ch 5 and 6 richards

Sheila Wallace
Ling 611
Chapter 5 blog
Summer 2008

Richards, J.C. 2007. Planning goals and learning outcomes. In Curriculum development in language teaching (chap. 5). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 5 discusses the learning outcomes and goals in curriculum planning. Key assumptions that summarizes the approach to educational planning states that people are generally interested in meeting educational goals, that teaching goals improves teacher performance and effectiveness, clearly described goals are generally effective when they are clearly defined. The author states that the nature of a language curriculum generally surrounds takes into the following consideration: academic rationalism, social and economic efficiency, learner-centeredness, social re-constructionism, and cultural pluralism.
I especially enjoyed reading the characteristics of language objectives and goals. Writing language objectives has always been a difficult one for me for several reasons. One, I don’t understand enough about the language development in Yup’ik second language to feel confident about developing a scope and sequence. Two, without a scope and sequence, I feel that I do not effectively teach Yup’ik – I feel that the language program should build on acquired language. Three, I have a difficult time attaching lessons to the specific language building objectives.
In writing my curriculum for LKSD, I will use this chapter when writing language objectives. I like how the author puts different perspectives on curriculum building. I also appreciate the distinction he makes between course aim, course objectives, and talks about the criticisms of using objectives.


Richards, J.C. 2007. Course planning and syllabus design. In Curriculum development in language teaching (chap. 6). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.



Chapter 6 discusses the course planning and syllabus design. The chapter covers the different dimensions of course development including a course rationale, describes entry and exit levels, choosing course content, sequencing course content, planning the course content, and preparing the scope and sequence plan. This chapter also examines how to develop instructional materials both in course planning and materials design.
What is helpful to me as a language curriculum planner is how the rationale attempts to give specifics about what the course is for, what the course is about, and what kind of teaching and learning will take place in the course. The rationale will also explain the beliefs, values and goals that drive the curriculum. When writing my rationale, I will remember to use the rationale as a guide for planning the components of the curriculum, describe the kinds of teaching and learning that will occur, and how the course values and goals will be used to provide consistency.
The other helpful reading from this chapter also talks about the scope and sequence of the curriculum. This scope and sequence attempts to answer what range of content will be covered as well as to what extent each topic should be studied. I also appreciate that the auth distinguishes between the meaning between scope and the word sequence. Scope is concerned with the depth and breadth each item in the course while the sequence covers the chronological aspects of the language development (simple to complex, need, prerequisites, whole to part or part to whole, and spiral sequencing). I am excited that this chapter is going to be useful for my curriculum planning since this area is what I consider to be my weakness.