University of Algiers 2

Applied linguistics and Teaching English as a Foreign

Language

Course name: Curriculum Design

Course tutor: Mrs. N.BESSAI

Goals and objectives of curricula:

Waters (1996), Jordan (1997) Robinson (1990) when saying that any approach to
course design should start with some kind of analysis of: target needs, present
situation, language (...), with the data obtained it will be possible to formulate ‘general
aims’ and more ‘specific objectives’ as intended outcomes. These specific objectives
should realize the learners’ needs, and provide the basis for decision making in the
programme.

Philosophies (Ideologies) of curricula:

An ideology represents a particular point of view concerning the most important
knowledge and value from the culture.
In developing goals of educational programs, curriculum planners take into
consideration both the present and long-term needs of learners and of society, as well
as the planners' beliefs about schools, learners and teachers. These beliefs provide the
philosophical underpinnings for educational programs and the justification for the
kinds of aims they contain.

There are five ideologies that might intervene in estimating and deciding on the nature
of the language curriculum and practices of teaching, according to J. Richards.

1.Academic rationalism:

It is known as “classical humanism” which is based on promoting intellectual

capacities in learners, such as memorisation and analytical abilities. It deals with why
a foreign language is included in the curricula as a social feature. Academic
rationalism, sometimes, has to do with the justification of planning courses on
literature and cultures (like British and American) in language programmes. Whereas,
in order to help non native learners assimilating English literature in some countries
like Malaysia, the curricula aimed at maintaining the elitist status of English medium
education, but they were gradually replaced with more functional and practical ones.

“The view that the curriculum should stress the intrinsic value of the subject matter
and its role in developing the learner’s intellect, humanistic values and rationality.
This justification is often used for justifying the teaching of classical languages “.

2. Social and economic efficiency:

This philosophy of curricula stresses the importance of economic needs of society as

reasons to teach English language. Moreover, the shift to the notional-functional
syllabus, which relies on objectives and competency-based outcomes, led foreign
language learning to adopt the efficiency model in curriculum planning. This model
is, however, criticised as a “banking model” in making education an act of depositing,
thus the students are depositories and teachers are depositors. But, for some followers
of the social-efficiency approach, curriculum planning should meet both learners’
practical needs and society needs.

“The view that the curriculum should focus on the practical needs of learners and
society and the role of an educational programme in producing learners who are
economically productive. This is the commonest aim associated with the teaching of
English”.

3. Learners –centredness:

This theory emphasizes the learners’ importance and position in the learning process;
that is, the role of individual experience; the need to develop awareness, self-
reflection; critical thinking; and other qualities are believed to be the core of
education. Clark gave the term Progressivism to refer to this philosophy and he
suggested that it involves seeing education as a means of providing children with
learning experiences from which they can learn by their own efforts.

March also pointed out that this centred curricula can refer to one of the following:

 Individualized teaching
 Learning through operating
 Laissez faire - no organized curricula
 Creative self expression
 Practically oriented activities

Clack sees this educational philosophy as process focus rather than product focus.

“the view that the curriculum should address the individual needs of learners, the role
of individual experience, and the need to develop awareness, self-reflection, critical
thinking, learner strategies and other qualities and skills believed to be important for
learners to develop”.

4. Social reconstructionism:

This curriculum perspective raises the importance of schools and learners in society; it
focuses on developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes that would create a world
where people care about each other, the environment, and the distribution of wealth.
The famous criticism of this assumption is summarized in Auerbach’s work who
stresses that teaching must seek to empower students and help them bring about
change in their lives; because, both of teachers and students may not be able to change
the structure of systems in which they work.

“The view that schools and teaching should play a role in addressing social injustices
and inequality. Education is not seen as a neutral process, and schools should engage
teachers and learners in an examination of important social issues and seek ways of
resolving them. This is the ideology of critical pedagogy”.

5. Cultural pluralism:

This ideology represents the viewpoint of different cultural groups which should be
developed within the curriculum. The American council on teaching of foreign
languages has identified three dimensions to inter-cultural competence in foreign
language programmes; the need to learn about cultures, to compare them, and to be
engaged in inter-cultural exploration.

“The view that schools should prepare students to participate in several different
cultures and not merely the culture of the dominant social and economic group”.
Definitions of goals and objectives from Longman dictionary of
language teaching and applied linguistics:
Two different types of objectives may be distinguished.

General objectives, or aims, are the underlying reasons for or purposes of a course of
instruction. For example, the aims of the teaching of a foreign language in a particular
country might be to teach students to read and write a foreign language, to improve
students’ knowledge of a foreign culture, to teach conversation in a foreign language,
etc. Aims are long-term goals, described in very general terms.

Specific objectives (or simply objectives), are descriptions of what is to be achieved

in a course. They are more detailed descriptions of exactly what a learner is expected
to be able to do at the end of a period of instruction. This might be a single lesson, a
chapter of abook, a term’s work, etc. For instance, specific objectives of a classroom
lesson might be: Use of the linking words and, but, however, although. These specific
objectives contribute to the general objective of paragraph writing. A description of
specific objectives in terms which can be observed and measured is known as
Abehavioural OBJECTIVE.

Graded objectives: (in language teaching) objectives which describe levels of

attainment at different stages within a language programme. These are intended to
provide statements of practical short-term goals for learners and to provide practical
levels of mastery which they could attain after relatively short periods of study.
Graded objectives have been used particularly in pro grammes for foreign language
teaching in the United Kingdom.

Characteristics of objectives:
Objectives should be SMART:

Specific - Use the ABCDs to create a clear and concise objective.

Measurable - Write the objective so that anyone can observe the learner perform
desired action and objectively assess the performance.

Achievable - Make sure the learner can do what is required. Don't, for example, ask
the learner to perform complex actions if they are a beginner in an area.

Relevant - Demonstrate value to the learner. Don't teach material that won't be used
or on which you will not assess.
Timely and Time Bound - Ensure the performance will be used soon, not a year
from now. Also, include any necessary time constraints, such as completing a task in
"10 minutes o less."

How to Write Objectives' statements:

One way used to write objectives is by specifying four main things, and this is often
called the ABCD's of objectives, (a nice mnemonic aid)

Audience:Who? Who is the curriculum aimed at?

Behavior: What? What do you expect them to be able to do?

Condition: How? Under what circumstances will the learning occur? What will the
student be given or already be expected to know to accomplish the learning?

Degree:How much? Must a specific set of criteria be met? Mastery (100%).

The distinction between goals (US) /aims (UK) and objectives/

learning outcomes :( From the International Bureau of Education viewpoint)

1- goals:

Broad descriptions of purposes or ends stated in general terms without criteria of

achievement or mastery. Curriculum aims or goals relate to educational aims and
philosophy. They are programmatic and normally do not delineate the specific courses
or specific items of content. Typically, they refer to the accomplishment of groups
(e.g. all learners, learners in general, most learners) rather than the achievement of
individual learners. They are broad enough to lead to specific curriculum objectives.
Examples include: ‘students will learn to respect and get along with people of
different cultures’; ‘students will develop a sense of civic responsibility’; ‘students
will attain an appreciation for literature, art, music’.

2- Objectives:

Specific statements setting measurable expectations for what learners should know
and be able to do, described either in terms of learning outcomes (what the learners
are expected to learn), products or performance (what learners will produce as a result
of a learning activity) or processes (describing the focus of learning activities). They
can be seen as refinements of curriculum aims/goals that, for example, specify:
performance standards or those skills and knowledge the learners are expected to be
able to demonstrate; inferred or precise degree of mastery; and the conditions under
which the performance will take place. In terms of effectiveness, curriculum
objectives should: be concise and understandable to teachers, learners and parents; be
feasible for the teachers and learners to accomplish; encompass previous learning and
require the learner to integrate and then apply certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes
in order to demonstrate achievement; and be measurable on a cumulative basis and at
different stages of the learner’s educational career.

Critics of Objectives:
The main criticisms about objectives are that they ‘trivialize teaching’ in that not
everything important can be expressed in terms of objectives. There is also a feeling
that the process is too mechanical so that in the process of converting needs into
objectives the broader goals of teaching/learning may be lost. Another criticism is that
pre-specification imposes a lack of flexibility in the programme, or that specification
of objectives, which are easily measurable, is too difficult. It must be noticed that
many of these (and other) criticisms were advanced in the context of general
education, rather than in language teaching, and most of the criticism, (as far as
language teaching is concerned) can be dealt with.

Types of Objectives:
According to Jack C. Richards, different ways are usually used to state
programme objectives, in language teaching, such as:

1. Behavioural Objectives
The objectives are stated with reference to behaviour.
There are three main characteristics of behavioural objectives
according to Mager (1962):
a/ they must clearly describe the behaviour to be performed
b/ they must describe the conditions under which the performance
will be expected to take place
c/ they must state a standard of acceptable performance

Why use Behavioural Objectives in curriculum planning?

There are four common justifications that support the use of
behavioural objectives in curriculum planning:
a/they help teachers have clear goals
b/ they make the instruction phase easier
c/ they facilitate the evaluation process
d/ they give a form of accountability
 2. Skills-Based Objectives
They specify “micro skills”, or processes that provide fluency in
“macro skill” areas as reading, writing, listening and speaking.
The reason behind specifying micro skills is that the curriculum
planner tries to describe the learner’s competencies and abilities in
regard to the target language function.

3. Content-Based Objectives
Objectives are stated in terms of content. In addition to that,
curriculum planners employ lists of functions which are often
linked to specific situations or settings as objectives in language
programmes.

4. Proficiency-Based Objectives
They can diagnose and specify the learner’s level of proficiency
before and after instruction through the use of placement tests and
final assessments.
For example:
 The Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (The
ASLRP)
 The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages (ACTFL)

References:
Jack C. Richards and Richard Schmidt, Longman dictionary of language teaching and
applied linguistics.(2002)

Jack.C.Richards, Curriculum Development in language teaching.(2001)

Irma Dolores Núñez y Bodegas, From curriculum to syllabus design: The different
stages to design a programme.(2007)

http://www.ibe.unesco.org
http://www.personal.psu.edu

The Importance of Goals & Objectives in Curriculum :

Goals and objectives occupy an important role in curriculum planning because :

 They help the teachers in staying focus on the purpose of the course ,and in
determining what the students will do to reach the goals ,i.e they provide
guidance for them .

 setting goals and objectives helps the teachers to decide what particularly
important when time for teaching is extremely limited.

 They determine what the students will fulfill and realize .

 Goals are important for both teachers and students because they allow them to
value their own progress towards attainment of goals

 They allow the students also to know in advance what they are expected to do
in order to perfom adequately so that they achieve the fixed goals .

 In addition,designing curriculum with goals enable the developers to revise or

evaluate the curriculum effectiveness in terms of learners achievements .

 The goals of any curriculum reflect the philosophy of education .

Conclusively,the application of these goals will undoubtedly results a great success .