UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
• English Language Education Section
• Curriculum Development Institute
• Education Bureau
WARM-UP ACTIVITY
In groups, discuss the following:
How far do you agree with the following statements?
1. Students should do more past exam papers in class in order to get good results in the HKDSE examinations.
2. Teachers are required to teach 3 elective modules in the Elective Part.
3. Since the elective modules are not properly assessed in the HKDSE examination, they need not be taught.
4. There is a huge gap between the JS and the SS
curricula.
BY THE END OF THE WORKSHOP, YOU WILL HAVE
a better understanding of the design and the features of the three-year senior secondary English Language curriculum;
explored strategies for curriculum planning and implementation; and
designed task-based activities for senior secondary
students.
THE SENIOR SECONDARY
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
S6
S5
S4
Elective Part (25%) Compulsory
Part
(75%)
THE COMPULSORY PART
Meaningful use of:
through the task-based approach and the organising structure of Modules, Units and Tasks by adopting a range of approaches and strategies
Reading / Writing Listening / Speaking
Vocabulary
Text Types
Grammar Forms &
Communicative
Functions
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT GUIDE (SECONDARY 4-6), P.54
While Modules, Units and Tasks are to be adopted for
organising learning and teaching in the Compulsory
Part, the modules in the Elective Part may not
necessarily follow the M-U-T structure. However, the
general approach to teaching the modules in the
Elective Part remains task-based – that is, teachers are
encouraged to continue with the principles and
practices associated with task-based learning, namely
using learner-centred instruction, providing
opportunities for meaningful and purposeful
communication and promoting integrative and creative
uses of language.
FEATURES OF A TASK
Involves learners in thinking and doing
Requires learners to draw upon a
framework of
knowledge and skills
Product Purpose
Context
Example: Officer of the Hong Kong Tourism Board
• An online survey
• Presentation and discussion
• Pamphlet for visitors
Provides contexts for:
• integrated use of language skills
• meaningful and purposeful use of English for communication
Facilitates effective grammar and vocabulary learning and teaching
Uses learning and teaching resources of a variety of text types
Promotes a learner-centred approach
Adapted from Enhancing English Vocabulary Learning and Teaching at Secondary Level (2012), pp.141-188
ADOPTING A TASK-BASED APPROACH IN LESSON DESIGN
Module
Communicating
Task 1 Listening to a
speech delivered by the
Advisor of the English Debating Club
Task 2 Reading a
magazine article entitled
“Should the Internet be Censored?”
Task 3 Studying an online forum on
people’s opinions of the
Internet
Final Task
Writing a debate speech The InternetUnit
Building on the strengths of students and considering their future learning needs, plan for a Junior Secondary English Language curriculum to gear students towards the learning targets and objectives in the English Language curriculum
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE INTERFACE
Further studies and work
Lifelong language learning
Interface in Literacy Development across Key Stages
KS1&
2
Reading Workshops
Reading to Learn
KS4
Reading Skills Writing Skills
KS3
Developing Basic Reading and Writing Skills & Strategies
• 40% of English lesson time on Reading Workshops
• Using literary & information texts to facilitate the
development of reading skills in context
• Applying the vocabulary &
language items from the reading texts in follow-up writing activities
Consolidating the Reading and Writing Skills & Strategies Acquired
• Facilitating the application of literacy skills in an integrated and creative manner
• Providing opportunities for students to reflect on, monitor and evaluate their own
reading/writing progress, and enhancing their metacognitive awareness to become
independent language learners
Expanding the Repertoire of Reading and Writing Skills &
Strategies
• Building on students’ learning experience and helping them progress further in the development of literacy skills
• Extending students’ learning experience through promoting Reading across the Curriculum (RaC) & using Writing across the Curriculum (WaC) activities as a follow-up
12
(2-3 modules)
Junior Secondary
•Exposure to a wide range of print and non-print texts
•Extensive reading and viewing
•Further development of reading skills and strategies
Senior Secondary
•Exposure to a widened range of more complex text types
•School-based
Assessment: critical and imaginative responses to texts
•Comprehension of more complex messages in more formal texts
Primary
•Exposure to a range of text types
•Incorporation of Reading Workshops into the School-based English Language
Curriculum
•Development of basic reading skills and
strategies
LEARNING EXPERIENCE ACROSS KEY STAGES
Junior Secondary
•Exposure to a wide range of print and non-print texts
•Extensive reading and viewing
•Further development of reading skills and strategies
Senior Secondary
•Exposure to a widened range of more complex text types
•School-based
Assessment: critical and imaginative responses to texts
•Comprehension of more complex messages in more formal texts
Primary
•Exposure to a range of text types
•Incorporation of Reading Workshops into the School-based English Language
Curriculum
•Development of basic reading skills and
strategies
LEARNING EXPERIENCE ACROSS KEY STAGES
15
T
EXPOSURE TO A WIDE RANGE OF TEXT TYPES
Examples of Text types for Key Stage 1
Examples of Text types for Key Stage 2
Examples of Text types for Key Stage 3
Examples of Text types for Key Stage 4
• Cartoons and comics
• Diaries
• Fables and fairy tales
• Rhymes
• Charts
• Labels
• Lists
• Menus
• Notices
• Rules
• Signs
• Time-tables
• Cards
• Plays
• Announcements
• Informational reports
• Maps and legends
• News / Weather reports
• Pamphlets
• E-mails
• Formal letters
• Discussions
• Telephone conversations
• Procedures
• Recipes
• Book
reviews/reports
• Film reviews
• Itineraries
• Manuals
• Newspaper articles
• Short novels
• Short stories
• Interviews
• Presentations
• Editorials
• Debates
• Documentaries
• Essays
• Feature articles
• Films
• Novels
• Minutes
• Public speeches
• Proposals
• Resumes
Junior Secondary
•Exposure to a wide range of print and non-print texts
•Extensive reading and viewing
•Further development of reading skills and strategies
Senior Secondary
•Exposure to a widened range of more complex text types
•School-based
Assessment: critical and imaginative responses to texts Comprehension of more complex messages in more formal texts
Primary
•Exposure to a range of text types
•Incorporation of Reading Workshops into the School-based English Language
Curriculum
•Development of basic reading skills and
strategies
LEARNING EXPERIENCE ACROSS KEY STAGES
READING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
17
• To promote reading as a means to help learners seek information, develop thinking skills, enrich knowledge, enhance language proficiency and broaden perspectives
• To promote the development of functional reading skills to help learners relate English Language learning to daily life in real world
• To encourage extensive reading of a wide variety of resource materials with different subject content to enhance learning
English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4 - 6) 2007
Science
CONNECTING STUDENTS’ LEARNING EXPERIENCES
English
Language
Content
• Theme: Living things Reading-related strategies
• Locating specific information
• Working out meaning of unfamiliar words
Language features
• Rhetorical functions
• Text features
Junior Secondary
•Exposure to a wide range of print and non-print texts
•Extensive reading and viewing
•Further development of reading skills and strategies
Senior Secondary
•Exposure to a widened range of more complex text types
•School-based
Assessment: critical and imaginative responses to texts
•Comprehension of more complex messages in more formal texts
Primary
•Exposure to a range of text types
•Incorporation of Reading Workshops into the School-based English Language
Curriculum
•Development of basic reading skills and
strategies
LEARNING EXPERIENCE ACROSS KEY STAGES
Depth of Processing
Range and application of reading strategies
Text complexity
Abstractness
Organisation Density of information
Understanding
- Locating information
- Working out meaning of words and phrases
- Connecting ideas
- Identifying main ideas and supporting details
- Distinguishing facts from opinions - Organising information and ideas
Inferring
- Inferring feelings
- Deducing information and ideas
- Comparing information and ideas
- Working out main ideas and themes
Interpreting
- Analysing information and ideas
- Synthesising - Evaluating - Justifying
Cognitive processes involved in reading
- Activating learners’ prior knowledge and experiences
- Selection of a wide range of texts of appropriate lengths and different topics - Interplay between texts and tasks
- The provision of teacher support and the need to promote learner independence
Underlying principles
COMPLEXITY OF TEXTS
Easier texts More difficult texts Abstractness
Ideas and information explicitlystated
Straightforward & factual information
Ideas and information implicitly stated
Meaning hidden between lines or beyond lines
Organisation
Well-defined text structure Organisation of paragraphs following sequence of events, logical progression (general to specific)
Use of short paragraphs,
subheadings & cohesive devices
Lack of well-defined text structure, mix of text-types
Organisation of paragraphs not following a common pattern (problem-solution)
Lack of signposts to facilitate understanding of texts
Density of information
Most sentences/paragraphs containing one piece of information
Sentence structures and
language largely simple, with occasional use of complex structures
High lexical density – with a large amount of information- carrying words
A wide range of complex sentence structures and language
Depth of Processing
Range and application of reading strategies Text complexity
Abstractness
Organisation Density of information
Understanding
- Locating information
- Working out meaning of words and phrases
- Connecting ideas
- Identifying main ideas and supporting details
- Distinguishing facts from opinions - Organising information and ideas
Inferring
- Inferring feelings
- Deducing information and ideas
- Comparing information and ideas
- Working out main ideas and themes
Interpreting
- Analysing information and ideas
- Synthesising - Evaluating - Justifying
Cognitive processes involved in reading
- Activating learners’ prior knowledge and experiences
- Selection of a wide range of texts of appropriate lengths and different topics - Interplay between texts and tasks
- The provision of teacher support and the need to promote learner independence
Underlying principles
IMPLICATIONS FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING
• To teach reading strategies explicitly
• To review the reading assessment items (e.g. levels of difficulty, range of reading skills)
• To ask appropriate questions for different pedagogical purposes
• To provide feedback to students on their reading
skills development
Planning and Implementing
the Senior Secondary English
Language Curriculum
THE SENIOR SECONDARY
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
S6
S5
S4
Elective Part (25%) Compulsory
Part
(75%)
THE ELECTIVE PART
• Adds variety to the English Language curriculum
• Caters for students’ diverse needs and interests
• Broadens students’ learning experiences
• Provides them with opportunities to apply
what they have learnt in the Compulsory
Part
Language Arts Non-Language Arts
8 Elective Modules
Learning English through Drama
Learning English through Short Stories
Learning English through Poems and Songs
Learning English through Popular Culture
Learning English through Social Issues
Learning English through Debating
Learning English through Sports Communication Learning English through Workplace Communication
THE ELECTIVE PART
(I) Choices of module, considering:
Learners’ background, needs, interests and abilities
Teachers’ expertise and readiness to teach the module
Learning objectives and content of the modules
Resources available, both inside and outside school
THE ELECTIVE PART
Compulsory Part
Reading/ Writing Listening/ Speaking
Vocabulary
Text Types
Grammar Forms &
Communicative Functions
Speaking Skills
• pronunciation
• stress
• rhythm &
intonation
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE COMPULSORY AND ELECTIVE PARTS
(AN ILLUSTRATION WITH THE DRAMA MODULE)
Elective Part (Drama module)
Dramatised Reading
Role play / Drama performance Text Types
• dialogues
• stories
Extension, application and consolidation of what has been learned
• stress &
intonation
• expression of emotions and feelings
• short scene writing
• production of an original script
PLANNING THE ELECTIVE MODULE IN CONTEXT (KEY CONSIDERATIONS)
• Approaches to implementing the elective module (as a standalone module or integrated with other curriculum and assessment components)
• Adaptations of the S.O.W.
(e.g. selecting appropriate learning focuses)
• Sources of learning and teaching materials
(e.g. textbooks, school-based materials, resource packages, the media)
• Teacher deployment
• Interface with the JS curriculum
• Timetabling
TIMETABLING
Example 1: Module-specific lessons in a single block
CYCLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8
Example 2: Module-specific lessons in two or more smaller blocks
CYCLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8
CYCLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Example 3: 2 periods on the module per cycle
32
INTEGRATING VARIOUS CURRICULUM COMPONENTS
Compulsory Part and Elective Part Elective Part and SBA
Elective Modules
COMPULSORY PART AND ELECTIVE PART
1. Reading a webpage article
2. Surfing websites on sports
3. Writing a presentation plan
1. Reading some fan material (e.g. magazines, letters, profiles)
2. Watching a video clip
3. Surfing websites and reading magazines on a sports player
1. Viewing part of a film on sports outside class 2. Writing a journal entry on a film on sports
3. Surfing websites on message boards of the film Task 1 (7 lessons)
Hot Sports
(Introducing a sport in the morning assembly)
Task 2 (5 lessons) Fan Talk
(Writing a piece of fan material on a sports player)
Task 3 (6 lessons) Open Forum
(Discussing a film on sports)
ELECTIVE PART AND SBA
Examining the content, language and stylistic features
of advertisements
-Examining an issue from different perspectives
-Using language functions that signal
cause and effect
Producing a leaflet giving advice on how
to be a wise and sensible consumer
INTEGRATION OF ELECTIVE MODULES
Popular Culture
Social Issues
Final
Product
36
ACTIVITY
• In groups, design three tasks set against a particular context to develop or consolidate the target
knowledge and skills pertaining to any two modules
in the Elective Part.
37
EXPERIENCE SHARING
• In your group, share with others your experience in planning and/or implementing the senior secondary curriculum. You may want to talk about:
• if your school integrates different curriculum components;
• the challenges you encountered/you anticipate in planning and delivering the curriculum; and
• how you overcame the challenges/you think the
challenges could be tackled.
USEFUL RESOURCES FOR THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
USEFUL WEBSITES
• Professional development programmes (PDP)
Information on PDP by Curriculum Development Institute, EDB
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/professional-development-programmes.html
Application and Details
http://tcs.edb.gov.hk
• Learning and teaching resources
One-stop Portal for Learning and Teaching Resources
http://minisite.proj.hkedcity.net/edbosp-eng/eng/home.html
Curriculum Documents
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/curriculum-documents.html
References & Resources
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng-edu/references-resources.html
ETV Programmes
http://etv.edb.gov.hk/home.aspx
Radio Programmes
http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=4034&langno=1
• Other useful websites
Central Resources Centre by Curriculum Development Institute, EDB http://www.edb.gov.hk/crc
Language Learning Support Section, EDB
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/applicable-to- primary-secondary/sbss/language-learning-support/index.html
NET Section, EDB
http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/curriculum-development/resource- support/net/index.html
The English Campus of HK Education City http://www.hkedcity.net/english/
USEFUL WEBSITES
COURSES ON OFFER IN 2016/17
Course Title Mode Month/Year
1 Curriculum Leadership and Management for English Language Education Key Learning Area – Ongoing Renewal of the School Curriculum (Refreshed)
Seminar &
Workshop
Oct-Dec 2016
2 Developing Students' Thinking Skills through the Non-
language Arts Elective Modules (New) Workshop Apr-Jun 2017
3 Effective Learning and Application of Grammar
Knowledge in the Senior Secondary English Language Classroom (Re-run)
Workshop Apr-Jun 2017
4 Developing Junior Secondary Students' Writing Skills with Reference to the Learning Progression Framework (Refreshed)
Seminar &
Workshop
Oct-Dec 2016
5
Catering for Learner Diversity in the English Language Curriculum at the Secondary Level: (I) Reading and Listening Skills (Re-run)
Workshop Jan-Mar 2017
42
COURSES ON OFFER IN 2016/17
Course Title Mode Month/Year
6 Catering for Learner Diversity in the English Language Curriculum at the Secondary Level: (II) Speaking and Writing Skills (Re-run)
Workshop Feb-Apr 2017
7 Adopting e-Learning to Enhance Secondary Students' Grammar Knowledge and Promote Self-directed
Learning (Re-run)
Seminar &
Workshop
Jan-Mar 2017
8
Effective Use of IT to Explore Literary Texts in the
Junior Secondary English Classroom (Re-run) Seminar &
Workshop
Jan-Mar 2017
9 Enhancing Assessment Literacy in the English Language Curriculum at the Secondary Level: (I) Reading and Listening Skills (New)
Workshop Jan-Mar 2017
10
Enhancing Assessment Literacy in the English Language Curriculum at the Secondary Level: (II) Speaking and Writing Skills (New)
Workshop Jan-Mar 2017
43
COURSES ON OFFER IN 2016/17
Course Title Mode Month/Year
11
Enhancing the Interface: Developing Reading Skills of Junior Secondary Students with Reference to the
Learning Progression Framework (Re-run)
Seminar &
Workshop
Jan-Mar 2017
12
Effective Use of e-Resources for Communication –
Tapping into Students’ Creativity, Critical Thinking and Problem-solving Abilities (Re-run)
Seminar &
Workshop
Mar-Apr 2017
13
Adopting e-Learning to Cater for Students with Special Educational Needs in the Junior Secondary English Classroom (New)
Seminar &
Workshop Apr-Jun 2017
14
Enriching and Extending Students’ Learning Experiences through Reading and Writing across the Curriculum at the Secondary Level (Re-run)
Seminar &
Workshop Apr-Jun 2017
15
Media Literacy in the Junior Secondary English
Classroom – Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills through the Use of Digital Texts (Re-run)
Seminar &
Workshop Apr-Jun 2017
44