UNIT -2 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH 205

 UNIT -2     CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH

         

1.     Curriculum Development-General Principles-Psychological, Sociological, Philosophical, Need And Interest Of The Learner, Nature Of Subject Matter And Philosophy Of Nation

2.     Different Approaches To Curriculum Organization –Spiral, Topical And Concentric and Progressive Approach.

CURRICULUM :A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS

Curriculum is the crux of the whole educational process.

Derived from Latin word ‘currere’ which means ‘run’ and curriculum signifies ‘a runaway or a course which one runs to reach a goal ’

DEFINITIONS

Carter. V. Good : “Curriculum is a general overall plan of the content or specific materials of instruction that the school offer the student, by way of qualifying him for graduation or certification for entrance into professional or vocational field.”                       

Cunningham : “Curriculum is a tool in the hands of the artist (the teacher), to mould his materials (the pupils), according to his ideals (the objectives) in his studio (the school). The material is highly self_active and responds consciously.”

H.H.Horne :  “Curriculum is representative of the motor as well as the sensory elements in the nervous system of the side of society, it is representative of what the race has done in its contact with its world.”

                            

Foundations Of Curriculum Development Curriculum development should take into consideration all the 5 criteria given below : 1.The philosophy of the nation 2. The psychological principles 3.The sociological needs 4.Needs and interest of the student 5.Nature of the subject matter.

Philosophical Foundation :Include best of the four important philosophies

1.Idealism 2.Naturalism 3.Pragmatism4. Realism (Existentialism)

Psychological Foundations:  Consider the psychology of learner .For this there are several Psychological theories like Mental faculty theory(Mind consist of certain independent faculties such as attention, memory,imagination, reasoning, exercising of muscles) Theories about the transfer of training and theories of learning process

      

Some maxims about TL process are: known to    unknown, concrete to abstract, simple to          complex, easy to difficult, empirical to rational, specific to general, definite         to indefinite, part to whole, near to far.

Sociological Foundations :Consider the following points while developing a curriculum. Society always have an effect on the education. Different countries have to develop different type of curriculum. In India through education we have to change the unwanted social culture, poverty and superstitions

Importance of agriculture and better health. Critical Thinking  The scientific knowledge doubles itself every decade. Update curriculum with constant research and review. Several commissions have been organized for this purpose

Major Principles Of Curriculum Construction

There are mainly 11 major principles the development of curriculum.They are 1.The principle of child-centeredness 2.The principle of community-centeredness 3.The principle of activity-centeredness 4.The principle of integration 5.The Conservative principle 6.The Creative principle 7.The Forward looking principle 8.The Principle of preparation of life 9.The Principle of elasticity and variety 10.The principle of totality of experiences 11.The principle of Utility.

The Principle of Child Centredness : Based on the needs, requirements, and circumstances of the child. Child needs more experience than instruction. Meaningful activities to promote co-operation, social responsibility. Should be framed in accordance with the child’s developmental characteristics as well as his capabilities and needs at the stage

The Principle of  Community Centredness :To become active member of the community. Goals formulated by the school depend upon the purpose of the society-determine the nature of the curriculum

The Principle of Activity Centredness : Action is the design of life. Curriculum should provide variety of physical and mental activities. Learning by doing. Elementary stage-activities of hand head and heart. Primary-project. Secondary-creative and constructive activities

The Principle of Integration: Child’s needs and the needs of democratic society. Subjects-Functional unity with the environment To safeguard the general, liberal and vocational aspects of education

Forward looking principle :Effective adult life-future of the child To meet the challenges of life

Conservative Principle: Tradition and culture

Renewal Principle: Culture to suit the requirements of the changing World

Creative Principle: Encourage creative power to modify environment. according to changing needs of the society

Motivation Principle: To actively participate in the learning process

Maturity Principle: Suited to the mental and physical maturity of the child

The principle of preparation for life

The principle of Elasticity and flexibility

The principle of comprehensiveness: Broad based to include a wide variety of subjects

The principle of balance:Between Direct and indirect experiences, liberal and professional education, individual and social aims, compulsory and optional subjects

The principle of Utility: Should be of practical use to the pupils

APPROACHES IN ORGANISING   ENGLISH CURRICULUM

The Spiral Approach: Fosters continuous , unbroken learning of the subject matter through various stages of education (eg. Freedom Struggle)Merits: Generates immediate and real interest. Suitable for average pupilbasis of correlating phenomenaLimitations: Causes monotony and lack of interest due to repetition of information-if the content not expanded properly. Initial stage –difficult to provide detailed information considering its totality. Difficult to develop sense of time and space in pupils

Concentric Approach: A general treatment of almost all the topics are attempted at the beginning and it is developed in successive years according to the mental development of the pupils Follows maxims of teaching-simple to complex, whole to part, easy to difficult etc.

Topical Approach: Selected topics of study suitable for the age, ability and interest of the child are included. Each topic is considered as an entity and all the topics are linked together by the teacher with the help of link lessons (eg-lower class-family, food, shelter etc., middle class-history of institutions and govt., secondary- ideologies like communism, socialismMerits: Vast material can be dealt with rational and logical way. Can be adapted according to age, ability, interest of the child. Imparts sense of purpose –total perception attempted. Enables teacher to control the subject matter and adapt it to varying needs of the childrenLimitations: Destroys the continuity of the subject matter. A complete study of the topic will not be psychologically desirable

Unit Approach: Predominates in practice. The grouping of related lessons into about 10 or 20 or major units to be divided into an average of 6,7 or 8 lessons each provides a feasible course of action both in planning instruction and in comprehending the scope of the course

Advantages: Suited for the devt. of skills abilities, democratic outlook, ideals and process.  Facilitates the ability to formulate significant concept, relationships and processes. Enable teachers to adapt instruction to suit individual differences of children. Needs of the learner can be given top priority. Logically sound division will make comprehension easy

Limitation: If not well planned, with a wholistic approach they will become mere groups of isolated facts

Chronological Approach: Examining facts and events one after another and in the sequence of their occurrence. Study of dates or year of events in the sequence in which they happened. Related to the modern concept of historicity which indicates the importance time, space and other socio-economic background of the historical event. Useful in organising the content in History and the devt. of the curriculum  for the study of the evolution of earth, man etc.

Merits: Gives more precise and comprehensive idea of the content in the context concerned (history of freedom struggle-1919-1947). Cause-course and effect relationship can be established. No major aspect will be omitted

Concept of Issue based curriculum   and  Discourse Oriented Pedagogy

Issue based Curriculum : Communicative approach, Interactive approach , Constructive approach, Cognitive interactionist method

Discourse Oriented Pedagogy: Discourse as the learning materials and Discourse used for language teaching learning process.

Curriculum  Construction  In  English

Aim:   Study  and  use English language  and literature.

  Area Of  English  Curriculum

Language development consists of :1)learning language – control of the  basic skills (LSRW ) 2)Learning through language-study skills & literary skills 3)Learning about language –Vocabulary, structure, communication skills.

Language Curriculum Principles: 1)The language strands (LSRW skills) are interrelated , interdependent and reciprocal. 2)Integrated language curriculum for a balance of experience in all the language skills. 3)Provides opportunity for using language in purposeful and meaningful situation. 4)Ability to use multiple cueing systems like: a)pragmatic cueing system-socio-linguistic competence.b)textual cueing system-organizational competence c)syntactical cueing system–word order d)semantic cueing system-meaning  e)grapho phonic cueing system-sound letter association 5)develops linguistic competence –grammatical rules , conventions, mechanics of language skills and usage 6) Scope for active and strategic responses to language tasks- construction , evaluation, direct,  and guided instruction and independent activities.7) assessment and evaluation  as natural , integral and ongoing part of teaching learning process. 8)Be sensitive to the needs and developmental levels of the learner.9)exposure to new culture. 10) develop the  use of English for : a) social interaction b) academic achievement c)  cultural enrichment

-Content based integrated teaching –learning approach spiral curriculum for English.

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY

Critically analyse any English Course book of Kerala syllabus at secondary level.

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Unit test

 UNIT- 2 : CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH

Total  Weightage : 10

Time : 45 minutes

Write a short note on:

1.Psychological foundation of curriculum

2.Philosophical  foundation of curriculum

3.Sociological foundation of curriculum

Answer the following(wt.4)

4.What are the major principles of curriculum construction?

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