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A Toolbox for College EFL Program DesignIII. Program Objectives and GoalsThe development of program objectives and the articulation of teacher goals is an on-going process. In the best situations, part-time teachers are included. Emphasizing the dynamic nature of curriculum development, Stufflebeam described the curriculum development process through the CIPP model: context, input, process, product, and evaluation (1971). To a large extent, this is a consideration of product or learning outcomes, the experiential process, and the learning context.In an ideal situation, the development of a language program takes place after a formal and thorough needs analysis and the subsequent development of goals and objectives for the program. However, this is not how events usually transpire. As Brown (Ibid) observes in The Elements of Language Curriculum, "it's often the case that needs analysis, the formation of goals and objectives, articulation of tests, and delivery of instruction are all going on at the same time" (p. 217). Furthermore, as the needs of the students and the English Department change over time, the curriculum development is ongoing. In our case, we only had six months to develop guidelines, a plan, and materials; therefore, some of our decisions have been modified, even abandoned, over time. We chose a source text that offered functional language, structured dialogues, and grammar lessons and a reader that presented various types of texts such as short newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, and essays. Employing a thematic system of organization, in the first of the three IE levels, a student learned the vocabulary and grammatical structures suitable to discussing pop culture, urban issues, food and health, and travel. At present, teachers supplement these core materials with their choice of tapes, videos, and other teaching resources drawn from a resource library maintained by the English Department. New teachers are given a program guide. Graded samples of student written work and rated videotapes of student discussions are also provided. Because teacher participation is so important, we organize an annual orientation for part-time teachers where we present curriculum revisions, share classroom strategies, and set goals for the coming year. The most recent development in the IE Program has been in the direction of task-based learning where the learner's role is to analyze and attend to language use and structure in line with his or her preferred learning style, aptitude, and motivation. On this basis, we have introduced the task of participating in a small group discussion. In another course, Academic Skills, students have the task of learning how to take notes during a lecture. |
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