Written by ASUMAN BİRDAL

Written by ASUMAN BİRDAL

Learner Centered Curriculum

CONTENT

1.INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………1

2.GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT A LEARNER-CENTRED CURRICULUM…2

2.1.Making a Survey of ‘Curriculum Models’ Throughout the History………………...2

2.2.Learner-Centred Curriculum…………………………………………………………...3

3.DESIGNING A LEARNER-CENTRED CURRICULUM………...……………………4

3.1.Pre-Course Planning Procedure ………………………………………………………..4

3.2.Planning Content………………………………………………………………………...6

3.3.Methodology………...……………………………………………………………………7

3.4.Material Design…………………………………………………………………………..9

3.5.Evaluation……………………………………………………………………………….10

4.MAKING MY OWN SYLLABUS STUDENT-CENTRED……………………………12

4.1.Pre-Course Planning Procedure……………………………………………………….12

4.2.Planning the Content……………………………………………………...……………13

4.3.Selecting the Method……………………………………………………….…………..14

4.4.Selecting the Materials…………………………………………………………………15

4.5.Evaluation…………………………………………………………………….…………15

5. TIME TO ACT …….…………………………………………………………………….16

1.INTRODUCTION

Having experienced foreign language learning in our secondary schools we all know that we were under the pressure of our teachers’desires which were shaped according to the pre-determined curriculum showing what to do before meeting with the learners- though I was a little bit lucky having graduated from a high school in which the system is closer to the learners’ needs.But generally looking, most of the people still come across with such things even the system has begun to change since 1970s with Humanism most probably due to the handicap of having traditional minds and lazy educationalists whose desires are to create hard-working students, which is meaningless .What they miss firstly is the main participants’effects in that process and they act along with the curriculum presented before them saying ‘what should be done’ rather than focusing upon the learners’needs, desires, interests.

Here I will explain the details of this ignored system with the last developments it has and give information about the new curriculum model: ‘Learner-centred Curriculum’ by utilising the applied linguists’ and educationalists’ ideas supporting the vital role of learner-centred approach in language education.

In the first part, I will give a general knowledge about the history of ‘ Curriculum models’ considering into the underlying principle of it and then a more detailed information on the ‘Learner-centred curriculum’.Then, step by step,I will try to explain how this curriculum is designed , what the processes are and so on with the help of some professional educationalists’ and applied linguists’ideas, especially David Nunan’s,director of the National CurriculumResource centre. In the ligth of these ideas, I will present my own syllabus design set in line with the learner-centred curriculum for one of my own weekend classes and then a sample of lesson planned according to the needs and interests of my students. I hope we will both enjoy it.

2. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT A LEARNER-CENTRED CURRICULUM

2.1.Making a Survey of ‘Curiculum Models ’ Throughout the History:

Before giving detailed information on ‘learner –centred curriculum’, I prefer focusing upon what is ‘curriculum?’. According to David Nunan(1988a:10), ‘Curriculum planning can be seen as the systematic attempt by educationalists and teachers to specify and study planned intervention into the educational enterprise.’So we can say that curriculum is the product of this systematic attempt which will lead us in making our course designs. As we see, there is no distinction that is made to seperate the curriculum models from each other:all the curriculm models are systematic and carefully and scientifically planned beforehand by following the same procedure. In fact what makes them different from each other is their rationale and criteria that are adopted while planning of it. Let’s make a brain storming to see in what ways the curriculum models differ by means of our general knowledge on the old .traditional teaching styles and the new ones:

Traditional curriculum models which are deficient to compensate the learners’ needs are based on the linguistic elements ignoring the communicative needs; selecting and sequencing of the language items are made on linguistic grounds ignoring the content, meaning and the learners’needs and interests and they are imposed upon the learners. Bookish language is used as doing this rather that being closer to the everyday language use.And while the learners are trying to express themselves with difficulty, correct forms are required; errors and mistakes,which are inevitable during the learning process itself, of the learners are reacted in a strict manner.

Fortunately things have changed in time and some deviations from this strict model have emerged. Cheryl L. Champeau De Lopez(1989) pointed out these changes and explains that traditional curriculum models change from three main areas: ‘Emphasis on the individual learner;eclecticism;communication in asocial context.’.Since he explains them in detail here I will only summarise his words to give the adequate explanation:

1.Emphasis onthe individual learner:the focus has shifted from the teacher to the learner.

2.Eclecticism:Selecting materials and techniques from various sources since one teaching methodology will not be the most appropriate for all students.

3.Communication in a social context: Function of the language is important; while we are speaking we act certain functions in a society.

As wee see with the change of the rationale behind the process, the planning of the teaching-learning process has also changed. Learners have started to take part in the process an bring their ideas, experience, interests ,world knowledge into the process and they have influenced the curriculum planning also.For example, although the steps are the same in planning the curriculum design its way of doing this varies in a great sense. All the curriculum models have planning, implementation and evaluation stage, which I will explain in detail later. But in traditional models, the planning stage , picking up information on learners and gathering data is made long before the teachers meet with their learners whereas in a learner-centred one even the advisors gather the first data before Ss come to the class and during the course teachers begin to evaluate the learners’needs and design and if necessary immediately shift his syllabus in the needs’ of the learners. Moreover in traditional curriculum models evaluation takes place only when the course has finished whereas in learner –centred one as Nunan also says evaluation takes place at the every stage of the learning proceess for every stage by both the teacher and learner this time sharing the responsibility of the teacher.

Now let’s look at this new curriculum model in detail.

2.2. Learner-centred Curriculum:

Now that the learners will also be effective in planning the curriculum, They firsly be aware of their importance and crucial role by getting rid of the traditional minds.Donna Brandes and Paul Ginnis(1986:3) define this matter as, ‘We believe that every human being has the right to achieve his or her full potential-100% ,and that a student –centred approach to learning helps to make this possible. Students are encouraged to participate fully in , and take responsibility for, their own learning; each individual is valued and trusted...’

As wee see it is not enough for us to say that we will make the learners include in the process they may also trust themselves that they can do it. They should have self –confidence; see themselves differently as the others haven’t done during their learning period, they should be more extrovert in expressing themselves and realize that they are important figures and actively involved not only within a lesson but also before the lesson in planning and designing it as well by cooperating with the teacher and their fellows while their teacher’s role is sharing his learners’ ideas in designing ,implementing and evaluating the curriculum.

To do this learners should be aware of the learning strategies and for Nunan(1988i:3) teacher is responsible for giving this notion to his students and accordingly he counts the aims of teachers as follows:

*to provide learners with efficient learning strategies.

*to assist learners identify their own preferred ways of learning.

*to develop skills needed to negotiate the curriculum.

*to encourage learners to set their own objectives

*to encourage learners to adop their realistic goals and free times.

*to develop learners’skills in self-evaluation.

In brief, it can be said that learner-centred curriculum stands for not only providing learners with a new language but trying to develop them in every aspect which makes them conscious of the process and themselves.

3.DESIGNING A LEARNER-CENTRED CURRICULUM

Here I will follow up the pattern which David Nunan(1988i) followed in his own work as follows:

Pre-course planning procedure(Needs ananlysis ,grouping learners )
Planning content(setting objectives and planning and grading the content)
Methodology(Selection of the method)
Material design
Evaluation

In fact this is the process we encounter also in our lessons and in most of the books giving information about the curriculum planning; there is no difference. Yet, I will follow this book only as a sample.

3.1.Pre-course Planning Procedure:

I think this is the most important phase of planning the curriculum because of the fact that all the other phases are dependent upon the data which will be taken by means of this one. In order to design motivating, related content and choosing appropriate material, the data about the learners will be our fundamental resource.

How will we begin to pick up this knowledge?,What is the starting point?; David Nunan(1988i:42) says, ‘The starting point for learner-centred curriculum development is generally the collection of various types of biographical data....Then how will these information collected, when, by whom, through what means and for what purposes?...’

Instead of giving a long and complex information I’d like to summarise it by means of the table- David Nunan(1988i:47) proposes- which includes both the data which are likely to be searched and the procedure followed in doing this:

Table3.1.1

DATA WHEN COLLECTED? BY WHOM? HOW? FOR WHAT PURPOSE?

Proficiency level

Age

Educational background

Previous courses

Nationality

Marital Status

Trime in country

Occupation

First language

Other languages

Preferred course length

Preferred methodology

Learning style

Language goals

Life goals

And he adds that these information can be seen in two different categories:

1.Essential biographical information

2.More personal , relating to the learners’preferences and perception of need.

The first data as all of us know can be collected before the course begins by the programme administrators to group the learners while the second more personal knowledge will be collected by the teacher during the first weeks of the course which will help teacher to specify his content.

Then we can say that it is not enough to get a superficial idea at the beginning of the course to be familiar with our learners. I think it will be helpful to investigate for some personal preferences of them to make them involve in curriculum planning. Again I will give a sample of such test from Nunan’s (1988i:50) book as follows:

Subjective learning preferences obtained from ongoing students at the beginning of a learning activity(Activities are ranked in orderof descending importance.)

Table3.1.2

A.For what communicative questions and tasks do you wish to learn English?

1.Talking in formal situations(e.g. to the doctor)

2.Understanding the radio and television

3.Filling in forms

4.Understanding native speakers

5.Reading newspapers

6.Understanding the Australian way of life

7.Writing letters

8.Talking to friends and neighbours

B.What learning activities do you prefer?

1.Learning grammar rules

2.Pronounciation

3.Learning ne words

4.Studying a textbook or coursebook

C.Which skiils are most important for you?

1.Speaking

2.Listening

3.Writing

4.Reading

D.What sort of groupings do you prefer?

1.Practising with the whole class

2.Practising in small groups

3.Practising in pairs

4.Studying alone

Not exactly the same of course, I also do such tests or sometimes by giving the questions and propositions make them write their own choices as I will give one of the samples of it. What is deficient in my and most of the courses in our country is the specialists who are likely to help the teachers in doing suchthings . Nunan, Donna Brandes&Paul Ginnis,and most of the applied linguits and educationalists advocate the necessity of curriculum planners-apart from the teacher and his learners-advisors,counsellors, bilingual assisstants helping the teacher and decreasing the responsibility of him.

3.2.Planning Content:

By means of Nunan’s ideas(1988i:62-6), I’ll summarise the process of making the syllabus design; in other words planning our content:

1.Here at this stage we will begin to examine the learner data and extract information in order to find out the purposes of learners in attending to the course and try to find out communicative goals.

2. To achieve the above goals, the communicative tasks should be specified and the skills have to be defined such as if we find out that our objective in a course is being able to read a newspaper its task will be reading a real newspaper –not simplified version-and the linguistic skill of it will be being able to comprehend what is read; in other words here we make our students to develop their reading skill. All the goals should be communicative in order to catch the meaning . Nunan(1988ii:25) expresses his ideas on this subject as, ‘...communicative goals. These are defined as the general communicative activities in which the learners will engage( or , in the case of foreign language learning , could potentially engage) in real-world target language use.’.

3.The next step is to provide contextualization for these tasks by deciding on what is the topic, setting, participant, time ; in other words describing the ‘situation’ of the task.

4.Now it is time to specify the linguistic element although this step can be omitted according to the needs of the learners; but on condition that the learners do the given task and practice the language meaningfully, it-structure, lexis,...- can be presented.

5.The last task is to produce a sample number of specific objectives, which also helps learners to judge the learning process, related to learners goals. In Nunan(1988i:65)’s point of view, ‘that specific objectives contain three elements: tasks, conditions, standarts. The task statement indicates what it is that the learner is to do; the conditions define the circumstances under which the task will be carried out; and the standarts specify the degree of skill to be exhibited.’

To make it clear I will give a real example which I used for one of my classes as follows:

Task: Each student draws his family tree and changes it with his fellow and asks questions about the names that they see on the family tree.

Condition: Pair work, in the classroom.

Standards: Utterances should sound natural and be comprehensible firstly to understand themselves but later aimed to undestand a native speaker.

After selecting our content we should grade our content by considering into the learners’ degrees of skill, cognitive capacities of them, their background knowledge and current ability to communicate and so on.

Another idea on planning the content which I appreciate much is Sheila Estaire and Javier Zanon’s. In their book they focus on selecting the theme while planning the content which refers to Nunan’s first stage making it by giving a great value on learner data.Here I’d like to give the schemata given by Sheila Estaire and Javier Zanon(1994:20) showing very briefly and clearly the general environment of the learners and giving a superficial knowledge from which we can utilise much during our courses:

The theme generator3.2.1.

This wheel shows areas that we can base our content; since it shows the environment of our learners we can grade our content according to the urgent needs of the learners. That is to say we start with learner himself, for example, his birhday, favourite team, favourite food

,...in brief personal knowledge and interests.Then we can focus on his primary address: his family, then the second address:school,his relations with them what they share and speak in a real life can be made the task for them. The wheel in this sense helps us very much.

3.3. Methodology:

Having attained knowledge about our learners’needs and interests and planning our syllabus in line with them we will now choose ‘how’ to do it.

As we give up all the traditional minds, we should choose our way of teaching with our learners; in fact we don’t choose the ‘TEACHING’ method but we agree on how the ‘LEARNING’process will be.

Richards and Rodgers are the important names to be mentioned in that area with their ‘Approachs and methods in language teaching.’. They speculate upon the importance of looking at the methodology from the point of communicative perspective and Nunan says(1988i:79) by referring to their views, ‘All aspects of the curriculum process , including methodology, be informed by data about and from learner’ which summarises all my efforts in trying to explain the learner-centred curriculum.

However when I look at the issue from the practical side of it , I can say that not the teachers always but some of the learners have traditional minds and especially adult learners in our country are fond of grammatical explanations from their teacher mostly due to the fact that they don’t want to lose a lot time in language education and since they are false beginners they don’t admit the value of practicing firstly rather than teacher’presentation at first side.

David Nunan also gives place to the data by using the researches of Eltis and Low which proves that learners’ and teachers’ view of language learning doesn’t match generally.

Here are tables proving that suppositions:

Table3.3.1.

Rank Ordering of teching activities according to the perceived usefulness(Eltis and Low 1985) :

ACTIVITY %

Students working in pairs/ small groups 80

Role-play 56

Language games 51

Reading topical articles 48

Students making oral presentations 46

Cloze(gap filling exercises 45

Using video materials 40

Student repeating teacher cue(drill) 34

Exercise in free writing 27

Setting and correction of homework 25

Listening and note taking 25

Repeating and learning dialogues 20

Students reading aloud in the class 21

Exercises in onference writing 18

Most useful parts of lesson according to students(Alcorso and Kalantzis1985):

Table3.3.2.

ACTIVITY %

Grammar exercises 40

Structured class discussion/conversation 35

Copying written material , memorising, drill and repetition work 25

Listening activities using casettes 20

Reading books and newspapers 15

Writing stories,poems,descritions 12

Drama role-play, songs, languge games 12

Using audio-visuals, tv. ,video 11

Communication tasks, problem solving 10

Excursions with the class 7

(David Nunan :1988i)

Then what can we do to make closer the learners’ and teachers’ideas ?In fact I will not deal

with this question here very much, but I can say that as we say at the begininng of our work learning skills can be given to learner to make the conscious about what is the aim of the learner-centerd approach what are the advantages of it and so on. For a probable solution to this problem it can be said that the learners have an idea about what means to be a learner and what are the learning strategies which help learner to give meaning both to the process and their role in this process. Nunan(1988i:96)also mentioned that issue as , ‘curriculum needs to have dual aims, one set relating to the teaching of language, the other to the teachin of learning skills.’

What then the teachers will choose his method in teching? We can say that this will also be done in line with the learners’needs which tend to reflect the real life situations ; so we can say that communicative activities can be used to visualize the real life and since the outside will be tried to be reflected in a class , ‘classroom-based acquisition studies’ in Nunan’s utterance will provide motivation for the learners.

Written by ASUMAN BİRDAL