9

Approaches to Curriculum Design

About starting point for curriculum design,
and a way of covering the steps
Models of Curriculum Design

Figure 9.1 is taken from

Designing Language Courses by
Kathleen Graves (2000). This is
very readable, practical book on
curriculum design which draw
strongly on the experience of
teachers.

This diagram is intended to be

easy-to-remember, so that teachers
can use it whenever they face
curriculum design issues or are
reading articles on curriculum
design.
The Process of Curriculum Design

3. A “layers of necessity” model

The curriculum design is seen initially as a choice between various layers. Each
layer is complete in itself and includes the major parts of the curriculum design process.
This layer would involve all the following steps:
1) Decide on the most severe environmental constraint on the course and how it will
affect the curriculum design.
2) Decide on the most urgent necessity that learners have to meet at the end of the
course.
3) Make a short list of items to cover.
4) Decide on a simple lesson format that will make use of available material.
5) Gather the material for the course.
6) Decide on a simple form of assessment.
Deciding on an Approach
Choosing which path to take will depend on the starting point, the time available for course
preparation, the availability of needs analysis information, the availability of a usable course
book, and the skill of the curriculum designer. We will assume that time is short and that only a
small amount of needs analysis information is available.
Clearly the least demanding approach is to choose an existing course book as a source of
material, and then apply a focused opportunistic approach to gradually improve and eventually
replace it. We have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

Summary of the Steps

1. Decide on your starting point.
2. Decide what kind of path to follow through the process of curriculum design.
THANK
YOU