CCD.docx

CURRICULUM & COURSE DESIGN - Assignment

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:CURRICULUM AND COURSE DESIGN

GENERAL INFORMATION:

This assignment has to fulfil the following conditions:

- Length: between 8 and 10 pages (without including cover, index or appendices –if there are any-).

- Type of font: Arial or Times New Roman.- Size: 11.- Line height: 1.5.- Alignment: Justified.

The assignment has to be done in this Word document and has to fulfil the rules of presentation and edition, as for quotes and bibliographical references which are detailed in the Study Guide.

Also, it has to be submitted following the procedure specified in the Study Guide. Sending it to the tutor’s e-mail is not permitted.

In addition to this, it is very important to read the assessment criteria, which can be found in the Study Guide.

The assignment mark is 100% of the final mark, but the participation in the activities performed during the tutorials can improve this mark.

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Assignment:

Study the materials from You! in the Assignment files section (at the same place where you can find this paper): 17_Reading5.1., including the Introduction to the Teacher’s Book, the contents pages, and the tenth unit of the Student’s Book. On the basis of this material, prepare a report evaluating the usefulness of this course in a teaching context that you are familiar with, taking into account the kind of audience it is targeted at. What changes would be involved if you were to adopt it for your context, and how would you recommend such changes were implemented? If you are not already teaching, evaluate the materials according to your own criteria of what good classroom materials should be like and/or according to the criteria the authors establish in their introduction.

Important: you have to write your personal details and the subject name on the cover (see the next page). The assignment that does not fulfil these conditions will not be corrected. You have to include the assignment index below the cover.

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SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT :CURRICULUM AND COURSE DESIGN

Name and surname(s): Jose Luis Lanchipa BuenoLogin: PEFPMTFL111529Group: 27Date: 03/06/2012

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INDEX

Page:

Index .............................................................................................................................. 4

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Report on ‘You!’ ..….…...…………………………………………………………………… 6

Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………………… 13

References ……….…………………………………………………………………………. 14

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INTRODUCTION

A curriculum defines the learning that is expected to take place during a course or

program of study in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes. It specifies teaching,

learning and assessment methods and indicates the learning resources required to

support effective delivery. One of the primary functions of a curriculum is to provide a

framework or design which enables learning to take place.

The written and published curriculum (i.e. course documentation) is the official or

formal curriculum. The formal curriculum should match the functional curriculum and is

distinguished from the hidden, unofficial or counter curriculum. The hidden curriculum

describes aspects of the educational environment and student learning (such as values

and expectations that students acquire as a result of going through and educational

process) which are not formally or explicitly stated but which relate to the culture and

the moral ideas and attitudes of an organization.

On the other hand, talking about course design; course designers and writers have to

take into account a number of issues when designing their materials. When they have

a clear idea of how their theories and beliefs about learning can be translated into

adequate activities, they then will have to think about what topics to include. “This will

be based on perceptions of what students find engaging, what research shows in this

area, and on the potential for interesting exploitation of the topics they might select. It

will also be necessary to consider what kind of culture the material should reflect or

encourage, and to ensure some kind of appropriate balance in terms of gender and the

representation of different groups in society, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic”

(Harmer, 2007:295).

Course designers and writers also have to decide what language variety or varieties

they wish to focus on or have represented, and they need to adopt a position on how

authentic the language should be, especially at beginner levels.

Everything what mentioned may result of great importance when talking about course

books to be implemented, however let us keep in mind that teaching material can

always contribute, but is limited in determining learning goals, content and

management of language learning. Textbooks, for example, are still used because they

are a convenient way of providing the structure that the teaching-learning process

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requires. In that sense the teacher’s job is to evaluate, select and adapt these materials

to meet their students’ needs and in that way maximize their learning potential.

REPORT ON ‘YOU!’

- Teaching Context

The context in which this work will be based is a bilingual private school named

‘Institución Educativa Particular Enrique Meiggs’ located in Ilo, Moquegua – Perú,

where I currently teach. I will focus on one of my groups, a Fifth Grade Elementary,

low-intermediate group of twenty students composed of mid/upper-class children

between 10-11 years old. Their contact with the language is basically limited to

classroom time but in an almost intensive way since the main objective is to prepare

students for international exams.

Students have been introduced to the English language since the age of 3 with more

emphasis in these Primary level studies with a communicative-based course, where

classes are provided in a 2 hour daily basis, which means 10 hours of class time per

week and 40 hours per month.

It is still difficult for many teachers in this country to move a step forward and change

the traditional knowledge-centered way of teaching considering that we have been

taught ourselves under such system. In that sense, teachers are sometimes still

working with an eclectic methodology where task-based learning is challenging but

most of the times rewarding and profitable but sometimes there is a turn-back into a

grammatical syllabus basically for testing purposes. So at this point, it can be

comprehensible that many teachers could be struggling against their traditional ways of

learning and their awareness of a necessary change.

- Book Evaluation

This is a type B syllabus which is experiential, focusing more on process than product.

It is a person-centered, functional/notional syllabus which is organized around a set of

tasks. The original target audience is focused on mid/upper-class children in a Spanish

context and more specifically talking, Spain; where they have no immediate need for

communicating in the language and few opportunities to use it.

Difficulty of the tasks is set for teenagers in a beginning class, the reading mentions “it

is assumed that students will have a certain familiarity with English through their

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primary education”. Which leads to the fact that the English syllabus for primary

schools in Spain (the original target audience) dictates that these classes are

mandatory three times a week for public elementary schools.

‘You!’ coursebook is based on E.S.O. (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria)

specifications whose objectives are to prepare students for working positions as well as

an adult academic life: It is a whole-learner humanist type of education addressed to all

students with common subjects and other elective ones selected by the student,

programmed to be completed in two cycles of two years each (being this the reason

why ‘You!’ has been conceived as a two level course).

The course book encourages autonomous learning as well as cooperative learning.

Although the introduction of the course mentions that it is based on a

functional/notional syllabus, it can be descried that it is a mixture of both

functional/notional and communicative task-based types. Some of the objectives which

result the most interesting are the ones of: cooperative learning, self-reflection,

appreciation for other cultures, explaining the use of English as a lingua franca and the

use of autonomous learning strategies.

Most items used therein are of a high standard type, however it would be very

motivating that the book would encourage out of class work perhaps through the

internet on a relating site where they could make use of all the input learned.

- Adaptation to Teaching Context

Focusing now on the fifth grade elementary group described above as the target

audience for which the course book would be adapted, we will go through ‘You!’ Unit

10’s lessons to highlight the changes that would need to take place to suit those

students’ needs.

The criteria for coursebook choice (Sheldon 1988) will be used in order to perform so:

1. Rationale: We have thoroughly discussed the needs analysis that was undertaken

when writing this coursebook, which does not contrast significantly with the mentioned

fifth grade groups’ context. Some of the factors to be considered when doing the

adaptation are: age, interests, culture, etc.

2. User definition: The intended age for the course is for a mid/upper-class teen

population, living in Spain, L1 background of both contexts is then similar; entry level is

assumed as basic English background which may be similar in both cases grammar

wise, but experientially and congnitively wise can be slightly different due to the age

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because cognitive and metacognitive skills are not yet completly developed in young

learners.

Exit level is defined as:

- Understanding gist and specific information in oral and written messages.

- Produce oral and written messages in English using linguistic as well as non-

linguistic resources.

- Read and understand English texts autonomously, reinforce the value of texts as

sources of information and pleasure.

- Appreciate the value of English as a tool for communicating with people from other

cultures, recognize and respect the cultural differences.

- Be receptive and analytical about information on English culture and to reflect it on

students’ own culture

- Use autonomous learning strategies in the process of learning English.

- Students will have covered all the necessary basic functions and structures of

English.

The target group may be able to comply partially with the exit level in the first, second

and third points working perhaps with leveled readers, the fourth point if worked with a

pen pal program, and the seventh point when they reach 6th grade.

3. Layout/graphics: The course needs to be complemented with more graphical input

and a bigger font size.

4. Accessibility: The coursebook is not currently available in Peru

5. Selection/grading: to correctly identify this point, it would be necessary to have more

units available to analyze the grading. However, what is presented in unit 10 seems to

be acceptable for the target groups’ level.

6. Appropriacy: The course manages a good appropriacy language-wise. However,

based on needs analysis, defined teen interests cannot match the target group´s ones.

7. Cultural bias: Spanish and Peruvian cultures can be matched in some aspects, both

are within the outer circle English speaking segment, both have Spanish as a mother

tongue and some similar cultural backgrounds.

8. Flexibility: This type of syllabus provides a good flexibility for adaptation.

9. Guidance: Here again, it would be necessary more available material to judge. From

what seen, instructions seem to be exposed clearly, but young learners require more

guidance than teens.

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- Unit 10 General Analysis

1. In this Unit:

This section’s objective is to make students aware of the final task. The section is

appropriate as it provides learners with a goal as to what they will be able to do once

they have learned the material contained in the unit. Meaningful learning will always

keep students motivated.

2. Let’s Get Started:

This section aims to provide students with the necessary contextualized language

input. A necessary adaptation to younger learners’ interests will be made, such as for

example: play video games, go to the movies, chat, play soccer, listen to music, and

watch TV.

· Activity 1 sections a, b and c can be applied as they are. The activities presented to

develop strategies for learning vocabulary are well conceived as well as the functional

phrase: “How do you say _____ in English, please?” Eliciting other sports, games,

films, TV shows, etc. to make a list is a good activity for learning new meaningful

vocabulary and recycling some previous knowledge.

A game to go along with the vocabulary presentation can be added, where children

would act out the activities (charades) for peers to guess what activity was being acted

out. For further reinforcement I would also add a relating game with the activities’

vocabulary.

3. Take a Look:

This section provides contextualized language input. It can also be adapted to show

shorter articles from kids their age around the world.

· Activity 2. Section a. It is focused on extracting meanings from a recording from the

texts presented. Twelve questions may be too much for second graders, perhaps it can

be shortened to 7- 8 questions only.

· Activity 2. Section b. This section also needs to be shortened to 4-5 questions. The

format is fine and it’s a good introduction to quantifiers.

4. In your Own Words:

This section aims to help students find patterns in the language input to develop

hypothesis-formation strategies in a way that it is meaningful to them.

· Section a. It is fine as it is. Contrastive analysis may present a challenge to the

students and may require further guidance and time from the teacher since pattern

discovery will need to be gradually attained.

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· Section b. Adverbs and expressions of frequency. This section implies a new concept.

With youngsters, timing concepts need to be introduced graphically, then to adapt them

it would be necessary to work with a timeline or schedule worksheet with common

activities that may fit the targeted frequency adverbs and graphics to go along with

each activity.

The scanning section of frequency adverbs in the article would remain as it is.

5. Step by Step:

The Step by Step section focuses on practicing the skills necessary for the final task. It

begins with controlled activities for using on form but with attention to meaning.

· Activity 4. Section a. Controlled practice of frequency adverbs. This section can be

used under the presented format.

· Activity 4. Section b. Ask your class. Finding people who have the same answers as

you. This section can be used as it is. I think it is a good communicative activity that

young learners would enjoy.

Activity 5. Section a. This section would just need to adapt the auxiliaries to match the

new activities set for the free time vocabulary.

Activity 5.Section b. Working in pairs is very fruitful with simple activities as the one in

section a.

Activity 5.Section c. Filling out a chart with the group’s survey while practicing on how

to ask questions related to free time activities.

Once the model is set, the children will enjoy the activity as it is. I would use colors

instead of just yes/no answers to make it more fun for young learners. Either a color

for a friend, or a color for yes and another one for no.

Activity 5.Section d. Write a report about the people in the group.

This activity is challenging for youngsters, however it is possible to conduct it. The

main factors to consider would be to have a proper motivational and anxiety-free

classroom atmosphere and to conduct it when children are not tired for it will require a

lot of concentration. Reading the report to the class and choosing the most popular

activity as well as the least popular can be done.

To adapt this activity, first the teacher would need to prepare a graph on the board to

instruct children on how to write and interpret a simple graph. This will require some

time to ensure that all students have fully understood the usefulness of a graph and its

construction.

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Then, they can construct their own graph. Building the graph in teams would be

recommendable using one survey per team as data.

Activity 6. This activity presents a report written by Class 9B for comparison with the

written report that was prepared in activity 5d. I would also include information on

where class 9B is located to gain interest from my class. A class based in the United

States would most likely be interesting to them as they are familiar with the name of the

country and its location more or less.

This activity would need to be adapted to a shorter text, graphics would need to show

the picture of a child and only 2 graphs: one presenting the preferences and the other

one the frequency or times per week, but not both.

Comparison with the learner’s own graph can be done with simpler information in order

not to lose young learners’ interest. Attention span of a child is very short, then a

complex analysis perhaps will not be able to be handled.

6. How do You Say it?

This section consists of pronunciation practice after listening to a recording. This

activity can be used as it is with a slight variation. Students will use their ability to

automatically integrate pronunciation and intonation to their own production in a natural

way. I would then recommend not working with the hypothesis formation of intonation.

The punctuation-intonation listening pattern in exercise b could be used. At this point

children have just learned basic punctuation marks such as: periods, commas,

question marks and exclamation marks.

Section c will be very helpful to check on the correctness of the given answers.

7. Step by Step Continuation:

Activity 7, Section a. This listening activity can be adapted as well as the pictures that

go along with the recording to work with the activities proposed for children. Teacher

will work on such adaptations with handouts and a read-a-loud text.

Activity 7, Section b. The format of this true/false section is fine.

Activity 8. Section a. This section is working with freer practice. Write true and false

sentences about what you do in your free time. This activity can be easily completed.

Activity 8. Section b. Working in pairs and guessing the partner’s true and false

sentences. This is a fun activity for children. I need to have a pair of students modeling

at the front of the class several times and getting some model answers on the board for

children to imitate and adjust to their activities before they can do it independently.

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The recommendation from the book about changing partners would be highly

welcomed for young learners as to keep the fun and motivation going providing further

practice and consolidation.

8. Have a Go!

The objective of this section is to help students develop procedures and strategies for

face to face oral communication and allow students and teachers to evaluate readiness

for final task.

Activity 9. This activity can be done as it is. The child can complete its own form. Some

graphics can go along with each question to make it more interesting for young

learners.

Activity 10. Recording can be adapted to show an interview related with the age we are

working with and the free time activities being worked on. Discussion about the perfect

friend match can be held with the modified forms and teacher should elicit learners’

impressions.

Activity 11. Working in pairs comparing answers to the questionnaire. Students for sure

will have a lot of fun while doing this activity and finding their perfect friends. The self-

evaluation question: “Did you have any problems?” mentioned at the bottom of the

page to check on task readiness can perhaps be left out since children at this stage are

not really able to identify abstract cognition readiness as the question requires.

The question: “Did you use English all the time?” can be answered in group discussion

eliciting their opinions.

9. Over to You:

This final task gives students direct practice in communicating in English in the

classroom and also serves as a tool for evaluation. The task is divided into three steps:

· Step 1. Activity a. Work in groups. Decide what you want to find out about free time.

This activity will need to be somehow guided by the teacher at eliciting new options

which students can choose from as well as remind them of the frequency adverbs

learned. Once they have been written down on the board, a relating game to fully

review the first set of activities learned as well as the new ones can be included.

· Step 1. Activity b. Prepare questions for the survey and make a chart to record

information about individual students. This activity can be done by youngsters based

on a model format written on the board and using the activities previously discovered.

· Step 2. Work with one student from each of the other groups. Collect data in a chart.

This activity can be performed as it is.

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· Step 3. Activities a and b. Go back to the original group and record the results for the

whole class in chart B. Prepare a poster with a graph showing the results of your

survey. As it is a group work, necessary guidance will be given to all of them in making

a graph of their findings. Students may not be able to get together and analyze all the

information gathered in an orderly manner and set it up in a chart unless there is some

guidance from the teacher.

CONCLUSIONS

- The course book is developed under a communicative focus working continuously in

pairs and groups which is beneficial to all students even in mixed-ability classes where

scaffolding can be achieved. It also encourages cooperative learning and helps

develop learning strategies as well as hypothesis rising on structural patterns. The

learning process is personalized with topics of interest to the group that can be related

to their own lives. The course book handles different activity formats and openly

presents learning strategies to reflect upon where students can talk about their

experiences among themselves and learn from their peers.

- The book also provides helpful referential like listening material, vocabulary lists, and

also answer keys are available. The mentioned workbook that can be self-studied at

home with the recording that comes along with it but it would be advisable to use the

workbook in school otherwise students may not find enough available English support

at home which could then discourage them.

- The course book is focused toward communicative goals and autonomous learning, it

has some positive features for communicative task-based learning, targeting

autonomous and cooperative learning and can well fit the context it was written for.

- The adaptation to other realities would perhaps require some material design or

transformation to be done by the teacher; however, it holds a flexible program that

allows for implementation of such adaptations; the syllabus is well designed to reach

the desired goals by selecting items that will support communicative competence.

- Designing a quality course or curriculum is always difficult, time-consuming, and

challenging. It requires thinking about the specific goals teachers have for their

students, the demands of accreditation agencies, and about how the teacher, can

facilitate the learning process. This demanding task will force teachers to face issues

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that they may have avoided in the past, to test long-held assumptions with which they

are very comfortable, and to investigate areas of research that may be unfamiliar to

them.

- Course and curriculum design is changing. There are increasing social and economic

pressures on higher education to generate a wider range of knowledge, skills and

attitudes for coping with today’s demands. The current pace of technological and social

change is forcing teachers to think in terms of educating students not for today's

problems but for those of tomorrow.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- BRINDLEY, G. (1989): The Role of Needs Analysis in Adult ESL Programme

Design. In Johnson, R. (ed.).

- Brown, H. D. (1987): (1985): Principles of Language Learning and Teaching

Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall.

- DIAMOND, R. (2008): Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula: A Practical

Guide. San Francisco, CA: Jossey – Bass.

- DUBIN, F. & OLSHTAIN, E. (1986): Course Design. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

- HARMER, J. (2007): How to Teach English. Harlow, Essex, England Pearson

Education Limited.

- NUNAN, D. (1988): The Learner-Centred Curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

- HUTCHINSON, T. (1987): English for Specific Purposes: A Learning-Centred

Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

- SHELDON, L (1988): Evaluating ELT Textbooks and Materials. In English

Language Teaching Journal.

- TOMLINSON, B. (1999): Materials Development in Language Teaching.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

- WEIR, C. (1993): Understanding and Developing Language Test. Hemel

Hempstead: Prentice Hall International.

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