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Curriculum Reform at NCCU. Seminar on Research Methodology and Design. Introduction. The role of English language education is changing in the 21 st century Education reform in Taiwan is changing the core requirements for universities
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Curriculum Reform at NCCU Seminar on Research Methodology and Design
Introduction • The role of English language education is changing in the 21st century • Education reform in Taiwan is changing the core requirements for universities • Resulting in a decrease in the graduation requirements for attaining a major in English • Is it time to reevaluate the English language teaching curriculum to better suit the needs of our students?
Global Trends in English Language Education • Region • Japan • Hong Kong • Other
Taiwan Trends in English Language Education • Desire for globalization • Reasons for globalization • (Put the stuff that Joe found here. II.1.i-ii)
The changing education environment at NCCU • Reduced teaching hours • Fewer hours needed to attain major
Consequence for NCCU English Department- What needs to be done • Need to cut hours
Other Comparable English Departments in Taiwan • NTU • NTNU • ? • ?
Other options: Content vs. Skill based • Support for having more content based language classes • Can students learn better? • Increase academic standing of faculty
Complex Issue • Most change focuses on views of administrators and faculty without looking at viewpoint of student • Change often purports to be for the benefit of the students and to comply with the requests of students. • No large scale survey of student opinions of the language training program since 1993
Research questions • 1. What are the students' attitudes toward the current language-skill courses?2. What are the students' attitudes toward the proposed course reform (content vs. skills)?3. For the students, what is an ideal language program (or language-skill program?)?a) what the best design will be in terms of the students’ perceived needs and beliefs based on their own experience of having already taken some or all of the skills-based courses;b) the underlying connections and conflicts between (new) alternative course designs and the students’ needs and beliefs; are there significant/pressing concerns voiced by a significant number of students that need urgent attention from faculty and administrators;c) how the new course designs fit in (or don’t fit in) the current debate of the content-based approach versus skills-based approach; andd) based on student responses, how the alternative designs might (or might not) help the students reach the general goal(s) of learning English in Taiwan.
Barriers to change • Politics • Faculty doesn’t want to change • Lack of communication among those who are involved in change • Barriers to change info