The Origins of Language Curriculum Development
The Origins of Language Curriculum Development
INTRODUCTION
According to Agustin and Puro (2016) Curriculum is the heart of a school. Each
school will attempt to create or compile a curriculum as possible so that it can accommodate
the demands and the needs that must be continuously assessed and developed appropriate to
the circumstances by taking into account the challenges that exist so that the direction of
development will be aligned to answer the challenges ahead. Curriculum covers all the
learning experiences provided to students under the guidance or school responsibilities,
which is not only limited to the number of subjects alone but a learning experience beyond
the written subjects, such as habits, attitudes, morals and others (Azhar, 2011).
The function of curriculum is as guidelines in the implementation of activities related
to education in schools for parties related, either directly or indirectly, such as the teacher,
headmasters, supervisors, parents, community and the students themselves (Kurniawan &
Noviana, 2013). Furthermore, Muhaimin & Abdul Mujib in Bahri (2011) state that there are
seven functions of curriculum. There are:
1. the curriculum as a study program, namely: A set of subjects that can be studied by
students in schools or other educational institutions;
2. the curriculum as content, namely: data or information contained in class books
without being equipped with other data or information that allows learning to occur;
3. the curriculum as a planned activity, namely: planned activities about what will be
taught, and how it can be taught with good results;
4. the curriculum as a learning outcome, namely: a complete set of goals to obtain a
certain result without specifying the intended ways to obtain those results, or a set of
planned and desired learning outcomes;
5. the curriculum as cultural reproduction, namely: transfer and reflection of the cultural
items of the community, so that the children of the younger generation of the
community can understand and own them;
6. the curriculum as a learning experience, namely: the entire learning experience
planned under the leadership of the school;
7. the curriculum as production, namely: a set of tasks that must be carried out to
achieve the goals;
Vocabulary Selection
Vocabulary is one of the most obvious components of language and one of the first
things applied linguists turned their attention to. What words should be taught in a second
language? This depends on the objectives of the course and the amount of time available for
teaching. Educated native speakers are thought to have a recognized vocabulary of some
17.000 words. but this is a much larger number of words than can be taught in a language
course. Not all the words that native speakers know are necessarily useful for second
language learners who have only a limited time available for learning.
Learners Need
The text or language samples must be relevant with the needs of target
learners. Words with the highest frequency and words with the highest frequency and
the widest range are considđered to be the most useful ones for the purposes of
language teaching
Other criteria were therefore also used in determining word lists. These included:
● Teachability
Vocabulary can be easily illustrated through pictures or by demonstrations
● Similarity
Some vocabulary may be selected because they are similar to words in native
language. For example, English and French have many cognates such as table, page,
and nation, and this may justify their inclusion in a word list for French-speaking
learners.
● Availability
Groups of words that come up when a certain topic is thought of. For example,
classroom calls to mind desk, chair, these words might therefore be worth teaching
early in a course.
● Coverage
Words that cover or include the meaning of other words may also be useful. For
example, seat might be taught because it includes the meanings of stool, bench, and
chair.
● Defining power
Some words could be selected because they are useful in defining other words, even
though they are not among the most frequent words in the language. For example,
containers might be useful because they can help define bucket, jar, and carton.
The procedures of vocabulary selection lead to the compilation of a basic vocabulary, that is
● A target vocabulary for a language course is usually grouped or graded into levels,
such as the first 500 words, the second 500 words, and so on.
● Word frequency and word pattern, one of the most important lexical syllabuses in
language teaching was Michael West's A General Service List of English Words
(1953), which contains a list of some 2,000 "general service words considered
suitable as the basis for learning English as a foreign language", The list also presents
information on the frequencies of different meanings of each word based on a
semantic frequency count, The General Service List in- corporated the findings of a
major study on vocabulary selection by the then experts in the field: The Interim
Report on Vocabulary Selection, published in 1936 (Faucett, Palmer, West, and
Thorndike 1936).
● General Service List was for many years a standard reference in making decisions
about what words to use in course books, graded readers, and other teaching
materials. Hindmarsh (1980) is another important vocabulary list and contains 4,500
words grouped into 7 levels
CONCLUSION
Curriculum has its own time of development because as the teachers and curriculum
developer, we have to consider a lot of the effectiveness in students’ learning process. The
result of implementation the curriculum into a specific class means the curriculum developer
are expecting the teachers might develop the learning process and materials that is being
taught.
REFERENCE
Kaharuddin, A. (2018). The communicative grammar translation method: a practical method
to teach communication skills of English. ETERNAL (English, Teaching, Learning,
and Research Journal), 4(2), 232-254.
Onishchuk, I., Ikonnikova, M., Antonenko, T., Kharchenko, I., Shestakova, S., Kuzmenko,
N., & Maksymchuk, B. (2020). Characteristics of foreign language education in
foreign countries and ways of applying foreign experience in pedagogical universities
of Ukraine. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 12(3), 44-65.
Richards, J.C. 2001. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Azhar M. Nur. (2011). Tugas Guru Sebagai Pegembang Kurikulum. Jurnal Ilmiah
DIDAKTIKA Agustus. Vol. XII No. 1, 559-67
Agustin, R.S., & Puro, S. (2016). Strategy Of Curriculum Development Based On Project
Based Learning (Case Study : SMAN 1 Tanta Tanjung Tabalong South Of
Kalimantan). PROSIDING ICTTE FKIP UNS 2015. Vol 1, Nomor 1,
Kurniawan, O., & Noviana, E. (2013). Penerapan Kurikulum 2013 dalam Meningkatkan
Keterampilan, Sikap dan Pengetahuan. Jurnal Primary Program Studi Pendidikan
Guru Sekolah Dasar Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Riau.
Volume 6, Nomor 2
Bahri, S. (2011). Pengembangan Kurikulum Dasar dan Pengembangamnya. Jurnal Ilmiah
Islam Futura
5 Questions:
1. What are the factors that must be considered in vocabulary selection and also in
grammar selection and gradation?
2. What are obstacles that happen when developing a language curriculum?
3. How long does the curriculum developers ensure to the education sectors that the
curriculum that has been made is effective to the language learning process?
4. When will we change the curriculum if the old curriculum seems not suitable
anymore with the language learning process?
5. What is an ideal curriculum that should be implemented in students' language learning
process?