should accordingly be led and managed by qualified and experienced pro- fessionals.” The notion of curriculum expert acknowledges the intricate nature of a second language curriculum document in attempting to meet teachers’, learners’, stakeholders’, and program needs; however, it appears to dismiss a key principle that a curriculum plan is just that, a plan. As we have argued throughout this book, curriculum comes alive in the classroom and those responsible for that wakening are the teachers who translate the document into a plan of action. Early leaders in the argu- ment that curriculum makers are both planners and teachers (Chambers, Gnida, Messaros, Ilott, & Dawson, 2011) were Clandinin and Connelly (1992) who suggested that creating a curriculum document in isolation from teachers who would then be tasked with its implementation was
“like putting the cart before the horse” (p. 365). We posit that a plan for enhancing the experience, readiness, and success of EAP students should include teachers at all of the stages of design, development, and imple- mentation.
Curriculum planning in our context
I. Writing the document: Combining external expertise with invest-
drafting the initial curriculum plan, fleshing out the general and specific learning outcomes, and establishing both the performance conditions and performance indicators for each level of our EAP courses. This project was substantial in scope, time, and resources. It took close to one year to com- plete but in doing so the EAP program was able to develop a robust plan, informed both by principles of pedagogy, our own context for teaching, the needs of learners, and input from all stakeholders. From this plan we were able to form a solid plan for implementation, and equally importantly as teachers went through some of the challenges that come with imple- mentation, they were able to identify and relate to the plan which had been created with one eye to bringing about change while being able to see their own teaching reality reflected in that plan.
Once a plan has been created describing the learning outcomes, perfor- mance conditions, and indicators, a successful curriculum document still needs to link itself directly to the classroom experience if the teaching team is to identify what implementation will look like for them. Out- comes do not provide a description of what should be taught, rather a description of what learners who successfully complete a level will be able to do in terms of academic English language proficiency. Teachers will still be required to be the architects of their own lesson plans and course- work assessments. They will need to assess where their students are on the first day of the term and what program of study needs to be cre- ated to help them move to demonstrating sufficient proficiency by the end of the course. This requires a flexible learner-centred approach. An outcomes-based curriculum describes learning goals; however, it still asks teachers to put all the complex pieces together for their own students.
Moreover, in a TBLT classroom, “teachers have a central role in organiz- ing task-based work, motivating their students to become engaged with tasks, explaining to them why performing a particular task is important and interactionally supporting them while they are at it” (Bygate, Nor- ris, & Van den Branden,2013, p. 4). In both outcomes curricula and in TBLT classrooms, teachers maintain the primary role of designing and sequencing daily activities. This aspect of the curriculum plan is likely, then, to capture the focus of their attention. For these reasons, including a set of sample tasks is a crucial element of the plan. This is the point at which much larger scale teacher involvement can take place. Teachers can be given small pieces of the curriculum document, such as one skill,
for example reading, at one course level and co-create a set of example tasks in teams. This process can enhance the development of the curricu- lum document with a useful repository of example activities and tasks.
Secondly, this process offers teachers a chance to see that some of their current practices, favourite teaching activities, and collections of class- room resources may well align relatively easily with the new curriculum plan, providing some practical reassurance that the impending change to their practice will be manageable and achievable. The ATESL Curriculum Framework (Chambers et al.,2011) neatly refers to this as honouring past effort while encouraging innovation. It brings together forces for growth and improvement without simply dispensing with all of the good work so painstakingly created in the past. Furthermore, teachers can now feel that they are fully part of the curriculum development process, engaged with the changes, and having a say in how the plan will be actualized in their classrooms.
Curriculum planning in our context II. Bringing the plan to life…gradually
The final element to be added to our curriculum plan was the sample tasks.
Sample tasks were previously defined in Chapter 4as not representing a prescriptive description of what the teachers should teach, but rather a demonstration of how each specific learning outcome might be brought to life in the classroom. In other words, sample tasks were included in the curriculum plan to provide some clarity and exemplification of the curriculum in the context of a practical classroom setting and in relation to what students will actually be doing.
In terms of our curriculum development process, sample tasks became a critical factor in moving our plan for the curriculum into a fully realized implementation. As described above, we had chosen to develop ourGLOs, SLOs, and performance indicators using a team of experienced teachers seconded from teaching for the entirety of the curriculum writing project.
With the sample tasks we took an entirely different approach. The sample tasks were created by the teaching team at planned professional develop- ment events, as well as during contracted supplemental work time, or even as individual professional development projects.
At planned professional development events, teachers were introduced to the goals and the backwards design philosophy behind the curricu- lum, and were then encouraged to use existing materials, textbooks, tasks, and other activities to connect the more theoretical aspects of the plan
to what tasks they might create to support curriculum implementation.
This process offered a bridge between the abstract notion of a curriculum developed away from the classroom and those teachers who would ulti- mately be asked to bring the plan to life. In addition, it gave the teaching team an opportunity to collectively contribute to this significant academic undertaking. The School provided dedicated, paid time for the teachers to develop activities, resources, and handouts which would ultimately support their implementation of the curriculum. Working in teams as well as indi- vidually, teachers were able to give and receive peer support and co-create meaningful and concrete representations of what the curriculum actually meant to their classroom practice. Moreover, when confusion arose and could not be resolved or duplication/gaps became apparent, the curricu- lum development team was able to use this as preliminary feedback to make real time adjustments to the documents.
This process had the effect of engaging the whole teaching team, ensur- ing a realistic plan for implementation had been initiated, and the content of the plan would offer practical ideas rooted in the reality of being a team member in our EAP program.
Examples of specific learning outcomes and sample tasks created by teachers working at a dedicated planning retreat:
Course Level: EAP B1+
Skill area:Listening
SLO: Interpret the main information and supporting ideas.
Sample Task: Textbook: Learn to Listen 2, (Lebauer, 2010, p. 38), Women at work. Students listen to the lecture and take notes. In groups, students decide on which information was in the introduction, body and conclusion. Students listen again and note the cues for each section.
Stduents share their findings with other groups.
SLO: Employ listening strategies to be more accurate and efficient in note taking.
Sample Task: Textbook Learn to Listen 2, (Lebauer, 2010, p. 10), Maslow’s Hierarchy. Students listen to each sentence for stress and into- nation to pick out the most important words. Students identify ‘chunks of speech’ to identify unstressed function words (e.g., hierarchy of needs) and the stress patterns. Students try to count syllables in individual words (e.g., maximum potential) and listen for the pattern of stressed syllables.
Student read passages using the information they collected.
Course Level: EAP B1−
Skill area:Writing
SLO: Write structured researched-focused essays to convey cause/effect and compare/contrast relationships.
Sample Task: Collect and scramble all of the thesis statements and body paragraphs from student essays. Students must match the body paragraphs with the thesis statements.
Other possible options:
• introductory and concluding paragraphs
• topic sentences and details
• thesis statements and concluding sentences
• essay maps and topic sentences.
Sample Task: Analyze the sentence structures and common phrases used to convey compare/contrast relationships in Attractive and Informative Food Packaging, p. 79, or Differences between Dot-Coms and Bricks- and-Mortar Businesses, p. 100 (Academic Inquiry 2, Jamieson & Papple, 2018). Write sentences following those structures as practice.
‘Similarly, older people also enjoy the outdoors.’
‘Another difference is related to the way students learn grammar.’
The Implementation
Regardless of all the steps taken to engage with teachers throughout the curriculum development phase, implementation means that change is about to become real rather than an abstraction to be considered and debated. Special attention to the timing, piloting, and phased nature of curriculum change should be considered as part of the implementation plan.
EAP semesters and terms tend to fluctuate in many contexts in terms of student enrolment. It may be desirable to implement a new curriculum document during a quieter period of the year when teachers, administra- tors, and resources are not stretched thin. The curriculum can be phased in one course level at a time. Teachers can be selected for those most able to handle change and administrators can focus attention on ensuring the curriculum is rolled out in an orderly and manageable way. However, this approach can have some disadvantages. If an EAP program has four levels, how can just one level at a time be changed? If you change the highest level first, it may be that students entering from lower levels are not able to handle the new expectations of the curriculum, as it is no longer part
of an aligned series of courses. If you change the lowest level first, stu- dents once again may no longer ‘fit’ into the course which they graduate into. One solution to this problem is to change the lowest level first and then change each level which those students potentially graduate into, as illustrated in Fig.5.2.
This process of implementation maintains many of the advantages of a staged rollout while never allowing a graduating student to pass into a new course which is not aligned with their program of study. Teachers can develop expertise in the new curriculum and its implementation and in turn can become mentors to others as they begin the process of work- ing with the new curriculum. The obvious disadvantage of this process is
Fig. 5.2 A staged curriculum implementation to ensure seamless learning expe- rience for students
that in fact it takes a long time to implement, perhaps over a year, depend- ing on the length of a semester. The gradual approach, while managing anxiety and operational considerations around change, can also be seen as a frustratingly slow way to manifest real change in the program, particu- larly for those committed to a new curriculum as an enhancement of ways of approaching EAP in the program. Moreover, this slow rate of change could result in some confusion about the value of the new approach to EAP in the revised curriculum. Allowing the previous curriculum to linger means that students will continue to complete the EAP program for sev- eral years who may not be sufficiently ready for mainstream undergraduate study. Many in the institution may not be willing to ‘sacrifice’ so many students to the old and potentially inadequate ways of doing EAP.
Curriculum planning in our context III. Implementing the plan: change is good
After considering all factors in our implementation of the new curriculum, we determined that a phased rollout would not be the best way for us to move forward. Our curriculum changes had impacted every course, in all ways. We were transitioning from a syllabus with lists of items to teach and no true articulation of what learners needed to be able to actually do with the language at each level. Teachers were not truly accountable for what their students learned, only for what they had taught. While we had many dedicated teachers who took on the full responsibility of ensuring their students had sufficient language proficiency for success in their next steps, this was not described in any part of our curriculum. Our stakehold- ers had described that their greatest problem with our program was that it produced graduates with vastly wide ranging levels of language proficiency and unpredictable capacity to succeed in mainstream academic program- ming. We felt that this situation was urgent enough that for the sake of our students that we could not afford to roll out our curriculum over a year. For these reasons, we determined that it would be expedient to roll out new curriculum for our three levels of EAP in one semester. Fur- thermore, we also decided to roll out the curriculum during our time of highest enrolment. In part this decision was mediated by the completion of the curriculum documents, but in part it was an extension of our think- ing that the highest number of students could be helped by a speedier implementation at this time.
So our implementation took place over all levels and with all students at our busiest time of year. As can be imagined it was a challenging transition
for all involved. Having said that, it was not a surprise to anyone on our team. We had been working on the project with regular updates to all staff for over a year and teachers had been heavily engaged as the document components were finalized. There was an air of anticipation and for the most part our implementation launch went smoothly and even created a sense of renewal and positivity in our unit. This is not to overstate the transition and a later section of the chapter will address the importance of monitoring the curriculum as it came to life in the classroom.
Steps Towards a Successful Curriculum Launch
The steps in Table 5.1are suggested as possible activities which can be undertaken to ensure a smooth curriculum launch:
Monitoring the Initial Curriculum Implementation Launch
Throughout the implementation period it is recommended that adminis- trators maintain ongoing dialogue with teachers. This will provide reassur- ance but more importantly recognizes that launching a new curriculum is only the start of the process of bringing about change, not the last step.
After allowing a period of adjustment, perhaps four weeks, it may be a good idea to have a teachers’ meeting or town hall event to allow them to ask questions about the curriculum or to share some of the challenges they may be facing. It is recommended that this type of event have a clear focus of sharing or it can easily become a forum for sharing gen- eralized discontent with all matters other than the curriculum. Teachers should also be encouraged to share reflections on specific aspects of the curriculum launch through shared online documents, and be encouraged to respond to comments of colleagues. Formalized surveys can be sent out to teachers which can probe more deeply into specific aspects of the implementation and how teachers are managing the change. Open com- munication and ongoing dialogue with all those impacted by the curricu- lum change is the most effective way to ensure the implementation launch is as smooth as possible and engages all team members to be invested in the plan’s success.
Table5.1Activitieswhichcanbeundertakentoensureasmoothcurriculumlaunch StepQuestionsaroundthisstepTimeline CommunicationsDoallstakeholdersknowthatthe curriculumischanging?Whatmessaging isneededfordifferentstakeholders? Howandbywhomwillcurriculum changesbecommunicated?
•Canfirstemergeduring environmentalscanstageof development •Sixmonthspriortolaunch •Withinthelastmonthpriortothe launch TeacherorientationWhatcriticalinformationaround philosophy,pedagogicalprinciples, andprojectgoalsdoteachersneedto bestimplementtheplan? Seamlessrolloutoftheplancanbe achievedwhenteachersareinvolvedin stepsofthecurriculumprocess,which thencanmergeintobroaderorientation togoalsfortheprojectandexpected projectoutcomes Managingteachers’expectationsthat implementationwillbeseamlessand communicatingthatongoingmonitoring willbeneededtoensurethatfeelingsof anxietydonotextinguishinitialpositivity
•Dedicatedtimefortheteachingteam toworkonaspectsofthecurriculum development •Professionaldevelopmentretreatsto allowdedicatedtimeforreflectionand materialsandactivitiesdevelopment •Ensureplanformonitoring implementationisexplainedatthe timeofimplementation
StepQuestionsaroundthisstepTimeline Planningforappropriateresourcesand supportsforteachersItcanbechallengingtoanticipate comprehensivelyeverythingthatteachers willneedtoeffectasuccessful curriculumimplementation,butaneffort isneededtoensurethattextbooks, materials,andassessmentsarealigned withthedemandsofthenew curriculum.Ifforexample,grammaris beingemphasizedmorethanprevious iterationsofcurriculum,are pedagogicallysoundgrammarresources availabletoteachersandstudentsalike? Ifstudentsarenowbeingaskedto demonstrateskillsinusingsupport resourcessuchasdictionaries,arethose dictionariesrequiredtextbooksforthe course,oristheprogramplanningto providethem?
•Reviewtheoutcomes,performance conditions,andsampletasksofthe newcurriculumtoensurethat textbookssupportcurriculum implementation •Reviewtextbooks,onlinesupports, finalexamstoconfirmthatalignment withnewcurriculumissufficient •Takestepstoplanforchangingthese elementsoftheprogramifthereisan apparentlackofalignmentwiththe newcurriculum AdministrativestafforientationHowmuchinformationneedstobe communicatedtoadministrativestaffto helpthemtosupportthe implementation?Whatshouldthe messagingaroundthisinformationbe? Howmuchdetailisneeded?Howwill administrativestaffbeabletousethis information?
•Engageadministrativestaffwiththe curriculumlaunchbyensuringthey areawareoftimelines,goalsforthe project,andcommunicationsneeded aroundit •Recognizethatadministrativeteam membersareoftenthefront-facing stafffortheorganizationfor communicatingwithstudentsand mayneedspecificorientationonhow tocommunicatethechangewiththis groupandwhatthecentralmessages shouldbe (continued)
Table5.1(continued) StepQuestionsaroundthisstepTimeline InformationforstudentsDostudentsneedtobemadeawareof changestoEAPcurriculum?How shouldachangeofsuchmagnitudefor anEAPprogrambecommunicatedto students?Howcanstudents’anxiety aroundchangesbemanaged?
•Ensurepositivechangearound improvedstudentexperienceand ultimatesuccessisthecoreofthe messaging •Ensurethemessageiscomprehensible bystudentsandtakesaccountoftheir anxietyaroundfearsthatthecourse willbecomemoredifficulttopass, etc.
Some questions which could be asked of teachers during this initial implementation launch could include:
• Do the general and specific learning outcomes reflect the needs of learners in your class this semester?
• Were any of the outcomes entirely new to you? How have you been handling including these new aspects into your course?
• Were learners at the appropriate language proficiency level to meet the outcomes of the course?
• Were the outcomes and tasks described in the new curriculum appro- priate in terms of level?
• Do the course textbooks support the learning outcomes?
• Did the tasks you have been using to implement the new curriculum engage the learners? If not, why not?
• Was enough support provided to implement the new curriculum?
• What more support do you feel would assist you in this implemen- tation?
Curriculum planning in our context