LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN AND TEACHER
DEVELOPMENT
L. M. Kamysheva, MSc,
Senior Teacher of the Natural Science Departments
South Federal University, Russia
It is a fact that curriculum is very often understood as something very
complicated and not always necessary for language teaching. In many cases it is
just replaced by the content of the textbook available for the course. A lot of
arguments justifying the necessity for curriculum development may be given,
only the most important of them being presented in this paper.
First, curriculum may be considered to be an attempt at planning the
teaching-learning process. It is quite obvious that the results of a planned
process are usually more effective compared to the results of an unplanned
process. Planning permits the teacher to foresee the process, which is going to
be developed in the classroom, to create a system, where all the elements are
interrelated. Secondly, curriculum design is inevitably connected with the
writer´s view of the nature of language and language learning, which generally
serves as the basic criterion for materials selection or production and the
development of the whole process. And finally, designing a curriculum
promotes not only effective classroom learning but also teacher development as
well, something which undoubtedly should be considered as one of the most
important elements leading to the improvement of higher education.
Language curriculum design is a part of language pedagogy, and so
curriculum design has basically been discussed in the education rather than in
the linguistic literature, it has often been ignored by applied linguists. As a result
curriculum theory has not found wide application in ELT practice yet; needless
to say the application of this theory could be very beneficial for the whole ELT
process improvement.
The essence of curriculum theory can be understood through the three
following basic issues:
 The tendencies and approaches to curriculum design.
 The stages of curriculum design.
 The principles of curriculum design.
1. The basic tendencies of language curriculum design
They were analyzed in the paper "ELT and Curriculum Theory
Evolution"[Kamysheva, 1999: 13]. It is quite evident that the Classical
Humanism Tendency is not compatible with Communicative Language
Teaching. As far as Reconstructivist (product - oriented) and Progressivist
(process - oriented) tendencies are concerned, both of them are valid for the
process of language curriculum design, because on the one hand, it is impossible
to elaborate curriculum without taking into account the aim and the objectives of
learning; and on the other hand, stating objectives without working out the way
of achieving them does not seem to be either rational or reasonable.
So, the interdependence of product-oriented approach (skills-based
curriculum) and process-oriented approach (task-based or procedural
curriculum) is a vital principle of language curriculum design.
2. The stages of curriculum design
According to Long & Richards [quoted in Johnson, 1989: IX] language
curriculum design is regarded as a decision - making process and involves:
 Policy making.
 Needs assessment.
 Design and development.
 Teacher preparation and development.
 Programme management and evaluation.
2.1. Policy making
Policy determination implies construction of political strategies with
taking account of contextual constraints and in many cases may be expressed in
terms of the aim of the programme.
According to Nunan [1994] the aim of communicative language learning
is achieving language proficiency based on the development of the four macro
skills. It is quite natural that the level of language proficiency will be different
for different contingents of learners and will depend on learners’ needs. For
language faculties/departments preparing students for professional work with the
English language (teachers, translators, interpreters) this level may be
determined by taking into consideration the parameters given in " Cambridge
Practice Test for First Certificate", which is a standard test for the first
professional level.
2.2 Needs assessment
On the basis of the identified aim it is possible to make an analysis of the
learners’ needs both from the point of view of their linguistic needs (expressed
in structures or functions) and their communicative needs expressed in
communication situations. Needs assessment may also be made on the basis of
the following approaches:
 Product-oriented analysis related to the findings about target
proficiency.
 Process-oriented analysis related to the identification of needs of a
learner in the learning situation including cognitive and affective variables such
as learning attitude, learning style, motivation, personality, wants, etc.
It is necessary to avoid an arbitrary, subjective approach to needs
assessment. As Johnson writes: "Perception of needs can be expressed as a range
from sensitive considerations of learners' statements about themselves to largely
insensitive prescriptions about learners who may have had the bad luck to fall
under the control of an education despot” [Johnson, 1989:55]. There is no doubt
that a learner-centred curriculum should be based on the findings of the learners'
needs analysis.
2.3 Curriculum design
On the basis of the established aim and the findings of the needs analysis
it is possible to identify the target proficiency objectives and from them the
objectives for each year/term (or level). Programme objectives can also be
classified as:
 Product objectives, which are real world objectives connected with the
learners’ target language proficiency and performance.
 Process or pedagogic objectives, which are the experiences the learner
will undergo in the classroom.
Curriculum objectives having been identified, we can specify the learning
content and the means necessary to gain the objectives. These means are usually
the procedures, tasks or learning activities developed in the classroom with the
aim of promoting the target proficiency. The content is usually understood as
language items to be learned (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation) organized
within the framework of the topics.
While planning the learning process we usually establish:
 Objectives or what is intended.
 Means or what is to be done to achieve the objectives planned.
 The results or what is achieved.
The problem is that although the second stage turns out to be the most
important, it is at the same time the least understood, and the main difficulty
here consists in achieving a coherent, logical relation between the objectives and
the process developed in the classroom. The coherent language curriculum is
believed to be that one which is based on a logical and coherent relationship
between the ends and the means.
Evaluation usually deals with the learners' performance in terms of
mastery or non-mastery of language programme objectives, when current
performance is measured versus desired performance by means of testing, using
both quantitative and qualitative criteria. There exist different approaches to
evaluation; it can be product-oriented (summative evaluation) and/or process–
oriented (formative evaluation) [Weir & Roberts, 1994]. It can be quantitative
(based on quantitative criteria) and/or qualitative (based on qualitative criteria).
All these types of evaluation are complementary and not mutually exclusive,
their interdependence being of great importance to obtain valid findings.
2.4 Teacher preparation and development
It is quite obvious that both curriculum development and implementation
depend on teachers and that is why teacher preparation plays a very important
role in the whole process of curriculum design, if it is regarded as a decisionmaking process. Teachers' action research is thought to be an invaluable tool in
curriculum innovation and improvement.
2.5 Management and curriculum evaluation
Program evaluation in many cases may result in curriculum research
which is directly benefits curriculum development. Evaluation is defined by
Brown as "the systematic collection and analysis of the relevant information
necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum and access effectiveness
and efficiency." [Johnson, 1989: 223] According to Johnson, curriculum
development would consist of a process of continuous adjustments or "fine
tuning." Curriculum evaluation consists in the interaction of formative (process)
and summative (product) evaluation.
The stages of curriculum design having been considered, it is necessary
to emphasize the dialectical character of the relationship existing among them.
3. The basic principles of language curriculum design
3.1. Coherence
A curriculum is considered to be coherent when learners' achievements
correspond to the curriculum aim and when there is logical relationship between
the objectives stated and the process planned and developed in the classroom.
An example of incoherent curriculum may be when communicative
language teaching is designed within the framework of a language–centered
curriculum.
3.2. Permanent change and innovation
It is impossible to design a curriculum once forever; no curriculum can be
perfect and it will always need some improvements, adjustments or "fine tuning"
to meet the learners needs in the best possible way. But it is necessary to keep in
mind that the change of one of the curriculum components will inevitably
provoke change in the other components.
3.3. Different approaches integration
The idea of product (skills-based) and process (procedures or task-based)
approaches integration is of great importance for language programme design.
This principle is connected with the principle of coherence too, because the
logical relationship between the objectives identified and the process developed
in the classroom is presented through the integration of skills-based and
procedural curriculum.
It is worth mentioning that curriculum design is directly connected with
syllabus design, syllabus design being regarded as a contextually diminished
view of curriculum design, implying that all the essential points of curriculum
theory, its approaches, stages and principles, may be applied equally to syllabus
design.
Taking into account all the above aspects of curriculum theory it is
possible to come to a conclusion that its application to our teaching practice
would result in both further teacher development and in the improvement of the
whole ELT process.
References:
1. Carne P., Hashemi L. 1989. Cambridge Practice Test for First Certificate.
Cambridge: CUP.
2. Johnson R. K. 1989. The Second Language Curriculum. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
3. Kamysheva L. ELT and Curriculum Theory Evolution. "English News"
Journal. Spring 1999.BETA and the British Project for ELT Improvement in
Bolivia. Sucre, Bolivia.
4. Markee N. 1997. Managing Curricular Innovation. Cambridge: CUP.
5. Nunan D. 1994. The Learner - Centered Curriculum. Cambridge: CUP.
6. Nunan D. 1996. Syllabus Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
7. Reid J. 1994. Change in the Language Classroom. Process and Intervention.
ETF.32.1
8. Weir C., Roberts J. 1991. Evaluation in ELT. Oxford: OUP
9. White R. 1991. The ELT Curriculum. Oxford: OUP.
10. Addine F. 1997. Didáctica y Curriculum. Análisis de una experiencia.
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Ingles (Carrera de Linguística e Idiomas de UATF). Tesis en opción de título
de Master en Educación Superior. Curso Internacional de Maestría. Potosi,
Bolivia.