R E V I E W

This book presents curriculum theory and practice as they are applied to the Teaching of English. It has as a background the studies of WHAT LANGUAGE TEACHERS ACTUALLY DO AND THINK as they plan, implement and evaluate their language programs RATHER THAN WHAT THEY OUGHT TO DO.

The book attempts to marry theoretical perspectives and empirical insights from applied linguistics with those from curriculum research and development. It is hoped that the marriage is a happy one, and that the strengths rather than the weaknesses of both disciplines are apparent in the work It is also hoped that teachers, researchers and academics working within a linguistic paradigm might come to see the benefits to be derived from applying general educational theory and research to language teaching( xi).

Traditionally the word CURRICULUM refers to WHAT SHOULD BE of the course of studies. In the David Nunan’s book the curriculum is seen in terms of what teachers actually do; that is ‘what is’ rather than ‘what should be’. His work is based on what language teachers have found both desirable and possible. There are two main reasons for this point of view: 1/ in the learner centred system the teacher is the prime agent of curriculum development. 2/ educational reality is very different from what educational planners say ought to happen, it is what teachers and learners actually do. For the author the notion the planning equals teaching and teaching equals learning is rather NAÏVE. Research suggests that education is more complicated, that teachers do not slavishly follow a prescribed plan and students not always learn what teachers teach. It is this insight that has prompted a rather different view of language curriculum.

The KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEARNER-CENTRED AND TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT is that in the former it is a collaborative effort between teachers and learners as learners are closely involved in the decision-making process. In a curriculum based on the traditional model a fixed series of steps is followed and most of the key decisions are made before there is any encounter between teacher and learner.

The key elements in the curriculum model proposed in the book are as follows: initial planning procedures (including data collection and learner grouping); content selection and gradation; methodology (which includes the selection of learning activities and materials); and ongoing monitoring, assessment and evaluation.

The first step in the curriculum process is the COLLECTION of INFORMATION about learners in order to DIAGNOSE (find their objective needs which are external to the learners). This initial data collection is usually superficial, relating mainly to factual information such as proficiency level, age, educational background, previously learning experiences, previous and current occupation.

CONTENT selection is an important component of a learner-centred curriculum. In such a curriculum clear criteria for content selection lead to the selection of materials and learning activities and assist in assessment and evaluation. The initial data collection, generally provides only fairly superficial information which can only be used to make rough predictions about communicative needs. The more useful information can be obtained only once a course has begun and a relationship is established between teacher and learners.

METHODOLOGY, which includes learning activities and materials, is generally the area where there is the greatest potential for conflict between teacher and learner. In a traditional curriculum, this conflict would probably be ignored on the grounds that the ‘teacher knows best’. In a learner-centred curriculum, it is crucial that any conflicts be resolved.

EVALUATION is the final component in the curriculum model. Traditionally, evaluation occurs at the final stage in thee curriculum process. In this model it is parallel with other curriculum activities and happens at various times during the course. In the proposed model course evaluation is separated from student assessment. In traditional curriculum models, evaluation has been identified with testing and is considered as activity, which is carried out at the end of the learning process, often by someone who is not connected with the course itself. In the learner-centred system evaluation generally resembles informal monitoring, which is carried out alongside the teaching-learning process, usually by the participants in the process, (the teachers and learners). Self-evaluation by both teachers and learners will also be promoted.

Chapter 1 Introduction presents a general survey of the main problems discussed in the book.

Chapter 2 Curriculum Processes looks in detail at some of the theoretical and philosophical perspectives, which have been articulated in curriculum development in general and in language teaching in particular. The different elements of the curriculum are described and it has been mentioned that some of the essential elements have been neglected or overlooked. In David Nunan’s opinion Curriculum Planning can be seen as the systematic attempt by educationalists and teachers to specify and study planned intervention into the educational enterprise. In this chapter he explores some of the central concepts behind the study of the curriculum and discusses a number of different models One way of looking at the curriculum is to see it as an attempt to specify what should happen in the classroom, to describe what actually does happen, and to attempt to reconcile the differences between what ‘should be’ and what actually ‘is’ (p.10).

The curriculum model developed in the book is a synthesis of the product-oriented end-means model, and the process-oriented approach first proposed for language teaching by applied linguists such as Breen and Candlin.

In Chapter 3 Learner-Centred Curriculum Development the author has examined some of the theoretical and empirical foundations of a learner-centred approach to language curriculum development. These include theories of adult learning, communicative language teaching and the concept of language proficiency. The chapter gives an account of three recent investigations of teacher attitudes towards curriculum planning and communicative language teaching. Finally it looks at the roles, functions and responsibilities of the teacher within this curriculum.

Chapter 4 Pre-Course Planning Procedures is concerned with the initial planning process. It looks at the controversy surrounding needs analysis, discusses procedures for grouping learners and provides some practical suggestions for data collection which have been developed by teachers.

Chapter 5 Planning Content considers the question of content selection and gradation. Various principles for selecting content are discussed, and ways in which it may be graded and outlined. The first step in deriving content from learner data is to extract information relating to the purposes for which students are attending the course and which can be translated into communicative goals. This information will more often be expressed in general functioning terms. Examples: I would like to be able to:

• Talk to my neighbours
• Read newspapers
• Understand TV programs and radio
• Fill out forms
• Read signs and notices
• Talk to my friends
• Read stories in English to my grand children

If the curriculum is being developed at a center level, this information can

Nunan’s idea of collecting data and using it as a base for establishing modules could be used in our Model for creation of a Language Centre which in my opinion will definitely have as one of the major functions: answering the learners needs. The second step in this Process is to specify the communicative tasks and skills which the learners will need to be able to perform in order to achieve their language goals. These can often be generalized across goals, courses or modules. The next steps in the content specification process is to provide contextualisation for the tasks and to decide on linguistic elements (i.e. the notion, structures, lexis etc.). There are two issues here. One is a SYLLABUS-DESIGN issue, thee other is basically METHODOLOGICAL. The syllabus-design issue is whether or not a course should be grammatically structured. The methodological issue is whether or not grammatical structures should be consciously taught.

It has been argued here that the specification of language goals is an important component of a learner-centred curriculum, particularly when such goals are ‘couched’ in terms the learners understand, because they will then convey to learners important messages about learning processes.

In Chapter 6 Methodology the CUMMUNICATIVE curriculum is taken as a perspective, and it is suggested that a ‘weak’ interpretation of the communicative movement allows the greatest flexibility. The importance of learner consultation in selecting teaching activities is also discussed. Recent research into second-language acquisition is presented.

The author attempts to answer this question by examining a number of studies which explore the perceptions of teachers and learners. It is also stressed here that real-life and psycholinguistically-motivated pedagogic tasks seem to be both pedagogically and psycholinguistically sound, and appear to have the general support of the learners themselves.

Chapter 7 Resources for the learner-Centred Curriculum looks at resources. It is suggested that authenticity is a key concept in any programme designed to provide learners in class with the sorts of skills they will need to communicate effectively outside. However, a broad view of authenticity, encompassing learner response as well as textual source is discussed.

In a language programme committed to the direct development of the sorts of skill required by learners, it is of vital importance to create as many links as possible between what happens in the classroom and what happens outside. In developing these links, resources for learning have a major part to play. As far as possible, community resources should be exploited as a basis for development of authentic classroom materials. Where appropriate, learning activities should also be developed which require the learners to practise their developing language skills in the community itself. It is pointed out that materials are only as good as the teachers who use them, and that the attempt to produce ‘teacher proof’ materials is both futile and undesirable.

Chapter 8 Assessment and Evaluation and Chapter 9 Evaluation and Professional Development address issues relating to monitoring, assessment and evaluation. In these chapters it is suggested that encouraging self-assessment on the part of learners will raise their sensitivity as language learners. Learners need to assess their own progress, and also need to be stimulated to evaluate from their own perspective other elements within the curriculum including materials, activities and learning arrangements. Such learner-centred evaluation will assist in the development of a critical self-consciousness by learners of their own role as active agents within the learning process. This, as has already been pointed out, is, along with the development of language skills, one of the twin goals of the learner-centred curriculum.

It is also suggested that self-evaluation on the part of teachers, particularly through small-scale action research projects, is a valuable means of promoting professional development. In a learner-centred system the teacher has a crucial role to play in both student assessment and course evaluation.

No curriculum model would be complete without an evaluation component. While it is universally recognised as an essential part of any education all over the world, it is the component about which most classroom practitioners generally claim the least knowledge and many teachers express lack of confidence. It is argued here that self-assessment by learners can be an important supplement to teacher assessment and that self- assessment provides one of the most effective means of developing both critical self-awareness of what it is to be a learner, and skills in learning how to learn.

Chapter 10 The Teacher as Curriculum Developer presents the result of a large-scale ethnographic study of the difficulties faced by teachers in implementing a learner –centred curriculum model. It also draws together some of the central themes in the book, and points the way for future directions. It suggests that there is a pressing need for an empirical as well as a theoretical base for curriculum development. In order for the curriculum to be truly learner-centred for Nunan, there is a need for documentation, not only of what learners want from language courses, but also of what they are capable of doing at various steps of proficiency.

The author of this book has tried to take an educational perspective on the development of language curricula. While theoretical linguistics will continue to be an important base discipline, it is important that it should not be seen as the only discipline which has anything of value to contribute to decision making on what, how and when to teach.

Finally a call is made for more empirical research into language learning and teaching. While there is by no means universal agreement amongst them, some second-language acquisition researchers have provided useful methodological models in their theoretically-and empirically-motivated investigations. Hopefully, similar work in the future will provide us with a firmer foundation than the speculative approach, which has thus far dominated much of the literature on the language curriculum.

Pepa Smyadovska – University of Shoumen

Review of THE LEARNER-CENTRED CURRICULUM by David Nunan, Cambridge University Press, 1988