ENG519 Midterm Short Notes by MAS All Rounder

Lesson-01 · ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN · Topic- 001: Overview

This topic gives a synopsis of the areas which will be the main focus throughout this course. Basically, it is an overview of language curriculum development processes and suggests that like other areas of curriculum activity, it is concerned with principles and procedures of the planning, delivery, management, and assessment of English language teaching and learning. Curriculum development process is seen as a combination of needs analysis, goal setting, format and presentation, principles, syllabus design, methodology, approaches to curriculum, professional development of teachers and testing and evaluation. In this topic, reference is made to the National Curriculum for English Language (NCEL, 2006) in the Pakistani context.

This topic also problematizes the notion of how language curriculum development is seen as a broader field of educational activity known as curriculum development or curriculum studies. Curriculum development focuses on determining what knowledge, skills, and values students learn in schools; what experiences should be provided to bring about intended learning outcomes; and how teaching and learning in schools or educational systems can be planned, measured, and evaluated. Language curriculum development refers to the field of applied linguistics that addresses these issues. It familiarizes us with an interrelated set of processes that focuses on designing, revising, implementing, and evaluating language programs.

Topic-002: Definitions

This topic focuses on defining two key terms: 1) language curriculum design (LCD) and 2) syllabus design. Syllabus design is one aspect of curriculum development but is not identical with it. A syllabus is seen as a specification of the content of a course of instruction and lists all possible teaching content. Thus, the syllabus for a speaking course might specify:

•  The kinds of oral skills that will be taught and practiced during the course

the course

Syllabus design is the process of developing a syllabus. 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 the needs, to determine an appropriate syllabus, course structure, teaching methods, and materials, and finally, to carry out an evaluation of the language program that results from these processes.

Topic-003: Historical Background

In this topic we will examine the development of curriculum in language teaching through its

•  Topics or other aspects of conversation that will be taught, and the order in which they will appear in
•  The functions

to curriculum design shaped our understanding of the existing curriculum. The notion of LCD, as we know it today, really began in the 1960s. However, the issues of syllabus design emerged as a major factor in language teaching much earlier. In this lecture, our focus will be the main approaches to syllabus design that emerged in the first part of the twentieth century. We will also examine the approaches that laid the foundations for more broadly based curriculum design that is used in language teaching today.

If we look back at the history of language teaching throughout the twentieth century, much of the impetus for changes in approaches to language teaching came about from changes in teaching methods. The method concept in teaching - the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning - is powerful and the quest for better methods has been a preoccupation of many teachers and applied linguists since the beginning of the twentieth century. Many methods have come and gone in the last 100 years in pursuit of the ―best method‖.

Topic-004: Historical Perspective of Language Teaching Methods

Although there has been a preference for particular methods at different times, methods often continue in some form long after they have fallen out of favor; this observation is still true today, as we see, grammar translation method is still alive in some parts of the world.

The following chronology illustrates with dates the periods of greatest dominance:

•  Grammar Translation Method (1800-1900)
•  Reading Method (1920-1950)

Topic-005: Historical Role of Vocabulary Selection

All teaching, of course, demands a choice of what will be taught from the total field of the subject. The teaching of a language at any level and under any circumstances requires the selection of certain features of the language. Some features of language are excluded intentionally or unintentionally. Two aspects of selection received primary attention in the first few decades of the 20th century. These are:

Vocabulary selection 

Approaches to these two aspects of vocabulary selection laid the foundations for syllabus design in

were what words should be taught and in which order. Thus, these core issues to vocabulary selection led to the emergence of lexical syllabus.

•  Structural Method (1930-1960)
•  Situational Method (1950-1970)
•  Communicative Approach (1970-present
•  Direct Method (1890-1930)
•  Audiolingual Method (1950-1970)

Grammar selection

language teaching. However, the main questions confronted in the first few decades of the 20th century

Lesson-02

ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DESIGN: APPROACHES TO VOCABULARY SELECTION

Topic-006: Early Approaches and Goals

Vocabulary is one of the most obvious components of language and one of the first things applied linguists turned their attention to. What words should be taught in second language and in what order? What can be derived from research on origins of LCD (Language Curriculum Design) is that students studying from any of the books in this study would spend a large amount of time. They might spend time to understand and use vocabulary that is probably of little importance. Some of the earliest approaches to vocabulary selection involved counting large collections of texts to determine the frequency with which words occurred, since it would seem obvious that words of highest frequency should be taught first. The earliest frequency counts undertaken for language teaching were based on analysis of popular reading materials and resulted in a word frequency list. Word frequency research revealed some interesting facts about vocabulary usage. For example, it was discovered that a small class of words (around 3,000) accounted for up to 85 percent of the words used in everyday texts but that it would take an extra 6,000 words to increase this by 1 percent. It was also found that about half the words in a text occur only once. However, recognizing 85 percent of the words in a text is not the same as understanding 85 percent of the text. One or two words per line will still not be understood, and these are often the key words in the text since they reflect the topic of the text and the new information in it.

Topic-007: Early Procedures of Vocabulary Selection

Criteria to determine word lists

The following criteria should be considered while determining the word lists:

Teach-ability: In a course that is taught by following the Direct Method or Total Physical Response Method, concrete vocabulary is taught early because it can easily be illustrated through pictures or by demonstration.

Similarity: Some items may be selected because they are similar to words in the native language. For example, English and French have many cognates such as table, page, and nation, and this may justify their inclusion in a word list for French-speaking learners.

Availability: Some words may not be frequent but are readily available in the sense that they come quickly to mind when certain topics are thought of. For example, classroom calls to mind desk, chair, teacher, and pupil, and therefore, these words might be worth teaching at early stage in a course.

Coverage: Words that cover or include the meanings of other words may also be useful. For example, seat might be taught because it includes the meanings of stool, bench, and chair.