The document discusses the historical origins and development of language curriculum design. It addresses how vocabulary and grammar were initially seen as the basic building blocks of language and were selected and graded according to various principles. Early approaches made assumptions that all learners' needs are the same, needs are defined by the language alone, and learning is determined by textbooks. The document outlines different methods used for vocabulary selection based on frequency, teachability, and learner needs. It also discusses principles for grammar syllabus design like simplicity, frequency, and learnability.

1. The Origins
of Language
Curriculum
Development

2. GROUP 1:

3. THE ORIGINS
OF
LANGUAGE
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
1/ INTRODUCTION -
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
2/ VOCABULARY
SELECTION
3/ GRAMMAR
SELECTION AND
GRADATION
4/ ASSUMPTIONS
CONTENTS :

5. SYLLABUS
DESIGN
- An aspect of
curriculum
development
- A specification of
content of course
instructions and lists
of what to be taught
and tested
- Began much earlier
than curriculum
development
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
- A set of processes:
Determine the needs of
the learners
Develop the aims and
objectives to address
those needs
Determine an
appropriate syllabus
design
 Carry out an evaluation
of the program
- Began in 1960s

6. Teaching methods in 19th – 20th
century
Grammar Translation Method (1800
- 1900)
Direct Method (1890 - 1930)
Structural Method (1930 - 1960)
Reading Method (1920 - 1950)
Audio-lingual Method (1950 - 1970)
Situational Method (1950 - 1970)
Communicative Approach (1970 -
present)

7. Principles of Structural Method
(Palmer, 1922)
Initial preparation
Habit-forming
Accuracy
Gradation
Proportion
Concreteness
Interest
Order of progression
Multiple line of approach

8. Structural Method (Palmer, 1922)
The content and syllabus underlying.
Determining the vocabulary and grammatical
content of a language course—selection and
gradation.
Is it possible to teach the whole of the
language?
Two aspects of Selection
Vocabulary selection
Grammar selection

10. Vocabulary selection :
 Why do you need vocabulary selection?
 How do you make vocabulary selection?

11. A. Why do you need vocabulary
selection ?

12. Native speakers 
-So MANY
-Limited time
What words should be taught in
a second language?
(Richards, 2001, pp. 5)
17,000
words

13. B. How to make selection vocabulary

14. Vocabulary Selection
 Choose randomly Unreliable result
Ex1: Teaching Cantonese (Li and Richards 1995)
 Words occurring in one book 1,141 words 63.4%
 Words occurring in two books 313 words 17.4%
 Words occurring in three books 155 words 8.6%
 Words occurring in four books 114 words 6.3%
 Words occurring in five books 77 words 4.3%

15. Football players
generally begin
as amateurs
and the best
players
progress to
become
professional
players.
Normally they
start at the first
youth team
(any local team)
and from there.
David became
the World's
number 1
female squash
player in
January 2006
at the age of
23 to become
the first
Malaysian and
the first Asian
woman to be
ranked World
number 1 in
Count
the same
words in
2 texts

16. Football players
generally begin
as amateurs
and the best
players
progress to
become
professional
players.
Normally they
start at the first
youth team
(any local team)
and from there.
David became
the World's
number 1
female squash
player in
January 2006
at the age of
23 to become
the first
Malaysian and
the first Asian
woman to be
ranked World
number 1 in
Choose
words in
the
highest
frequenc
y

17.  In a …… match, the player is ……… by the
……….. if his hand touches the ball in the
………. area .
17 words 80%
20%4 words
 In a soccer match, the player is penalized
by the referee if his hand touches the ball in
the penalty area .
Vocabulary Selection
MEANING
21 words

18. SPORTS SCIENCE
MAGAZIN
E
POETRY
AND
SO
ON….
WIDE RANGE OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGE
SAMPLES
FIND OUT COMMON
VOCABULARY

19. The
highest
Frequenc
y
Wide range of
different
language
samples
The most useful
vocabulary
The
needs
of
learner
s
Vocabulary Selection

20. Other Criteria for Determining
Word Lists (Besides Frequency)
 Teachability
 Similarity
 Availability
 Coverage
 Defining Power
(Richards, 2001, pp. 8)
IN AN INTRODUCTORY
LANGUAGE COURSE

21. 1.Teachability
water
dog
To run
To eat
tomato

22. 2. Similarity
Sô – pha sofa
tem
stamp
Băng
Cát sét
Casset
te

23. 3. Availabitity Black board
teacher
homework
CLASSROO
M
students
chalk
chefwaiter menu customer cashier
bill
RESTAURAN
T

24. 4. Coverage
 EMOTION : (happy , sad, angry, boring…)
 TASTE : ( sweet, bitter, salt, sour, …)

25. 5. Defining Power
 A piece of furniture for one person to sit on,
with a back, a seat and four legs ……… .
 A long comfortable seat with a back and arms,
for two or more people to sit on …………
 A long seat for two or more people, usually
made of wood  ………..

26. 5. Defining Power
 A piece of furniture for one person to sit on, with
a back, a seat and four legs  chair
 A long comfortable seat with a back and arms,
for two or more people to sit on  sofa
 A long seat for two or more people, usually
made of wood  bench

27. 5. Defining Power
 A piece of furniture for one person to sit on,
with a back, a seat and four legs  a chair
 A long comfortable seat with a back and
arms, for two or more people to sit on  sofa
 A long seat for two or more people, usually
made of wood  bench

28. Other Criteria for Determining
Word Lists (Besides Frequency)
 Teachability
 Similarity
 Availability
 Coverage
 Defining Power
(Richards, 2001, pp. 8)
IN AN INTRODUCTORY
LANGUAGE COURSE

29. Vocabulary selection DEPENDS
ON :



The needs of target learners

31. ASKING PERMISSION ?
Please let me use …
Do you mind if I use…
Is it all right to use …
Do you mind me using…
Would you mind me using…
Would you permit me to use…
Would you be so kind as to allow me to
use …
Would it be possible for me to use…
Would you be so kind as to allow
me to use..

32. Grammar Selection & Gradation
HOW WE CAN DETERMINE
What kinds of sentences
structures would be useful to
teach?
Teaching method
Items of purposes and
Materials
Available time of
teaching

33. Simplicity & Centrality
Frequency
Learnability
Suggested principles for developing
grammatical syllabus

34. Suggested principles for developing
grammatical syllabus
Simplicity & Centrality: basic simple and
central structure of language.
S + V—She runs.
S + V + Complement—He is a teacher.
S + V + Adverb—The boy plays outside
S + V + Object + Adverb—I put the book
in the bag.

35. Suggested principles for developing
grammatical syllabus
Frequency: frequency of occurrence in
conversational language( not of
grammatical items in texts) (McCarthy
& Carter, 1995)
Subject and verb ellipsis—Let’s go
Tails—And you?
Reporting verbs—I was telling…

36. Suggested principles for developing
grammatical syllabus
Learnability: order in which grammatical
items are occupied in second language.
Ex5: Interview of ESL (Dulay & Burt, 1973 & 1974)
1. Nouns
2. Verbs
3. Adjectives
4. Verb be
5. Possessive pronouns
6. Personal pronouns
7. Adverse of time
8. Requests
9. Simple present
10.Futures
11.Wh-Qs
12.Present continuous
13.Directions
14.Possessive adjective
15.Comparatives
16.Offers
17.Simple future
18.Simple past
19.Infinitives/gerunds
20.First conditional

37. IN CASE OF GRAMMAR
SELECTION GRADATION

38. The approaches to gradation

39. The approaches to gradation
Linguistic :structures similar to those in native language
should be taught first .
 I love you
 I am a doctor
 I want to buy a dress
Intrinsic difficulty: simple structures taught
before complex one.
 He taught me a lesson
 The lesson (which) he taught me is very valuable
 I love that girl
 The girl who I love is the most beautiful one in my class

40. The approaches to gradation
Communicative need: despite difficulty, some
structures are needed early on in acquisition.
• I went on holiday in Da Lat last summer.
• Thank you! I had breakfast.
• He failed the exam.
Frequency: occurrence in the target language
but if something easy to demonstrate and
practice in a classroom context.
• What are you doing?
• I am writing.
• He is reading.
• They are talking to each other.

41. Gradation approaches
Sequencing of gradation
Linear gradation: introduce one at a time and
practiced intensively before moving on
Cyclical /Spiral gradation: Repetition, old to new,
items reintroduce throughout course

42. 4. Assumptions
underlying early
approaches to
Syllabus Design

43. Assumption underlying early
approaches to Syllabus Design
 The basic units of language are
Vocabulary and Grammar.
 Learners everywhere have the same
needs.
 Language learners’ needs are unique.
 Process of learning a language is largely
determined by the textbook.
 The context of teaching is English as a
foreign language

44. 1. The basic units of language are
Vocabulary and Grammar
 Teaching of English largely through its
vocabulary and grammar.
 These were seen as the main building blocks
of language development.

45. The focus
was on
“general”
English.
Core
vocabulary +
grammatical
syllabus
The basic for
almost all
language
course
2. Learners have the same needs

46. 3. Learner’s needs are
identified exclusively in terms
of language needs
 Teaching English is to teach English
 Not to teach to solve their problem thru
English

47. 4. The process of learning a
language is largely determined
by the textbook.
Selection Gradation
Control
the
content of
the
textbook

48. 5. The context of teaching is
English as a foreign language.
 Students study English as a formal subject
but they have no immediate need to use it
outside of the classroom
 Classroom and textbook provided the primary
input to the language learning process.
 Goal of syllabus developer was to simplify
and rationalize the input as far as possible
thru process of selection and gradation.

49. References
 Richards, J. C. (2002). The Origins of
Language Curriculum Development. In
Richards, J.D. (2002) Curriculum
development in language teaching .
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
(pp. 1-22).
 Google Images (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.google.com/imghp?hl

50. Discussio
n
Questions
 List 5 words that you believe to be
absolutely necessary for an ELL to learn.
Why have you chosen these five words?
 If you could chose 5 more words what would
they be? Why did you leave these words off
your first list?