Situation analysis in curriculum design

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN LANGUAGE TEACH-ING

Jack C. Richards

CHAPTER 4SITUATION ANALYSIS

IDA MAULIDA

(20157470001)YULIA SAFITRI

(20157470016)EVI NOVITA .A

(20157470022)RISMA JULISTIANA

(20157470033)

TB. NUGRAHA

ADI PRATAMA

(20157470004)

INTRODUCTION• Context for language programs are diverse• In some situations, teachers are well trained and have time for lesson planning• In other situations, teachers may have little time for lesson planning, thus teach straight from the textbook• Each context for a curriculum change contains factor that

can facilitate the change or hinder its successful implementation• Therefore, it is important to determine these factors when planning a curriculum change

DEFINITION Situation analysis is an analysis of factors in the context of a planned or present curriculum project that is made in order to assess their potential impact on the project.

These factors may be political, social, economic, or institutional. Situation analysis complements the information gathered during needs analysis.

THE GOAL The goal of situation analysis is to identify key factors that might positively or negatively affect the implementation of a curriculum plan.

This is sometimes known as a SWOT analysis because it involves an examination of "a language program's internal strengths and weaknesses in addition to external opportunities and threats to the existence or successful operation of the language program" (Klinghammer 1997, 65).

THE FUNCTION

Situation analysis serves to help identify potential obstacles to implementing a curriculum project and factors that need to be considered when planning the parameters of a project.

THE PROCEDURESa. Consultation

b. Study analysis

c. Observation

d. Survey

e. Review

AN EXAMPLE OF INADEQUATE SITUATION ANALYSIS IN CURRICULUM PLANNING

A team of foreign experts under contract to an internationalfunding body is given a contract to write a new series of English textbooks for the state school system in an EFL country. They base themselves in an attractive small town in a rural setting and set up their writing project. They do a series of interviews with educational officials and teachers to determine students' language needs and make use of the latest thinking on language teaching and textbook design to produce an oral-based language course that reflects me recommended language teaching methodology of the time - Audiolingualism.

Textbooks are developed and provided to secondary schools at no cost and teachers are given the choice of using the new books or their old outdated government textbooks. After a period of initial enthusiasm, however, very few teachers end up using the new course and most revert to using the old government-provided textbooks.


COMMENTS• The project team members spent insufficient time familiarizing themselves with the local school situation. • Most of the English teachers had limited command of English. • Teachers found the new materials difficult to teach because they required a high level of oral fluency in English and an English-only methodology that was difficult to implement in large classes. • A more successful reception might have occurred if the introduction of

new materials had been gradual, so that problems were addressed as they occurred.

• There could have been more provision for teacher training.


The example illustrates the kinds of factors that can have an impact of a curriculum project.

This chapter will consider the following factors :

• Societal Factors• Project Factors• Institutional Factors• Teacher Factors• Learner Factors• Adoption Factors

SOCIETAL FACTORS Van Els. T. Bongaerts, G. Extra, C. Van Os, and A. Janssen-van Dieten (1984, 156) stated that second or foreign language teaching is a fact of life in almost every country in the world. Yet countries differ greatly in terms of the role of foreign languages in the community, their status in the curriculum, educational traditions and experience in language teaching, and the expectations that members of the community have for language teaching and learning

SOCIETAL FACTORSIn examining the impact of societal factors on language teaching, the aim is to determine the impact of groups in the community or society at large on the program. These groups include: Policy maker in goverment Educational and other goverment official Employers The bussiness community

SOCIETAL FACTORS Politicians Tertiary education specialist Education organitation Parents Citizens Students

SOCIETAL FACTORSIn the case of project of communtiy or national scope, the followings maybe relevant:

- The current language teaching policies exist and how they are viewed- The underlying reasons for the project and who supports it- The impact it has on different sector of society- The language teaching experience and tradition exist in the country- The view of second languages and second language teaching to

members of the public

SOCIETAL FACTORS- The views of relevant prossesional such as academis and

teacher trainers- The profesional organization such as teachers’ unions think of

the project?- The views of parents and students- The views of employers and the bussiness comunity- The community resources available to support the innovation,

such as radio, television, and the media

PROJECT FACTORS Curriculum projects are typically produced by a team of people. Members of the team may be specialists or classroom teachers seconded to the project for a fixed period of time, or the project may be carried out by teachers and other staff of a teaching intitution as part of their regular duties.

Projects are completed under different constraints of time, resources and personnel, and each of these variables can have a significant impact on a project.

PROJECT FACTORSThe following project factors need to considered:

Who constitutes the project group and how are they selected? What are the management and other responsibilities of the team? How are goals and procedures determined? Who reviews the progress of the project and the performance of its members?

PROJECT FACTORS What experience do members of the team have? How do members of the team regard each other? What resources do they have available and what budget to acquire needed resources? What is the time frame of the project? Is it realistic, or is more or less time needed?

INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS A language teaching program is typically delivered in an institution such as a university, school, or language institute. Different types of institutions create their own "culture," that is, settings where people interact and where patterns emerge for communication, decision making, role relations, and conduct. Morris (1994, 109).

INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS A teaching institution• is a collection of teachers, groups, and departements, functioning in unison, independently, or sometimes with components in a confrontational relationship;• may have a strong and positive climate to support innovation, one where there is effective and possitive leadership and where change is received positively;

INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS

• may consider textbook the core of the curriculum and all teachers must use the prescribed texts;• may have teachers that are not paid for lesson preparation

time and consequently teach their classes and then depart for their next teaching assignment, perhaps in another school.

INSTITUTIONAL FACTORSInstitutional factors thus relate to the following kinds of questions:• What leadership is available within the school to support change

and to help teachers cope with change?• What are the school’s physical resources, including classroom

facilities, media and other technological resources, and library resources?

• What is the role of textbooks and other instructional materials?• What is staff morale like among English teachers?

INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS• What problems do teachers face and what is being done about

them?• What administrative support is available within the school and

what is communication like between teachers and the administration?

• What kind of reputation does the institution have for delivering successful language programs?

• How committed is the institution to attaining excellence?

TEACHER FACTORS Teachers are a key factor in the successful implementation of curriculum changes. In any institution, teachers may vary according to the following dimensions:

• Language proficiency• Teaching experience• Skill and expertise• Training and qualifications• Morale and motivation• Teaching style• Beliefs and principles

TEACHER FACTORS Among the teacher factors that need to be considered in situation analysis are the following:• What kinds of teachers currently teach in the target schools or

institutions? What is their typical background, training, experience, and motivation?

• How proficiency are they English?• What kinds of beliefs do the teachers typically hold concerning

key issues in teaching?• What teaching loads do teachers have and what resources do

they make use of?

TEACHER FACTORS• What are the typical teaching methods teachers use and believe

in?• To what extent are teachers open to change?• What opportunities do they have for retraining through in-

service or other kinds of opportunities?• What benefits are the proposed new syllabus, curriculum, or

materials likely to offer teachers?

LEARNER FACTORSLearners are the key participant in curriculum

development project and it is essential to collect as much information as possible about them before the project begin. It focuses on the learners’ background, expectation, belief, preferred learning style.

Learner may affect the outcomes of a project in unexpected ways.

LEARNER FACTORSNunan (1989) comments:

The effectiveness of language program will be dictated as much by the attitude and expectation of the learners as by the specification of the official curriculum… Learners have their own agendas in language lesson they attend. These agendas as much as the teacher’s objective, determine what learners take from any given teaching/learning encounter.

LEARNER FACTORSThe followings are the relevant learner factors :

1. The learner’s experience in learning English2. The learner’s motivation to learn English3. The learner’s expectation about the program4. The learner’s point of view on language teaching reflects any

culturally specific factor5. The learner’s kind of group learning (whether homogenous or

heterogeneous)

LEARNER FACTORS6. The learner’s preferences about learning approach (e.g.,

teacher-led, student-focused, or small group work) 7. The learner’s preferences about type of content8. The learner’s expectation for the roles of teacher, learners,

and instructional materials.9. The learner's expectation about the time duration for

program10. The learner’s resource or guidance book should learners have

ADOPTION FACTORS• A language teaching approach that requires teachers to adopt new roles in the classroom, such as needs analyst, resource person, and language tutor, might not be compatible with learners' expectations for the role of teachers. • The complexity and clarity of a curriculum change might also be crucial in its successful adoption.• Any attempt to introduce a new curriculum, syllabus, or set of materials must take into account the relative ease or difficulty of introducing change into system.

ADOPTION FACTORS• The curriculum changes may affect teacher’s pedagogical values and beliefs, their understanding of the nature of language or second language learning, or their class room practices and use of teaching materials.

• Some changes may be readily accepted while others might be resisted.

ADOPTION FACTORSSome questions of the curriculum innovation :1. The advantages of curriculum change 2. How compatible is the change?3. Is the innovation very complicated and difficult to understand?4. Has it been used and tested out in some school before all school

are expected use it?5. Have the benefits of the innovation been clearly communicated

to teachers and institutions?6. How clear and practical is it ?

CONCLUSIONCurriculum is changing in line with the challenging of

contemporary era. Curriculum as a set of education should be prepared by considering some factors that influence the curriculum itself. The goals of a project might need to be modified to reflect the realities of the situation in which the curriculum is implemented.

Situation analysis thus serves to help identify potential obstacles to implementing a curriculum project and factors needed to be considered when planning parameters of a project.

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