Richards 8&9

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. The role and
design of instructional materials (pp. 251-285). New York: Cambridge
University Press.

This chapter covers the role, design, and use of teaching materials in language
instruction ranging from text books, authentic materials, teacher made materials,
various print materials, as well as electronic teaching resources. The chapter
defines the strengths and weaknesses of each design, and also lists what makes a
good material. This chapter explains in detail of authentic verses created
materials, textbooks, how to evaluate textbooks and their adaptations, preparation
of materials, management of writing materials, and what it takes to monitor the
use of materials.

The authentic materials reminded me of the class that we took last semester.
As I was reading through this section, it made me think about how meaningful
it would be for my students. I liked the ideas of teaching these types of materials
where it would bring about motivation. The only authentic material that I used
was using the student made books (language experience) to teach reading. The
students enjoy reading books that they’ve written on their own.

As I read through the textbook part of the chapter, it made me think about how
how many times the school has changed their textbooks in math. They must
evaluate each text book and change basing it on the needs of the students, their
relevance, quality, and now the GRE tests. I remember when I was in highschool
the text books were McGuinn, as I attended college, they changed to Math Their
Way, and when I completed college, they changed to Saxon Math, and today its
Harcourt.

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Approaches to
evaluation (pp. 286-309). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Once a curriculum is implemented, it has to be evaluated. This chapter covers
the evaluation process of the curriculum on whether the goal had been met, if its
working/what is not, and the problems it faces (Formative). It also covers where
its being implemented, how its implemented, and the reaction of the stakeholders
(Illuminative). Evaluations also seeks to find whether the planners did a
satisfactory job at the end of teaching the curriculum. This involves looking into
the workability of the tests, teaching methods, and the overall the effectiveness of
the program (Summative).

The evaluation of the curriculum is certainly an important process that needs
to be taken, especially since the creation of the curriculum takes time, money,
usefulness for the academic growth of the students, and the relevancy of the
language program. A curriculum that doesn’t meet the needs of all
stakeholders, is not effective. It places extra work for the teachers to
produce extra material, and ends up being a waste of money spend on the
curriculum.

In Ayaprun Elitnaurvik, I often find myself making up extra materials for the
students. Some of the curriculum is written for Yugtun first language teachers,
and the assessments are not compatible to their language proficiency. Before
the curriculum was published into many copies, they should have pilot tested
to see if teachers needed to add extra materials, revise the assessments, and
give training on how teachers can use the curriculum.