A brief analysis aspect of my EFL curriculum with reference to selected curriculum models

汪暉

In the process of teaching and learning， teachers and students are asked what they should be planned， taught and learned in the school， how can they manipulate them smoothly and successfully. So in my essay， I want to cite Browns model to give a brief analysis of the following elements of curriculum： needs analysis， objectives， materials， teaching， testing and evaluation on the basis of my own curriculum experiences. That is a natural processing which is applied in my curriculum.

Ⅰ. Needs Analysis：

In general terms， needs analysis （also called needs assessment） refers to the activities involved in gathering information that will serve as the basis of developing a curriculum that will meet the learning needs of a particular group of students （Brown， 1995： 35）. It should be referred to at the beginning of the curriculum. Different students have different need， such as pass the examination， communicate with others fluently， write a perfect VC to find a desired job. We can use various kind of methods （such as using existing information， interviewing， holding meeting， organizing questionnaire， etc） to get the information.

Ⅱ. Objectives：

Then lets talk about objectives which can be defined as the particular knowledge， behaviors， and skills that the learner will be expected to know according to their needs at the end of a course.

Because all of my students need to pass the exam， we have to organize the specific objectives to achieve that kind of need. I settle down the objectives at the beginning of the term and make them clear to every student. Take one unit for example， the objectives of one unit include remembering new vocabulary and phrases listed at the back of the textbook， reading and reciting the main paragraph in the text， making clear grammars appeared in the unit （such as past tense， noun phrases， non-infinitive clause etc） and completing the questions listed in the workbook correctly. In this section， students are not allowed to make objectives together with teacher， they are only asked to accept them passively.

Ⅲ. Materials：

In order to realize the objectives， we have to choose materials to use them in the class. Teacher may concern whether the existing materials are meet students needs and objectives. The contents of course are decided by the government in my school， and the standards or criteria are also organized beforehand. Based on the text book which arranged by the government， I also add some extra materials， New Concept English， to enrich students vocabulary and to strengthen their reading ability. After class， I would order students to finish the workbook to strength the knowledge learned in the class. In order to make students have a visual realize of the text and have a deep understanding of the text， I always show some pictures and maps to students. And I also make powerpoint so as to proceed a lesson in a more interesting way and to make students have a deeper understanding of the text.

Ⅳ. Teaching：

The naturally next step must be teaching. It compasses orienting teachers to the new curriculum， supporting their teaching efforts， monitoring instruction， and providing ways for teachers to revitalize themselves. （Brown， 1995： 179）. At the beginning， teachers should be given the orientation of what they need to accomplish during the term which is very similar to the goals and objectives. Then come to the teaching process. Teacher would apply many kinds of techniques and practices. After that， teaching should be evaluated by themselves， other teachers and students.

At the beginning of a new semester， my school must organize some orientation meetings to make teachers， especially some new teachers， clear what are their objectives. During the teaching process， most of the time， I proceed my class based on the verb-centered and grammar-centered model. But sometimes I like to use many kinds of techniques to display my class and make it happier for students to accept it. And at the end of the term， teachers are asked to do self-evaluation and students also have the chance to evaluate their teachers performance in the class. We often take the form of questionnaires. I believe that is a good idea to let students take part in， which can get more correct feedback to the school.

Ⅴ. Testing：

Testing is an inevitable step to see whether students have achieved their objectives and whether teachers teaching methods are appropriate. When I teach in my class， I always take the form of asking questions in the class， correcting students homework and taking examinations as testing. From asking questions and correcting the homework， I can find out the problems of students and emphasis on correcting them as soon as possible. Examination is the main and thorough way of testing which is taken after finishing one unit. That kind of test makes big burden to students. To tell the truth， I dont agree to take examination as the only one method to evaluate whether students pass or fail the exam. I believe that is unreasonable and is the main source of anxiety of students， which， I hope， could be improved one day.

Ⅵ. Evaluation：

The last element is Evaluation. Program evaluation might be defined as the ongoing process of information gathering， analysis， and synthesis， the entire purpose of which is to constantly improve each element of a curriculum on the basis of what is known about all of the other elements， separately as well as collectively. （Brown in Brown， 1995： 24）. It is a separate component of curriculum as well as one part of each component of curriculum.

In fact， the curriculum elements of needs analysis， objectives， syllabus， teaching， testing are all separately related to evaluation. Only after we have evaluated all the aspects of the curriculum elements and find out the problems of each curriculum can we establish new system of curriculum elements. And we also assess the elements of curriculum as a whole. I and my students are asked to do self-evaluation to see whether the objectives are reached， the techniques adopted are appropriately， the testing is effective to discover the problems. And these kinds of evaluation can also become the guidance of the next semester.

References：

[1]James Dean Brown.（1995）.The Elements of language curriculum.Hawaii：University of Hawaii at Manoa，1995.

[2]Hugh Socket.（1976）Designing the curriculum.Open books London.1976.

[3]James Dean Brown.（1995）.The Elements of language curriculum.Hawaii：University of Hawaii at Manoa，1995.