The Assessment of the Progress of the Learner - Coursework Example

Curriculum Design Task Name Institution course Lecturer Date Introduction The level of immigration in Australia has continued to increase especially during the past 1 1\2 decades where the net migration rate in the year 2006 to 2007 rose from 177,600 persons up from that of 1992 to 1993 rated at 30,042 persons. As more people continue to get into this region, there is an increase in the number of skilled immigrants in the various fields that include nursing, banking, medicine, teaching, engineering, science among others. These personnel have migrated from their various countries for greener pastures which in this case refer to more, better and higher paid job opportunities as well as for education purposes (price, 2007). Australia is an English speaking Country hence immigrants from non English speaking countries and regions need to be fluent in both written as well as spoken English in order for them to be able to effectively perform their various duties and responsibilities at work. It is for this reason that there has grown the need to implement English teaching programs to help non English personnel develop oral and written skills in English through the use of English for specific Purposes (ESP). Hutchinson & Waters (1987) defines ESP as the approach to teaching of a language in such a way that all decisions related to the method and content depend on the specific reason for the learner to learn. In most cases, ESP is designed for particular specific or specific disciplines. Curriculum development can be defined as the process of curriculum implementation: the various phases during the execution of an identified curriculum. A curriculum is in this case a series of activities undertaken during the teaching of a given subject. A good curriculum gives a description of what is to be taught, aims and objectives of the particular subject, how the teaching process should be carried out, and materials to be used, methods of assessments to be used, role of the teacher as well as student, teaching methods and place (Richards, 2001). Teaching non English speaking bankers English requires the use of a good language curriculum that will indicate the relevant activities to be undertaken by the language center offering the training. This paper is an ESP curriculum for bankers. It indicates the performed needs analysis, curriculum goals and objectives, course rationale, program sequence and scope, exhaustive course content, select teaching methodology as well as the proposed method of subject assessment. The teaching project is to be undertaken at the Sydney Institute- TAFE. Sydney Institute- TAFE. The institute aims at providing appropriate skills to individuals and to help them get into job places faster upgrade or improve their already existing skills as well as prepare them for further studies indifferent parts of the world. Sydney Institute also trains numerous languages that include English to students from different language backgrounds. One such program aims at providing English skills as well as orientation to banking students as well as those undertaking other courses. The contents of this program include integrated- language skills, reading, listening, oral and writing communication skills through which the bankers can be able to effectively communicate with their clients, colleagues as well as other people and to effectively carry out their assigned duties and responsibilities. The major stakeholders in the ESP program include the government, industry groups as well as their workforces. Other forms of funding include; institute funds, special government- grants, and enterprise /community contributions as well tuition fees paid by the various individual students (TAFE Australia, 2008). Needs Analysis This section gives a description of the various instruments that were used to collect information on the various linguistic needs that the learners have. An analysis of this information is also done. All information was collected using various instruments and procedures of data collection that include observation through class visitations where all data collected were video recorded. Another procedure was through the conduction of an interview held with the lecturer and that brought out the lecturer’s expectations from the students and the best teaching approach to be used. Instruments used included questionnaires, English Placement Tests to assess the learner’s English proficiency levels and English for Banking Test. The analysis of needs for this particular curriculum will be illustrated through the use of Linguistic and Situational methods of needs analysis. The information collected was used to set up the curriculum objectives and aims. Aims and Objectives These cover the aims and objectives of both the students as well as the instructors. The main goal is to ensure that learners understand well the language for banking, both written and oral, and that they are able to effectively address their superiors, colleagues, clients as well as the public through oral or written English. Aims To ensure that students are able to understand as well as produce good written and oral English for Banking. Enhance the development of a positive attitude towards English language as a way of promoting greater and easier understanding. Gain a clearer understanding of the banking culture and its influence on clients as well as the public. Objectives Learners will be able to listen, comprehend banking related language, topics and related instructions, commands and directions. All learners will at the end of the program be able to use English raise their various questions, answers, ideas, opinions and to give reports. The learners will have the ability to study English written materials and to spell banking related words. Learners will have the ability to produce English written reports. The learners will have a greater understanding of the work relationships existing within the banking setting. Students will gain a greater understanding of the various banking as well as administrative procedures, regulations and policies. Learners get to understand the value of English as a means of communication in Australia and its role in advancing ones career. Learners understand how banking operates and is perceived in Australia. That the learners get to clearly understand the thoughts and behaviors of people within the bank setting. Selection and Sequence of the Content This specific curriculum targets individuals with intermediate language levels and above. The syllabus focuses on the acquisition as well as improvement of the learners’ writing, reading, listening and speaking skills. More focus will be on the various vocabularies related to banking. The entry for students requires that the student’s ability to understand spoken English be good. This allows for difficulties when new words are introduced. The oral utterances should be those that portray meaning even if they are faulty and they should a good understanding of written English. In regards to writing, the developed essays should be those whose ideas are well developed even if the introduction, the body as well as the conclusion have not been addressed in the correct way. Despite the grammar being faulty, meaning should be conveyed from the students’ works with correct use of tenses, nouns and adjectives. The learners must have a basic knowledge for English language for banking as should master the basic banking vocabularies. Methods and Methodology This curriculum was aims at helping the learners to effectively improve their English language skills and in turn be able to achieve their various goals and aspirations(Richards, 2001). The particular content of the course is to be taught lessons that will run for one hour 30 minutes each for a period of twelve weeks. Each lesson will be held three times in every week. This means that the entire course will take up 36 lessons. The designed syllabus places its focus on improving the ability of the learner to make use of the English language in speaking, writing, and in vocabulary for banking as a way of preparing them to successfully take up as well as graduate from a banking course at TAFE. The syllabus is made of two parts: a general view indicating the various topics that are going to be taught and a detailed explanation of each of these topics. Resources and Materials The teaching materials and resources include visuals, word lists, overhead projectors, handouts, lesson plans, teaching games, tape scripts and other visual aids. The versatility of the designed curriculum allows the instructors to select the materials and resources they find appropriate and effective enough. The selected materials should be evaluated to ensure that they work properly and that they will be able to meet the goals and objectives as well as for familiarization (Graves, 1996). Program Implementation The designed curriculum is to be implemented in the TAFE class beginning January 8 to May 2, 2011. All classes will be held at room E5 at the Sydney Institute. Four teachers have been assigned to take up the classes. The learners and teachers will meet up to decide on the appropriate time that the classes will be held. All students are expected to attend all classes or at least 85 percent of all of therm. The curriculum has been designed in such a way that the teachers are able to come up with materials of their own, use their personal lesson plans as well as apply their own styles of teaching. Assessment of Learner Progress and Achievement The assessment of the progress of the learner will be done using three methods of testing which include placement testing to be done at the start of this course, formative testing to be done while the course is still ongoing( at the middle) and the summative testing to be done at the completion of the course. It is through the conducted tests that the instructor will be able to assess the progress as well as record improvements for each student. Curriculum Evaluation All the parts making up the curriculum will be evaluated. These parts include the needs analysis, planning of the objectives and aims, implementation process, materials and resources, the instructors as well as the process of testing. The evaluation process aims at identifying the strong holds of the curriculum as well as the various gaps hence one is able to identify what was successful and what failed. Evaluation creates room for further developments to be done (Tyler, 1949). References Graves, K. (1996). Teachers as Course Developers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hutchinson, T. & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A learner-centered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mackay, R. (1978). English for Specific Purposes London: Longman Publishers Price, C. (2007). Origin Australians: Historical Statistics. Australia: Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates. Richards, J. (Ed.). (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. TAFE Australia (2008). Driving an Innovation Agenda. A snapshot interim report: OECD Sydney Visit. retrieved, Oct,2010 Tyler, R. (1949) Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read More