Curriculum Final Paper

7/30/2019 Curriculum Final Paper

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INTRODUCTION

Language teaching occupies an important place in the curriculum of

every country. In the ongoing quest for improvement in standards of

teaching as well as learning attainments, many factors need to be

continually reviewed, including the design of the curriculum, the quality of

instructional materials, the role of tests, provisions for teacher training, and

the kinds of administrative support provided by schools and educational

institutions. The principal educational resources however are teachers and

the kinds of teaching they are able to provide in their schools and

classrooms.

The focus of this paper is how quality teaching can be achieved and

maintained in a language program. It seeks to examine factors that are

involved in creating conditions for good teaching to take place. Quality

teaching is achieved not only as a consequence of how well teachers

teach but through creating contexts and work environments that can

facilitate good teaching. In this paper four factors will be examined:

institutional factors, teacher factors, teaching factors, and learner factors.

The organizational culture of a school refers to the ethos and environment

that exists within a school, the kinds of communications and decision-

making that takes place, and the management and staffing structure it

supports.

All teachers do good things some of the time, and all good teachers

do bad things some of the time. The differences among teachers lie not

only in the proportions of the good and the bad, but also in their

awareness of the effects of what they are doing and their readiness to

share this awareness with their students.

This paper examines some factors that can have a significant

impact on the success of language teaching programs according to

Richards in his book Curriculum and Material Development. Some

references are also added to this paper in order to bring some discussion


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related to the topic. Institutional factors include the schools organization

culture and its approach to maintenance to educational quality. Teacher

factors include the skills and qualification of teachers and the level of

professional support provided. Teaching factors include the goal set in the

teaching program and how good teaching is supported and maintained.

Learning factors include learners views of the program as well as learning

styles and motivations and how these are addressed within the program.

Each of these factors is examined and suggestions offered as to how they

can contribute to the achievement of quality language teaching.


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DISCUSSION

A. Effective Teaching

If it is asked, what is good or effective teaching? Smith (1995)

suggests that learning is a consequence of experience (p.588). He argues

that education and therefore teaching, should be focused on the creation

of appropriately nourishing experiences so that learning comes about

naturally and inevitably (p.589). He states that schools should focus less

on talking about learning and teachingand more about doing (p.589). Is

this then the answer to the quest?

To reflect on what we do in the classroom rather than on all the talk

about theory and practice, Alton-Lee (2003) has provided ten clearly

defined and research-supported characteristics of quality teaching:

1. A focus on student achievement.

2. Pedagogical practices that create caring, inclusive and cohesive

learning communities.3. Effective links between school and the cultural context of the

school.

4. Quality teaching is responsive to student learning processes.

5. Learning opportunities are effective and sufficient.

6. Multiple tasks and contexts support learning cycles.

7. Curriculum goals are effectively aligned.

8. Pedagogy scaffolds feedback on students' task engagement.

9. Pedagogy promotes learning orientations, student selfregulation,

metacognitive strategies and thoughtful student discourse.

10. Teachers and students engage constructively in goaloriented

assessment.

(Alton-Lee, 2003: vi-x)


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B. The Institutional Factor

There are three institutional factors that contribute to the teaching

programs; the organizational culture, quality indicators in an institution,

and the teaching context.

1. The Organizational Culture

The organizational culture refers to the ethos and environment that

exist within a school, the kind of communications and decision making that

take place, and the management and staffing structure they support. Basic

to the organizational culture of an institution is its management structurebecause it is built by managerial decision that delineate the number and

type of jobs in the organization and the processes that subordinate,

control, and link them, such as authority relationships, communication

networks, and specific planning and organizational techniques (Davidson

and Tesh, 1997:177). Two types of organizational structure are

mechanistic model (bereaucratic approach to organizing collective

activities that stresses the need for authority, hierarchies of control, and an

explicit chain of command) and the organic model (one that maximizes

flexibility and adaptability, encourages complete confidence and trust

between superior and subordinates, and taps a wide range of human

motivations to achieve organizational goals). (p. 199).

2. Quality Indicators in an Institution

Language teaching institutions vary greatly in terms of how they

view their educational mission. The following characteristics are indicatorsof the quality of a school or educational institution(Morris 1994):

Clearly educational goals

Well-planed, balanced, and organized program that meets the

needs of the student

Systematic and identifiable process exist for determining

educational needs in the school and placing them in order of

priority.


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Commitment to learning, and an expectation that students will

do well

High degree of staff involvement in developing goals and

making decisions.

Motivated and cohesive teaching force with good team spirit

Administrators are concerned with the teacher professional

development and are able to make the best use of their skills

and experience.

The schools programs are regularly reviewed and progress

toward their goals is evaluated

Some of the key dimensions of quality (p. 202-206):

A sense of mission (a useful format in the form of a mission

statement that should be developed collectively by those who

have a commitment to the succes of the institution).

A strategic plan (description of the long-term vision and goals of

an institution and the means it undertakes for fulfilling them). 6

elements of a good strategic plan: vision, values, purpose,

mission, goals, strategies.

Quality assurance mechanisms(refers to systems a school has

in place to ensure the quality of its practices). Factors relevant

to creating a culture of quality assurance in an institution are a

formulated policy on quality assurance, reasonable and

acceptable standards, system are in place, a reward system is

in place,and support is available.

Sound curriculum (reflected in the following features of a

schools programs): the range of courses, the curriculum is

coherent, courses have been developed, course descriptions,

teaching materials and tests are of high quality, mechanism are

in place, the curriculum is subject. (p 204)


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Flexible organizational framework(effectives school and

language programs are characterized by administrators who are

open to change, flexible, and who encourage teachers to

innovate)

Good internal communications(depend on setting up system

that facilitate communications among teachers and between

teachers and administrators.) such systems include: regular

meetings and briefings, acces to administrative leaders, shared

decision making, availability of relevant course

documentation,written guidance for staff,etc(p. 204-205)

Profesional treatment of teachers (teacher must be regarded as

profesional) the extend to which teachers are regarded as

profesionals is indicated by following: employment terms and

conditions and support and reward systems. (p. 206)

Opportunities for teacher development is a rapidly changing field,

and teachers need regular opportunities to update their professionalknowledge and skills). There are: conference participation, workshops and

in-service seminar, reading groups, peer observation, writing about

teaching, project work, and action research.

3. The Teaching Context

It is the last factor that affect the quality of teaching in a program

relate to the institution context in which teachers work. It includes the

following:

Size and staff structure (refer to how teachers and the staff

knowing each other and being a good communication and

relationship for reach the school purposes).

Equipment (a good school equipments have a positive affect on

teaching, staff workload, and morale.)


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Support staff(adequate support staff can also facilitate teacher,s

work.)

Teacher work space(how far teacher get space or role on

teaching and learning process)

Teacher resource room(refers to how many resource available

in the school for teacher )

Teaching facilities(refers to the good place and facilities for

teaching)

Class size.

C. The Teacher Factor

There are two factors included in this point; skill and qualifications

and support for teachers.

1. Skill and qualifications; core components of teacher knowledge

include the following; practical knowledge, content knowledge,

contextual knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, personal

knowledge, and reflective knowledge. (p. 209-212)

2. Support for teacher. Support forms to develop teachers teaching

skills and knowledge are:

Orientation;

Adequate materials;

Course guides;

Division of responsibilities;

Further training;

Teaching release;

Mentors;

Feedback;

Rewards;


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Help lines;and

Review.

D. The Teaching Factor

The focus here is on the teaching practices that occur within a

program, how these can be characterized, and how quality teaching can

be achieved and maintained. There are 3 aspects (teaching model and

principles, maintaining good teaching, and evaluating teaching).

1. Teaching model and principles; according to Roberts(1998,103)

there are 2 teaching models in many language programs,the

operative model and the problem-solving model. Page 215.

In language teaching programs, teaching models are often

based on particular methods or approaches. For example: the

communicative approach, the cooperative approach, the proces

approach, and the whole-language approach.page 215-216.

Examples of teachers principles cited by Breen are:

Selectively focus on the form of the language; selectively

focus on vocabulary or meaning; enable the learners to use the

language; address learnerss mental-processing capacities, make

the new language familiar and manageable; make the learners

internalize and remember the new language,etc. (p. 217)

2. Maintaining good teaching; quality teaching is results from an

active, ongoing effort on the part of teachers and administrators to

ensure that good teaching practices are being maintained. The

following are strategies to provide quality teaching:

monitoring,observation, identification and resolution of problems,

shared planning, documentation and sharing of good practices, and

self-study program.


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3. Evaluating teaching; is a program seeks to provide quality teaching.

An appraisal system may have several different purposes: to

reward teacher, to help identify needs for further training, to

reinforce the need for continous staff development, to help improve

teaching, to provide a basis for contract renewal and promotion, to

demonstrate an interest in teachers performance and development.

(p. 220)

the focus of appraisal, may include a number of other aspects

of a teachers work,such as: lesson plans, teacher-made

classroom material, course outlines and handouts, class

assignment, and participation in profesion development

activities.

conducting the appraisal; Appraisal by a supervisor; Appraisal

by a college; Self appraisal; Lesson reports; Teaching journal;

Audio/video recording; and Student appraisal.

E. The Teaching Factor

The there are 4 factors that may affect how succesfully a course is

received by learners. There are:

understanding of the course

views of learning; a variety of different learner roles, such as:

manager of his/her own learning, independent learner, needs

analyst, collaborator and team member, and peer tutor.

learning styles; Willing (1985, cited in Nunan 1988, 93) foun 4

different learner types: Concrete learners, analytical learners,

communicative learners, authority-oriented learners. A

questionnaire on preferred learning styles, classroom activities,

and teaching approaches can be used to identify learners

learning style preferences and motivation. (page 224)


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support; these include the kinds of feedback learners will get

about their learning and opportunities that are provided for

faster or slower learners.


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CONCLUSION

Language teaching has often been discussed from a relatively

narrow perspective, with a focus on teaching methods and techniques.

Improvement in language teaching has been linked to the use of better

methods of teaching, hence the extensive literature on teaching methods

and the preoccupation with the search for best teaching methods that has

characterized the history of language teaching for much of the last 100

years.

This paper has sought to move the focus beyond methods to the

context of teaching itself, and to explore factors in the teaching context

that can play a crucial role in determining the success of second or foreign

language teaching. In recent years it has been acknowledged that since

language teaching normally takes place within an institution of some sort,

some of the principles of effective institutional management identified in

other kinds of settings can also be applied to language teaching. Hence

notions such as quality management, strategic planning, best practice

and quality assurance have now entered the terminology of language

teaching. In this paper I have examined a number of issues that are

fundamental to the effectiveness of language teaching programs, including

institutional factors, teacher factors, and the processes of teaching and

learning. A better understanding of the role of these processes is essential

to the success of second and foreign language teaching programs.


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Curriculum Final Paper