Format and presentation in designing a language course

1. Format and Presentation
GUIDELINES BASED ON ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS

2. Based on Environment
Learners
 The layout of the content should attract the learners.
 The learners should have the skills to do the activities.
 The activities should take account of whether the learners share the same
first language.
 The activities should be suitable for a range of levels of proficiency in a class.
 The activities should suit the size of the class.
 The activities should fit the learning styles of the learners.

3. Based on Environment
Teachers
 The activities should be able to be presented and managed by the teacher [e.g.
the teacher should be able to organize group work].
Situation
 The course book should be easy to carry.
 The material in the course or the course book should not be too expensive.
 The amount of material in a lesson should suit the length of a class.
 The activities should suit the physical features of the classroom [e.g. move
desks for group work; sound proof for oral work].

4. Based on Needs
Lacks
 The learners should be able to successfully complete the activities.
Wants
 The activities should take account of what the learners expect to do in a
language learning course.
Necessities
 The kinds of activities should be useful to the learners in their future use or
future learning of the language [e.g. knowing how to rank; knowing how to
negotiate].

5. Principles
 Motivation: As much as possible, the learners should be interested and excited
about learning the language and they should come to value this learning.
 Four strands: A course should include a roughly even balance of meaning-
focused input, language-focused learning, meaning-focused output and
fluency activities.
 Comprehensible input: There should be substantial quantities of interesting
comprehensible receptive activity in both listening and reading.
 Fluency: A language course should provide activities aimed at increasing the
fluency with which learners can use the language they already know, both
receptively and productively.

6. Principles
 Output: The learners should be pushed to produce the language in both
speaking and writing over a range of discourse types.
 Deliberate learning: The course should include language-focused learning on
the sound system, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and discourse areas.
 Time on task: As much time as possible should be spent using and focusing on
the second language.
 Depth of processing: Learners should process the items to be learned as deeply
and as thoughtfully as possible.

7. Principles
 Integrative motivation: A course should be presented so that the learners have
the most favourable attitudes to the language, to users of the language, to the
teacher’s skill in teaching the language, and to their chance of success in learning
the language.
 Learning style: There should be opportunity for learners to work with the
learning material in ways that most suit their individual learning style.

8. Meaning-focused input
Meaning-focused input involves having the opportunity to learn from listening
and speaking.
 low density of unfamiliar language features.
 focus on the meaning of the message, and a large quantity of input.
Ex: Reading while listening to what is being read.

9. Meaning-focused output
Meaning-focused output involves learning through speaking and writing.
 A well-balanced language course spends about one quarter of the course time
on meaning-focused speaking and writing.
 If a language course has the goal of developing skill in writing, then there
needs to be regular meaning-focused writing.
 If the language course has the goal of developing skill in speaking, then there
needs to be regular meaning-focused speaking.

10. Language-focused learning
 Language-focused learning involves a deliberate focus on language features
such as pronunciation, spelling, word parts, vocabulary, collocations, grammatical
constructions and discourse features.
 Activities which could occur in the language-focused learning strand of course –
intensive reading, pronunciation practice, guided writing, spelling practice, blank-
filling activities, sentence completion or sentence combining activities, getting
feedback on written work, correction during speaking activities, learning
vocabulary from word cards, memorising collocations, dictation and the explicit
study of discourse features.

11. Fluency development
Fluency involves making the best use of what is already known.
 (1) easy, familiar material,
 (2) a focus on communicating messages,
 (3) some pressure to perform at a faster speed,
 (4) plenty of opportunities for fluency practice.

12. Blocks

13. 1. Meeting the stimulus
it can be more productive at other times not to display all the material immediately. If the
stimulus is a picture, allow a brief glimpse.
2. Analysis
The analysis stage involves studying the stimulus to see what is in it once it has been
totally revealed or pieced together.
3. Personalisation
Linking between the students and the stimulus. In this stage, students can write or speak
about how the stimulus is similar to or different from them, what the stimulus reminds
them of, if they have ever ..., what they would do if …, etc.

14. 4. Alteration and transfer
the alteration and transfer stage encourages them to work with the material flexibly,
thus improving thinking and language skills.
Options here are making new things from the stimulus, reducing or expanding it,
thinking of parallels, opposites or reversals.
5. Creation
In the creation stage the students move on from the stimulus, using it as a
springboard to new skills or new products. Example activities are role plays or letter
writing activities connected with the stimulus

15. Threads
 This series of activities is designed to work on literal and metaphorical uses of basic vocabulary.
 The ‘animal’ can be a cat, fish, bird, horse, snake or frog. The first day, one animal is introduced with its
basic vocabulary, e.g. a cat: whiskers, paws, claws, tail. When the thread is revisited in the next class
these words are reviewed and new ones added, e.g. tabby, tom, kitten. Your choices each time you
revisit the animal in subsequent classes are to
 review nouns already learned
 add verbs (hiss, scratch, purr), add adjectives (furry, soft, playful), add strengths and weaknesses (good
hunter, kills things, sleeps a lot), add metaphors (cat’s eyes in the middle of the road, a catty remark, to
claw back money in taxes)
 introduce new ‘animals’ such as birds and snails, discuss the similarities in what they have (feathers
versus slimy scaly skin) and where they live (nest, garden)
 ask students to tell you about individual animals of one type that they have known

16.  Nation, I.S.P. & Macalister, J. 2010. Language Curriculum Design. Oxon: Routledge.
 Tessa Woodward. 2001. Planning Lessons and Courses. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.