequate evaluation

·         A central inters of  in improvement, as well as the demonstration of the ‘product value’ of a program or project or their components

·         An associated commitment to a deeper professional understanding of the process of educational change, as well as the results of that change

·         Systematic documentation for evaluation purposes both during implementation and the beginning and end of a program or project’s life

·         A willingness to embrace both qualitative and quantitative methodology appropriate to the purpose of the evaluation and the context under review.

                         These principles raise the following issues in the evaluation process:  

ü  The audience for evaluation

ü  Participants in the evaluation process

ü  Quantitative and qualitative evaluation

ü  The importance of documentation and,

ü  Implementation

3.   Procedures used in conducting evaluations

               Many of the procedures used in conducting evaluation are similar to those described elsewhere in this book, though their purposes may be different. The information may be used to arrive at a final score or grade for a student without using a final test. Advantages  and  Disadvantages.

In addition, sound tests-tests that reflect principles of reliability and validity-are difficult to construct.

§  Comparison of two approaches to a course

§  Interview

§  Questionnaires

§  Teachers’ written evaluation

§  Diaries and journals

§  Teacher’s records

§  Student logs

§  Case study

§  Student evaluations

§  Audio or video-recording and,

§  Observation.