This is the presentation for my seminar paper on Foundation of Curriculum: Psycholinguistic. the main paper for Psycholinguistic basis of Curriculum can be downloaded from https://www.academia.edu/17548209/Psycholinguistic_Basis_of_Curriculum_Development

1. Foundation of Curriculum Development:
Psycholinguistic

2. What is Curriculum?
“curriculum includes the totality of
experiences that a pupil receives
through manifold activities that go in
the school, in the classroom, library,
laboratory, workshop, playgrounds and
in the numerous informal contacts
between teachers and pupils.”
- Mudaliar Commission (1952-53)

3. Foundations of Curriculum Development
 Development of Curriculum depends
largely on ideas that grow out of
three fields- Philosophy, Sociology
and Psychology;
 Thus, there are three basic
foundations of curriculum-
Philosophical, Socio-Cultural and
Psycholinguistic.

4. What is Psycholinguistic?
 The word was coined by Jacob R.
Kantor in 1936;
 It is a combination of two words
Psychology and linguistics;
 Linguistics has been derived from
Latin words ‘Lingua’ meaning tongue
and ‘istics’ meaning knowledge or
science;
 Etymologically, Linguistics means
‘Scientific study of language’.

5. Psychological Foundation of Curriculum
Development
 Educational Psychology gives us
various learning theories which can be
divided into three broad heads-
Behaviourism, Cognitivism and
Phenomenology;
 We will see each learning theory
separately- Behaviourism and
Curriculum, Cognitivism and Curriculum
and Phenomenology and Curriculum.

6. Behaviourism and Curriculum

7. Behaviourism
 Focuses on stimulus response and
reinforces;
 Studies conditioning, modifying or
shaping behaviour through
reinforcement and rewards;

8. Behaviourism and Curriculum
 Curriculum should be organised so
that students experience success in
mastering the subject matter;
 Well defined short and long term
objectives;
 Appropriate instructional materials
and media to suit the learner’s
abilities;

9. Behaviourism and Curriculum
 Shaping behaviour through prescribed
tasks, phase by phase activities, close
supervision of activities and positive
reinforcement; and
 Diagnosing, assessing and reassessing
the learner’s needs, objectives,
activities, tasks and instruction with a
view to improving the curriculum.

10. Cognitivism and Curriculum

11. Cognitivism
 Focus on how individuals process
information;
 Emphasis on memory
(storage, retrieval, types);
 Believe that growth and development
occur in progressive stages.

12. Cognitivism and Curriculum
 Cognitive approach constitutes a
logical method for organising and
interpreting learning;
 Rooted in the tradition of subject
matter;
 Teaching/learning process boils down
to teacher talking and students
responding to the teacher.

13. Phenomenology and Curriculum

14. Phenomenology
 Emphasises the affective domain of
learning;
 Emphasises the total person;
 Each individual has specific needs and
interests related to his or her self-
fulfilment and self-realisations.

15. Phenomenology and Curriculum
 There can't be a generally prescribed
humanistic curriculum;
 Humanistic learning may enhance the mental
health of the learners, harmonize personal
feelings among students and teachers, and
improve various aspects of human awareness
among students, teachers, and curriculum
specialists, yet its processes rely mainly on
personal experiences and subjective
interpretations that leave them open to
criticism; hence there is a great need to
examine and understand what is relevant in
humanistic curricula.

16. Conclusion
 Learning can be examined-three major
theories: Behaviourism, Cognitivism
and Phenomenology;
 Each learning theory is incomplete by
itself;
 All three contributed to explain
various issues in regard to student’s
learning and behaviour.

17. Linguistic Foundation of Curriculum
Development
 Language instruction is the foundation
of the total curriculum particularly
when language to be taught is also a
medium of instruction for the
subjects;
 In a language diverse country like
India, the teaching of language
becomes very important as the culture
is one that is highly concerned with
language.

18. Language Policy in India
 Hindi is the National Language;
 Sanskrit to be promoted as a classical
language of the country;
 English to be promoted as an
important international language of
trade and commerce;
 Regional languages as a media of
instruction at the primary, secondary
and university stage.

19. Three Language Formula
 Was devised in the Chief Ministers
conferences held during 1961; and
involves:
 the study of a modern Indian language,
preferably one of the southern
languages, apart from Hindi and English
in the Hindi-speaking States;
 and of Hindi along with the regional
language and English in the non-Hindi
speaking States.

20. Contribution of Linguistics to Education
 The relationship between language and
cognition;
 The role of language as a socialising
agent within educational institutions;
 The role of language in general
educational policy, in relation to (for
example) national and international
literacy policies, language in
development, and language as a marker
of local, regional, national and wider
identities;

21. Conclusion
When a curriculum is operative in a
classroom situation it is mainly
through language that the teacher
and the taught communicate and
interact with each other, therefore
language both in curriculum planning as
well as its execution occupies a
prominent place particularly the one
used as a medium of instruction.

22. Thank you