Table Of ContentCASE STUDIES IN LANGUAGE
CURRICULUM DESIGN
Case studies are a powerful pedagogical tool for illuminating constructs and
models in real-life contexts. Covering a wide range of teaching–learning contexts
and offering in-depth analyses of ESL/EFL language curriculum design issues,
this casebook is distinctive and unique in that each case draws on and is clearly
linked to a single model presented in Nation and Macalister’s Language Curriculum
Design (www.routledge.com/9780415806060), giving the book a high degree
of coherence. A short commentary by the editors after each case highlights
features of note and/or issues arising from it. This is a versatile text, designed to
work as a companion to Language Curriculum Design (adding meaning and depth
to the model presented there by relating it to a range of applications), as a stand-
alone text, or as a resource for language teacher trainees, teacher educators,
practicing teachers, program administrators, and materials writers in the fi eld.
John Macalister is S enior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand. He specializes in the fi elds of language teaching methodology and
curriculum design and draws on experience in teacher education and curriculum
design in Thailand, Cambodia, Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Namibia.
I.S.P. Nation is Professor in Applied Linguistics at Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand. In addition to books, his extensive list of publications
on teaching and learning vocabulary, language teaching methodology, and curric-
ulum design includes journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews. He has
taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland, and Japan.
ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series
Eli Hinkel, Series Editor
Macalister/Nation, Eds. Case Studies in Language Curriculum Design
Johnson/Golumbek, Eds. Research on Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural
Perspective on Professional Development
Hinkel, Ed. Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning,
Volume II
Nassaji/Fotos Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms: Integrating Form-
Focused Instruction in Communicative Context
Murray/Christison W hat English Language Teachers Need to Know Volume I:
Understanding Learning
Murray/Christison W hat English Language Teachers Need to Know Volume II:
Facilitating Learning
Nunan/Choi, Eds. Language and Culture: Refl ective Narratives and the Emergence of
Identity
Braine Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and
Professional Growth
Burns D oing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for
Practitioners
Nation/Macalister Language Curriculum Design
Birch The English Language Teacher and Global Civil Society
Johnson Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective
Nation Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing
Nation/Newton Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking
Kachru/Smith Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes
McKay/Bokhosrt-Heng International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a
Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy
Christison/Murray, Eds. Leadership in English Language Education: Theoretical Foundations
and Practical Skills for Changing Times
McCafferty/Stam, Eds. G esture: Second Language Acquisition and Classroom Research
Liu Idioms: Description, Comprehension, Acquisition, and Pedagogy
Chapelle/Enright/Jamison, Building a Validity Argument for the Text of
Eds. English as a Foreign Language™
Kondo-Brown/Brown, Eds. Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Students
Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessments
Youmans Chicano-Anglo Conversations: Truth, Honesty, and Politeness
Birch English L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom, Second Edition
Luk/Lin C lassroom Interactions as Cross-cultural Encounters: Native Speakers
in EFL Lessons
Levy/Stockwell CALL Dimensions: Issues and Options in Computer Assisted
Language Learning
Nero, Ed. Dialects, Englishes, Creoles, and Education
Basturkmen Ideas and Options in English for Specifi c Purposes
Kumaravadivelu Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Postmethod
McKay Researching Second Language Classrooms
Egbert/Petrie, Eds. CALL Research Perspectives
Canagarajah, Ed. Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice
Adamson Language Minority Students in American Schools: An Education in
English
Fotos/Browne, Eds. N ew Perspectives on CALL for Second Language Classrooms
Hinkel Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary
and Grammar
Hinkel/Fotos, Eds. N ew Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language
Classrooms
Hinkel Second Language Writers’ Text: Linguistic and Rhetorical Features
Visit www.routledge.com/education for additional information on titles in the ESL & Applied
Linguistics Professional Series
CASE STUDIES IN
LANGUAGE
CURRICULUM DESIGN
Concepts and Approaches in
Action Around the World
Edited by
John Macalister and I. S. P. Nation
First published 2011
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identifi ed as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Case studies in language curriculum design / edited by John Macalister
and I.S.P. Nation.
p. cm. — (ESL & applied linguistics professional series)
1. English language — Study and teaching — Foreign speakers.
2. English teachers — Training of. I. Macalister, John. 1956–
II. Nstion, I. S. P.
PE1128.A2C368 2011
428.2′4071—dc22
2011002638
ISBN 0-203-84785-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN: 978–0–415–88231–6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–415–88232–3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–84785–5 (ebk)
CONTENTS
Preface vii
List of Contributors ix
1 Introduction 1
Paul Nation and John Macalister
2 A Survival Language Learning Syllabus for Foreign Travel 8
Paul Nation and David Crabbe
3 Design Meeting Context: A General English Course
for Burmese Adults 21
Katie Julian and Derek Foster
4 Designing English Language Courses for Omani Students 40
Angela Joe
5 My Ideal Vocabulary Teaching Course 49
Paul Nation
6 Opening the Door to International Communication:
Peruvian Offi cials and APEC 63
Susan Smith
7 Helping Skilled Migrants into Employment:
The Workplace Communication Program 72
Nicky Riddiford
vi Contents
8 The Blended Language Learning Course in Taiwan:
Issues and Challenges of Instructional Design 82
Gi-Zen Liu
9 Designing the Assessment of a University ESOL Course 101
John Read and Lizzy Roe
10 Refreshing a Writing Course: The Role of Evaluation 114
John Macalister
11 Localizing Spanish in the Ann Arbor Languages Partnership:
Developing and Using a “Teachable” Curriculum 129
Donald Freeman, Maria Coolican, and Kathleen Graves
12 Learning to Teach Spanish: Identifying, Inducting,
and Supporting Apprentice Teachers in the Ann
Arbor Languages Partnership 147
Donald Freeman, Maria Coolican, and Kathleen Graves
13 Negotiated Syllabuses: Do You Want to? 166
Andrew Boon
14 Enhancing Consumerist Literacy Practices in an
Urbanizing Community 178
Moses Samuel and Saratha Sithamparam
15 The Teacher as Intermediary between National
Curriculum and Classroom 186
Kevin Parent
16 Developing a Blogwriting Program at a Japanese University 195
Patrick Foss
Index 209
PREFACE
Curriculum design may be a fi eld of expertise but it would be a mistake to think
of it as the preserve of experts with secret knowledge alone. Every classroom
teacher who makes a decision about what to teach and when, or about the presen-
tation of classroom activities, or about what to test, is in effect a curriculum
designer. The decisions the teacher makes about what happens in the classroom
are going to be informed by a variety of factors, such as knowledge of the students,
the layout of the classroom, the availability of appropriate technology, and beliefs
about what constitutes effective teaching. In making these appropriately informed
decisions the teacher becomes an active participant in the curriculum design
process.
The idea for this book arose from the wish to illustrate the breadth of curric-
ulum design experiences, from the individual classroom teacher working within
the constraints of a tightly-controlled national curriculum to the team of well-
qualifi ed experts begin ning with a free hand and an open brief, and everything in
between. An important purpose, therefore, is to make the process of curriculum
design come alive through a wide variety of examples. The experiences reported
in this collection remind us that curriculum design is very much a creative activity
with its aim being better learning. By reading about the variety of situations
described in the book and the range of responses to those situations, we hope that
the curriculum design process will be exemplifi ed in an engaging way, and that
individual teachers will be encouraged to make their own individual curriculum
design decisions.
CONTRIBUTORS
Andy Boon is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Toyo Gakuen
University, Tokyo, Japan. He is also Program Chair for JALT West Tokyo. He
completed a Master’s degree in TESOL from Aston University, UK in 2004. He
has published articles on teacher development, methodology, and motivation. His
research interests focus on professional development and action research in the
classroom. Andy can be contacted at andrew.boon@tyg.jp.
Maria J. Coolican earned her PhD from the University of Michigan and works
predominantly in the areas of teacher education, program design and develop-
ment, and educational reform. She has taught at the University of Portland and
the University of Notre Dame, and currently teaches at the University of
Michigan. Some of her current work centers on re-examining the ways in which
primary and secondary world languages teachers are educated and then inducted
into the profession.
David Crabbe teaches and supervises in the School of Linguistics and Applied
Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He is currently Assistant
Vice Chancellor (Academic) with a broader role in university teaching and
learning. His research interests are in language curriculum development as a
problem-solving activity, with a particular interest in learner autonomy. In his
current role those interests are applied to tertiary education in the full range of
academic subjects. He has previously lived and worked in France, Nigeria, the UK
and Singapore.
Patrick Foss has taught in Japan for 15 years. He recently joined the faculty in the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
