1) The Fact-finding

societal factors

stage:

assessing

2) The basis for curriculum and syllabus

designing
3. How goals become realized though
instructional plans
4.
A
curriculum
communicative goals

developed

on

5. The scope of a communicative syllabus

6. Focusing on language content in a
communicative syllabus

CURRICULUM AND MATERIAL DESIGN

General Statement :
As English teachers you can be often called to fulfill course design
tasks without having received the proper training to do so. One of the
most crucial assignments for an English teacher can be the task and
the implications for a curriculum design. Nevertheless, what is indeed
more difficult is the challenge of doing it without a proper and strong
background, as it is established in your course book introduction. As a
matter of fact, curriculum and material design enables teachers to
expand their expertise so as to become course designers.

Dubin and Olshtain (2000)

Course Design-Cambridge University Press

How do you define the curriculum?

Task 1:

Individual and group discussion.

You may consider a specific educational setting: a
school or a particular university.

The components of a curriculum

The curriculum is mainly concerned with:

a)

A general
rationale
including
policy
decisions

b)
Educational
-cultural
goals

c) Language
goals

The components of a curriculum

An education approach of the curriculum could focus on:

a) Behaviorist
(ic) orientation

b) Rationale
cognitive
orientation

c) A humanistic
orientation

An Educational
orientation
may be focused on a
variety of
Language-learning
theories

We can help you find

the best curriculum!

-Monitoring Selecting

-Stating
-Evaluating

CURRICULUM
PLANNING

-Defining

-Designing
-Instructing
-Identifying

Students Progress
Materials
Objectives
Course
Grammatical
components

Learning activities and

tasks
Students
Topics, themes and
situations

CURRICULUM COMPONENTS
A Language-learning theory
THEORIES EVOLUTION

CURRICULUM COMPONENTS
Language-learning Theory Involved in a Curriculum
THEORIES EVOLUTION

CURRICULUM COMPONENTS
Language-learning Theory Involved in a Curriculum
THEORIES EVOLUTION

GENERAL CURRICULUM PLANNING

TASK 2:

What does a general curriculum design

plan involve?
What are the principles, beliefs,
priorities and assumptions in which the
teaching practice underlies?

Curriculum processes implications according to (Taba, 1962):

o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Diagnosis of needs
Formulation of objectives
Selection of content
Organization of content
Selection of learning experiences
Organization of learning experiences
Determination of what to evaluate, and the means to evaluate
Curriculum Development: theory and
practice (1962)-Syllabus Design 2007
Nunan, David

The fact-finding stage: assessing

societal factors
Task 3: Write down a list of social components which you may
consider when planning a curriculum design.

THE
LANGUAGE
SETTING

The answers to these questions

determine an educational policy
1. Who are the learners?
GROUP
AND
INDIVIDUAL
ATTITUDES

2. Who are the teachers?

3. Why is the program
necessary?
4. Where will the program be
implemented?
5. How will it be implemented?
POLITIICAL
AND
NATIONAL
CONTEXT

PATTERNS
OF
LANGUAGE
IN SOCIETY

What for?
How further?

What ?

Scope and Sequence

Which resources,
methodologies?

CURRICULUM
DESIGN

When?

How?

CURRICULUM DESIGN AND

SYLLABUS DESIGN

TASK 4: How would you draw a distinction between

curriculum and syllabus?

How would you draw a distinction between

curriculum and syllabus?
A broad approach and a narrow approach
Syllabus design has been seen as a subsidiary
component of curriculum design. Curriculum is
concerned with the planning, implementation,
evaluation management , and administration of
education programmes. Syllabus, on the other
hand, focuses more narrowly on the selection and
grading of content
Nunan. D: 1988

The separate purposes

of a curriculum and a syllabus
TASK 5: How do you define a GOAL and how do you define an OBJECTIVE?

General Goals

Specific objectives

Curriculum

Syllabus
design

See content on pages 42&43-Text book for providing examples and questions for discussion.

The separate purposes

of a curriculum and a syllabus
TASK 6: Establishing goals and objectives
REFERENCE:

Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom by

Tricia Hedge. Oxford Handbooks for Language
Teachers (2000)

General Goals

Specific objectives
Curriculum

Syllabus
design

Task 7-See content on pages 42&43-Text book.

(1)The Linear
format

(5) The storyline format

(4) The matrix

format

(2) The modular

format

(3)The cyclical
format

TASK 7: Analyze different english texts and establish the corresponding

shape for each syllabus:
**See pages 51 to 63 in your course book.
o Identify
functional-notional
components,
tasks,
language
components and language skills while analyzing texts for specific
courses.

Some teachers consider the terms function and notion

confusing. To establish a clear idea about these terms, functions
refer to the communicative purposes of using the language
while notions are the conceptual meanings, objects,
relationships and so on, which are expressed through language.
Nunan (1988) Syllabus Design.

Sociocultural
views on the
culture of
language

An idealized
communicative
curriculum

Humanistic
views of
education

Cognitively
based on
the
language

Communicative
Curriculum

General Goals

Expandend
content
area

Expanded
product
area

Expanded
process
area

Communicative goals constitute a more

comprehensive
view
of
the
language
component. Besides content in the curriculum
has been expanded to include not only
structures, situations, and themes or topics, but
also concepts (notions) and functions.

 Wilkins

(1976) proposes conceptual and

functional components into a learning/teaching
syllabus. Thus questions to state when designing
this type of syllabus have to do with language
use for communicative purposes

Beyond asking how, when and where, the main

requirement for such communicative syllabus is

to discuss about language in use for
communicative purposes.

Key Questions to orientate a Communicative Syllabus Design

What kind of semantico-grammatical knowledge does a learner

need to communicate effectively?
What kind of skills are needed for communication?
What types of learning/ teaching activities will contribute to the
acquisition of the communicative skills?

THANKS A LOT!