Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Aidil Fitra1, Fadila Turrahmi2, Fira Safitri3, Indah Zalita4, Mutiara Ikhsani5, Resi Khothori6,
Wahyudi Asri7
fitraaidil29@gmail.com
Abstract
This paper aims at describing the language curriculum development: concepts and models. It
includes of curriculum, curriculum development, currriculum design, language curriculum
development, history of language curriculum development, and model of language curriculum
development by Richard. Curriculum as a multifaceted concept, constructed, negotiated and
renegotiated at a variety of levels and in a variety of arenas. Curriculum development is “a
collection of plans about teaching” and “the ability to plan effective curricula is a crucial skill
for all teachers”. Curriculum design consist of two words, the term “ design” is used as a verb
to designate a process (as in “designing a curriculum”), or as a noun to denote a particular
plan resulting from a design process (as in a curriculum design”). Language curriculum
development is an aspect of a broader field of educational activity known as curriculum
development or curriculum studies.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. DISCUSSION
1. Definition of Curriculum, Curriculum Development, and Curriculum Design
a. Definition of curriculum
According Su (2012: 153) “Curriculum” seems to be considered greatly as
what teachers are going to teach and, in other words, what learners are going to
learn. In fact, “curriculum” is also closely related to how well the learners learn—
the outcomes. Thus, as an umbrella term, “curriculum” includes a lot of issues, for
example, teaching curriculum, learning curriculum, testing curriculum,
administrative curriculum and the hidden curriculum.
According to Pratt, Barrow and Milburn in Su (2012: 153), the word
“curriculum” is derived from the Latin verb currere, “to run.” “Currere” became a
diminutive noun and meant a “racing chariot” or “race track.” An extension was
made by Cicero who associated the term with curriculum vitae that means “the
course of one’s life.” He also associated it with curricula mentis that metaphorically
refers to “the (educational) course of the mind.” It was not until the nineteenth
century that the term was commonly used in the educational field.
A great number of researchers or educators (e.g. Barrow & Milburn, 1990;
Beauchamp, 1977; Goodson, 1994; Longstreet & Shane, 1993; Marsh, 1997; Wood
& Davis, 1978) in Su (2012: 153) have shed light on what curriculum is through
their reviews of, or critical comments on, this term. An example is what Goodson
in Su (2012: 153) describes of curriculum “as a multifaceted concept, constructed,
negotiated and renegotiated at a variety of levels and in a variety of arenas”. This
view reflects the complex and interactive nature of curriculum. Longstreet and
Shane in Su (2012: 153) reveal another side of curriculum which requires decision
making: Curriculum is a historical accident—it has not been deliberately developed
to accomplish a clear set of purposes. Rather, it has evolved as a response to the
increasing complexity of educational decision making. Barrow and Milburn (1990)
and Beauchamp (1977) in Su (2012: 153) note how the term “curriculum” is in
some cases used in very limited contexts, but in other cases very broadly.
b. Definition of curriculum development
For Jacobs in Preez and Simmonds (2014: 4) curriculum development is “a
collection of plans about teaching” and “the ability to plan effective curricula is a
crucial skill for all teachers”. In particular, curriculum development involves “…
consulting curriculum statements issued by the government, defining objectives,
finding information about topics, deciding on suitable teaching methods and
choosing ways in which the learning would be assessed”.
For Tyler in Preez and Simmonds (2014: 4) curriculum development is a
technical production procedure. It is therefore interested in technical questions that
approach curriculum development as objective, scientific and driven by “means-
end reasoning” or “rational decision making”
For Stenhouse in Preez and Simmonds (2014: 4-5), however, curriculum
development is a process and is socially constructed. Teachers are involved in the
process of developing a curriculum that takes account of contextual factors rather
than pre-specifying objectives. In contrast, for Freire in Preez and Simmonds (2014:
5), curriculum development involves critical reflection, problem posing and
dialogue. One way of developing a curriculum from a critical approach is to use
themes addressing social, economical and/or political issues and use these to
embrace hegemonic and ideological curriculum questions within a critical interest.
These different approaches to curriculum development further accentuate that
curriculum development presupposes curriculum change.
c. Definition of curriculum design
1) The term “ design” is used as a verb to designate a process (as in “designing a
curriculum”), or as a noun to denote a particular plan resulting from a design
process (as in a curriculum design”).
2) According to O’neill (2015: 7) the term ‘programme’ and ‘curriculum’ are also
used interchangeably, where curriculum is often used to describe a wider
conceptual process and context. In the UK, fraser and bosanquet (2006)
highlighted that staff working in higher education have very different
understandings of the term ‘curriculum, as various as:
a) The structure and content of a unit (subject)
b) The structure and content of a programme of study
c) The student ‘experience of learning
d) A dynamic and interactive process of teaching and learning
In the USA, lattuce and stark (2009) in their extensive work on curriculum,
highlighted that staff used similar breakdowns of this term.
Furthermore, Richards (2001) holds that the notion of syllabus design was the
starting point for the history of curriculum development in language teaching.
Likewise, White (1988) argues that the English language teaching (ELT) had been
generally isolated from curriculum studies because of several reasons. These reasons
included the development of ELT out of the applied linguistics field, the late emergent
of ELT as a profession with its own identity and the previous tendency of ELT practices
to take place in private language schools and colonial education system away from the
mainstream education. Thus, it was not a surprise that only during the 1990s, James
Brown (1995) was able to describe his book “The Elements of Language Curriculum:
A systematic Approach to program Development” as “the first book that examines
language teaching in detail from a systematic curriculum perspective”.
The following kinds of syllabuses (or variants and combination of them) are
commonly found in current English as a second language (ESL) courses and
materials, particulary those dealing with speaking and listening.
O’neill, G. 2015. Curriculum Design in Higher Education: Theory to Practice. Dublin: UCD
Teaching and Learning.
Richard, J, C. 1995. The Language Teaching Matrix. United States of America: Cambridge
University Press.
Su, S. (2012). The Various Concepts of Curriculum and the Factors Involved in Curricula-
making. Journal of Language Teaching and Research. Vol, 3(1), 153-158.