Curriculum Development in Language Teaching

Cambridge Language Education

by Jack C. Richards

This text provides a systematic introduction to the issues involved in planning, developing, and managing effective language programs. The paperback edition provides a systematic introduction to the issues involved in developing, managing, and evaluating effective second and foreign language programs and teaching materials. Key stages in the curriculum development process are examined, including situation analysis, needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, materials development and adaptation, teaching and teacher support, and evaluation. Discussion activities throughout the book enable it to be used as a reference text for teachers and administrators.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Language, Teaching, Textbooks

321 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Jack Croft Richards is an applied linguist from New Zealand, specializing in second and foreign language education, teacher training, and materials design. He has written numerous articles and books. Most of his books and articles are in the field of second language teaching and have been translated into many different languages. He was appointed full professor in the Department of English as a Second Language at the University of Hawaii in 1981.

Reviews

[Irfan]

gotta get the best out of it!

[Dulce · Rating 5 out of 5]

is the best

[Mohammad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The penultimate chapters as well as the discussion sections are highly recommended.

[Magdalena Golden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soooo much more interesting than The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation and Management - another mandatory reading on the subject for my MA. Remarkably, the best thing about it are the appendices! 😁 For the most part, they're case studies of curricula designed for various specific purposes - it was fascinating to read about the actual applications and not just the theory.

Another great thing about this book is that it deals with many different settings and educational cultures, as entertainingly summarised in these two quotes:

From an Australian student in China:
"The trouble with Chinese teachers is that they've never done any real teacher-training courses so they don't know how to teach. All they do is follow the book. They never give us any opportunity to talk. How in the world do they expect us to learn?"
A Chinese student in Australia:
"Australian teachers are friendly but they can't teach well. I never know where they're going - there's no system and I just get lost. Also, they're often very badly trained and don't have a thorough grasp of their subject"

Overall - highly recommended!

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is dealing with designing, evaluating and analysing the curriculum of language. It shows the effectiveness of having need analysis to design a useful curriculum. Thus, course design can be a process of empowering teaching language as a foreign language based on the need of the students.
It is very helpful in guiding the course designers.

[ELENA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful. It helped me a great deal to learn about course design based on needs analysis, kinds of syllabi and so on. Well-written and clear.

[Mamama · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text gave me a very good and more up-to-date view of syllabus and curriculum than White's book.

[Tom Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives an overview of curriculum development in language teaching. (Hey, that's just like the title.) A better title might be A Whole Bunch of Stuff to Think about When You Are Developing Language Curriculum. This book mostly asks and makes the reader ask questions about curriculum development. As I am currently about to embark on rewriting our curriculum, we will see if the proof is in the pudding as they say.

If you are going to develop language curriculum, I would recommend this as a starting point. Other than that, why would you even be interested in this?

[Alma Wahdie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea, all of the theories about designing the curriculum here.
I love the statement in it: "Teacher is the curriculum itself"

I love it. It is a great guide book for teacher, lecturer, and the most relevant is for the stakeholders.

I just want to say that it's too perfect. the theory is unreachable (sometime) especially in this kind of developing country

But, thanks anyway.

[A.diantika91yahoo.com]

Jack C RichardsCurriculum Development in Language Teaching

[Andreas Aris · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a quite long wait, finally I read this book. The book was a hand taking from my boss when he attended a TEFLIN seminar. This is a worth reading book, especially for those who are interested in Curriculum Design and Material Development.

[Susie]

This book really made sense to me although most classmates preferred the other textbook. I thought everything was logically organized and easy to understand.

[Yudi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Zakier Tolis]

need analisys

[Terra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read most of this book for a class.