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 teachinglearning 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 writers 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 learnercentred 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 nonmastery 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 productoriented (summative evaluation) and/or processoriented (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 decision-making 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 languagecentered 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. Didctica y Curriculum. Anlisis de una experiencia.
Universidad Pedaggica Enrique Jose Varona. Habana, Cuba.
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Kamysheva L. Proyeccin Estratgica del Rediseo Curricular de la Mencin
Ingles (Carrera de Lingustica e Idiomas de UATF). Tesis en opcin de ttulo de
Master en Educacin Superior. Curso Internacional de Maestra. Potosi, Bolivia.