Ch. 5 & 6 Curriculum Development in Language Teaching

Good evening ladies and gentleman. I have just finished reading chapters 5 and 6 from my curriculum development book, and now I'm ready to give my two cents on the topics of planning goals and learning outcomes, as well as course planning and syllabus design.

Let me begin by discussing my thoughts on Chapter 5:

I have to start by saying that I do agree with most of the key assumptions when it comes to goals and the curriculum approach to educational planning. I believe that people are motivated by specific goals (take me for instance, 3 years ago I wrote down the goal, " want to start a master's program before I turn 30," and here I am today). I also believe the use of goals in teaching improves the effectiveness of teaching and learning. If you don't know or understand what you are trying to accomplish it is much easier to get lost along the way. Not to say that every learning experience must be 100% goal driven, but if you don't have that purpose in mind it is hard to plan sound educational activities.

I found this chapter very interesting---What is the point of teaching a second language? What is the purpose? I agree these questions need to be answered before one can plan the goals of the course. The author examines 5 curriculum perspectives and I will comment on each briefly. First, in academic rationalism the goal is mastery of content just for the instrinsic value of the subject matter and its role in developing the learner's intellect, humanistic values, and rationality---now wait right there--I think my high school French teacher prescribed to this line of thinking, and I believe she sucessfully planned our courses in this very manner. In the second perspective, social and economic efficiency, it makes sense to me that adult language learners would benefit from this type of curriculum, as they are most likely learning a second language at an adult age for either social or economic purposes, and it would make sense that they would want to learn in a way that they would obtain knowledge and skills useful to their every day lives. In the learner-centeredness perspective the individual needs of the learner are stressed. Supporters of this perspective believe that active construction, and reworking of knowledge and skills is necessary for student learning. The author says that growth through experience is the key concept. This makes me think of Individual Learning plans that both teachers and students cooperatively develop---which I believe to be a powerful method of teaching, however I am not convinced that this method could be used to develop an entire course just because it would be leaving so much open to whatever students you might have that you wouldn't really be able to plan ahead. I would rather see a framework in place that can be modified to meet the needs of learners. The 4th perspective, social reconstructionism, from what I gather, basically emphasizes that curriculum should play a role in addressing social injustices and inequality--I guess I don't understand this perspective as much, I mean I could see this perspective making sense for a course based on socialism, or even social studies in general, but not for the entire basis of a language course. Finally, Cultural Pluralism is the perspective that makes most sense to me of why language classes should be taught in our region (and others). I think people do need to develop cross cultural competency, and participate in different cultures not just the dominant culture---this perspective advocates for bilingualism which is what I am hoping will be a possiblity in the future at Kuspuk. I think a bilingual program would really do a lot for the people and culture of our region.

The rest of the chapter talks about aims (which I still see as goals) and objectives. This part of the chapter was pretty straightforward, and easy to understand because I have written many goals and objectives in my life. I found it interesting that there was a lot of criticism about objectives, and that competencies are seen as entirely different than objectives. I understand that competencies are observable behaviors, but I believe that objectives can be too. I guess i'm a little confused at the difference, other than objectives are more specific and measurable. The chapter very briefly touches on Standards, which is categorized under competencies.

The non-language outcome stuff was a little dry...but I think with most courses there are going to these kind of outcomes such as thinking skills, learning skills, etc. They are kind of like bonus material :)

Okay, on to Chapter 6:

This chapter was more of a how-to on planning a course and syllabus--I actually found this very interesting and helpful and would like to attempt to plan my course for next year using these sort of processes (also understanding that I may have to alter things drastically down the line). I can't decide if my class would be better off with a topical syllabus (which i usually use) or or one of the other options. Although this chapter is all about creating syllabus for a "language" course, and my course isn't a typical language course, I feel I could still use several of the processes. I have never written a true course rationale before---the closest I have come is to write a course description, but to write out a rationale as the chapter describes would be much more beneficial to myself and students. It would really help me focus the syllabus and plan the course. I guess I will try to add another entry after I do some course planning!

Well, it's time for bed! Goodnight blogreaders of America!

Yours truly,
Miss Rally Munkey

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Planning goals and
learning outcomes (pp. 112-197). New York: Cambridge University Press.