http://eflt.nus.edu.

sg/
ElectronicJournalofForeignLanguageTeaching
2007,Vol.4,No.1,pp.86107
CentreforLanguageStudies
NationalUniversityofSingapore
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment
Christopher W.Storey
(storey@env.kitakyuu.ac.jp)
The UniversityofKitakyushu,Japan
Abstract
This paper presents results from an exploratory case study of curriculum development processes at three
Japaneseuniversities.ItconsidersthepossibleinfluenceofTheActionPlantodevelopJapanesewithEng
lish abilities (Ministry of Education, 2003), reviews models of curriculum development from theory and
comparesthosetodatacollectedfrominformantsworkingatthethreeinstitutions.Analysisfocusesonhow
the processes undertaken by the universities over the last five years show similarities to those predicted by
theory, but also highlights how activities in theinstitutions have differed. Results indicate that the national
universityinthestudyundertookcurriculumdevelopmentinthemostsystematicway,onekeybeingthede
velopment of a universitywide Englishlanguageeducation policy, which was supportedby the majority of
teachers and administrators.Themunicipal university(onlyone facultyin thisstudy) had carried outdevel
opment activities at its formation (2000), but had not continued the processes, particularly in the areas of
needsandsituationanalysisplusevaluation.Curriculumdevelopmentprocessesintheprefecturaluniversity
werecenteredaroundanindividualteacher,withlittleinputfromtherestoftheorganization.Themostsig
nificantinsightsfromthestudyareformulatedintoguidelinesforcurriculumdevelopers.Finally,theAction
Plan was found tohavehadlittleinfluence on language curriculumdevelopmentprocesses atthethreeuni
versitiesinthestudy.
1 Introduction
This section explains the background to the investigation, the aims of the current study and
buildsatheorybasedpictureoftheprocessesof curriculum development.
1.1 Background
Overthelasttwentyyearsmanycountrieshavebeenmovingtowardsfreermovementofgoods,
services and people. These trends, often termed globalization,have led governments to review
their plans for economic and socialdevelopment. Accordingly, as Hato (2005, p. 34)reports, the
Japanese Government announced revisions through the Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal
Management and Structural Reform 2002, which also included details of a Human Resource
Strategy that sought to develop the English abilities of Japanese people. In turn, the Japanese
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) then implemented an
Action Plan to Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities (Ministry of Education, 2003). Ac
cording to Tanabe (2004, p. 7), the Action Plan is one of the most essential and substantial an
nouncements made by MEXT in the last thirty years and so something that we should expect
thoseinvolvedwithEnglishlanguageeducationtobeconcernedabout.Indeed,Hatos(2005)case
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 87
study is in itself a reaction to the Action Plan, though her argument is that the plan has been a
relativefailureduetotopdowngoalsettingandinsufficientresourcestorealizetheobjectives.
However,Hatosfocuswasonjuniorandseniorhighschools,withnomentionofthesituationin
universities. Bearing in mind that one of the Action Plans stated goals was that on graduating
fromuniversity,graduatescanuseEnglishintheirwork(MinistryofEducation,2003,Chapter2,
Section1),anystudywhichprovidesinsightintocurriculumdevelopmentactivitiesinthetertiary
educationsectorwouldaddtotheexistingbodyofknowledgeinthisarea.
ForthosewhomaynotbefamiliarwiththeJapaneseeducationsystem,thereare,infact,three
main levels. Primary educationis from 6to12 years old, during which timeEnglishisnot com
pulsory. During secondary education, whichis split between three years of junior and three years
of senior high school, students have about three English classes per week, though this varies ac
cording to the focus of the school (Hato, 2005, pp. 3940). About 50% of students (Ministry of
Education, 2006) then advance to fouryear degree courses during which English is compulsory
forafurthertwoyearsandelectivethereafter.
1.2 Aims
Thecurrentstudyaimsto:
Provide insights into the processes of language curriculum development in three Japanese
universities by comparing a model informed by theory with data collected from informed
sourcesworkingwithintheinstitutions.
InvestigatehowtheActionPlanmayhaveinfluencedcurriculumdevelopment.
Provideguidelinesforeducatorsinvolvedinlanguagecurriculumdevelopment.
Whilstthis investigation onlyprovides a snapshot ofcurriculum developmentat three institu
tions, itis intendedto be the start of a longitudinal study(see section 4.4)involving the sameor
ganizations.
Forthepurposesofthisstudy,curriculumdevelopment,asindicatedabove,referstotheproc
essesinvolvedinrenewingordevelopingcurricula(seealsodefinitionsfromBrownandRichards
below). Syllabus design, in contrast, refers to the planning, implementation, assessment and
evaluation for an individual course. Nunan (2001) offers the view that syllabus design is con
cernedwiththeselection,sequencingandjustificationofthecontentofthecurriculum.
1.3 Theorybasedmodelsofcurriculumdevelopment
ThissectionreviewsmodelsofcurriculumdevelopmentbyBrown(1995) andRichards(2001),
and from themforms a summary of the curriculum development processes that should be in evi
denceat anyparticularinstitution.
Browndescribescurriculumdevelopmentasaseriesofactivitiesthatcontributetothegrowth
of consensus among staff, faculty, administration and students.Hefurther explains that this se
ries of curriculumactivities will provide a framework thathelps teachersto accomplish whatever
combinationofteachingactivitiesismostsuitable thatis,aframeworkthathelpsstudentslearn
asefficientlyandeffectivelyaspossibleinagivensituation (Brown,1995,p.19). Figure 1 shows
the curriculumdevelopment modelsuggestedbyBrown.
Richards describes curriculum development as the range of planning and implementation
processes involved in developing or renewing a curriculum (Richards, 2001, p. 41). He defines
the processes as focusing on needs analysis, situational analysis, planning learning outcomes,
course organization, selecting and preparing teaching materials, providing for effective teaching
andevaluation(Richards,2001,p.41).TheauthorsrepresentationofRichards viewofcurricu
lumdevelopmentisshowninFigure2.
Christopher W.Storey 88
Fig.1:Browns viewofcurriculumdevelopment (Brown,1995,p.20)
Fig.2:Richards viewofcurriculumdevelopment (Richards,2001)
Lookingatthesimilaritiesbetweenthemodelsweseethatbothincludeneedsanalysis,setting
ofobjectivesoroutcomes,materialsselectionandpreparation,teachingandevaluation.Incontrast,
BrownsmodeldiffersfromRichards inthatit includestestingwhichisdescribedasverycrucial
element in the curriculum development process (Brown, 1995, p. 22). Looking at Richards
model he includes the additional elements of situation analysis and course organization as dis
tinctly separate elements of curriculum development processes. Brown (1995) does make refer
NeedsAnalysis
Objectives
Testing
Materials
Teaching
E
V
A
L
U
A
T
I
O
N
Needsanalysis
Situationanalysis
Courseorganization
Planninglearning out
comes
Selectingandpreparing
teachingmaterials
Providingforeffective
teaching
Evaluation
INTERACTION
BETWEEN
ELEMENTS
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 89
encetotheseactivitiesbutgroupstheformerintoneedsanalysisandthelatterintomaterials.Ta
ble1 provides a summary of the combinedmodels andrepresents processes weshould expect to
findaspartofcurriculumdevelopment.
CurriculumDevelopment
Category
Scope
1. Needsandsituationanalysis Primarilybasedonthelearningneedsofstudents,butalsoanyfac
torsinthe environment thatshouldbeconsidered.
2. Settingofobjectives Selectionofappropriateobjectivesandtherationalefortheirselec
tion.
3. Assessmentandtesting Selectionanddevelopmentofsuitablemeansofassessment.
4. Planningandorganizationofthe
course/syllabusdesign
Decisionsabouthowbest todeliverthecourse.
5. Selection and/or development of
materials
Decisions about the most appropriate materials and/or creation of
materials.
6. Planningforeffectiveteaching Ensuringthatappropriate conditionsand supportsystemsthat pro
moteeffectiveteachingareinplace.
7. Evaluation Evaluation of the above processes in terms of effectiveness and
efficiency.
Table 1:Summaryof theorybasedviewofcurriculumdevelopmentprocesses
OtherauthorssuchasHarmer(2001),Nunan(1988)andByram(2000)dodiscusselementsof
curriculumdevelopment,thoughtheir mainfocusisonsyllabusdesign.
2 Methods
The methods section aims to explain why the method selected was thought to be appropriate
and also how datawerecollected. As Bickmanand Rog (1998,p.72) explain, because a design
foryourstudyalwaysexists,explicitlyorimplicitly,itisimportanttomakethisdesignexplicit
whereitsstrengths,limitationsandimplicationscanbeclearlyunderstood.
2.1 Method selection
As curriculum development is a complex phenomenon which emerges over a period of time
and is most probably best informed by the participants themselves, a qualitative approach was
thought to be suitable. Since the study sought to investigate and provide insight into ongoing
processes, an exploratory case study approach (McDonough & McDonough, 1997, p. 206) was
adopted.Casestudies,asCreswell(citedinArumi&Esteve,2006,p.161)states,involveanex
plorationofaboundedsystemorcase(ormultiplecase)overtimethroughdetailed,indepthdata
collectioninvolvingmultiplesourcesofinformationrichincontext.Forthisstudy,thethreeuni
versitiesunderinvestigationwerethe boundedsystem, andthe indepthdata were collectedby
facetofaceinterviewswithanumberof informedsubjects.
Animportantconsiderationforthestudy wasthepositiontakenregardingreliabilityandvalid
ity. Nunan(1992, p. 80) points outtherearediffering views ontheissue ofvalidity in case study
research. As this study aimed to provide insights into processes occurring at three institutions,
rather than develop generalizations, the position was similar to that expressed by Stake (Nunan,
Christopher W.Storey 90
1992,p.80)inthatthefocuswason understandingoftheparticularcase,inwhichinternalva
lidityisthemainconcern.
2.2 Context
The three institutions involved intheresearch were all located in Western Japan. Information
relevanttothisstudyisprovidedbelow.
TheNationalUniversitywaspartofthesystemof87nationaluniversitiesthatstretchacross
Japan.TheseuniversitieshaveclosetiestotheMinistry of Education(MEXT)andtheaca
demiclevelsofnationaluniversitiesaregenerallyconsideredtoberelativelyhigh.Theuni
versityinquestionhasanundergraduatepopulationofabout6,000andfivefacultiesinclud
ing humanities, science and medicine. All undergraduate students were required to study
English for two years, with elective courses being available for third and fourth year, and
graduate school students.TheEnglish language teachingdepartmentforthe university con
sistedofnineJapaneseandeightforeignteachers,andwaspartofacenterforbasiceduca
tion.
The Municipal University was one of 86 such universities spread across Japan. These uni
versities were created by local governments within citiesand theiracademic levels arealso
thoughttoberelativelyhigh.Theuniversityinquestionhad,likethenationaluniversity,had
an undergraduate studentpopulation of about 6,000andfive facultiesrelated tohumanities
and sciences, but not including medicine. Again English was compulsory for the first two
yearsofstudyandelectiveafterthat.Atthetimeofthestudylanguageteacherswereaffili
atedtoeachofthefivefaculties,althoughaplantocreateacenterforbasiceducationwas
beingimplemented.
The Prefectural University was one of about 45 such universities that have been set up by
prefectures, or subnational jurisdictions,across Japan. Likenationaland municipaluniver
sities in Japan tuition fees are less than the private sector, leading to more competition for
places,and relativelyhighlevelsofacademicability.Theuniversityhadtwofaculties,social
science and nursing, and was significantly smaller than the other institutions in the study
with about 800 students and 80 members of staff. English teaching was facultybased, and
therewasnoknownplantocoordinateteachingthroughacenterforbasiceducation.
2.3 Participants
Theparticipantswereselected onthebasisthatthey wereallinvolvedin curriculumdevelop
mentattheirrespectiveinstitutions.Table 2 showsfurtherdetails.
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 91
Institution Participants
position
Number
ofyears
position
held
Number
ofyears
asa
university
teacher
Involvementwith
curriculumdevel
opment
Number of teachers
indepartment in
whichdatawere
gathered
National
university
Professor 6 22 Responsibleforco
ordinatingcurricu
lumdevelopment in
additiontoteaching
duties
17fulltimeteachers
servingfivefaculties
withnoparttime
teachers
Professor* 6 22 Responsibleforco
ordinatingcurricu
lumdevelopment in
additiontoteaching
duties
6fulltimeteachers
servingonefaculty
(4departments) plus
oneparttimeteacher
Municipal
university
AssociatePro
fessor*
2 10 Contributestocur
riculumdevelopment
andamemberofthe
facultycurriculum
committee inaddi
tiontoteachingdu
ties
6teachersserving
onefaculty (4de
partments) plusone
parttimeteacher
Prefectural
university
AssociatePro
fessor
2 8 Responsibleforcur
riculumdevelopment
forfirstyearcom
municationandsec
ondyearwriting
classes inadditionto
teachingduties
2fulltimeteachers
servingonefaculty
(3departments)
plustwoparttime
teachers
Note: *workinginthesamedepartment
Table 2:The participants
2.4 Datacollection
Data werecollected through semistructured interviews with participants being encouraged to
talkabouttheircurriculumdevelopmentexperiencesoverthelastfive years.Thefollowingques
tionswereusedtoprovide structure to thedata collectionprocess.
Background
1. Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedatyourinstitution?
2. Whatisyourcurrentposition?
3. Howmanyyearshaveyouheldthisposition?
4. Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedasauniversityteacherintotal?
5. Howdoyoudefinesyllabusandcurriculum?Howarethesetermsusedinyourinstitu
tion?
CurrentResponsibilities
6. In your current position, what involvement do you have with syllabus design/curriculum
development?
Firstyearcommunicationclasses
7. Hasthecurriculumforfirstyearcommunicationclassesbeendevelopedinthelast5years?
8. Howhasthecurriculumchanged?
9. What were some of the factors that led your organization/you to want to develop the cur
riculum?
10. Whichofthefactorsweremostimportantinbringingaboutchangeinthecurriculum?
Christopher W.Storey 92
11. Whatweresomeofthekeystepsintheprocessofdevelopingthecurriculumforfirstyear
classes?
12. Looking back, were there some things that were not part of the curriculum development
processesthatyouthinkshouldhavebeenincluded?
13. Whatkindofactivitiescouldhavebeenpartofdevelopmentprocesses?
Freerdiscussion
14. Pleasetalkaboutanythingelsethatyoufeelshouldbeaddedtotheabove.
Theinterviews wererecorded,transcribedand sorted, wherenecessary, tomatchthesequenc
ing of the questions. When clarification, or expansion of points raised, was thought appropriate,
followupquestionswereasked.Completedtranscriptsweresenttoeachparticipantforchecking.
Appendix A containsthetranscripts thatwereapprovedbytheparticipants.
2.5 Dataanalysis
DatawerecheckedagainstthecategoriesderivedfromthetheorybasedmodelshowninTable
1.Thefirstpointofanalysis wastolookforevidencethatactionscorrespondingtothecategories
listedhadtaken,orweretakingplace.Acheckmark()wasawardediftheprocesshadbeendis
cussed by the participant(s). Then, an estimation based on frequency and strength of the actions
correspondingtoeachcategory wasgiven.Thiswasdoneonascaleof1to10,with10beingthe
highestpossible score. Althoughthis was only based onthe authors judgment, it didallowade
greeofobjectivityinwhatwasasubjectiveprocess,andadditionallyallowedfactorslikestrength
of interviewee intonation to be considered in the assessment. Both Brown (1995) and Richards
(2001) talk about systematic program development and so an overall judgment of the degree to
whichthishadbeencarriedoutwasalsomade.
3 Results
This section presents the results of the analysis. Table 3 shows the results of analysis that
soughttolookforsimilaritiesbetweencurriculumdevelopmentprocessesatthethreeuniversities,
whereasTable4showsresultsfromanalysisthatlookedfordifferencesbetweenprocesses.
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 93
CurriculumDevelopment
Category
Nationaluniversity Municipaluniversity
Prefecturaluniver
sity
1. Needsand
situationanalysis

5
2. Settingof
objectives

5
3. Assessment/
testing

7
4. Planning/organization
of course/syllabus

7
5. Selectionand develop
mentof materials

8
6. Planningfor effective
teaching

7
7. Evaluation

5
TOTALS
Processesdone
Averagescore
*******
Systematicapproach
=7/7
7.3
*******
7.5
=7/7
5.9
*******
6
=7/7
6.3
*******
6
Note: = evidencefoundthatactionsweretaken
No.= theauthors judgment regardingthefrequencyandstrengthoftheactionstaken
(maximum10).
Table3: Analysis of similarities
Christopher W.Storey 94
CurriculumDe
velopment
Category
Nationaluniversity Municipaluniversity Prefecturaluniversity
1. Needsand
situationanaly
sis
Supportforcommu
nicativeteachingfrom
scienceprofessors
Identificationofthe
needforaremedial
program
Needsdata forcur
riculum formation
fromtheMinistryof
Education
Movingtowardsa
universitywide liberal
educationcenterthat
willcoordinate cur
riculumdevelopment
2. Settingof
objectives
Fivepointpolicyof
Englisheducationthat
everyteachershould
support
Noinputfromother
EnglishDepartment
members
3. Assessment/
testing
4. Planning/
organizationof
course/syllabus
FocusonESP(Tech
nologicalEnglish)
5. Selectionand
development
ofmaterials
Extensivedevelop
mentofmateri
als/textbooks
6. Planningfor
effectiveteach
ing
Professorinchargeof
nativespeakersacting
asspecialassistantto
thepresident.Given
supportandmoneyto
renew curriculum
FiveEnglishnative
speakersrecruited
Implementationprob
lemsduetomismatch
ofcourseobjectives
and teachers skills for
ESPcourses
Turnoverofteaching
staff
7. Evaluation Little initial feedback
fromstudents (though
inplacenow)
No systematicmecha
nismoffeedbackfrom
otherteachers
Note:blanksindicatethatthereisnosignificantdifferencetomention.
Table4:Analysisof differences
4 Discussion
This section discusses the findings from the study, identifies limitations, provides advice for
curriculumdevelopersandmakessuggestionsforfutureresearch.
4.1 Findings
Analysis of the primary data for similarities and differences of curriculum development proc
essesshowedthatthethreeuniversitiesinthestudyhad,inthelastfiveyears,carriedouttovary
ing degrees, actions in the identified categories. The following discussion seeks to explain and
identifykeylearningpointsfromtheanalysis(consideringboth similaritiesanddifferences).One
note of caution to bear in mind while considering the arguments presented below relates to the
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 95
nature of this investigation, as a pilot study, and generalizations which the labels national, mu
nicipalandprefecturalmay inferasto the situationin other universitiesacross Japan.The inten
tionistopresentthestudyasanexploratory work, focusingonthe3 institutionsmentioned, andas
suchthefindingsshouldnotbetakenasrepresentativeofthesituationwithinnational,municipal
and prefectural universities acrossJapan.
Needs and situation analysis.Thenational university scored well (8/10 compared to 5/10
and5/10forthemunicipalandprefecturaluniversity respectively)andwasintheprocessof
renewing its English curriculum. In fact, the professor interviewed had just written a re
searchpaperdetailingthenewEnglishpolicyfortheuniversity.Strongevidenceofneeds,
and some situational analysis, was apparent in the primary data, and in the research paper
mentionedabove.Forexample,theuniversityaskedfirstyearstudentsiftheywantedtotake
classeswithnativespeakersandtheintervieweereportedthat60%answeredthattheydid,
so there isa stronginterest inEnglish education.Two further factors of significance were,
one,thesupportgiventotheEnglishpolicybyprofessorsofengineeringandmedicineand,
two,theidentificationoftheneedforremedialcoursesforlowerlevelstudents.Whenasked
about the Ministry of Education the interviewee responded that very specific aims had
been issued in the from ofJapanese with English abilities(the Action Plan) and that this
had been one of the external factors.What was less clearwas ifother externalneedslike
those of prospective future employers had been included. In contrast, the situation in the
municipal university (5/10) reveals how needs change over time and why a systematic ap
proach is important. The Japanese professor reported that when the curriculum was set up
the top officer of the Ministry of Education stayed with us for curriculum design and he
wasinchargeofalmosteverythingfromAtoZ.Furthermore,thatpersonhadalotofraw
data from the nationwide research. This was collected from other universities and He
kneweverything.However,theJapaneseprofessoratthe municipaluniversity alsosaid that
therewasaveryseriousproblemabouttheimplementationofthecurriculumandthatwe
hadvery fewteachingstafftodealwithtechnologyorientatedcoursesleadingtothesitua
tionwhereouroriginalcurriculumcollapsedinthemiddleofitsimplementation.Thisin
dicated that the original plan, and its associated needs and situation analysis, had not fore
seen these problems, and that no ongoing systematic needs/situation assessment processes
hadbeencarriedout. Again,thiswasalso apparentinthecomment Forthepastfewyears,I
have been teaching technical English to the secondyear students. I am feeling more and
more serious about the level (of studentsabilities), and the level of teaching. The native
teacheratthemunicipaluniversitymadecorroboratingcommentsrelatedtoneedsandfeed
back,suchaswhen wefirstgotheretherewasverylittlefeedbackorinputfromanyother
department.ThislackofcommunicationwasalsodemonstratedbytheremarkthatItwas
inthethirdyearwhentheystudiedwiththeprofessorsinthevariousdepartmentsthatwedid
get some comments. Some of them said that they thought that the students were studying
more English. For theprefectural universityneeds analysis was carried out but was found
tobesovaguethatitwasntuseful.Inaddition,whenaskedtotalkfreelytheinterviewee
commented that, The main problem is that there is no input from anyone other than the
teacher.
Setting of objectives. Again the national university scored well (8/10), with objec
tivesetting a part of the renewal process mentioned above. The development of language
policyfortheuniversity,whicheveryprofessorshouldsupport,wasthoughttobesignifi
cant. Possible problems in the process of needs analysis and objective setting were high
lightedbytheattemptsofthemunicipaluniversitytosetupanEnglishworkinggroup.The
associate professor interviewed remarked that we asked the four departments what they
thoughtshouldbeincludedintheEnglishcurriculum.Somedepartmentssaidthatwedont
evenneedEnglishclasses,otherssaidteachreadingandwritingandyetanotherdepartment
said teach communication. With such a lack of consensus objectivesetting becomes very
difficult. A similar kind of objectivesetting vacuum seemed to be the case in the prefec
Christopher W.Storey 96
tural university (5/10)wherethe teacher commentedthat if no objectives were set andno
curriculum plan was madethen that would be okay because the university would be ful
filling the requirement to provide English to students. When asked about input from any
curriculumworkinggroup,orthelikeof,theintervieweesaidthat yes,thereisacurriculum
committee,buttheyarefocusingmoreonthemajoritself.Englishisjustageneralsubject,
soitisleftuptotheindividualteachertodoasheorshepleases,allofwhichindicatesan
uncoordinated approach to objectivesetting. One possible reason for the apparent lack of
interestinEnglishlanguageteachingfrommajorsubjectteachersmayberelatedtotheper
ceived scope of Englishteaching,astheprefecturaluniversityinterviewees commentindi
cates, one problem is that is we go down the ESP route is that we may be teaching them
about their subject before they study it in Japanese. For that reason, they just want us to
teachanyoldEnglish.
Assessment/testing.Inthiscase,the prefecturaluniversityachievedthehighestscore(7/10)
as work had been carried out to have more continuous assessment, rather than the grade
beingbasedontwospeakingtests.TOEICandTOEFLwerementionedasveryobjective
tools by the interviewee from the national university. In general, though, assessment and
testingwere, inthemostpart, notmentionedby theinterviewees.Thiscouldbebecausethey
are considered to be syllabusrelated and so considered not so relevant to a discussion on
curriculum.
Planning/organization of course/syllabus. Thenational university scored well (8/10) and
had developed optional classes for excellent students, such as academic writing. In the
prefectural university attempts to develop particular courses through individual effort had
taken place. The interviewee said, I wrote the curriculum myself, so its been developed
andIjustmademyowncourse.
Selection and development of materials. Allthe universities hadmade efforts to develop
and improve teaching materials. The national university was allowing its newly recruited
nativeteacherstochoosetheirowntextbooks,butwantedtomovetoacommontextforall
teachers. Aninhousetextbook,withonlinelearningcomponents,hadbeenproducedatthe
municipaluniversity,andthiswasalsotrueatthe prefecturaluniversity.
Planningforeffectiveteaching.Thenationaluniversityscoredwell(8/10)duetothesup
portgiventorenewalplanbythepresident.Thestatusofspecialassistanttothepresident
helped to give the plans instigator the authority to see through changes in the face of a
situation in the English Department where most of the other professors disagreed with his
ideas. An important consequence of this support was financial backing and getting the
support of administrative officers.Thisthen allowed for the recruitment ofnativespeaker
teachers, which was an important element in English education policy agreed upon by the
university.Asforthe municipaluniversity,goodworkdone insettingupthecurriculumwas
undone by implementation problems connected to a lack of teaching staffto deal with
technologyorientatedcourseforEnglish(CALL environment).
Evaluation. For themunicipaluniversitythere seemedto be alack of feedback systems as
indicated by the comment, we may have needed a more cooperative method of feedback
fromthestudentsandwehadnowayoffeedbackfromotherdepartmentsabouttheresult
ofcurriculumimplementation(Japaneseprofessor).Evidenceofevaluationprocesseswere
noted for the prefectural university, with a system of universitywide evaluations having
beenintroduced3yearsbefore.However,theteacherquestionedtheirvalueandcommented
thatIalwaysgethighscores,sotherehasbeennoinputfromtheuniversityand basically,
if they enjoy the course they give highratings to everything.This questionsthe effective
nessof universitywide questionnairesasatooltoevaluatelanguage programs.
RegardingtheActionPlananditspossibleinfluenceintertiaryeducationonly oneofthefour
intervieweesmentioneditasafactorincurriculumdevelopmentactivities.Theprofessorfromthe
nationaluniversitysaiditwasoneoftheexternalfactors whenpromptedontheroleoftheMin
istry of Education. For all three institutions in the study the vast majority of data collected dealt
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 97
withinternalfactors,particularlytheneedsofstudents,whichindicatestheperceivedrelativeim
portance ofstudent needsinlanguagecurriculumdevelopment.
4.2 Limitationsofthe study
Whilst the current study has sought to provide insight intolanguage curriculum development
processesatuniversitiesinJapan,itshould,becauseofitslimitedscope,beregardedasmoreofa
pilotstudy ratherthanresearchfromwhichtheorycanreliablybederived.Anumberoflimitations
emerged:
Only three institutions were included in the study. A more comprehensive investigation
wouldhavealargersamplesizeandgather datafrommultiplesources.Thiswouldcontrib
uteto validity.
The method of primary data analysis was rather subjective, relying on thejudgment of the
author,andcouldhavebeenmademorerobustbyaskinganotherresearcher,independentof
thestudy,to corroborate theanalysis.
On reflection, the questionnaire could have been better designed so that interviewees were
askedmoredirectlyaboutthecurriculumdevelopmentcategorieswhichhadbeenidentified
fromtheory.
4.3 Guidelinesfor curriculumdevelopers
The studyhighlightedanumberoffactorsforcurriculumdeveloperstoconsider:
1. Needsandsituationanalysisshouldincludethestudents,teachers,administrators,plusex
ternalgroupsliketheMinistryofEducationandemployers.Givingrelevantpartiesasayin
thedevelopmentprocessislikelytogeneratethesupportneededtoseechangesthrough.
2. Regarding setting of objectives, if possible, a language policy for the whole university
should be agreed upon. This, then, provides a framework in which courses relevant to the
identifiedneedscanbeplannedand implemented.
3. Assessmentandtestingshouldbepartof curriculumdevelopment.Thisincludesconsidera
tionof howtomakeuseofobjectivetestslikeTOEICandTOEFL.
4. Concerning planning/organization of courses and syllabus design, if needs, objectives
and testing processes outlined above are done thoroughly, this step should be relatively
straightforward.
5. Regardingselectionanddevelopmentofmaterials, ifteachershavebeenincludedinneeds
developmentprocessestheyarelikelytobemoremotivatedtodevelopmaterialsappropriate
forthelearningobjectivesthathavebeenidentified.
6. Withreferencetoplanningforeffectiveteaching,supportfromseniorfiguresand adminis
trators, including monetary support, is important to overcome resistance to change. Addi
tionally,achieving abalancebetween,coursesinthecurriculum, requiredteachingskillsand
teachers abilitiesshould beconsidered.
7. Regarding evaluation, effective feedback systems from students, teachers, administrators
andrelevantexternalparties,suchasemployers,arevitaltothe maintenance ofcurriculum.
4.4 Futureresearch
Building ontheinsights gained from the current study, futureresearch could be carried outin
thefollowingareas:
Continuing with the current investigation and developing it into a longitudinal case study.
One option would be to look in greater depth at the same institutions (intended plan). An
otheroptionwouldbetokeepthesameinstitutionsand thenadd another/others.
Performaquantitative investigationinto curriculumdevelopment thoughaquestionnaire and,
or, analysisofpublisheddata.
Christopher W.Storey 98
5 Conclusion
This study sought to provide insights into language curriculum development by comparing a
model informed by theory with primary data collected via interviews. The categories identified
were: needs and situation analysis setting of objectives assessment and testing plan
ning/organization of the course/syllabus design selection and/or development of materials plan
ning for effective teaching and evaluation. Whilst evidence of these processes was found for all
threeinstitutions,thenationaluniversityin the studydemonstrated themost systematicapproach
torenewing andmaintainingits curriculum.Asignificantfactor in favour of thenational univer
sitywasthedevelopmentofauniversitywideEnglishlanguageeducationpolicy supportedbythe
majorityofteachersandadministrators.The municipaluniversityinvestigatedhadcarriedoutcur
riculum development, but not systematicallyand on an ongoing basis. In particular, the areas of
needsandsituationanalysis,andevaluationhadbeenneglectedintheearlypartofthecurriculum
implementation.Oneimportantpointtonoteisthatthedataforthemunicipaluniversitywerecol
lectedfromonlyone,newfaculty(started2000)andthattheuniversityasawholewasplanningto
centralizeEnglishlanguageteachingthroughaliberalartscenter.Asfortheprefecturaluniversity
in this study, it appeared that the development work had been centered through one individual
teacher,withoutinputfromotherpartiesinthe organization.
The study found thatthe Action Planto develop Japanese withEnglish abilities,which was
introduced by the Ministry of Educationin 2003,hashadlittle effect on language curriculumde
velopment.The primaryinfluenceswereinternalfactorswithineachinstitution,withstudentneeds
beingthemostoftencited.
Thekeyinsightsfromthestudywereformulatedintoguidelinesforcurriculumdevelopers,the
mostimportantbeing thevalueof appropriate needsandsituationanalysisfollowedby appropriate
objectivesetting, which should, then, lead to the development of a universitywide English lan
guage educationpolicy.
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classroom:Twocasestudies.ElectronicJournalofForeignLanguageTeaching,3(2),158189.Retrieved
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Bickman,L., &Rog,D.J. (1998). Handbookof appliedsocialresearchmethods. ThousandOaks (CA):Sage.
Brown,J.D. (1995).Theelements oflanguagecurriculum:Asystematic approachto program development.
Boston:Heinle&HeinlePublishers.
Byron,M.(Ed.).(2000). Routledge encyclopediaoflanguageteachingandlearning.London: Routledge.
Hato,Y.(2005).Problemsintopdowngoalsettinginsecondlanguageeducation:A casestudyoftheaction
plantocultivate JapanesewithEnglish abilities. JALTJournal,27(1),3352.
Harmer,J.(2001).The practiceofEnglishlanguageteaching.Harlow:PearsonEducationLimited.
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Nunan,D.(1992). Researchmethodsinlanguagelearning.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.
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Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 99
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Appendix
Approvedtranscriptsareshownbelow.
InterviewA:NativeAssociateProfessorataPrefecturalUniversity
Background
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedatyourinstitution?
Ivebeenworkingtherefulltimefor4years.
Whatisyourcurrentposition?Howmanyyearshaveyouheldthisposition?
Imanassociateprofessor,andIhaveheldthispositionfor2years.
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedasauniversityteacherintotal?
IntotalIveworkedinuniversitiesfor8years.
Howdoyoudefinesyllabusandcurriculum?Howarethesetermsusedinyourinstitution?
Iliketousesyllabusbecausecurriculumtomemeans universitywide,oratleastdepartmentwide.
For example, if the students are studying sociology then the curriculum would be everything re
lated to that course that they are studying. The combined syllabuses for the classes that the stu
dentstake,then,makesupthecurriculum.
CurrentResponsibilities
Whatinvolvementdoyouhavewithsyllabusdesign/curriculumdevelopment?
Myinvolvementincurriculumdevelopment(CD)isthatImakemyownsyllabusformycourse.I
have complete say. I teach communication courses for firstyear students, however, they are not
majoringinEnglishsoImteachingEnglishasageneralsubject.
FirstYearCommunicationClasses
Hasthecurriculumforfirstyearcommunicationclassesbeendevelopedinthelast5years?
Well,yes,Ivebeentherefor5yearsandIwrotethecurriculummyself,soitsbeendeveloped.I
dontknowwhattheydidbefore.IsupposeIshouldhavetriedtofindout,butnodocumentswere
evergiventome.Ihavenoideawhattheyusedtodointheoralcommunicationclasses.Iwasjust
toldthatyouneedtoteachoralcommunicationforfirstyearstudents,andthatwasalltheinforma
tionorguidanceIwasevergiven, soIjustmademyowncourse.
Howhasthecurriculumchanged?(Whatdidyoustartwith?)
WhenImadethecourseIfocusedonthecontentratherthananybuildingupofgrammarorany
thinglike that. I just thoughtabout the things they need to talk about if they are going to talkin
English.Imadeupthesituationthatperhapstheytraveloverseasandbecomeanexchangestudent.
Like if a university student from Japan travels overseas and meets a university student from an
othercountry,whatkindofthingsaretheygoingtotalkabout?And alsowhatdopeopletalkabout
ingeneralconversation?Thefirstpartof thecoursewasabouttalkingaboutyourself,likehobbies,
interests and families etc. These occur in many syllabuses. The next part was talking about ex
periences.Ithinkalotofourconversationsareaboutexperiences.Thenextmajorgroupoflessons
wasonplansandfuture,forexamplecareerwise,inthevacation.Thefinalpartwasgivingopin
ions.Educational,environmentalandsomekindofsocialissue.Ifocusedonmakingacurriculum
thatallowedstudentstotalkaboutthosethings.
So how have I changed the curriculum? The changes have been to experiment with different
classroom procedures, the methodology. The curriculum itself has not changed. Its the way it is
delivered. I have also changed the way I do the grading. Now we have more continuous assess
mentratherthanallthegradebeingbasedontwospeakingtests.SoIvechangedthescoringand
theclassproceduresbutthecurriculumitselfhasremainedunchanged.
What were some of thefactorsthat led your organization/youto want to developthecurriculum?
Christopher W.Storey 100
Haveyouhadanyinputforanyoneelseintheorganization?
No, none whatsoever. Not even from the other English teacher at the university (faculty). The
Japanese Professor at the university(faculty) teaches reading. He doesnt ask for myopinion on
whatheisdoingandhedoesntofferanyopiniononwhatImdoing.However,heisveryfriendly,
so ifIwanttotalktohimhewilltalkaboutit if heisinterested.
Forthelast3years,wehavehadclassevaluationsfromthestudents.Ialwaysgethighscores,so
therehas beenno input from the university. Maybe if the scores were lower the university would
givesomeinput(toteachers).Aslongasthestudentsaresatisfiedandyouteacheverylessonthere
isnoinputfromtheuniversity.
Whatweresomeofthekeystepsintheprocessofdevelopingthecurriculumforfirstyearclasses?
Whataboutacurriculumworkinggroup?
Yes,thereisacurriculumcommittee,buttheyarefocusingmoreonthemajoritself.Englishisjust
asidesubject,isntit? Whatswithinthatdoesntreallymatterasfarastheuniversityisconcerned.
Englishisjustageneralsubjectsoitisleftuptotheindividualteachertodoasheorshepleases.
What could have been included? Were there some things that were not part of the CD processes
thatyouthinkshouldhavebeenincluded?
To be honest, I would liketo revamp the whole thing, butIhave spent so much timeand energy
makingthecurrentcurriculumthatIdontwanttoredothewholethingatthemoment.
Iwouldliketostartfromthebeginningagainlookingatobjectives.Lookingattheskillswewould
likethemtohaveattheendofthecourse, andbuildthoseup.Sosomethinglikeaverybasicskill,
likethestudentcanintroducethemselvessmoothlyandshakehands,rightuptogivinganopinion
onacomplexissue.Sohaveawholelistofobjectivesandwhenstudentsarereadytodemonstrate
theirabilitytoachievethatobjectivetheycometotheteacherandsay Icandothat,pleasecheck
me. So what I want to do is to move towards is a selfstudy course in a CALL room in which
studentschoosecomponentsandthelistofobjectivesthatthey willbejudgedagainst.Attheend
of the course they are not given a grade but a list of objectives that they have achieved. They
wouldkindofchooseaminicourse,fromwithinthecourse.Aslongastheymeetcoreobjectives
andotheroptionalobjectivesthentheywillpassatwhateverleveltheyachieve.
FreerDiscussion
Anythingelsethathasntbeendonethatcouldorshouldhavebeendone.
Themainproblemisthatthereisnoinputfromanyoneotherthantheteacher.Therearenoexpec
tations.Ifnoobjectivesweresetandnocurriculumplanwasmadeandteachersjustusedanyold
textbookthenthatwouldbeOKbecausetheuniversitywouldbefulfillingtherequirementtopro
vide English to students. So there isno curriculum developmentas such, it is just up to theindi
vidualteacher.WhatIwouldliketoseeisthatthedepartmentswouldgivesomeinput.WhatIm
talking about is ESP and what theEnglish will be used for. I would like tohave input from each
department.
Whatsyourperceptionintermsofwhichofthe4skillsotherteachersattachimportanceto?
On yes, they (major teachers) want the students to be able to read, but the students themselves
want to learnhow to speak. One problem isthatif we go down theESProute isthat we may be
teaching them abouttheir subject before they study it in Japanese. Forthatreason, they just want
usto teachanyoldEnglish.Themajorteachersdont teachthestudentsuntil the3
rd
year.
Basically,Ifeelthereisnocurriculumatmyinstitution.Howcanweinfluencethat?Itsverydif
ficult for anindividual, especially an outsider, to influence the curriculum. So for general studies
teachersIthinkeveryoneisleftuptotheirowndevices.
Whataboutaskingthestudents?
Ivetriedaskingstudents,doingneedsanalysis,butitisjusttheusualthingslikemovies,hobbies.
Theirinputislimited.Needsanalysisisso vaguethatitwasntuseful.Studentsjustsaythatthey
wanttospeakEnglish.SonowIdontdoit.
Andasyousaytheuniversityhasafeedbacksystem?
Yes,andbasicallyiftheyenjoythecoursetheygivehighratingsforeverything.Theyaregoingto
enjoy almost anything that the English teacher does in communication classes, because in most
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 101
other classes they are listening to lectures. In communication classes they can talk, which most
studentsenjoy.Wecanttellwhatneedstobedonetoimprovethecoursebecausethefeedbackis
good.Sothatjusttellsustokeepondoingwhatwehavebeendoing.
Anythingelse?
To be honest, I thinkthat what we needis asystem like a foundation course. Ifthey are going to
study a particular subject in3
rd
year in English we needto get themready forthat. To be able to
read academicpapersinEnglishanddiscussthemtakestimetodevelop.However,thatmeansthat
thedepartmentsfeelthatwearesteppingontheirtoes.Wearenotpreparingtheminadirectway.
Wearejustpreparingtheminanindirectway.ButIreallyfeelitshouldbemorespecificthanthat.
But thatmeansa big changeattheinstitution. I dont know anywhere that uses this kind of ESP
approach,doyou?Theyallseemto justfolloweikaiwabooks.
InterviewB:NativeAssociateProfessorataMunicipalUniversity
Background
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedatyourinstitution?
Ivebeenworkingherefor5 years.
Whatisyourcurrentposition?Howmanyyearshaveyouheldthisposition?
ImanassociateprofessorandIhaveheldthispositionfor1years.Beforethat,Iwasalecturer
for4years.
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedasauniversityteacherintotal?
Iminmy10
th
yearnow.BeforecominghereIwasalecturerfor4yearsatanotheruniversity.
Howdoyoudefinesyllabusandcurriculum?Howarethesetermsusedinyourinstitution?
Syllabus to me deals with the design for each specific class. Curriculumis the overall design for
all the classes. That is the goals for all the English classes. Since Ive been in Japan, that is my
impressionofthedifferencebetweenthetwo.
CurrentResponsibilities
Whatinvolvementdoyouhavewithsyllabusdesign/curriculumdevelopment?
Thatsacomplicatedissue.WhenIfirstcamehereIwasntinvolvedincurriculumdesignbecause
itwasalreadysetupwhenIgothere.IamnowtherepresentativeforEnglishonthefacultycur
riculumcommittee.Thiscommitteediscussescurriculumissuesforthewholefaculty,andIbring
theissuesbacktothedepartmentandwediscusstheissues.
FirstYearCommunicationClasses
Hasthecurriculumforfirstyearcommunicationclassesbeendevelopedinthelast5years?
WhenIfirstcameherethecurriculumwasset.Wehadspecificclasses:Englishconversationand
CALL. Im not sure how it was set and you would have to ask my colleague for more details.
Anyway,IwasaskedtotakecareoftheEnglishconversationclasses,soIdesignedasyllabusus
ing a general English conversation textbook. However, after a while we realized that there were
someproblemswiththe textbook.Ifanything,itwastooeasyforthestudents.Oneotherthingwas
that the other 2 other native teachers were not so interested in the curriculum. They only had
teachingresponsibilitiesandleftafterafewyears.
TheJapaneseteacherstookcareoftheCALLpart.However,theCALLclassesendedupbeinga
kindofindependentstudyclassandnotverycommunicative,soIthinktheyconfusedthestudents
becausetheyreallycouldntseetherelationshipbetweenEnglishconversationclassesandCALL.
Studentssaidthattherewasalackofcommunicationbetweentheteacherandthestudents.Ialso
talkedtothestudentsandtheysaidthattheyweredissatisfiedwiththatkindofjishuapproach.
They wanted to talk to the teacher, and be able to get feedback from the teacher. There was one
particularsectiononpronunciationthatthestudentssaidthattheydidntneedtodo.Oneresultof
thiswastheultimatecombinationofCALLandEnglishconversation.Infact,afterthesecondyear
of beinghere I was in favour of doingthat, but otherteachers said we needed to wait because of
Christopher W.Storey 102
thewaythecurriculumwassetup.Anotherproblemwehadwasthatteachersleft.
Whatinputdidyougetanyotherpartsoftheorganization?
To be perfectly honest, when we first got here there was very little feedback or input from any
otherdepartment. Inreality inthe first few yearsthere were only first and secondyear classes.A
lotoffacultywerentteachingthemselvesandsotheydidntthinksomuchaboutcurriculumuntil
theystartedteachingthemselves.Itwasinthethirdyearwhentheystudiedwiththeprofessorsin
thevariousdepartmentsthatwedidgetsomecomments.Someofthemsaidthattheythoughtthat
the students were studying more English. The syllabus was communication centered, focused on
improving conversational skills, because in high school students do a lot of reading and writing.
TheideawastogivestudentsachancetouseEnglishwithnativespeakers.However,itwasinthe
thirdyearthatsomeoftheJapaneseteachersquestionedwhatthestudentswerestudying.
Whatweresomeofthekeystepsintheprocessofdevelopingthecurriculumforfirstyearclasses?
Whataboutacurriculumworkinggroup?
Then,lastyearwehadanEnglishWorkingGroup(EWG)inwhichweaskedthefourdepartments
what they thought should be included in the English curriculum. Some departments said that we
dontevenneedEnglishclasses,otherssaidteachreadingandwritingandyetanotherdepartment
saidteachcommunication.Alotofthisdependsonthefieldandtheprofessors.
Doyouthinkanykindofneedsanalysisthattakesintoaccountstudentshasbeendone?
Actually,ingeneralinJapanIhaventseenalotofthatdone.Ivetaughtinatechnologicalfaculty
for10yearsnowandthereisalwaysthiskindofneverendingthingaboutwhatscienceprofessors
think arerequiredEnglish skills. Until this point we have been anindependent unitand we have
had no connection with the humanities faculty at the other campus. Centralization is good, and I
think we can help each other out, but I do think that we still need to still have elements of our
classes that are for science students. One thing about doing a needs analysis is that the answers
may not be so clear, however, there are always some students who will give you constructive
opinions.
What were some of thefactorsthat led your organization/youto want to developthecurriculum?
Haveyouhadanyinputfortheorganization?
Well,thisisJapanandeverythingisindirect.WhenitcomestotalkingfranklyaboutEnglishcur
riculum ithasalways just been amongthe Englishteachers. We didhave the working group last
year,butifyoulookatthedocumentstheyarequitevague.Inreality,othermembersofthefaculty
probablyarentreallythinkingtoodeeplyaboutEnglishcurriculum.Theothersideofitisthatdo
wereallywantothermembersofthefacultythinkingtoodeeply?OnethinginJapanisthatiftoo
many people are involved then you canneverreally getanythingdone. I think we doneed input,
but if you are going to design a curriculum I think it is better to have professionals with related
backgrounds. Having different kinds of English teachers with different backgrounds would be
beneficial,Ithink.Perhaps,indirectinputwouldbebest.
Whenitcomestothisfaculty,Ithinkoneofthebiggestthingsisgettingajob.Theyprobablywant
us to focus on those skillsthat will be most useful to students. Most of the professors here think
that English is a tool. English is something that is going to help students get a better job or be
promoted. That is why the TOEIC has become so important, and it is something that that other
facultyrecognizeandunderstand.Maybethatissomethingthatwecanfocuson,wecansetgoals
andfocusondifferentskillsthroughtheTOEIC.Thatiswhatwearedoingrightnow,throughthe
readingandworkingonreadingfluency.
WhataboutESPdirectedtowardsthemajorsofthestudents?
Well,someoftheprofessorsarenotfondoftalkingtotheirstudentsinEnglish.Theyarealsonot
too keen on us teaching students something related to the subject as we might teach them some
thingthattheydisagreewithorsendthestudentsinthewrongdirection.Afterallwearenotspe
cialistsintheirsubjects,sowewouldhavetostudylikethestudents.Tobehonest,Imnotacur
riculum specialist, but Im happy that there is going to be a more centralized design for English
courses for the whole university. I dont want to say that there has been no design. In last years
EWGIwasreallysurprisedtohearthatthereareprofessorsthatthinkthatEnglishisnotnecessary.
And we need to talk all of that into account when we develop curriculum. There are additional
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 103
issues like the number of staff and student numbers in classes that could be managed well by a
centralizedorganization.
Whatabouttheinfluenceofgovernmentpolicy?
When wefirst camehere we were being evaluated by theMinistry of Education. It would be my
assumption that the courses we set up were approved by the Ministry of Education. In the
firstyearallthestaffweinterviewedbyamemberoftheMinistryofEducation.Wewereundera
lotofscrutiny.Youshouldaskmycolleagueaboutthat.
Whatabouttheroleofthelanguagecurriculumasacompetitivetool?
Oh yes, Ill go back to what I said before about students getting a job. English is important in
helpingthestudentsgettingajob.Forexample,iftheyhaveacertainscoreontheTOEICthenthat
willhelpthemtogetajob.Thatisoneofthereasonsthattheheadofthecurriculumcommitteeis
asupporterofEnglish.Hewantsustosetupacurriculumthathelpsstudentsgainskillsthatwill
helpthemgetajob.Heisveryhonestandsaysthathedoesntknowmuchabouthowtosetupan
Englishcurriculum,butheknowsthatisveryimportant.
What could have been included? Were there some things that were not part of the CD processes
thatyouthinkshouldhavebeenincluded?
Well, you cant always depend on student evaluations, but it probably would have been a good
ideaforalltheteacherstodostudentevaluationrightfromthefirstyear.Thereshouldbecommu
nicationbetweentheEnglishteachersandthemembersoftheotherdepartments,butonedifficulty
ishow do you organize that? Butin one way it brought upa lot of issues andhighlightedmisun
derstandings. It seems that the staff from the otherdepartments just seemto wanttheEnglish de
partment to take care of theEnglish curriculum.Theyhad opinions, but they werenotreally pre
paredtogetinvolvedinhelpingtoaddcontenttothecurriculum.Oneofthethingswasaskingthe
other faculty to do interviews in English andthey really didnt want to do that. Imthinking that
havingacenter(forbasiceducation)willbebeneficial.Havingalargerbodyofknowledgewill
begood.
FreerDiscussion
Anythingelsetoaddtoourdiscussion?
Just opening a dialogue is very useful and before last year we really hadnt done that. So even
thoughthere were misunderstandings between departments, atleast we could come to appreciate
thatifwearegoingtodosomething,thenweneedtodoitourselves.
InterviewC:JapaneseProfessorataMunicipalUniversity
Background
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedatyourinstitution?
Ivebeenworkingfor6years.
Whatisyourcurrentposition?Howmanyyearshaveyouheldthisposition?
ImaprofessorandIhaveheldthispositionfor6years.
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedasauniversityteacherintotal?
IntotalIhaveworkedinuniversitiesfor22years.
Howdoyoudefinesyllabusandcurriculum?Howarethesetermsusedinyourinstitution?
I thinkthe syllabus isrelated totheimplementation of a given curriculum.The syllabus refers to
the procedures that are carried out in the classroom. It is more detailed. The curriculum is like a
blueprint, or a grand design. It deals with principles and orientation. In this university the same
kindofconcepthasbeenappliedtoeachterm.
CurrentResponsibilities
Whatinvolvementdoyouhavewithsyllabusdesign/curriculumdevelopment?
Actually,Iwasinchargeofcurriculumdesignbeforethisschoolbeganin2001.Ididnthaveany
career or technique to incorporate any kind of educational concept into the curriculum develop
ment.Butaccordingtoinsightandresearchintotheneedsofstudentsandtheneedsofcompanies
Christopher W.Storey 104
we had to develop a kind of innovative planning of a brand new teachingdesignrelated to envi
ronmentalprotectionornaturalconservation,andtheEnglishcurriculumwasnoexception.
FirstYearCommunicationClasses
Hasthecurriculumforfirstyearcommunicationclassesbeendeveloped inthelast5years?
Howhasthecurriculumchanged?
AtthestartwehadCALLandEnglishconversation.TheCALLwastheuniquesubjectatthattime.
Very few of the Japanese universities provided CALL oriented courses for engineering depart
ments. Other universities had already introduced CALL type curriculum development for the
wholeuniversity,butitwasnotorientatedtowardsengineeringstudents.Itwasveryuniqueforus
toofferCALLforengineeringstudentsfromthestartofanewschool.Butthere wasaveryserious
problem about the implementation of the curriculum. The syllabus was mainly designed for the
technology conscious teachers, but,actually, we had very few teaching staff to deal with technol
ogy orientated courses for English. In other words English for specific purposes. From the first
year of ourimplementation we were faced with a shortageor lack of teaching staff. Our original
curriculumcollapsedinthemiddleofitsimplementationbetween2002and2003.Wehadtogive
up our original framework and change drastically to an integrated course of English communica
tionratherthanseparategeneralEnglishcourseandEnglishforSpecificPurposes(CALL).
What were some of thefactorsthat led your organization/youto want to developthecurriculum?
Asanewschool,whatkindofinputwastherefromtheMinistryofEducation?
Honestly speaking, thetop officer of the Ministry of Education stayed with us for curriculum de
signandhewasinchargeofalmosteverythingfromAtoZ.Hewasherefrom1998to2000.Be
forehelefthere,hedeterminedthebasicpolicy ofthefacultyandthatincludedforeignlanguage
education. He declared that English was the only foreign languagethat wasneeded. Our curricu
lumwasradicallydifferentfromourcounterpartsontheothercampus.Theyconsistof4faculties
of humanities and social sciences. I was asked by the officer from the Ministry of Education to
maketheEnglisheducationastechnologicallyorientatedaspossible.Hewantedustotakespecial
careoftechnicalEnglisheducation.
Whatweresomeofthekeystepsintheprocessofdevelopingthecurriculumforfirstyearclasses?
Whataboutneeds wheredidtheinformation/researchcomefrom?
ThatswhytheofficerfromtheministryofEducationcamehere.Hehadalotofrawdatafromthe
nationwide research. This was collected from other universities. He knew everything. I took the
responsibility for the curriculum designasa whole, but the grand design was there before I took
theposition.
Whataboutaskingtheteachersintheotherdepartments?
For the past few years, I have been teaching technical English to the secondyear students. I am
feelingmoreandmoreseriousaboutthelevel(ofstudents abilities),andthelevelofteaching.We
shouldfocusonbasicEnglishfornaturalsciencesingeneral,notforenvironmentalengineeringor
engineeringingeneral.Ifstudentswishtocontinuetheirstudiesinthegraduateschool,thenthey
canstudytheappropriatetechnicalEnglishthroughanESPcourse.Therefore,thecurrenttechnical
English for secondyear students will no longer be valid. We should change our way of thinking
from the technology orientatedto the science orientated. Ihave just begunteaching the basics of
sciencetosecondyearstudentsandIhavefoundthatveryfewofthemunderstandthebasiccon
cepts of electronics or science. Weneedto be very carefulabout the choice of teaching material.
Theteachingmethodwillnotbelimitedtoreadingandwritingaslisteningwillbeincluded.
What could have been included? Were there some things that were not part of the CD processes
thatyouthinkshouldhavebeenincluded?
Wehadnoway of feedback fromtheotherdepartmentsabouttheresultofcurriculumimplemen
tation.Wewereshortofmethodologyoraconcretemethod.Wemayhaveneededamorecoopera
tivemethodof feedback fromthestudents.Wemayneedtodomoretoorientatestudentsandwe
may need an extra course for study skills. Most students dont seem to be able to improve their
skillsaccordingtoagiventheoryorcourseofstudy.
Forthefirstyearagreatjobhasbeendone.Butafterthattheyneedalotmorecareaboutreadinga
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 105
writingofthetechnologyorientedcontent.
FreerDiscussion
Anythingelsetoaddtoourdiscussion?
The university will set up a liberal education center, so we should see what they propose. We
shouldwaittoseewhathappens.
InterviewD:JapaneseProfessorataNationalUniversity
Background
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedatyourinstitution?
Ivebeenworkingfor22years.
Whatisyourcurrentposition?Howmanyyearshaveyouheldthisposition?
ImaprofessorandIhaveheldthispositionfor6years.
Howmanyyearshaveyouworkedasauniversityteacherintotal?
IntotalIhaveworkedinuniversitiesfor22years.
Howdoyoudefinesyllabusandcurriculum?Howarethesetermsusedinyourinstitution?
Mydefinitionistheteachingguidelines,includingtheclasspurposeandevaluationsystemandthe
demandsonstudents,andofcoursetheteachingprocedure.
Curriculumistheeducationalsystemover4years.
CurrentResponsibilities
Whatinvolvementdoyouhavewithsyllabusdesign/curriculumdevelopment?
Imin charge of the classes taught by native speakers. I will give themthe purposes of classes. I
will give themmy idea of syllabuses. They wrote the finaldocument, but before that I explained
my policy andmy version of eachrespective syllabus.They then used this when they made each
syllabus.
FirstYearCommunicationClasses
Hasthecurriculumforfirstyearcommunicationclassesbeendevelopedinthelast5years?How
hasthecurriculumchanged?
Actually, we arenow reforming ourEnglish educational system.Wehave just employed 5native
speakerstostrengthenoureducationalsystem.Ihave,also,justwrittenapaperabouteducational
reform.ThepaperanalysesJapanesestudentsabilitiesandhighlightsthattheirlevels(ofEnglish
ability)aredecreasing,andthereasonsforthedecline.Incontrast,theneedforEnglishinsociety
isincreasing,thatswhyuniversitiesshouldhaveaneducationalsystemforthosestudents.
Last year we made a policy of English education at our university. I wrote a draft, which forthe
mostpartwaslikedby everyone.Thesearemyideasandourpolicy:
1. Communication ability is most important. This is very important because most professors of
English disagree with my ideas. Some English professors think they are professors of English
literatureorlinguistics,andnotEnglisheducation.EspeciallyatageneraleducationlevelEng
lisheducationshouldbeaimedattrainingofthestudentscommunicativecompetence.
2. ThroughEnglishstudentscanknowabouttheworld.
3. Exposure of studentsto living English.Teaching by exposureto living English,notlectures or
speeches by teachers. Training is most important and this should, preferably, be by native
speakers.
4. Satisfy all students needs for English education. The ability is varied, but universities should
satisfyallthestudentsneedsforEnglisheducation.Wehavetoadaptoursystemforeverystu
dent.
5. Training of academic English ability. Graduate students, especially science students, are re
quiredtowritepapersinEnglish.
Wehaveoptionalclassesforexcellentstudents,suchasacademicwriting.Wehavejustemployed
5nativespeakersandtheyarerequiredtohave10classesperweek.Theyareteachingcommuni
Christopher W.Storey 106
cativeEnglishclassesbutalsoacademicEnglish.Someclassesarerequiredandothersareoptional.
For example thereare TOEIC and TOEFL classes whichare optional,noncredit classes,and ex
cellentstudentsaretakingtheseclasses(inadditiontootherclasses).
Wealsohaveremedialclassesforverypoorstudents.Wehavejuststartedtheseprograms.
WealsohavetomakethebestuseofTOEICandTOEFL.Theseareveryobjectivetools
So,wehaveincreasedthenumberofnativespeakersclasses.Thereismoreemphasisontraining
of students communicative competence. Smaller classes, and also classes divided according to
studentsabilities.Weareusingaplacementtestbeforeclasses.
Whatdidyouhavebeforethecurrentcurriculum?Say5yearsago?
Notsystematicbigclassesandthestudentlevelswerevaried.Itwasverydifficulttoteach.These
threewerethemostterriblesituation.
What were some of thefactorsthat led your organization/youto want to developthecurriculum?
Haveyouhadanyinputfromtheorganization?
The needs of the students were very important. This year we asked firstyear students if they
wantedtotakenativespeakersclassesand60%answeredthattheydid,sothereisastronginterest
in English education. Even poor students want to master English if they are given a chance. So
studentsneedswereanimportantfactorinreformingoursystem.
The professors of engineering and medicine asked us to change our English educational system.
They think the students should be better in speaking or writing, but our old fashioned systems
couldntrespondtotheirdemands.
Whatdidthey(professorsfromotherdepartments)sayaboutreading?
Of course they say it is very important, but their interest is in the speaking abilities of students.
Most English teachers want to read textbooks with students, but that kind of system couldnt re
spondtostudentsneedsorengineeringprofessorsneeds.
Whatweresomeofthekeystepsintheprocessofdevelopingthecurriculumforfirstyearclasses?
Whataboutacurriculumworkinggroup?
Asafirststepinreformingwemadea5pointpolicythateveryprofessorintheuniversityshould
support.Thiswasdonethroughaworkinggroupwhosememberscamefromevery faculty.Right
now, I am a special assistant to the president, so I am a little bit powerful. This is the reforming
plan, showing our purpose. Our education focus has shifted into communication ability training.
Most students have enough knowledge of English, but they have no chance to use that so need
trainingtochangetheirknowledgeintopracticalskills.Trainingisimportantandtheneedsofstu
dentsshouldberespected.
Moneyisveryimportantandthisincludesgettingsupportoftheadministrativeofficers.Ialsogot
thesupportofthepresidentandthevicepresident,andsowecoulddoit.
Questionnairesfromthestudentswerealsoimportant.
TheEnglishclassesshouldbedividedaccordingtotheirEnglishabilities.Lastyearwehavevery
bigclassesofabout50to60students,sowehavetomakesmallerclassesof20students.
Makingthecurriculumsystematicisimportant,frombasictoadvanced.
Studentsshouldbegivenmanyopportunitiesinaclasstospeakup.
WhatabouttheMinistryofEducation?Howhavetheyinfluencedyourthinkingaboutcurriculum?
Yes,asyouknowtheMinistryofEducationissuedveryspecificaims.Here,JapanesewithEng
lishabilities (translated).Notabstractideas,veryspecific.Thisisoneoftheexternalfactors.
What could have been included? Were there some things that were not part of the CD processes
thatyouthinkshouldhave beenincluded?
I thought the curriculum should be more systematic than the current situation. Even now, the
teacherscandecidewhatkindofclassestheyhave.Theteacherscanchoosethetextbooksandthe
levels andhow to teach.Thats why I cant say all the classes arereally systematic. In the future
we want to controlthe choice oftextbook. Ifa commontextbook isused,the classes can becon
trolledintermsoflevelsorpurposes.
FreerDiscussion
Insights intoLanguageCurriculumDevelopment 107
Doyouhaveanythingelsetoaddtoourdiscussion?
Our remedial program will be very important because the entrance examination system will be
changed.IthinkthestudentwhoarepoorerinEnglishwillcome,however,thosestudentswillbe
interested English, and so willneed our strong support. Weneeda curriculum forthose students.
Goodstudentscandevelopthemselves,butpoorstudentsneedsupport.