Developing a New Curriculum for School-Age Learners

by Kathleen Graves (Editor)

These are exciting and challenging times for English language curriculum development for school-age learner. The global reach of English has spurred a rethinking of its role in education and, consequently, a rethinking of how to teach it. The accounts in this volume represent differences in educational systems, language teaching traditions, purposes for learning English, and responses to educational reform. Despite these differences, it is clear that in many countries the role of English is shifting from language as a subject and end in itself to language as a means for academic learning and for cultural communication and exchange. In this volume, two chapters address curriculum development in target language-embedded contexts, both in the United States, and eight chapters address curriculum development in target language-removed Egypt, Japan, Belarus, Russia, China, Israel, Italy, and Colombia. Because different countries face different challenges, the contributors remind us that we cannot make broad generalizations about English language teaching and curriculum development throughout the world. And they help us better understand how various educational systems are currently interpreting traditions and innovations in language teaching in an age of change, a time when English is acquiring new identities.

235 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009