Curriculum design: reflections on the design of the curriculum for intermediate phase students at a rural-based comprehensive university with special reference to English language education modules

Abstract

A curriculum provides a systematic plan for teaching and learning to achieve specified learning outcomes. There is also the term ‘curriculum design’, which is going to be a much-used term in this paper. Curriculum design is a basic frame of reference or template for planning a curriculum which enables the organisation of its components or elements, noting the relationships that exist among its components. In this paper, I will be describing and critiquing the Bachelor of Education in Intermediate Phase Teaching curriculum at a rural-based comprehensive university, with a special emphasis on the English First Additional Language modules. In describing and critiquing this curriculum the foci will be on the following: an overview of how to approach curriculum design; the dominant approach in the design of this curriculum; a synopsis of the Ralph Tyler model on which this curriculum is fashioned; the strengths and weaknesses of this curriculum and the changes that could be made to strengthen this curriculum.