Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
Sultanate of Oman
Dhofar University
College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS)
Education Department
Curriculum Authenticity in Salalah Schools:
EFL Teachers' Evaluation of Grade 12 EFL
Curriculum Authenticity
Thesis Proposal Submitted to the Department of Education in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master Degree
Submitted by
Zainab Ali Aidroos
ID: 200900388
Supervised by Dr. Abdul Aziz Ayoub
Fall Semester
2011
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
Dhofar University
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Thesis Proposal
Saturday 22 January, 2011
Student's Name: Zainab Ali Mohammed Aidroos
Name of Supervisor: Dr. Abdul Aziz Ayoub
Student Signature:
Signature of Supervisor:
Topic and Proposed Title:
Curriculum Authenticity in Salalah Schools:
EFL Teachers' Perceptions towards
EFL Grade 12 Curriculum Authenticity
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
Table of Contents
Contents
Pages
Chapter 1: Introduction
5
1.1 Statement of the Problem
5-6
1.2 Rationale of the Study
6
1.3 Significance of the Study
6
1.4 Purpose of the Study
7
1.5 Research Questions
7
1.6 Hypotheses of the Study
7
1.7 Limitations of the Study
7-8
1.8 Definitions of Key Terms
8-9
1.9 Study Organization
9
Conclusion
9
Chapter 2: Literature Review
10
2.1 Education in Oman
10-11
2.2 Communicative Approach in Teaching English
11
2.2.1 Communicative Competence
11-12
2.3 The Issue of Authenticity
12-13
2.3.1 What to Consider in Preparing Authentic Materials
14
2.3.2 Types of Authenticity
15
2.4 The Definition of Authentic Curriculum
3
15-16
Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
2.4.1 Important Factors in Preparing Authentic Materials
16
2.4.2 How Authentic Materials can be Effective
16
2.5 Curriculum Materials
17
2.7 EFL Curriculum
17
2.7.1 Role of EFL Curriculum in Oman
18
2.7.2 The Content of the curriculum
18-19
2.8 The relationship between EFL Curriculum and Culture
19-20
2.9 The Functions of EFL Textbooks
20-21
2.10 Developing the Curriculum
21-22
2.10.1Charactristics of Curriculum Development
22
2.11 How the Curriculum is Designed in Oman
22-24
2.12 A Review of Related Studies
24-26
Conclusion
26
Chapter 3: Methodology
27
3.1 Population and Sample
27
3.2 Instruments Used
27-28
3.3 The Procedures Followed
28
References
29-33
Appendices
34-50
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
Chapter 1: Introduction
In 2006, Al-Mushaifri's study of the current educational curriculum in basic
education showed that the curriculum is the base for any educational system. In fact,
knowledgeable society is an aim of education and it seems that one way to achieve
that is through organizing curricula in schools. Although students have spent about 12
years of studying English, the standard of their English is still not good. One of the
reasons behind this is the deficiency of EFL curriculum itself to relate the content of
the textbooks to students' real life. In this study, I will shed the light on EFL grade 12
curriculum authenticity.
In this introductory chapter, an attempt is made to state the problem of the study
with the research questions and their hypotheses as well. First, the researcher will
discuss the problem. Then, the rationale for this study will be provided. In addition,
the significance and the purpose of the study will also be included. Finally, the
research questions will be defined as the organization of the thesis is outlined.
1.1 Statement of the Problem
English Teaching curriculum aims at developing learners' confidence in using the
four skills in communication. To communicate successfully, students need to use
language for interaction, description, recording events, asking questions, making
requests and orders and many other functions. To achieve that the English curriculum
should be based upon communicative theory in which communicative teaching
approach is applied. However, the textbooks seem not to offer enough communicative
activities so that students may face some problems in communication using English
outside the classroom (Al-Toubi, 1998).
Teachers or implementers should comply with the curriculum designers' intentions.
They are provided with teacher manuals that direct, but not dictate, them on how to
implement the materials of the book. In the basic education, English language
teaching and learning depends upon designing textbooks that help learners use and
practice English inside and outside classrooms (Al Mushaifri, 2006). Therefore,
learners are expected at least to have some grammatical and lexical knowledge that
enable them to communicate at a basic level. However, many students, if not all of
them, face problems when they try to communicate using the second language. This
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
issue can be discussed from three angles: the teachers' strategies in teaching, the
students' weaknesses and the curriculum itself. It has been stated by Keith Johnson
and Keith Morrow that" the problem with most first- generation 'functional' textbooks
is that they have concentrated too much on setting out forms-not enough on practicing
communication" (Johson & Morrow, 1981). Grade twelve, which is the last grade of
studying in schools, is an important step for students because this stage determines
their future. The researcher will focus on grade 12 curriculum in the analysis to
determine to what extent the materials presented are authentic and related to students'
real life. It seems important to investigate EFL teachers' perceptions about whether
authenticity plays an important role in grade 12 English curriculum.
1.2 Rationale of the Study
If the authentic materials used effectively, they succeed in bringing the real world
into the classroom. Making students aware of the cultural differences creates a more
clearly understandable interesting picture of the topic itself. Students will learn how to
pick up the relevant information and avoid what is irrelevant. Consequently, students
will be more confident when they are in an English-speaking society (Kelly, Kelly,
Offiner, Vornals, 2002).
Since it is necessity for second language learners to have authentic learning
experiences in order to be able to use the language communicatively or for
communication (the main purpose of language), I have chosen to analyze grade 12
EFL curriculum to find out to what extent the curriculum is authentic and to
investigate whether the curriculum itself can be considered a main cause of learners'
inability to communicate using the second language outside the classroom.
1.3 Significance of the Study
Since graduates of high schools cannot express themselves and cannot use the SL
in communication after 12 years of studying English, this means that there is a
problem. This problem can be due to deficiency in the EFL curriculum itself.
Therefore, the present study may help:
1- Describe teachers' evaluation of the curriculum and its relationship to
authenticity.
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
2- Improve the curriculum to fulfill students' needs.
3- Give new implications to curriculum designers to relate the curriculum to
students' real life.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
This study aims at achieving two purposes: making the curriculums serve students'
needs of using English in real life (outside the classroom) and developing students'
abilities of using English as a second language.
1.5 Research Questions
The study attempts to answer the following questions:1- Does grade 12 EFL curriculum develop different aspects of the learner's
personality? Does it develop the learner's ability to interact with his or her
environment/ society?
2- Does grade 12 EFL curriculum reflect the Islamic Omani Culture?
3- Does it help the learner to gain necessary skills for life as communicating skills,
self- learning and critical thinking skills in order to be able to face the problems and
challenges of modern life and technology as well?
1.6 Hypotheses of the Study
Based on the research questions, the following hypotheses will be addressed:
1- Grade 12 EFL curriculum does not develop learners' personalities and abilities to
interact within their societies in a sufficient way.
2- Grade 12 EFL curriculum does not give a complete picture about the Islamic
Omani culture.
3- Grade 12 EFL curriculum does not help learners to gain real-life skills as
communicating skills and critical thinking skills to a great extent.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
- The results of this study cannot be generalized to all Omani schools since the
participants are randomly chosen from Salalah schools only. Therefore, the results can
be generalized to all Salalah schools, but not to all Omani schools.
- This study emphasizes the extent to which grade 12 EFL curriculum is authentic.
The lack of authenticity in the curriculum can be considered as one reason for
students' inability to communicate using the SL. However, there are other reasons that
are not discussed in this study as teachers' styles in teaching English and students
themselves who are not motivated to learn the SL.
- The difficulty of having access to boys' schools for interviewing male teachers.
- This study is only applied to grade 12 curriculum.
1.8 Definitions of Key Terms:
Curriculum: is "a sophisticated blend" of educational strategies, course content,
learning outcomes, educational experiences, assessment, the educational environment
and the individual students’ learning style, personal timetable and programme of work
(Harden, 2001). Actually, curriculum seems to have many meanings. One of them is
that it is "a brief list of educational objectives and contents to be taught in schools."
The former definition defines the curriculum at the simplest level. At the general
level, it can be defined as "all the learning which is planned and provided for children
at schools" (ALKindi, 1997).
Authentic curriculum: It can be defined as "all of the planned experiences
provided by the school to assist the pupils in attaining the designed learning outcomes
to the best of their abilities." More importantly, it can be viewed as "an instrument
which utilizes the experiences and activities of the pupils for the benefit of society."
So, it should include students' experiences at school and in society as well, not only
the school environment. In this case the curriculum will be authentic because it "does
not consist only of all of the experiences pupils have under the guidance of the school
but also the limited and selected experiences (from society) which the school
deliberately and intentionally uses for educational purposes" (ALKindi, 1997).
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
Authenticity: Simply, it is a term used to refer to "the quality of being authentic or
of established authority for truth and correctness."( BrainyQuote, 2001-2011)
"Genuineness, realness, truthfulness, validity, reliability, undisputed credibility, and
legitimacy are just some of the words that are used when we talk about authenticity"
(Shizuoka, 2006).
EFL: is an abbreviation that stands for English as a Foreign Language; EFL means
"English taught to people who need to learn it for their studies or their career, and
who do not live in an English-speaking country" ( Macmillan Publishers, 2010).
1.9 Study Organization
The whole study has five chapters in addition to this introduction. Chapter two
comprises a literature review on EFL curriculum and its authenticity. The third
chapter discusses the methodology used in this study. Then, the fourth chapter will
outline analyzing the results. Finally, the conclusions and recommendations will be
included in the last chapter.
The first three chapters: Introduction, literature Review and Methodology are
covered in this proposal.
Conclusion
This chapter has outlined statement of the study's problem, rationale, significance
and purpose. In addition, research questions and their hypotheses have been covered
in this section. Limitations of the study and definitions of key terms have also been
discussed in this part of the study.
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
2 Chapter Two: Literature Review
Chapter two is divided into two parts: Part one: Theoretical Framework and part
two: A Review of Related Studies. The first part focuses on reviewing topics that are
related to curriculum authenticity. The first section sheds the light on education in
Oman; then the second part focuses on defining authentic curriculum and the issue of
authenticity. The third part is about how to use authentic materials. The following
point is about EFL curriculum and its relationship to culture. The functions of
textbooks and developing the curriculum are issues that are discussed in the next part.
The last section of the first part of literature review is about how the curriculum is
designed in Oman. The second part of literature review, which is review of related
studies, presents a review of some studies that are related to curriculum authenticity
and summarizes the main points of these studies.
2.1 Education in Oman:
Education in Oman has been paid attention since 1970; its main objective is to
create capable generation who will be able to face the challenges of modern life.
Within the development of education in Oman, a new system was introduced in1998,
which is called basic education. It is divided into two cycles, the first cycle is from
grade 1 to 4, and the second cycle is from 5 to 10. After that students will study two
years of grades 11 and 12 and this stage is known as post- basic education. Actually,
the education reform demands many changes in many aspects such as: developing the
curriculum, the teaching methods and teaching plans (Al-Mushaifri, 2006). EFL
curriculum analysis will be discussed in this study.
Curriculum developers should take into consideration many factors as students' life
style, culture, age, background and religion. The content of the curriculum is a
concern of the Ministry of education. So, the changes of curriculum focus mainly on
three aspects: reducing the quantity, relating materials to students' real life and
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
developing cognitive skills of students. In this new system, English is taught from
grade one instead of 4 as it was in the old system (Al-Mushaifri, 2006).
The content of Omani curriculum is designed to achieve the goals and objectives of
the curriculum which the designer intends to achieve. It is mentioned by one expert
that the Omani curriculum "is based on a well specified educational philosophy and
objectives for each level of schooling." The curriculum is designed "to accommodate
the knowledge as facts, concepts, skills, attitudes and values organized in the form of
learning experiences that lead the learner to achieve the objectives of each subject
matter in the curriculum" (Abdelgalil, 1987).
2.2 Communicative Approach in Teaching English
Communication should be considered as "a continuous process of expression,
interpretation and negotiation" (Al-Darwish, 2006). Communicative method of
teaching consists of linguistic competence as well as communicative competence.
That means Language should never be interpreted in isolation; instead, it should be
viewed in its social context. This is because linguistic competence and communicative
competence complement each other in which learners "learn best by doing" (Song,
1991). One main principle of this approach is providing authentic and meaningful
communication through classrooms' activities. Fluency, use, function and process of
SL are emphasized in this method of teaching SL (Al-Darwish, 2006). Matching the
language to the situation and the appropriate context is what learners need to be
competent at when they are using the language. Learners perform better when they
use the language, not just by know about the language without any application. Most
importantly, it is one of the teacher's responsibilities to give special attention to the
"appropriateness in the second culture" (Song, 1991). Some principles of
communicative methodology can be emphasized in this section. For example,
principle one which is "know what you are doing" means that the learner will be able
at the end to do something communicatively useful. The second principle is stated as"
the whole is more than the sum of the parts" and it means the ability to work in the
context as a whole. The third principle is that the processes of communication are as
importance as the forms. In other words, the ways of communicating ideas should be
emphasized on as the forms that are used in the communication process. Another
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
fundamental is learning by doing. The last principle is accepting mistakes because
they are hints of learning (Johson & Morrow, 1981).
2.2.1 Communicative Competence
Widdowson (1978) mentioned that communicative abilities are "ways of creating
and re-creating discourse in different modes. In fact, "communicative competence
should be the aim of teaching EFL. The important question to be asked in this section
is how to teach the four skills communicatively (Widdowson, 1978). Communicative
teaching approach focuses on allowing students to talk as much as possible because it
views SL learning as "growing out of the give-and-take of communication." Mainly,
communication is used for social interaction and problem-solving (Cook, 2001). In
fact, English curriculum should supply these authentic contents to facilitate acquiring
the SL for learners. However, designers of textbooks may miss some aspects of the
language used in real- life situations so that learners do not have enough practice of
using language communicatively.
2.3 The Issue of Authenticity
Authenticity of language learning can be discussed from two angles: "the diversity
of authenticities" in one society which depends on some variables as gender, age,
social status…etc and impose of authenticity on learners in which this technique is
undesirable because it may "devalue their own authentic selves as learners" (Kramash,
1998). Authenticity is an important step to evaluate language teaching materials. It
has been stated by some specialists that the language used in teaching English in the
classroom should be the language that students will face outside the classroom
(communicative situation in real contexts of native speakers.) So, using authentic
materials can help teachers to provide a real foreign culture for learners in which this
reality "draws both international attention and bears personal relevance to students'
lives." However, it is mentioned that insiders only can "share the cultural
presuppositions of an authentic material and a sense of its idiomatic sense," while the
outsiders cannot. So, authenticity is not transferable in this case. Authenticity is
related to three participants: "the text and its content, the learner and learning, and the
classroom as social context." The text has an effective way for learners in which they
can use the target language in the authentic communication. This should be applied
in the classroom to reflect the outside world (Akindjo, 2000).
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
Authenticity should be discussed through four main points: authentic texts (input),
learners' interpretations of authentic texts, purposes of authenticity in language
learning and social situations of language classroom. Authenticity focuses on the
relationship between the receivers and the materials. Mainly, there are four categories
of using authentic materials: audio authentic materials (radio news and songs), visual
authentic materials (printings, shows and plays), printed materials (newspapers and
periodicals) and realia ("coins, currency and puppets") (Abanomey, 2002).
2.3.1 What to consider in preparing Authentic Materials
Providing authentic world in the classroom is not an easy task for teachers. They
should consider four points while they depend on using authentic materials inside the
classroom. First, they should consider that providing authentic materials indicates the
strength of the teacher in which he or she will provide comprehensible input for
learners in a vivid way. Another important point that should be put into consideration
is that authentic materials "demonstrate an awareness of the events and practices" that
are important for learners in their communities. An additional point is that authentic
materials reflect the social side of the experiences. The last point that should be
focused on is that authentic materials force teachers to use the available resources
around them (Mantei & Kervin, 2009).
An important issue regarding preparing authentic materials is the isolation and
"remoteness" of studies from life which is a problem facing developers in a
curriculum design. Developing a curriculum needs to focus on the "interactions of the
constituent subject matters" and related subject matters to learners' real life.
Furthermore, higher order thinking and critical thinking are two aspects that should be
emphasized in an authentic curriculum (Tanner & Tanner, 1995).
2.3.2 Types of Authenticity
Authenticity is "a feature of a creation in a particular context and it can only be
authentic in the context that it was originally created for." This means that the
perceptions of learners and their reactions toward the materials should be put into
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
consideration. Micheal Breen, who is known for his theories on authenticity, mentions
four types of authenticity depending on teachers' goals and the type of materials. The
first type is using authentic texts as "input data." The second one concerns learners'
analysis and understanding of texts. This means that if learners understand the texts,
the texts are considered authentic. The third type focuses on the way that the materials
are presented. The last type concerns about relevant contexts in which the materials
will be clear for learners. (Taylor, 1994).
Authenticity in curriculum means that texts should stimulate students to learning
in a way they should be interesting and comprehensible. Most importantly, the
materials of the curriculum should be related to students' real life (Morton, 1999).
Authentic learning experiences should connect the school setting with the real life
setting. Actually, authentic materials facilitate developing "deep and flexible
knowledge" for learners.
2.4 The Definition of Authentic Curriculum
When used effectively, authentic materials help bring the
real world into the classroom and significantly enliven the
ESL (English Second Language) class. (Kelly et al., 2002).
Authenticity or using authentic materials inside the classroom provides students
with the actual everyday language as it is in real life. Nowadays, it is one of the new
techniques that teachers apply in classrooms. In fact, materials presented in
classrooms and the way they are presented are two important factors that help
students create their proficiency. Thus, curriculum authenticity is a matter of discuss
in this section. A language curriculum should consist of two major parts: "structural
discourse analysis" and speech acts as the second part. These two components should
be met together at a level in which language will be used in real life situations. In
other words, language curriculum should be based upon "a formal and functional
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
analysis and at the same time offer opportunities for experiential participation in reallife communication." So, a sociocultural factor should be considered in designing
language curriculum (Stern, 1983).
Walker (2003) points out that,
Such curriculum documents coordinate teaching and
learning in vital ways. They help the teachers keep in mind
the big picture of what should be taught and learned over
months and years and keep in track of where they are in
relation to planned programs at any given time. (Henriques, 2009).
Designing the curriculum should consider the community’s culture and the
students’ tendencies; otherwise, the content will not meet the needs of students and
the community as well (Henriques, 2009). It is stated by Anderson (1999) that
"authentic texts are the texts which have been written for native speakers of the
language and not for second language readers." By using authentic materials, students
will be provided with "opportunities to expose to authentic language of the real world
in the classroom" (Yu-feng & Fei, 2008).
In fact, students are exposed to
communicate in an effective way in the real world, so they need to experience the
language as "it is used for real communication among native speakers." Simply, when
the speaker is authentic and the situation is authentic, the language content and
structure will immediately be authentic. The language of the outside world should be
encountered inside the classroom because learners need "to see and hear the language
used as the primary medium of communication among native speakers" (Thanajaro,
2000).
Using conversational teaching aids as only textbooks is a traditional way of
teaching English. Nowadays, teachers substitute this way by using authentic
materials. Authenticity is not an easy term to describe. One definition of authentic
materials is "materials that were created, or at least appear to have been created, for
the use and enjoyment of people who are not studying English as a Second Language"
(Taylor, 1994). Learners should consider themselves as "possessors of vital
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
knowledge" and this can be done through the authentic learning experiences which
reflect students' real life. Bringing authenticity in the classroom will help the teacher
know more about students' outside life so that they can prepare more suited materials
to students' lives (Siegel, 2007).
In brief, authentic curriculum should focus on communication in real life
situations. It is "more student-structured" and it raises students' attention and
motivation (Abanomey, 2002). The term curriculum is used "in a broad sense to refer
to all learning experiences that a person encounters in schools, including those aspects
which influence them only subconsciously." The curriculum is also used in a narrow
sense to refer to "a person's experience in one specific subject on the school timetable,
such as the English language curriculum or the science curriculum" (Al-Toubi, 1998).
2.4.1 Important Factors in Preparing Authentic Materials
It has been found that using authentic materials in teaching EFL creates a positive
environment for students so that their attitudes toward learning will be positive. The
first thing that should be considered in this section is choosing the authentic materials.
There are some points to follow in doing that: having enough copies for every student
or pairs or groups and avoiding too many pages in the copies unless they are clearly
numbered and easy to follow. In addition, "materials with multiple pieces or pages
that fall out or come apart should be avoided." Also, the teacher should keep in mind
up-to-date materials because students are not interested in the past events.
Eventually, the materials chosen should be appropriate for students' level in which
teachers can make the adjustment to make the materials appropriate for the students'
levels (Kelly et al., 2002).
2.4.1.1 How Authentic Materials can be Effective
"The use of authentic materials achieves the acquisition of communicative
competence, the expansion of vocabulary, understanding of cultural information and
cultural value systems, and offers students the opportunity to deal with real life
language and situations" (Jendli, A., Coombe, C., & Troudi, S., 2008). Students
acquire the authentic language from natural real-life contexts (Cook, 2001). Using
authentic texts will motivate students better than the non-authentic ones because
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
people do not use full-sentences in speaking in real- life situations. There are some
considerations to make authentic materials effective. Authentic materials should
provide a chance for students to practice English, assist students' confidence of the
ability in English, inform students about the cultural differences, and teach students
how to find relevant information quickly (Kelly et al., 2002). In brief, authentic
materials affect learning positively because they bring learners closer to the target
language culture so that leaning will be stimulated (Jendli, A., Coombe, C., & Troudi,
S., 2008).
2.5 Curriculum Materials
Selecting appropriate materials, being creative with the available materials,
modifying activities "to suit students' needs" and providing extra activities are
important points that should be put into consideration while choosing the curriculum
materials. The materials of the curriculum should concern the learners' needs, "lacks"
and "necessities" (Harwood, 2010). Curriculum materials are the items as papers,
chalks and others which are used as a kind of supplement in courses. Some of these
items encourage communication and in this case the materials can be considered
authentic. The materials can be evaluated according to "producer claims" in which
clarity, reality, honesty, appropriateness, data effectiveness and convincing materials
are emphasized (Pratt, 1980). These materials should be adapted by teachers who are
encouraged to experiment and try different ways in presenting the materials. So,
adaptation of a curriculum is a part of the curriculum implementation. (Jocob &
Adams, 2000) There are some aspects to consider about the curriculum such as
explicit or implicit presentations of the content, omission of some parts, culture,
society and engagement of students' cognitive skills. The curriculum should not only
reflect the real world of today and future, but also student's experience of "seeing and
describing the world" (Skov, 1988).
2.6 EFL Curriculum
Curriculum is a term that is used to refer to the plan that is needed to guide
education. The marks of a good curriculum can be summarized as relating the data to
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
society and culture as well as stating clear comprehensible objectives (Saylor,
Alexander, & Lewis, 1981). Many experts in the field of curriculum stated their
opinions in EFL curriculum. For example, one expert stated that the writing skill is
neglected to some extent and this is clear in his comment, "The teaching of English
here concentrates on communication, and I have noticed that the written production of
the students here is not up to standard. This is because the curriculum concentrates on
oral production." Another expert stated "there is not much stress on language learning
(use and transfer)." However, another expert commented that the Omani culture is
covered in the reading materials in a satisfactory style (AL-Alawi, 1994).
Any curriculum can fit in one of the four categories: as a product, as a program, as
intended learnings and as experiences of the learner. The first category means that the
documents are results of planning and developing the curriculum which will be
specified. Curriculum as a program emphasizes the means that are used to achieve the
purposes of the curriculum. The third category, curriculum as intended learnings,
refers to the experiences of learners. The last type is curriculum as experiences of the
learner which focuses mainly on learning process in which the learner is the center of
the education process (Bean, Toepfer, & Alessi, 1986).
2.6.1 Role of EFL Curriculum
It is the curriculum that aims to create good citizens and develop communicative
skills. This curriculum focuses on intellectual, social, emotional and physical factors
of students so that they contribute positively in building their community. Because
developing the communication ability in a foreign language is viewed as an essential
part in educational program, English plays an important effect on Omani society in
which it determines higher position in society, especially at work. So, English
curriculum should develop communicative skills for meaningful and effective
communication. The curriculum should focus on raising the consciousness of learners
not only as a learner, but also as "a person", "a social being", and as "a
communicating individual." English language is taught as a second language in all
schools in Oman, the program of English aims to meet the needs of learners to enter
the labor sector. The communicative goals of teaching English are developing skills
(not memorizing skills), using language in the real world and applying learning by
doing (Al-Toubi, 1998).
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
2.6.2 The Content of the Curriculum in Oman
Choosing the content of the curriculum is an important step for curricularists to
determine; they should consider the subject matter, social utility, students'
responsibilities, culture, personal satisfaction and high thinking skills (Lawton et al.,
1978). In other words, determining the content of the curriculum is influenced by
many factors: social needs, the current changes, disciplines, usefulness to learners,
schools and the whole society, published materials, "political pressure", learner
concern and interest, and cooperative spirit to build the society (Schubert, 1986).
The term content can include knowledge, concepts, ideas and subject matter. The
beliefs and values of any society play an important role in determining the content of
any subject. Two problems should be mentioned while discussing the content of
curriculum; they are "scope and sequence dimensions". Scope refers to arranging the
elements of the curriculum, while sequence refers to the organization of the
curriculum (Al-Hajilan, 1999).
The contents of curriculum and how they are delivered to students should reflect
that real-life activities include "interrelated abilities" in which the curriculum focuses
on teaching certain competencies (Bean, Toepfer, & Alessi, 1986).
The content can be interpreted from three different angles: as subject matter, as
learning activities and as learning experiences. The first view, which is content as
subject matter emphasizes information, ideas, views and concepts in which the main
concern is knowledge. The second view, content as learning activities, emphasizes
what students do, not the subject that is given to them. One specialist argued that
curriculum should respond to needs of contemporary society. He analyzed students'
activities in which his analysis "purported to be scientific, and it was designed to yield
an efficient technology of curriculum construction." Content can also be seen as
learning experience in which the emphasis is on the interaction between learners and
"external conditions" in the environment (Schubert, 1986).
In the content of curriculum, relevance to curriculum objectives, appropriateness,
accuracy, comprehensibility and consistency of materials should be given special
emphasis. Raising students' interests and challenging them are also important in the
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
content of the curriculum. The content should be up-to-date so that students' interests
will be aroused (Pratt, 1980).
The content of the curriculum and how to deliver it should "reflect the fact that
real-life activities typically encompass interrelated abilities and that worthwhile
curricula should foster general development, teach interrelated skills, and teach
specific competencies (Bagnato, Neisworth, & Munson, 1999).
2.7 The Relationship between EFL Curriculum and Culture
Language is influenced heavily by culture. So, the culture should be included in the
textbooks to facilitate using the language in correct situations and to make the
communication successful. There are six principles about language and culture that
should be covered in this subsection. First, translation of words does not reflect the
meaning because words have "idiomatic expressions" as well. Second, languages
differ in the intonation patterns. Third, languages are also different in gestures and
body movement. Forth, there are various ways to be used for describing "the
surroundings." Fifth, using particular words and expressions in suitable situations
differ from language to another. Sixth, language and culture are linked to each other.
Culture plays an important role in using the language so that the interaction
succeeds if both the interlocutors concern about the culture while talking. So, learning
a language means learning the culture as well (Al-Mawaliyah, 2006).
The culture of any country should be transmitted through the curriculum. So,
education and culture share a very close link in which the values and life styles will be
transmitted, not only the skills and knowledge (Kelly, 1986). Language and culture
are two faces of the same coin and they cannot be separated from each other. Culture
is seen as "an essential element of any foreign language curriculum," because it has a
direct effect on the content of EFL curriculum. Language is shared by people who
share the same culture so that integrating the culture with EFL classes will facilitate
understanding the society and language for students. Culture can work as "a guide" of
what to include in the curriculum. It has been found that studying language and
culture will help in not only learning the language, but also acquiring it (IHM, 1996).
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
2.8 The Functions of EFL Textbooks
Some experts consider curriculum as a synonymous with textbook in which any
change in the textbook means change the curriculum (Al-Mawaliyah, 2006). As AlAbri (2008) stated in his study, the term "textbook" is used to refer to the books that
are designed to "serve a specific learning aim," which is teaching English Language in
case of English textbooks. In other words, a textbook is a tool that is used in teaching
and learning situations. Although textbooks provide the source of required skills, it
cannot promote acquisition of these skills. Others may argue that "relevant textbooks"
are the core of learning and teaching EFL if the content is available, organized and
"designed to be appealing to students" (Al-Abri, 2008).
There are six functions of textbooks: as a teacher who teaches the students directly
about English, as a link between linguistic and cultural elements, as " a resource" of
teaching and learning, as "a trainer" for inexperienced teachers, as a valid and reliable
source of knowledge for learners and as a window to the world, culture and society so
that learners can build their knowledge based on textbooks ( Al-Mawaliyah, 2006).
2.9 Developing the Curriculum
Curriculum is viewed as a plan that provides learning experiences for learners and
curriculum development is what allows this plan to be done. In other words, it
describes the process that leads to the final product. The process of developing the
curriculum is done through three phases: planning the curriculum (designing phase),
implementing the curriculum (action phase) and evaluating the curriculum (judgment
phase) (Abdelgalil, 1987).
Curriculum development can be defined "as composing those deliberately planned
activities through which courses of study or patterns of educational activity are
designed and presented as proposals for those in educational institutions." Curriculum
development can be done through three stages: planning outline (objectives, contents,
and teaching and learning strategies), preparing instructional materials (create and try
new materials) and implementation as the last stage (ALKindi, 1997).
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
It is stated that implementing the curriculum emphasizes the teachers' role in the
field to practice the curriculum plans, while developing the curriculum focuses mainly
on "continuing reconstruction of the forms in which teachers represent knowledge in
classrooms in collaboration with students as they reflect about their teaching" (AlHosni, 2006). It has been found that developing the language in the curriculum should
be appropriate to different kinds of knowledge and to the language of each field
(Lawton et al., 1978).
2.9.1 Characteristics of Curriculum Development
There are some points that should be put into consideration in curriculum
development. First, curriculum development should be started from the findings of the
previous practitioners on curriculum problems. Second, it should follow the change of
the society and students' needs. Also, it should involve "teachers, supervisors, parents,
and other community members" for the purpose of deciding the objectives, principles
and organization of the curriculum to meet the needs of students and the society as
well. An additional characteristic that should be mentioned is planning how to impose
curriculum considering the needed resources as financial resource, expertise and time.
Moreover, the solutions for curriculum problems should be tried out first. In other
words, curriculum effects should often be tested continuously on students, teachers
and the society. Finally, enthusiasm is needed in the process of developing the
curriculum (Tanner & Tanner, 1995).
2.10 How the Curriculum is Designed in Oman
The curriculum has been given special attention by the government. The
Directorate General of Curriculum concerns about designing curriculum through three
phases.
2.10.1 The First Phase
The first phase is before designing the curriculum in which "subject specialists
from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education, Sultan Qaboos
University, some teachers and school supervisors" are the ones responsible for
22
Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
designing the curriculum. The quality of curriculum will be determined through many
documents:
1- The Framework of Curriculum: the aims of education and the general aims of
the policy of the country in the educational field are set up in this phase so that it
considers to be an important document for curriculum designers (Al-Mushaifri, 2006).
2- The Document of Educational System Aims:
In this phase, the main aims are developing students' personalities in Islamic
Culture with principles of citizenship, improving students' self-learning and critical
thinking and raising students' ability to deal with new technology and modern life.
3- Teaching Plan Document
Curriculum composers are the ones who determine the suitable time for the
subjects in which topics, tasks and activities will be specified.
4- Sequences Documents
In this document, many benefits can be reached as determining the required skills
and information for each grade and integration topics related to the same subject for
each grade.
5- The Document of the Aims of each Stage and each Subject
This is really important because the designer needs to know the required skills that
should be learned and the purpose of teaching before the last formulation of the
curriculum (Al-Mushaifri, 2006).
2.10.2 The Second Phase
The second phase is the design phase which is very important because it includes
many steps such as choosing how to design the curriculum which will be done
according to the aims of education and subjects as well as the skills to be attained.
There are three styles of curriculum design (as shown in the 3 figures in appendix V).
(Al-Mushaifri, 2006). This phase can be summarized as the following points:
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
1- Choosing a style of curriculum design.
2- Making design sample
This step will be done after choosing the design for the curriculum. It requires
composing certain topics for the curriculum.
3- Arranging a time table for the process of designing the curriculum.
4- The process of designing
This phase concerns about many points as the aims of the curriculum, the authentic
contents (information, skills, activities, tasks, topics/ units aims) that encourage selfstudy using accurate language. In addition, the contents should take account of
individual differences between learners and avoid repetition. Moreover, choosing how
to teach is a big issue because it is related to how to encourage teachers and learners
to contribute effectively in the education process. Activities should also be considered
in designing a curriculum, especially in terms of their "suitability" to students' needs
and abilities in appropriate time for them. Visual aids should be decided in this phase
because they have a great effect to attract students' attention to enhance their
performance. Assessing students' achievements should be put into account.
Continuous assessment is what the educational Omani system depends on (AlMushaifri, 2006).
2.10.3 The Third Phase
The third phase becomes after the curriculum design. There are many steps that are
included in this phase. First, the first draft of curriculum should be done. Second,
language should be reviewed to provide accurate language. Third, preparing visual
aids as pictures, charts and figures should be prepared to facilitate understanding for
learners. Forth, designing "the format of the textbook" should be ready. Fifth, the last
draft of the curriculum should be reviewed by review committees that consist of
experts of curriculum, teachers, supervisors and some other specialists. Sixth, the final
draft of the curriculum should be discussed by educational evaluation committee. The
24
Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
last step is that textbooks should be printed and distributed to students (Al-Mushaifri,
2006).
2.11 A Review of Related Studies
2.11.1 Al-Toubi, S. (1998)
This study is conducted for the purpose of reporting different aspects of EFL
teaching, focusing on the principles of communicative approach in EFL curriculum.
The main instruments used were a questionnaire distributed to all the preparatory EFL
teachers in Al- Batinah North Region, observations and interviews with some EFL
teachers. It has been found that there is a lack in the curriculum regarding
communicative emphasis. It was recommended to teach language as communication
in which communicative functions of language will be focused on.
2.11.2 Al Mushaifri, S. (2006)
This study documents the experience of evaluating EFL curriculum. Some of the
techniques used to collect data in this study are making a questionnaire, analyzing the
content, visiting schools and preparing workshops. The researcher concludes that
there are multiple modern techniques of evaluation that Oman uses in evaluating the
curriculum. He added that teachers, parents and public organizations should be
involved in evaluation process. Moreover, he suggested designing a Ministry website
page for obtaining feedback about the curriculum from academics and the public as
well.
2.11.3 Al-Abri, K. (2008)
This research aims at involving EFL teachers in the evaluation process of EFL
textbooks in basic education schools. The sample of this study was EFL teachers. The
instrument used in the research was a checklist consists of 43 questions. It has been
found that involving teachers in the process of evaluation would be useful because
this gives them a chance to suggest activities, teaching methods, topics and tasks. In
other words, useful input will be suggested by the teachers if they are given the
chance to participate in EFL evaluation process. It has been concluded that the
majority of participants (teachers) are eager to participate in this evaluation process of
25
Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
the EFL textbooks. In addition, the researcher concludes that evaluating the materials
related to the textbook helps in teaching and learning processes.
2.11.4 Al Hosni, T. (2006)
The researcher emphasizes the perceptions of EFL teachers of being involved in
EFL curriculum development. The researcher depends on a questionnaire to collect
the data. The sample was 422(163 male and 259 female) in the six regions of Oman.
The main findings of the study were that most EFL Omani teachers agreed that their
participation in curriculum is of great importance and thet they are willing to be
involved in curriculum development activities to enhance learning.
2.11.5 Al- Mawaliyah, J. (2006)
The researcher aims at investigating EFL teachers' perceptions towards including
cultural aspects in EFL textbooks in basic education. The researcher aims to
generalize the results to all EFL teachers in Oman. So, the sample was about four
hundred and fifteen EFL teachers from grade 5 to 9. "Descriptive statistics,
Independent- Sample T-test and One way ANOVA test" were some of the instruments
used to analyze the collected data. It has been found that both male and female
teachers were satisfied to some extent with the cultural emphasis on the EFL
textbooks. It has been recommended that teachers should pay attention to the cultural
aspects emphasized in EFL textbooks.
Conclusion
At the beginning of this chapter, an overview of education in Oman was discussed.
Then, an emphasis is made on the communicative approach in teaching English in
which students are allowed to use the second language as much as possible in
communication. So, EFL curriculum should provide students with the actual everyday
language as if it is in real life in which learners will be able to use the second
language outside the classroom. In this way, the curriculum will be authentic because
it succeeds in bringing the real world inside the classroom in which the class will be
26
Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
enlivened. The most important step for curriculum designers to determine is
determining the content of the curriculum in which many factors should be considered
such as subject matter, social utility, culture, disciplines, the whole society and high
thinking skills. Therefore, the curriculum should be developed to meet the needs of
students and the society as well. Designing the curriculum in Oman is done through
three phases: determining the quality of the curriculum, designing the curriculum and
preparing the final draft of the curriculum to be distributed to students in schools.
The second section of the literature review focused on a review of some related
studies to EFL curriculum and its authenticity.
Chapter Three: Methodology
This chapter discusses the research design and data collection methods used in this
research. It is divided into three parts: the participants, the instruments used and the
procedures followed to collect relevant data.
3.1 Population and Sample
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
This study is mainly a descriptive and qualitative piece of research. It is designed
to describe and investigate the perceptions and views of EFL teachers towards the
authenticity of grade 12 curriculum.
3.1.1 The Population
The population of the study consists of all grade 12 EFL teachers of Salalah
Schools.
3.1.2 The Sample
The sample will be around 60 male and female EFL teachers from Salalah schools
and it will be chosen randomly from the population.
3.2 Instruments Used
Multi-methods of data collection will be used in this study. Mainly, a questionnaire
(see appendix I) will be distributed among grade 12 EFL teachers because it is an
appropriate method for gathering their perceptions. In addition, making some
interviews with EFL teachers (see appendix II) and people at the Directorate General
of Curriculum (see appendix III) will be conducted as well as observing teachers in
their classes (see appendix IV).
3.2.1 The Questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of 25 multiple choice questions. The first part of it
includes personal information about the teachers, including the gender and the years
of experience. The questions of the questionnaire focus on three dimensions. The first
dimension is about the content of grade 12 English curriculum; the second part
considers English four skills in the curriculum and the last dimension of the
questionnaire focuses on real-life skills.
3.2.2 Semi- Structured Interviews
The semi-structured interviews will be held with two parties: Grade 12 EFL female
teachers and female specialists at Directorate General of Curriculum since the
researcher does not have access to male schools for interviewing male teachers and at
the same time, male specialists at Directorate General of Curriculum are not
accessible to the researcher for interviews.
28
Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
3.2.3 Observation
Observing classes of grade 12 is another instrument that I will use to conduct this
research. The purpose of using this technique is to investigate whether the English
curriculum used inside classrooms prepares learners for actual life outside classrooms
so that learners can use SL comfortably in daily life situations. The researcher will
observe classes in female schools because the researcher will not have access to male
schools as mentioned earlier.
3.3 The Procedures Followed
I have prepared a questionnaire for EFL teachers consisted of 25 questions related
to the content of the curriculum, the four skills and the real-life skills that are
presented in the grade 12 curriculum. This questionnaire will be distributed among
EFL teachers of grade 12 in various post-basic education schools in Salalah. In
addition, I will make semi- structured interviews with EFL teachers and curriculum
designers regarding the content of grade 12 curriculum. I will record these interviews
so that I can refer to them whenever I want. Not only that, but also observing EFL
classes will help the researcher in analyzing grade 12curriculum.
3.3.1 The Procedures that will be followed in the Study:
-After finishing the review of literature, the proposal will be submitted in January 22,
2011
- Questionnaire and interview questions will be prepared to start applying the
techniques in schools.
-Data will be collocated.
- Data will be analyzed.
- Conclusions and recommendations will be made.
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Running head: Curriculum Authenticity
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