Article 2

June 21

Chapter 2, "A framework of course development processes," brings us to the steps of course development along with questions of concern for each step, important key words that the author clarifies, and issues that she addresses. This is the longest chapter of the book as it addresses seven important steps with much details.

The first step is Needs assessment- this is to answer the questions, "What are the students' needs and how can the teacher assess and address them?" First of all the term needs assessment refers to obtaining data in order for the teacher to learn what the students already know and what they need to know, and to bridge the gap between the two. In finding out the needs, the teacher should take into account the students' current proficiencies and difficulties and also, their

backgrounds, which have effects on how they learn.

These factors help determine the differences of needs varying from student to student. It is not only highly beneficial for teachers to conduct needs assessment (by a variety of methods such as questionnaires, interviews, observations, and samples of previous work), but involving students with their own needs assessment is also greatly beneficial because it helps students "become more aware and more purposeful in their learning" (14).

The second step is Determining goals and objectives, to answer questions, "What are the purposes and intended outcomes of the course? What will my students need to do or learn to achieve these goals?" The author differentiates the terms goals and objectives, in which goals is defined as the "overall, long-term purposes of the course" (seeing the big picture) and objectives as "express[ing] the specific ways in which the goals will be achieved" (seeing details and chunking them in order to achieve the goal) (17).

The importance of setting goals and objectives is to give direction and coherence for the instructor in planning the course he/she will teach. Furthermore, in choosing goals and objectives, there are several things to be considered, such as the student's needs, district standards and curriculums, school policies, among many other factors. The goals can involve proficiency goals, cognitive goals, affective goals, and transfer goals. Details of these are found on page 17 of the textbook.

The third step is Conceptualizing content- "What will be the backbone of what I teach? What will I include in my syllabus?" In accordance to language teaching, the contents that the teacher will include, emphasize, and integrate are different aspects of language and language learning. In the recent years, language teaching has moved away from a "one-size-fits-all" program to being more context-dependent and specific needs, interests, goals, and so forth of the students are taken to consider. The traditional way of conceptualizing content includes grammar structures, patterns, and vocabulary, and are very much systematic and governed by rules (20). There are several ways of teaching the contents above through pronunciation, communicative situations, and other contextual and practical applications. There is also the exploration of culture.

The fourth step, Selecting and developing materials and activities, describes and attempts to answer the questions "How and with what will I teach the course? What is my role as the teacher? What are my students' role?" For many instructions, teachers consider activities and materials as the backbone because they are something concrete that students will use and have focus on for the class (26). In gathering materials and activities, it is important to note their feasibility and availability (26). Last week, I had related questions to this topic, and Dr. Rivera said that a network is very important such as joining professional organizations, like the IRA, in helping me obtain materials, and another option is exploring online, which has a great collection of activities used and tested my many teachers.

The fifth step, Organization of content and activities- "How will I organize the content and activities? What systems will I develop?" The author explains that there is a system in organizing content and activities, and the two general principle to follow is building and recycling. This is developed through simple to open-ended ideas, or concrete to abstract. This is the principle of building. Recycling means "encountering new materials in new ways: in a new skill area, in a different type of activity, or with a new focus" (28). This makes new encounters challenging and thus keep interest and motivation. The great upside of recycling is that prior knowledge is used and further developed through connections of new and different channels.

Evaluation is the sixth step and addresses the questions "How will I asses what students have learned? How will I assess the effectiveness of the course?" Teachers can use both formal and informal, formative and summative methods of assessment in order to find what students have learned and how effective was the teacher in teaching the course. This describes that teachers are not only to assess the cognitive and proficiency content within the course but also the effectiveness of the course- "Was the course effective? In what ways? Where did I fall short?" (30). Students can provide feedback through assessments. The purpose of evaluation is for promoting and improving effectiveness, with the teacher and students as the principal evaluators of the course.

Lastly, the seventh step is Consideration of resources and constraints, and answers the question, "What are the givens of my situation?" Different teachers will look at different circumstances as either resources or constraints. In either case, the teacher will still plan, develop a course, and teach in fulfilling such constraints or making use of such resources. The given situation are factors in the decisions made- a principle of problematizing.

I learned a great deal of things in course development just with this chapter alone. I have already learned much of the information given here, especially on the topic of assessment and evaluation, in previous classes. And I hope that this would deem invaluable to my coming years of teaching- the application of my knowledge gained from my classes.

Images

Bobbyperux. February 2010. [Photograph]. DevianArt. Retrieved from http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs20/i/2007/254/2/2/Free_Film_Frame_by_Bobbyperux.jpg.

Book image. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2008/01/books.png.

Gutter. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://alvalentine.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/thinking-pic.jpg.