Negotiating the curriculum : giving learners a voice in EFL course design.
Date
2010-08-16
Authors
Corelli-Pienaar, Helen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Finding the most suitable teaching materials and the most appropriate
methods of teaching for a particular class of learners has always been an
important consideration for language teachers. Often these decisions are
based on teachers’ previous teaching/learning experience, and their intuition.
However, as the literature suggests, there may be mismatches between
learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of learning tasks and
materials (Kumaravadivelu, 1991; Spratt, 1999; Hawkey, 2006; Stewart,
2007). The aim of this research project was to minimise such mismatches by
finding out directly from the learners their perceived needs and preferences in
order to co-construct a curriculum that best supports their language learning.
This research report is an account of an action research project carried out at
a language school in Johannesburg, with the participation of teachers and
learners from three EFL classes. Action research was chosen as appropriate
for an intervention which aimed to improve teaching practices. However, one
of the key findings from the research is that action research may not be well
suited to language schools, where there are seldom the same learners for
three or more consecutive short courses, so that at least two cycles of data
can be gathered while working with the same participants. Another key
finding is that negotiating with EFL learners is difficult when their ability to
communicate is limited. Despite the unanticipated challenges of this action
research project, there has been important learning for the researchers, and
this is described and discussed in the report.