Unit 3- PSA -Defining Context in CD and SD

1. PRESENT SITUATION
ANALYSIS
–
DEFINING
THE CONTEXT

2. Let’s consider two different contexts:
The first teacher, Patricia Naccarato, describes a course she
taught for two summers:
“It is a private language school with branches in Florida,
California, and Washington D.C. They recruit international
students who come to US for a summer of English study
and culture exchange. The students range in age from 12
to 18 years and, while in the US, stay in a homestay
situation with a local family. The components of the
program are writing, grammar and conversation. This is the
second summer I have taught the writing component of the
program. There is no set curriculum and it is left up to the
teacher to select what they will include, although a book is
provided. Quite honestly, the people running the school
don’t seem the least bit concerned with what I will be doing
with the students…”

3. The second teacher, Michael Gatto, describes the
context for his teaching practicum at a language
institute in El Salvadore:
Mrs.B, the director welcomed us and informed
me that I would not be allowed to enter the
building again without a tie. She then plopped
three books down in front of me and said in a
very serious tone of voice, “You start teaching
tomorrow morning at 8:00. You have one month
to finish Units 1,2 and 3. Don’t deviate from
these books. I know that people like you like to
try their own things. Don’t. We have a method
that works for us, so please follow it. Wear a tie
and get a hair cut. See you tomorrow morning.
Don’t be late.”

4. GRAVES’ FRAME WORK OF COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

5. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO DEFINE
ONE’S CONTEXT?
• Course design, like architecture, is a a grounded
process. When you are asked to design a house,
it is unlikely that you begin with sketches,
because you have no basis for the design. You
need to begin with questions such as:
- Where is the site? How big is it? What are its
particular features? How many people will live in
this house? What are their interests or needs
that will affect how they use the house? What is
the budget? What is the time line? What
materials are available locally? And so on…

6. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO DEFINE
ONE’S CONTEXT?
• When you design a course you design it
for a specific group of people, in a specific
setting, for a specific amount of time; in
short, for a specific context.
• The more information you have about the
context, the easier it will be for you to
make decisions about what you teach and
how.

7. FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN
DEFINING THE CONTEXT
(Graves, 2000, pp 16)
PEOPLE:
• Students
How many? Age? Gender? Culture(s)?
Other language(s)? Purpose?
Education? Profession? Experience?
• Other stakeholders:
- School administrators
- Parents
- Funders/sponsors
- Community

8. (Graves, 2000, pp 16), cont.
NATURE OF COURSE AND INSTITUTION
- Type/purpose of course?
- Mandatory or open enrollment?
- Relation to current/previous courses?
- Prescribed curriculum or not?
- Required tests or not?

9. (Graves, 2000, pp 16), cont.
PHYSICAL SETTING
- Location of school? Convenience?
- Setting?
- Classroom: Size? Furniture? Light? Noise?
- Always same classroom?

10. (Graves, 2000, pp 16), cont.
TEACHING RESOURCES
- Materials available? Required texts?
- Develop own materials?
- Equipment: Cassettes? Video?
Photocopying? Clerical support?

11. (Graves, 2000, pp 16), cont.
TIME
- How many hours total over what span of time?
- How often class meets?
- For how long each time?
- Day of week? Time of day?
- Where fits in schedule of students?
- Students’ timeline?

12. VARIABLES
AFFECTING COURSE DESIGN
(Robinson, 1992)
• The success of a language course depends
on a large number of variables which need
to be borne in mind during planning and
implementation. These include:
- Community variables
- Institutional variables
- Teacher variables
- Learner variables

13. COMMUNITY VARIABLES
• Government policies
• Political situation
• Educational traditions
• Status/role of English in the community
• Cultural norms/restrictions
• Favored learning styles
• Employment prospects
• Media influence
• Who makes decisions

14. INSTITUTIONAL VARIABLES
• Status of English: whether medium of
instruction/compulsory
• Timetabling
• Class size
• Room allocation
• Furniture/ equipment
• Secretarial help
• Availability of books/teaching materials
• Availability of audio-visual aids
• Availability of reprographic facilities

15. INSTITUTIONAL VARIABLES (Cont.)
• Finance
• Syllabus
• Decision-making bodies
• Channels of communication
• Status of the course
• Assessment system
• Weighting of the course

16. TEACHER VARIABLES
• Views of language and learning
• Knowledge of learners’ needs/wants/lacks
• Knowledge of/interest in the subject
• Knowledge of the teaching techniques
• Personal ability as a teacher
• Attitude to/opportunities for collaboration with
subject specialists
• Motivation

17. TEACHER VARIABLES (cont.)
• Methodology, e.g. choices of class
organization and activities
• Involvement in materials
evaluation/development
• Time available/workload
• Salary
• Number of teachers available
• Training/experience as a teacher

18. LEARNER VARIABLES
• Sex/age/educational level
• Intelligence
• Aptitude
• Degree of homogeneity within class
• Proficiency in target language
• Reasons for taking the course/learning purposes
• Levels of instrumental/integrative motivation
• Attitude to subject/profession/job

19. LEARNER VARIABLES (cont.)
• Time available/ workload
• Outside exposure to subject/English
• Expectations e.g. of teacher/learner roles
• Learning styles
• Learning strategies
• Interests

20. An example of a teacher variable
From Michael Lewis (1993)
Teacher’s Mind-set:
Teachers should be open-minded and learn to adjust
values along the continuum:
1- From Written Language to Spoken Language
2- From Speaking to Listening
3- From Product to Process
4- From Short-term to Long-term Aims
5- From Answers to Questions
6- From Explanations to Exploration
7- From Knowledge to Skills

21. An example of a teacher variable (cont.)
8- From Accuracy to Communication
9- From Structure to Lexis
10- From Sentence to Text
11- From (atomistic) Parts to (holistic) Wholes
12- From Planned Certainty to Unguided
Uncertainty
13-From Teacher-centered to Learner-centered
14- From Recipes to Theory