Hand stencil style cropped

The Evolution of The Curriculum In Language Education

  • Mandatory Greek and Latin

    Mandatory Greek and Latin
    These two language were mandatory as it was believed they were the purest forms of languages. Students did not follow a curriculum, but had a syllabus that included classical literature.
  • Period: to

    The Grammatical Era

    Curriculum was considered as the equivalent of syllabus design. This era is referred as the pre-method era since it was experimental; language did not have a communicational value, it was taught with the goal of achieving higher forms of culture; primarly through the learning of past cultures, such as the greek and the roman.
  • Period: to

    The Grammar Translation Method

    This methodology, brought up with itself, the idea that the learning of Greek and Latin, needed to be studied in conjunction from and into the source language. Vocabulary and grammatical drills were common, but the speaking and listening skills were discarded.
  • The Grammar School

    The Grammar School
    Latin grammar, which was taught through rote learning of grammar rules, study of declesions and conjugations. Students we discouraged from learning the language, but were motivated through the knowledge offered by a past civilization.
  • The creation of the IPA

    The creation of the IPA
    The IPA was created in 1888, consolidating universal phonetic transcriptions to the sounds of all languages across history. Relevant to the curriculum design of the era, since it allowed foreign teachers to practice at a standarized perspectice.
  • Modern Languages in Schools

    Modern Languages in Schools
    languages began to enter the curriculum of European schools. For the first time in history, latin and greek were not the only languages to be included in the curriculum. Students learned French, German, Spanish and Italian.
  • The first structural Syllabus

    The first structural Syllabus
    Memorized phrases and "routines" in speaking. Pendergast proposed the first "structural syllabus," advocating that learners be taught the most basic structural patterns occuring in the language.We see here the begining of a communicative approach, some argue that, it was the first time far from a grammatical stand point.
  • Period: to

    The Reading Method

    Stated that there was only one major skill to be focused on, reading. As a result, students were able to nurture their "secondary" skills
  • Period: to

    The Method's Era

    Starting in 1969, this era revolutionized the curriculum design in languages. Languages now had philosophies and communicational goals; institutions seek for more compelling ideas to integrate values and methodologies. This era saw the begining of private language institutions, offering multiple methodologies, one of which we still regonize today-Berlitz, advocating for the direct method.
  • Period: to

    The Direct Method

    Proposed and popularized by Berlitz; it brought higher attention to (at that time) communicational skills. The instructor was often native, and was encouraged to use the source language as little as possible.
  • Period: to

    The Structural Method

    Structural approach teaches to learn sentences in a systematic manner which involves the structure, sequencing and pattern arrangement of a words to make a proper and complete sentences with meaning (Richards, 2002)
  • The first Statuory National Curricum for Languages

    The first Statuory National Curricum for Languages
    first statutory National Curriculum for Languages was created, in England; followed by Germany, France, and Italy. This cirruculum brought with him the mandatory inclusion of a foreign modern language, together with the learning of both greek and latin.
  • Period: to

    The Audiolingual Method

    Material is presented in dialoge form. There is no dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and ovelearning. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
  • Period: to

    The Situational Method

    to insure that the language that is being taught is realistic, all the words and sentences must grow out of some real situation or imagined real situation
  • The Literacy Reform

    The Literacy Reform
    Education across languages needed to strenghen the literacy competences of students. Curricula here inicluded materials that improved the literary skills of the learners; this made evidence of the delivery of literary works that were both modern and classic.
  • Period: to

    The Communicative Approach

    Based on the idea that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning
  • Educational goals in Curricula

    Educational goals in Curricula
    Impulsed by the ideas of Wilkins, gave national curricula most of the flexibility in curricular design we know today. At this stage schools were offered the possibility to follow independent pedagogical structures as long as they adhered to the standards in curricula.
  • The Input hypothesis by Krashen

    The Input hypothesis by Krashen
    Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. Stating that a learner can learn a language following the same steps a baby does: little to non-existent grammar, and a huge amount of language from a communicational standpoint. This theory brought the beginning of some of the pre-naturalist movement.
  • Recognizing the needs of the students

    Recognizing the needs of the students
    Impulsed by the principles in methodology for language teaching MLT, thanks to the ideas brought by Blunkett, it stated that students needed to bridge the gap dividing education and future labor (from students to workers).
  • Period: to

    The Competence-Centered Curriculum

    Policies and standardizations became tighter. Institutions began to focus on the development of the four skills of communication, most of these ideas were popularized thanks to the CEFR (1991), their recommendations were widely adopted in Europe, and saw for the first time in history, cohesion among different countries’ curricula.
  • Period: to

    The Integrative Era

    This period is marked by the integration of organization and conceptualization. The former relates to the creation of activities, situations, and materials that relate to the needs of the learners. The later, refers to the formulation of objects and ideas. Now, ICT’s show this integration much more clearly; the curriculum is now a reflection of the procedures of the student (Richards, 2002)
  • The CEFR is created

    The CEFR is created
    launched in 1991 during a major Council of Europe symposium organised in Rüschlikon in co-operation with Swiss authorities. The CEFR showed precise documentation regarding the competences and skills of a langauge learning at a levelled perspective. The CEFR was quickly accepted as the most important standard for reference accross the western world.
  • The 1993 Skill Reform

    The 1993 Skill Reform
    This reform made schools follow the direction of the recently created CEFR document, making the communicative competences a common practice. It was centered in the idea that learner's skills were a subject of improvement if viewed individually.
  • The 1997 French Curricular Reform

    The 1997 French Curricular Reform
    Aim to strenghten the use of english across Europe, giving consideration as the first foreign language to learn. At this point scholars started talking about the globalization of English. And it was the precise moment in which, English became the standard all around the world.
  • Period: to

    The Natural Approach Movement

    Based on observation and interpretation of how learners acquire both first and second languages in non-formal settings. Such methods reject the formal (grammatical) organization of language as a prerequisite to teaching.
  • Content-Based Influence on Curriculum Design

    Content-Based Influence on Curriculum Design
    Content-Based Instruction and Task-Based Language Teaching emerged, influencing the perception on contextual aiding design into curricula. Attempting to give meaning, and discouraging the use of vocabulary. Teachers now needed to look for materials to bring into the classroom.
  • A major jump in technology in Literacy

    A major jump in technology in Literacy
    Impulsing the idea of the 21 century skills, the UNICEF made mantarory the devlopment of the following skills: Critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning, analysis, interpretation, synthesizing information.This was the first humanist approach that mingled with the skills for the future jobs.
  • Covid-19's impact on digital ideas for Curricula

    Covid-19's impact on digital ideas for Curricula
    Impused classes through zoom, skype, and google classroom. Curricula was surprised by this catastrophic event. Making the majority of institutions inmediately move into the digital side of education. Many insitutions failed at mimicring traditional curricula; now the curricula's new goals were to feel integrative, a part of the next step.
  • Period: to

    The Covid-19 Pandemic

    Forced all the institutions to shut down and continue their classes from home, giving curricula a major jump into online management