Refelction on Module 4 (1)

Chpater 4: Conceptualizing Content

The most practical lesson to me in this chapter is to organize the ways or categories for conceptualizing content. The boundaries of the categories are permeable, and they connect with others, but it is critical for curriculum designers to know because they often make mistakes trying to put everything into one like I did before; there should be a center of gravity. Using these categories, I have identified the curricula I designed and common curricula in Korea. I have realized I looked for more of communicative functions, competencies, and interpersonal skills than others in the courses I designed and ran. If I had clearly decided on a syllabus with a basis of these, my job could have been much less stressful since as I stated above, I wanted to put everything I believed meaningful and necessary in learning English into one simple syllabus. Another finding was that many curricula in young learners’ programs are task-based or content bases. I agree with Nunan’s view on tasks as “a way to promote classroom learning that focused on the processes of using language rather than language products” (as cited in Graves, 2000), which should be focused in young learners’ learning.

Discussing grids, mind maps, and flow charts were also very practical. The syllabus you present to students or publish and the form of it you work on designing can be different. It is interesting to see how differently the elements in the same syllabus could be displayed depending on the form. All in all, they’re tools which you can use to your needs. The more tools you are equipped with, the more skillful you will be.