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BE Unit3
BE Unit3
BE Unit3
BE 003
Unit 3
Course development
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International TEFL and TESOL Training
Where the world is your classroom
Unit 3
Course development
Synopsis
In this unit we will cover a developmental process of
course design by considering various stages of
contact with our clients.
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Unit 3
Course development
First meetings
One of our first considerations when meeting our
students for the first time will be to make an
assessment of what they know and what they need to
know. You will find suggestions in many reference
books for initial level testing of students followed at a
later date by a needs analysis.
What we are trying to ascertain here is their level of English proficiency, rather than any specific business knowledge.
Therefore any General English level test will suffice, providing it is graded, i.e. gets progressively more difficult.
Again there are many different level descriptors used by different testing systems, we will adopt a five-level scale as
follows:
n Elementary
n Pre-Intermediate
n Intermediate
n Lower Advanced
n Advanced
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Unit 3
Course development
Extract from a sample level test
Complete the sentences with the word/s you think fits best into the space, from the words given:
6. You __________ eat food in the library, as it's against the rules.
should can must mustn’t could
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Unit 3
Course development
Levels indicated from test
The following is an example of how the results might be interpreted, but you should bear in mind that the test on the
previous page is only a part of a longer test, so the numbers given below are only an approximate indication of the
students’ level. Typical descriptors are given.
Elementary (1 or 2 correct) Has a basic command of the language required for a range of familiar situations.
Pre-Intermediate (3 to 5 correct) Has an effective but limited command of the language in a range of familiar
situations.
Intermediate (6 to 8 correct) Has a generally effective command of the language in a range of situations and can
take part in discussions.
Lower Advanced (9 correct) Has a good operational command of the language in a wide range of real world
situations and can participate effectively in discussions and meetings.
Advanced (10 correct) Has a full operational command of the language at a high level in most situations;;
can present an argument and use suasion.
Note: This scale is based on the European 5 level scale established by ALTE.
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Unit 3
Course development
Needs analysis
Having gained an understanding of the students'
level from the level test, the next step is to present a
‘needs analysis’.
Using both the results of the level tests and the needs
analysis, you are now in a position to arrange your
groupings. Again this usually needs to be done in
coordination with the Human resources/Personnel
department, as the company may have their own
requirements as to who and when people will be
available.
Your first lesson with each of your groups should have some time devoted to a needs negotiation. This would take the form
of a class discussion and should focus on the areas that the students feel would be most useful to them as a group.
By this stage you should have already worked out a preliminary syllabus and you can direct the discussion to show how
their needs are being addressed. If your group is at a very basic level this stage of the process is best left out.
There will always be some areas that one or two students need that the others do not. You can explain that any individual
such needs will be addressed through homework and/or assignments, should the language point be outside of anything
useful to the whole group.
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Unit 3
Course development
Needs analysis
As with teachers there is no 'average' learner that we
can describe.
Groups of students may (if you are lucky) all be at the same level of English language knowledge. This makes things easier
for you, as you don't have to consider differentiation (grading the level of difficulty to cover all levels) in your teaching and
activities.
Your groups may be organized by department in the workplace. This means you may have a whole range of management
levels all with very different abilities in English.
You also cannot assume that all the clients attending your classes are doing so of their own free will. Whilst many are keen
to be learning English, as they understand the importance of it, they may have to do this learning outside of their normal
working day. This is an important consideration, and will be mentioned in the next section (Teaching adults).
Another important aspect to consider is client expectations, such as being able to speak confidently in front of a group.
These expectations will vary according to culture and to a lesser degree on whether the client is paying for the lessons
themselves.
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Unit 3 Course development
Sample Needs analysis
Section 1
Name ...............................................................................................................................................................
Job title ........................................................................................................................................................
Department ............................................................................................................................................
Number of years with the company .................................................................
Section 2
Please number the following skills:
1 = least used in my job to 4 = most used in my job
Speaking ( .......... ) Writing ( .......... )
Reading ( .......... ) Listening ( .......... )
Section 3: Speaking
Please use words like never, sometimes, often, every day, to say how often you have to speak in the following situations:
On the telephone:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
In your workplace:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
At meetings:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
With customers:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Presentations:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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Unit 3 Course development
Section 4: Writing
Please use words like, never, sometimes, often, every day, to say how often you have to write in the following situations:
Letters:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Faxes:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Reports:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Emails:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Minutes of meetings:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Notices:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Company website:
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Presentations (in-company):
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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Unit 3 Course development
Section 5: Reading
What English language newspapers, journals or magazines do you read, and why?
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Please answer the questions yes or no, for your English language learning.
1. I learnt English at school. yes / no (if yes, for .......... years)
2. I have had English lessons since school. yes / no (if yes, for .......... years)
Section 7: Needs
Please give a score for your need to learn each of the skills below.
1= least important for me to 4 = most important for me.
Speaking ( .......... ) Writing ( .......... )
Reading ( .......... ) Listening ( .......... )
(You may also wish to include some form of listening activity to assess their needs in this area, but this will probably need
to be done as a separate activity.)
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Unit 3
Course development
Syllabus design
You may wish to read through some of the extensive
literature available for designing a language syllabus.
The first thing you will find is that there are many
different theories as to what a syllabus should be
designed around.
You will find a lot of material which relates the syllabus design to particular learning theories. See for example:
Syllabus Design
(http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=xp7h2xT907kC&dq=syllabus+design&printsec=frontcover&source=web
&ots=qdF1l3FRsK&sig=x2OGifl-tm7mXKZ9-xLOXYzuxd4&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPR5,M1)
Having worked your way through this material you may ask yourself if there is an easier way of going about this process.
There probably is.
When they have completed a needs analysis, which tells you what the students need to know and how this language
needs to be used, all you really need to do is to string these concepts together. They need to form a logical sequence using
whatever materials you have available for your teaching. It doesn't really need to be complicated any further than this!
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Unit 3
Course development
So let’s run through a ‘mini design’ process so that all the parts of the syllabus design can be seen in context.
Firstly, this group was arranged from the level test at Pre-Intermediate.
Our course is for 10 hours split into ten one hour blocks.
Start by removing all the time that will not be spent on teaching and practice. This will probably include the first lesson
which is going to be a needs negotiation, followed by explaining the syllabus you have designed. You will also need at least
one occasion for student assessment, say at the end. This is a further one hour.
It makes sense to leave some flexibility in your program for things that will come up over the duration of the course, say
one further hour.
We now have seven hours left to deliver our curriculum. As there are four topics we can dedicate two lessons to three
topics and one lesson to a fourth.
If we now consider the actual items of language, grammar and vocabulary, that each topic needs to cover then we can
come up with a syllabus order.
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Unit 3
Course development
The language requirements could include:
Vocabulary will include nouns such as: rise, increase, fall, drop, cut, reduction, etc
Grammar may include: transitive verbs: raise, expand, decrease;; and intransitive verbs: rise, expand, fall, decline, etc
Vocabulary may include: adjectives such as, shape, size, colour, etc
Grammar may include use of comparative and superlative adjectives, adjective order, etc.
Vocabulary and grammar will be similar to that already covered (we will use one hour for this session)
So we will cover the four units above in this order: (i), (iii), (ii), (iv)
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Unit 3
Course development
Sample syllabus
8 Coursebook pp 78 - 81 As needed
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Unit 3
Course development
End of course
assessment of students
It is most important, for both yourself and your
students, that some regular form of testing or
assessment of learning takes place. This will allow
you to measure the efficacy of your program and allow
your students to monitor their progress.
n Diagnostic
n Placement
n Aptitude
n Achievement
n Proficiency
n Progress
Diagnostic tests are designed to assess the students’ knowledge and skills in specific areas that have accrued due to
past learning experiences. These tests would take place before your course begins.
Placement tests are designed to enable you to group students by their current ability in a range of areas rather than
anything specific. These tests often take the form of multiple choice style questions to make the marking quicker.
Aptitude tests are designed to predict students’ probable future performance on a course. They try to assess if the
student will be able to use the language.
Achievement tests are designed to assess the students’ learning of a body of known work, e.g. a syllabus. They are usually
constructed to give maximum discrimination between the students so that individual progress can be monitored.
Proficiency tests are designed to assess the students’ current knowledge and reference this forward to some future task.
For example, will this student be able to study Medicine in the medium of the English language at a UK University?
Progress tests are designed to assess students’ progress in learning specific areas taught in the class. They tend to be
less formal than external achievement tests and are often created by the teacher themselves. They can inform the
teacher of the efficiency of their program and motivate students by their ‘knowing what they don’t know’.
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Unit 3
Course development
In terms of our example 10-hour course and syllabus, an end of course progress test would be suitable. For a much longer
course we may have had a mid-course progress test and end with an achievement test.
Most book series offer progress tests in their texts, or you can adapt tests set for external examinations by cut and paste
for relevant questions. You will also find many tests available on various websites on the internet (See webliography).
Whatever method you use to generate these progress tests you should always try to ensure the following:
n That the tests are marked very shortly after they are given.
n That they are annotated and returned to the students as soon as is practicable.
n That some form of remedial teaching takes place to cover common areas of weakness indicated in the test results.
Certainly a minimum of once in any course, probably at the end if it is a short duration course (10 hours), or as soon as a
reasonable 'chunk' of the syllabus has been covered in longer courses.
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Unit 3
Course development
Examinations
It is not unusual to have to prepare students for
specific examinations in Business English.
Some of these examinations are only available at certain times of the year.
You or the potential examinee will need to check on the websites of the organisations above for information regarding
when and where the examinations are held.
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Unit 3
Course development
Course evaluations
On completion of any course it is advisable to do
some form of evaluation. This is useful for a number
of reasons:
Student evaluations
An efficient way to gather this information from students is through the use of an end-of-course questionnaire. On it you
should remind students of the initial aims of the course and ask them to rate various aspects of the course on a 1(poor)
to 5 (excellent) scale. It is also useful to know why they have given the particular grades, so after each question leave five
or so blank lines for them to add additional comments. Try to ask questions on the whole range of the course, including
the syllabus, materials and teaching style. Ask the students to offer suggestions for improvement both in terms of what
you do now and what you could add in the future to make the course more rounded, balanced and useful to them.
There are likely to be two parts to this: Firstly you may well be required by your employer (and you should be able) to
supply evidence of, attendance, progress grades, achievement grades and so on. Secondly this information may be
needed as an end of course report, which will be given to the student and may possibly be used as evidence in some form
of certification or portfolio of experience. Even if this information is not required by the employer or student it is worth
keeping on file. You may be surprised how many students, even years after doing your course, will ask for a reference.
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Unit 3
Course development
Task sheet
Check your knowledge before attempting the unit test.
Note: not all the information needed for the answers can be found in the unit, so you may need to do further research from
other sources.
Task 2 – What are the four skills we wish our students to use? Identify each as productive or receptive.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Task 3 – Give two examples for each of the skills above, at A2 (ALTE Level One), which would be suitable for study in
a business context:
1a.
1b.
2a.
2b.
3a.
3b.
4a.
4b.
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Unit 3
Course development
Task 4 – Using the lesson plan below, devise a lesson plan based around any one of the four skills in task 2 on the previous
page , at A2 (ALTE Level One).
Lesson Plan
Teacher: Observer: Date and time:
Class level: Room: Expected number of students:
Language point:
Teaching aids:
Learner objectives: For the students to be able to Personal aims:
Solutions: Solutions:
Procedure Phase Timing Interaction
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Unit 3
Course development
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Unit 3
Course development
Task 5 – Describe the main differences between a structural and situational syllabus:
Task 6 – In terms of testing and examinations what is the difference between norm referencing and criteria referencing?
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