MAJORSHIP
Area: ENGLISH
Focus: Language Curriculum
LET Competencies:
1. Define Curriculum and Syllabus.
2. Distinguish Curriculum from syllabus
3. Discuss the ideology of a curriculum
Identify key features of curriculum
CURRICULUM
♦ A curriculum is more than a list of topics to be covered by an educational programme, for which the more commonly
accepted word is a ‘syllabus’. A curriculum is first of all a policy statement about a piece of education, and secondly an
indication as to the ways in which that policy is to be realized through a programme of action. It is the sum of all the
activities, experiences and learning opportunities for which an institution (such as the Society) or a teacher (such as a
faculty member) takes responsibility – either deliberately or by default (Coles, 2003)
♦ May be defined as an educational plan that spells out which goals and objectives should be achieved, which topics
should be covered and which methods are to be used for learning, teaching and evaluation (Wojtczak, 2002)
♦ Is the planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning outcomes, formulated through the systematic
reconstruction of knowledge and experiences, under the auspices of the school, for the learners’ continuous and wilful
growth in personal social competence (Tanner, 1980)
♦ The term curriculum refers to the sum total of organized learning stated as educational ends, activities, school subjects
and/or topics decided upon and provided within an educational institution for the attainment of the students (Garcia,
1976, SEAMEO RELC)
♦ 'A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a
form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice'. A curriculum is rather like a
recipe in cookery (Stenhouse,1975)
SYLLABUS DESIGN
♦ One aspect of curriculum development but is not identical with it. A syllabus is a specification of the content of a course
of instruction and lists what will be taught and tested. Syllabus design is the process of developing a syllabus (Richards,
2001)
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
♦ Is a more comprehensive process than syllabus design. It includes the processes that are used to determine the needs
of a group of learners, to develop aims or objectives for a program to address those needs, to determine an appropriate
syllabus, course structure, teaching methods, and materials, and to carry out an evaluation of the language program that
results from these processes (Richards, 2001)
Syllabi, which prescribes the content to be covered by a given course, forms only a small part of the total school program.
Curriculum is a far broader concept. It is all those activities in which students engage under the auspices of the school. This
includes not only what students learn, but how they learn it, how teachers help them learn, using what supporting materials,
styles and methods of assessment, and in what kind of facilities (Rodgers, 1989).
The Ideology of the Curriculum
In developing goals for educational programs, curriculum planners draw on their understanding both of the present and
long-term needs of learners and of society as well as the planners’ beliefs and values about schools, learners, and teachers.
These beliefs and values are sometimes referred to as curriculum ideologies, and represent the philosophical underpinnings for
educational programs and the justification for the kinds of aim they contain.
Each of the five curriculum perspectives or ideologies below emphasizes a different approach to the role of language in the
curriculum (Richards, 2001).
1. Academic Rationalism
The justification for the aims of curriculum stresses the intrinsic value of the subject matter and its role in developing the
learner’s intellect, humanistic values, and rationality. The content matter of different subjects is viewed as the basis for a
, curriculum. Mastery of content is an end in itself rather than a means to solving social problems or providing efficient
means to achieve the goals of policy makers.
2. Social and Economic Efficiency
This educational philosophy emphasizes the practical needs of learners and society and the role of an educational
program in producing learners who are economically productive. Bobbit (1918), one of the founders of curriculum theory,
advocated this view of the curriculum. Curriculum development was seen as based on scientific principles, its
practitioners were “educational engineers’ whose job was to “discover the total range of habits, skills, abilities, forms of
thoughts…etc., that its members need for the effective performance of their vocational labors.” In language teaching, this
philosophy leads to an emphasis on practical and functional skills in a foreign or second language.
3. Learner-centeredness
In language teaching, this educational philosophy is leading to an emphasis on process rather than product, a focus on
learner differences, learner strategies and on learner self-direction and autonomy.
4. Social Reconstructionism
This curriculum perspective emphasizes the roles schools and learners can and should play in addressing social
injustices and inequality. Morris (1995) observes: The curriculum derived from this perspective focuses on developing
knowledge, skills and attitudes which would create a world where people care about each other, the environment, and
the distribution of wealth. Tolerance, the acceptance of diversity and peace would be encouraged. Social injustices and
inequality would be central issues in the curriculum.
5. Cultural Pluralism
This philosophy argues that schools should prepare students to participate in several different cultures and not merely
the culture of the dominant social and economic group. Cultural pluralism seeks to redress racism, to raise the
self-esteem of minority groups, and to help children appreciate the viewpoints of other cultures and religions (Phillips
and Terry , 1999)
GENERAL CURRICULUM PLANNING
Taba’s outline (1962) of the steps which a course designer must work through to develop subject matter courses has become the
foundation for many other writers’ suggestions. Her list of ‘curriculum processes’ includes the following:
♦ Diagnosis of needs
♦ Formulation of objectives
♦ Selection of content
♦ Organization of content
♦ Selection of learning experiences
♦ Organization of learning experiences
♦ Determination of what to evaluate, and the means to evaluate
Decisions in Curriculum Construction
Curriculum development revolves around three major curricular elements (Garcia, 1976):
1. decisions on what to teach which are educational ends generated at three levels of specificity and
immediacy(educational aims, educational objectives, and instructional objectives)to the learner;
2. decisions on how to teach, concerned with strategies in terms of selecting and organizing learning opportunities, and
3. decisions concerning the extent to which educational ends are being attained through the strategies or means
provided.
Key features of a curriculum:
Learning is planned and guided. What is sought to be achieved and how it is to be achieved should be specified in advance.
The definition refers to schooling. It should be recognized that current appreciation of curriculum theory and practice emerged
in the school and in relation to other schooling ideas such as subject and lesson.
Four ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice:
1. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.
Curzon (1985) points out, those who compile a syllabus tend to follow the traditional textbook approach of an 'order of contents',
or a pattern prescribed by a 'logical' approach to the subject, or - consciously or unconsciously - a the shape of a university
course in which they may have participated. Thus, an approach to curriculum theory and practice which focuses on syllabus is
only really concerned with content. Curriculum is a body of knowledge-content and/or subjects. Education in this sense is the
process by which these are transmitted or 'delivered' to students by the most effective methods that can be devised (Blenkin et
al 1992).
2. Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students - product.
Area: ENGLISH
Focus: Language Curriculum
LET Competencies:
1. Define Curriculum and Syllabus.
2. Distinguish Curriculum from syllabus
3. Discuss the ideology of a curriculum
Identify key features of curriculum
CURRICULUM
♦ A curriculum is more than a list of topics to be covered by an educational programme, for which the more commonly
accepted word is a ‘syllabus’. A curriculum is first of all a policy statement about a piece of education, and secondly an
indication as to the ways in which that policy is to be realized through a programme of action. It is the sum of all the
activities, experiences and learning opportunities for which an institution (such as the Society) or a teacher (such as a
faculty member) takes responsibility – either deliberately or by default (Coles, 2003)
♦ May be defined as an educational plan that spells out which goals and objectives should be achieved, which topics
should be covered and which methods are to be used for learning, teaching and evaluation (Wojtczak, 2002)
♦ Is the planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning outcomes, formulated through the systematic
reconstruction of knowledge and experiences, under the auspices of the school, for the learners’ continuous and wilful
growth in personal social competence (Tanner, 1980)
♦ The term curriculum refers to the sum total of organized learning stated as educational ends, activities, school subjects
and/or topics decided upon and provided within an educational institution for the attainment of the students (Garcia,
1976, SEAMEO RELC)
♦ 'A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a
form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice'. A curriculum is rather like a
recipe in cookery (Stenhouse,1975)
SYLLABUS DESIGN
♦ One aspect of curriculum development but is not identical with it. A syllabus is a specification of the content of a course
of instruction and lists what will be taught and tested. Syllabus design is the process of developing a syllabus (Richards,
2001)
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
♦ Is a more comprehensive process than syllabus design. It includes the processes that are used to determine the needs
of a group of learners, to develop aims or objectives for a program to address those needs, to determine an appropriate
syllabus, course structure, teaching methods, and materials, and to carry out an evaluation of the language program that
results from these processes (Richards, 2001)
Syllabi, which prescribes the content to be covered by a given course, forms only a small part of the total school program.
Curriculum is a far broader concept. It is all those activities in which students engage under the auspices of the school. This
includes not only what students learn, but how they learn it, how teachers help them learn, using what supporting materials,
styles and methods of assessment, and in what kind of facilities (Rodgers, 1989).
The Ideology of the Curriculum
In developing goals for educational programs, curriculum planners draw on their understanding both of the present and
long-term needs of learners and of society as well as the planners’ beliefs and values about schools, learners, and teachers.
These beliefs and values are sometimes referred to as curriculum ideologies, and represent the philosophical underpinnings for
educational programs and the justification for the kinds of aim they contain.
Each of the five curriculum perspectives or ideologies below emphasizes a different approach to the role of language in the
curriculum (Richards, 2001).
1. Academic Rationalism
The justification for the aims of curriculum stresses the intrinsic value of the subject matter and its role in developing the
learner’s intellect, humanistic values, and rationality. The content matter of different subjects is viewed as the basis for a
, curriculum. Mastery of content is an end in itself rather than a means to solving social problems or providing efficient
means to achieve the goals of policy makers.
2. Social and Economic Efficiency
This educational philosophy emphasizes the practical needs of learners and society and the role of an educational
program in producing learners who are economically productive. Bobbit (1918), one of the founders of curriculum theory,
advocated this view of the curriculum. Curriculum development was seen as based on scientific principles, its
practitioners were “educational engineers’ whose job was to “discover the total range of habits, skills, abilities, forms of
thoughts…etc., that its members need for the effective performance of their vocational labors.” In language teaching, this
philosophy leads to an emphasis on practical and functional skills in a foreign or second language.
3. Learner-centeredness
In language teaching, this educational philosophy is leading to an emphasis on process rather than product, a focus on
learner differences, learner strategies and on learner self-direction and autonomy.
4. Social Reconstructionism
This curriculum perspective emphasizes the roles schools and learners can and should play in addressing social
injustices and inequality. Morris (1995) observes: The curriculum derived from this perspective focuses on developing
knowledge, skills and attitudes which would create a world where people care about each other, the environment, and
the distribution of wealth. Tolerance, the acceptance of diversity and peace would be encouraged. Social injustices and
inequality would be central issues in the curriculum.
5. Cultural Pluralism
This philosophy argues that schools should prepare students to participate in several different cultures and not merely
the culture of the dominant social and economic group. Cultural pluralism seeks to redress racism, to raise the
self-esteem of minority groups, and to help children appreciate the viewpoints of other cultures and religions (Phillips
and Terry , 1999)
GENERAL CURRICULUM PLANNING
Taba’s outline (1962) of the steps which a course designer must work through to develop subject matter courses has become the
foundation for many other writers’ suggestions. Her list of ‘curriculum processes’ includes the following:
♦ Diagnosis of needs
♦ Formulation of objectives
♦ Selection of content
♦ Organization of content
♦ Selection of learning experiences
♦ Organization of learning experiences
♦ Determination of what to evaluate, and the means to evaluate
Decisions in Curriculum Construction
Curriculum development revolves around three major curricular elements (Garcia, 1976):
1. decisions on what to teach which are educational ends generated at three levels of specificity and
immediacy(educational aims, educational objectives, and instructional objectives)to the learner;
2. decisions on how to teach, concerned with strategies in terms of selecting and organizing learning opportunities, and
3. decisions concerning the extent to which educational ends are being attained through the strategies or means
provided.
Key features of a curriculum:
Learning is planned and guided. What is sought to be achieved and how it is to be achieved should be specified in advance.
The definition refers to schooling. It should be recognized that current appreciation of curriculum theory and practice emerged
in the school and in relation to other schooling ideas such as subject and lesson.
Four ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice:
1. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.
Curzon (1985) points out, those who compile a syllabus tend to follow the traditional textbook approach of an 'order of contents',
or a pattern prescribed by a 'logical' approach to the subject, or - consciously or unconsciously - a the shape of a university
course in which they may have participated. Thus, an approach to curriculum theory and practice which focuses on syllabus is
only really concerned with content. Curriculum is a body of knowledge-content and/or subjects. Education in this sense is the
process by which these are transmitted or 'delivered' to students by the most effective methods that can be devised (Blenkin et
al 1992).
2. Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students - product.
