Tailored vs. Standard Curriculum  and General English Achievement:  A Study of Teachers’ Views

Bizhan Hekmatshoar Tabari; Ramin Rahimy

doi:10.5294/laclil.2021.14.1.5

Authors

Bizhan Hekmatshoar Tabari Author Department of English Language, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1393-6417
Ramin Rahimy Author Department of English Language, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0859-7812

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2021.14.1.5

Keywords:

English for General Purposes, EGP, needs analysis, NA, pre-requisite general English course, curriculum development, curriculum tailoring, curriculum evaluation

Abstract

This study was conducted in two phases. The first one is the preliminary phase aimed at tailoring the standard curriculum based on learners’ needs analysis. The second one is the main phase, intended to evaluate the tailored curriculum based on teachers’ views. The participants in the preliminary phase of the study (tailoring the curriculum) were 346 non-native male and female undergraduate students who received the same Pre-Requisite General English course at their first semester in university. They were studying different majors, including Accounting, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. The participants in the main phase (evaluation of the tailored curriculum by teachers) were 10 non-native male (7) and female (3) teachers who taught the Pre-Requisite General English course through the tailored curriculum. The findings of the study supported the hypothesis that the teachers have a positive attitude toward using the tailored curriculum in teaching the Pre-Requisite General English course. It seems that the implementation of this tailored program, which is based on learner-needs-analysis, can enhance the effectiveness of the English for General Purposes (EGP) course, compared to the standard one.

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Author Biographies

Bizhan Hekmatshoar Tabari, Department of English Language, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

PhD Candidate in TEFL at the Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon Branch, Iran. He is also a member of Faculty at Ayandegan Institute of Higher Education, Tonekabon, Iran. He has been teaching at Iranian universities and institutes of higher education for about 14 years. He received his B.A. in 2005 in English Language and Literature from Ershad Institute of Higher Education, Damavand, Iran. He got his M.A in TEFL in 2008 from Mazandaran University of Babolsar, Babolsar, Iran. He published several articles. He is interested in teacher cognition and curriculum development.

Ramin Rahimy, Department of English Language, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

Assistant professor in TEFL. He is the faculty member of the Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon Branch, Iran where he has been teaching English courses for over 20 years. He has ever published papers on different fields of second language acquisition and applied linguistics in the academic journals. He is interested in psycholinguistic aspects of L2 acquisition, translation studies, and sociolinguistics and is focusing on EFL vocabulary learning. He has also reviewed various articles for SAGE journals, Pablons and other known journals.

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