Professor norman Mosquera Castro

CURRICULUM DESIGN

Dear student,

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Welcome to my course of curriculum planning. Effective planning

contributes to high quality teaching. Effective performance against this indicator
does not in itself mean that the quality of teaching is high, but it can be used to
triangulate other evidence about the overall quality of teaching.

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

The word curriculum is essentially a course of study. Every subject has its
own way of being taught, and educators are constantly searching for new ways to
teach so that students come away with both knowledge and the desire to learn
even more. Different elements combine together to create a good course for
students at a distance learning mode.

The study of curriculum design explores new possibilities for teaching, as

well as studying tried and true methods that have been proven to be effective
over the years.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me immediately.

TEXTBOOK:

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

TITLE:

THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

AUTHOR:
PRESS:
EDITION:

JAMES DEAN BROWN

NEW BURY HOUSE TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
1995

Friendly,

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Professor Norman Mosquera Castro

normanmosquerac@yahoo.es

PRESENTATION OF THE SUBJECT

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Possession of relevant knowledge, creation of new knowledge, and the

capacity for its application have become the determinants in the strength of a

nation. Consequently, education has come to the centre stage and is today the
most important agent for change and development.

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Education is a dynamic phenomenon that must recognise the changes in the

environment and respond to the growing demands and challenges. In today's
scenario, the technology is changing so rapidly that half-life of several disciplines
has dwindled down to just a few years. Some of the other disciplines are fast
appearing on the surface.

Mobility of professionals across the national boundaries has changed the

demand-supply perspective and this may eventually force the educational
planners to take a global view. Extrapolation of these and other expected inputs
may permit us to predict the immediate future behaviour of the education system
but predictions over medium or long range are going to be difficult primarily
because of the involvement of a large number of fuzzy parameters.

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

The design of a curriculum for such a dynamic system is a very challenging

task. Further difficulties arise when the multifarious nature of teaching functions -

each requiring differing skills, abilities and attitudes - are brought into
consideration.

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

All curricula require periodic review and institutions must have a permanent
mechanism for identifying the curriculum requirements based on national needs
and international trends. This is essential for developing a work-force which has
gone through education and training to successfully tackle the challenges of
technological advancements. Our education system has expanded considerably

but we have still not developed a management system capable of incorporating

such changes.
Language curriculum development deals with the following questions, which
provide the framework for this course.

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

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What procedures can be used to determine the content of a language

program?
What are learners needs?

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

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How can learners needs be determined?

What contextual factors need to be considered in planning a language
program?
What is the nature of aims and objectives in teaching and how can these be
developed?
What factors are involved in planning the syllabus and the units of
organization in a course?
How can good teaching be provided in a program?

What issues are involved in selecting, adapting, and designing instructional

materials?
How can one measure the effectiveness of a language program?

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Finally, I must add that a curriculum no matter how good it is, will not translate
into academic excellence for the school if the persons implementing it lack a
passion for excellence and the infrastructure available is sub-standard.

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GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE SUBJECT

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

The main objectives of the course are to planning programs of instruction, the
construction of teaching materials, and the designing of tests and their analysis.
These topics deal with various the most outstanding aspects of the general
procedures to programming the phases of sound foreign (second) language
courses. The topics are on matters such as making macro-programming plans,
projects for instruction in foreign (second) language learning/teaching, devising

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instruments for independent or official audit of the results of the application of

programs of study.

ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Development, evaluation, and implementation are part of a logical progression

in any situation that has an end product. If a company produces a computer
program for instance, they need to 1) design it with the needs of the end users in
mind, 2) evaluate it in house and encourage outsiders to review it, and 3) have a

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mechanism to implement it, including figuring out how to make it available and
training end users in its effective operation.
METHOD

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Approach. A language teaching approach is taken to include assumptions

about what language is and how languages are learned.

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Design. The design portion of the development framework includes

elements such as the following: language difficulty, program difficulty,
program content, language focus (also called program focus), skill focus
(also called learner focus), and learner styles supported. These interact with
considerations such as the learner profiles among the intended users (age,
first language, etc.) and the objectives of the syllabus and should maintain
consistency with the approach-based design criteria.

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Procedure. The procedure considerations are much more specific to the

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Professor norman Mosquera Castro

teaching environment. They may begin with the concept of "activity type",
which is the general form of the exercise, e.g. text plus comprehension
questions, picture identification, text reconstruction. The presentation
scheme determines how the language will be presented, including the
modalities (text, audio, graphics, and video) and what the general
interaction sequence will be.

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THE ELEMENTS OF CURRICULUM

The word "curriculum" originally meant the race course in the Roman
coliseum, much like the race track in a modern stadium. It came to mean "running
a course, race, or career." Modern definitions include:

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

1) The courses offered by an educational institution or one of its branches.

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Professor norman Mosquera Castro

2) A set of courses.
3) A fixed series of studies required, as in a college, for graduation, qualification in
a
major field of study, etc.
4) All of the courses, collectively, offered in a school, college, etc., or in a
particular
subject.

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Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF CURRICULUM

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FIRST MONTH SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this month, the student will be able to:

Describe and classify language teaching activities.

Discuss about the design and elements of curriculum

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

LEARNING ACTIVITY #1

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Make a concept map of the Four categories of language teaching activities.

LEARNING ACTIVITY #2
Answer the following questionnaire (10 points).

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

1. What is the difference between syllabus design and curriculum development?

2. How are syllabuses developed in language program you are familiar with?

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3. How relevant are the issues of selection gradation to language teaching today? What factors
influence views of selection and gradation?
4. How did the categories provided by Richards and Rodgers (1982) (approach, design, and
procedures differ from Anthonys (1963) earlier classifications?
5. How is an approach defined in Chapter 1? Can you name five approaches?

EVALUATION

Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Learning activities would be graded as follows,

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Professor norman Mosquera Castro

Activity 1:
Activity 2:

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5 points
5 points