Current Developments in Language Curriculum Design: An Australian Perspective

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 287-303
Author(s):  
Jill Burton

The past decade in language curriculum in Australia has been a time of exploration and innovation, and also a time of consolidation. During this period, curriculum planning reflected, first, a swing within the teaching profession to greater teacher responsibility in curriculum (a responsive curriculum), then a swing back to teacher accountability (an explicit curriculum) due to demands external to the teaching profession. In addition, language curriculum in Australia was strongly influenced by communicative language teaching theory (CLT) and the related developments of task-based learning (TBL), needs-based programming, and language as discourse theory.

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822097854
Author(s):  
Kevin Wai-Ho Yung

Literature has long been used as a tool for language teaching and learning. In the New Academic Structure in Hong Kong, it has become an important element in the senior secondary English language curriculum to promote communicative language teaching (CLT) with a process-oriented approach. However, as in many other English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts where high-stakes testing prevails, Hong Kong students are highly exam-oriented and expect teachers to teach to the test. Because there is no direct assessment on literature in the English language curriculum, many teachers find it challenging to balance CLT through literature and exam preparation. To address this issue, this article describes an innovation of teaching ESL through songs by ‘packaging’ it as exam practice to engage exam-oriented students in CLT. A series of activities derived from the song Seasons in the Sun was implemented in the ESL classrooms in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Based on the author’s observations and reflections informed by teachers’ and students’ comments, the students were first motivated, at least instrumentally, by the relevance of the activities to the listening paper in the public exam when they saw the similarities between the classroom tasks and past exam questions. Once the students felt motivated, they were more easily engaged in a variety of CLT activities, which encouraged the use of English for authentic and meaningful communication. This article offers pedagogical implications for ESL/EFL teachers to implement CLT through literature in exam-oriented contexts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Khatib ◽  
Saeed Rezaei ◽  
Ali Derakhshan

This paper is a review of literature on how literature can be integrated as a language teaching material in EFL/ESL classes. First, it tracks down the place of literature in language classes from the early Grammar Translation Method (GTM) to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) era. The paper then discusses the reasons for the demise and resurrection of literature as an input for language classes. After that the reasons for and against the use of literature in EFL/ESL classes are enumerated and discussed. For so doing, the researchers draw upon recent ideas on language teaching practice and theories. Finally in a practical move, this paper reviews the past and current approaches to teaching literature in language teaching classes. Five methodological models for teaching literature are proposed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Chang ◽  
Jaya S. Goswami

Foreign language teaching in many Asian-Pacific countries in recent decades has shifted toward communicative-focused instruction. However, researchers have reported a gap between policy and practice. To incorporate teachers’ voices in adopting the communicative approach in the curriculum, this study explores factors that promote or hinder EFL teachers’ implementation of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Taiwanese college English classes. The findings indicated that the factors that impacted implementation of CLT related to teachers, students, the educational system, and suitability of CLT in the local context. Also, certain situational constraints were found to hinder the implementation of CTL. The article provides practical recommendations for teachers, educators, and policy makers to further improve teacher training, curriculum design, and situational constraints to ensure success in implementing the CLT approach.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Zelda Elisifa Sam

The current study explored EFL secondary school learners’ beliefs about language teaching, learning and testing in Tanzania. Specifically, it sought to find out the EFL learners’ beliefs about language assessment, explore the EFL learners’ beliefs about language learning and establish degree of EFL learner variability in their beliefs about language teaching. The study involved 48 secondary school learners, 36 (75%) males and 12 (25%) females. From these 20 (all boys) (50%) were from a private secondary school in Temeke and the rest (16 boys and all 12 girls) from another secondary school in Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Data were collected via a questionnaire, which was one and only tool for data gathering and it consisted of 25 items, five on language assessment, 9 on language teaching and 11 on language learning to which the respondents were asked to react and register their level of agreement about pre –developed assertions. Findings showed that while the learners differed in their beliefs about language teaching, a grand majority shared a belief about primacy of grammar teaching and on role of teacher in error correction and disfavoured communicative language teaching. The same was the case for language assessment where the most shared belief was testing grammar and correcting errors. It is concluded that these set of beliefs are hinged upon years of grammar-focussed teaching in Tanzania which still characterize language teaching in Tanzania despite the introduction of communicative language teaching approach in the national language curriculum more than ten years ago.


2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangyong Sun ◽  
Liying Cheng

This article discusses the implementation of communicative language teaching methodology in the EFL context in one institution in China. The context and curriculum development of the English teaching program at Private Pui Ching Commercial College is used here as a case study. The article suggests that a preliminary stage of context-based communicative curriculum development is necessary. Such a preliminary stage aims to investigate first the context of an English language teaching program, and then the process of adapting the program to its context for implementation. A framework for such a context investigation is proposed. Three key questions regarding the integration of the context study into curriculum design are also discussed.


1991 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Irizar Valdes ◽  
Ada Chiappy Jhones

In the early 80's, ideas of the communicative approach filtered through to Cuba, but in no way are these ideas widely used in language teaching in the country today. The importance of the tourism industry to Cuba over the past few years has resulted in a careful examination of language teaching for workers in the industry. As a result of this analysis, an experimental programme based on the ideas of the communicative approach was implemented at the Centre for Studies in Tourism in Havana in September 1987. A description of this programme will be presented. Special emphasis will be given to the difficulties encountered by teachers in a foreign language setting who had been previously used to teaching prescribed, teacher-centred, structural methods. One of the other experimental features of this programme was the incorporation of a Canadian focus into the teaching of English in tourism, in an attempt to move away from the consideration of the U.S. and Great Britain as the only sources of English language content and social context. Attempts to extend this type of programme to all sectors of tourism will also be described.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Retno Baskoro Wulan

This research is aimed to develop supplementary speaking materials for fifth grade students. Belonging to educational research and development (R&D), this research employed a simplified six steps of Borg and Gall’s model (1983). The six steps are as follow (1) conducting needs analysis, (2) constructing course grid, (3) developing course grid based on the combination of the 2006 Curriculum (KTSP) and the result of the needs analysis for young learners. The English speaking material was designed based on the principles of Language Curriculum Design proposed by Nation & Macalister (2010) and task-based language teaching proposed by Willis (2003) (4) the tryout of the course grid to the fifth grade students at SD Kanisius Ganjuran Bantul, (5) evaluation and revision of course grid by the experts, and (6) final product. The finding shows that the product relies much on pertaining KD of the 2006 Curriculum and the teacher expected that the students need to improve speaking skill since they have opportunity to speak English. English speaking materials are in line with student’s wants who are young learners. The strengths of this product help students to improve their speaking skill especially the vocabularies, the language function used in spoken language. The tasks can fascinate the students on teaching and learning process of English lesson.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Parviz Maftoon ◽  
Masumeh Taie

<p>The evolution of language knowledge continues, as does the inquisitive nature of human beings. But the explosive growth of knowledge in the third millennium seems to herald a new era in language teaching. Deepened insights into philosophy have betrayed the poverty of structuralism to account for language learning. The shift from structuralism to poststructuralism has brought about inevitable, though controversial, trends, e.g., the World Englishes and standards movements. Media proliferation of the “mass-age” (McLuhan &amp; Fiore, 2001) of the globalized era has led to a context where appealing terms such as computer-assisted and Internet-assisted language teaching might get blurred sooner in view of more sophisticated advances. Could the future witness virtual reality or expert systems-based language teaching? Language curriculum development in the third millennium should accommodate a recognition of the interdisciplinary knowledge and dynamicity and multimodality of concepts. Starting with the educational philosophy and moving on to related topics, this paper aims at envisaging the putative future of language curriculum development. Each topic in this article has been investigated followed by its effects on its succeeding topic attempting to provide a coherent framework. Glocalization has been introduced as the lost piece of puzzle linking topics coherently.</p>


Author(s):  
Ольга Миколюк

This article examines the communicative approach as one of the most successful methods of teaching English nowadays. The basic principles are aimed at teachers and students, efficient classroom activities and styles of learning. Furthermore, there are some guidelines for teachers and even a critique of communicative language teaching in this article.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document