Chapter 7 Approaches To Course Design

APPROACHES TO
COURSE DESIGN
By: Fikri Alfiansyah

21.02.087
APPROACHES TO COURSE DESIGN
What is Course
Design? The process by which the raw data about a
learning is interpreted in order to produce
an integrated series of teaching-learning
experiences
What is the aim of Course

Design?
To lead the learners to a
particular state of knowledge
THREE MAIN TYPES OF ESP
COURSE DESIGN
LANGUAGE-CENTERED
COURSE DESIGN
SKILL-CENTERED COURSE
DESIGN
A LEARNING-CENTERED COURSE
DESIGN
Language-Centered Course Design
 It is the simplest and more familiar kind to

English teachers.
 It is particularly common in ESP.
 It aims to draw as direct a connection as
possible between the analysis of the target
situation and the content of the ESP course.
A Language-Centered Approach to Course Design
Weaknesses of Language-centered approach
1. Not learner-centered but learner-restricted

Weaknesses of Language-centered approach
2. Static and inflexible

Any procedures must have flexibility, feedback channels and
error tolerance built in so that it can respond to unsuspected or
developing influences.
3. Appears to be systematic
4. No acknowledgment to factors which must
inevitably play a part in the creation of any
course.
5. Only at the surface level of learning
Skills-Centered Course Design
The skills-centered approach based on two fundamental

principles:
 The basic theoretical hypothesis is that
underlying any language behavior are certain
skills and strategies, which the learner uses in
order to produce or comprehend discourse.
 The pragmatic basis for the skills-centered
approach derives from a distinction made by
Widdowson (1981) between goal-oriented
courses and process oriented courses.
 This approach aimed to help learners for developing

skills and strategies which continue after the ESP
course by making learners better processors of
information.
 A skills-centered approach says: we must look
behind target performance data to discover what
processes enable someone to perform. Those
processes will determine the ESP course
Needs analysis plays two roles in a skill-centered

approach:
It provides a basis for discovering the essential
competence that enables people to perform in
the target situation.
It enables the course designer to discover the
potential knowledge and abilities that the
learners bring to the ESP course.
This approach takes the learner more into account:

• It views language in terms of how the mind of the
learner processes it rather that as an entity in itself.
• It tries to build on the positive factors that the
learners bring to the course (previous knowledge),
rather that just on the negative idea of ‘lacks’.
• It frames its objectives in open-ended terms, so
enabling learners to achieve at least something.
A skills-centred approach to course design
Theoretical
views of lg
Analyse skills/ Select texts and Establish

strategies write exercises evaluation
Identify target required to cope Write to focus on procedures
situation in target syllabus skills/ strategies which require
situation in syllabus the use of
skills /
strategies in
syllabus
Theoretical
views of
learning
LEARNING-CENTERED APPROACH
 This approach is based on the principle that learning is totally

determined by the learner. As teachers we can influence what we teach, but
what learners learn is determined by the learners alone.
 In this approach learning is seen as a process in which the learners use
what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of the flow of
new information. Learning is not just a mental process, it is a process of
negotiation between individuals and society.
 Learning is not just a mental process, it is a process of negotiation
between individuals and society.
A learning-centered approach says: We must

look beyond the competence that enables
someone to perform, because what we really
want to discover is not the competence itself, but
how someone acquires that competence
A comparison of approaches to course design
• In the figure shows that a learning-centered approach to course design takes account
of the learner at every stage of the design process. This has two implications:
Course design is a negotiated process. There is no single factor which has an

outright determining influence on the content of the course. The ESP learning
situation and the target situation with both influence the nature of the syllabus,
materials, methodology and evaluation procedures. Similarly each of these
components will influence and be influenced by the others.
Course design is a dynamic process. It does not move in a linear fashion from initial
analysis to complete course. Needs and resources vary with time. The course design,
therefore, needs to have built-in feedback channels to enable the course to respond to
developments.
Learning-centered approach to course design
Identify
learners
Theoretical views Analyse learning Analyse target Theoretical view

of learning situation situation of lg
Identify attitudes/ Identify skills and

wants/ potential of knowledge needed
learners to function in the
target situation
dentify needs/
potential/ constraints of
learning/ teaching
situation
Write syllabus/ materials to exploit the

potential of the learning situation in
Evaluation the acquisition of the skills and Evaluation
knowledge required by the target
situation.
THANK YOU 

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APPROACHES TO

By: Fikri Alfiansyah

What is the aim of Course

 It is the simplest and more familiar kind to

1. Not learner-centered but learner-restricted

2. Static and inflexible

The skills-centered approach based on two fundamental

 This approach aimed to help learners for developing

Needs analysis plays two roles in a skill-centered

This approach takes the learner more into account:

Analyse skills/ Select texts and Establish

 This approach is based on the principle that learning is totally

A learning-centered approach says: We must

Course design is a negotiated process. There is no single factor which has an

Theoretical views Analyse learning Analyse target Theoretical view

Identify attitudes/ Identify skills and

Write syllabus/ materials to exploit the

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