Introduction
The National
Curriculum 2012 for the subject English (Paper 1 and 2), Classes VI-X, is
designed based on the National Education Policy 2010 which is the guideline for
designing textbooks, selecting materials, deciding teaching methodologies and
evaluating the learners for these classes. However, as the Curriculum
Objectives and expected Learning Outcomes of the curriculum are broken down
into many facets while designing the textbooks, the question arises whether the
Learning Outcomes of the textbooks are properly reflecting the Learning
Outcomes. To find out the answer to this question, the text book of English 1st
paper of Classes XI-X, English For Today (Classes
9-10), has been selected as text. The book consists
of 14 units, each with a number of expected Learning Outcomes mentioned in the
beginning of the unit. These Learning Outcomes of the textbook will be analyzed
to find out whether they properly reflect the Curriculum Objectives and the
Curriculum Matrix for Classes XI-X. The Learning Outcomes of the units of English For Today (Classes 9-10) will be analyzed one by one in this paper.
Moreover, SSC Examination 2018 questions of English 1st paper and 2nd
paper have been selected where the items in the questions will be analyzed to
find out whether they are properly representing the Curriculum Objectives and Learning
Outcomes in terms of testing the learners of the expected Learning Outcomes
based on the Curriculum Objectives and the Curriculum Matrix provided in the National Curriculum 2012. For analyzing English For Today (Classes 9-10) in the
light of National Curriculum 2012, I
have also used my teaching experience (worked as a part time teacher at
Motijheel Govt. Boys’ High School and currently working as a Resource Teacher
of Secondary Education Sector Investment Program – SESIP) and the class
observation experiences (at the time of conducting a research on Challenges of
Implementing English For Today
Textbook in Secondary Level Schools: A Scenario of Rural Bangladesh).
National
Curriculum 2012
Classes 9-10
1. To acquire competence in all four language skills, i.e. Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
2. To use the competence for effective communication in real life situations at pre intermediate level.
3. To acquire necessary grammar competence in English language.
4. To develop creativity and critical thinking through English language.
5. To become independent learners of English by using reference skills.
6. To use language skills for utilizing information technology.
7. To use literary pieces in English for enjoyment and language learning.
8. To be skilled human resources by using English language skills.
Curriculum Matrix (Classes: 9-10)
Learning outcomes,
functions and language points:
|
Learning
outcomes |
Functions |
Language
points |
|
1. describe people and places (Class periods: 6) Speaking and writing skills |
asking about and describing
people, their appearances, abilities, cultures, traditions, and national
identities; asking about and describing home village/town/city etc. |
determiners: all, nearly all,
most, many, a lot of, some, not many, a few, and few; statements and short
answers; yes/no, and wh-questions; adverbs; tenses: present simple, present
continuous, present perfect, past simple, simple future; passives; use of used to, was born |
|
2. follow instructions,
directions, requests, announcements and respond accordingly in social
situations (Class periods: 6) Listening and Speaking Skills |
asking for and giving directions
of a place, describing a map, location, etc.; asking for and responding to
help; giving and understanding announcements in the bus/railway stations,
airports or any other places |
imperatives, questions; modals:
would you, could you, may I; passives; prepositions of place; countable and
uncountable nouns |
|
3. narrate incidents and events in
a logical sequence (Class periods: 6) Speaking and Writing skills |
talking about present and past
events, and festivals; giving opinions about present and past experiences |
determiners: all, nearly all,
most, many, a lot of, some, not many, a few, and few; tenses: present simple,
past simple, future simple; future with going to; yes/no and wh-questions,
statements, and short answers with regular and irregular verbs; degree of
comparison; adverb of frequency; time expressions; discourse markers;
sentence connectors |
|
4. ask for and give
suggestions/opinions (Class periods: 5) Listening and Speaking skills |
asking and telling about problems,
pleasures, likes and dislikes; seeking and giving suggestions |
present and past simple; use of
used to; passives; modals; complex and compound sentences; relative pronouns;
conditionals (1st and second); use of You could, You had better, You would
rather, Why don’t you... etc.; use of I think, I believe, I maintain, This is
my opinion that, I consider etc. |
|
5. exchange personal information (Class periods: 5) Speaking and Writing skills |
Asking and answering questions
about personal information such as date and place
of birth, family and family members, job, routines and exercise, abilities,
habits, preferences; making statements |
use of was born and used to ;
passives; adjectives and adverbs; time expressions; wh-questions to ask about
physical appearance, age, dress, hair style, personality etc.; questions and
statements in simple present; simple past; direct and indirect speeches;
gerund; participle; |
|
6. participate in conversations,
discussions, and debates (Class periods: 5) Listening and Speaking skills |
narrating something, making plans;
giving suggestions, opinions; putting arguments in logical sequence |
negative statements; adjectives;
modals; simple future, use of let us; tag questions; cohesive devices: hence,
therefore, so, however, in spite of, instead of, first, second, third, next,
finally, etc.; conditionals |
|
7. tell stories (Class periods: 10) Speaking and Writing skills |
asking and talking about modern
inventions and achievements; predicting |
auxiliary verbs; social
expressions such as hang on, hurry up, wow, held up in something, etc.;
present and past simple, past simple vs. past perfect; questions and
negatives; conditionals; infinitive; expressions of
feelings or emotions |
|
8. surf net (Class periods: 5) Reading and Writing skills |
reading about and listening to
potentials of media and e-communications; making effective e-communications
through social networks and mobile technology |
tenses: present simple, present
continuous, present perfect, past simple; articles, quantity: some / any; there + be (present
and past) |
|
9. recognize and use English
sounds, stress and intonation appropriately while listening and speaking (Class periods: 6) Listening and Speaking skills |
recognizing
and using sounds, stress, and intonation |
|
|
10. listen for specific
information on radio, television, and other announcements (Class periods: 5) Listening and Speaking |
listening to and making
announcements, and advertisements for specific information; asking about and
narrating problems; taking and giving interviews |
tenses; adjectives; adverbs and
adverbials; some and any, many and much; a few and few; Wh-questions, statements
(positive and negative); conditionals etc. |
|
11. understand and enjoy stories
and other texts (descriptive, adaptive, and authentic) read and recite poems (Class periods: 8) (Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening skills) |
asking about and describing past
events; narrating a story; writing about personal experiences /social
beliefs; reading for pleasure and comprehension; enhancing reading habit;
listening and identifying main points, scanning, skimming, inferencing,
analysing, interpreting, evaluating, summarizing; predicting and guessing
about future course of action, asking about and sharing future plans |
tenses: statements; questions;
exclamations; adverbials; direct and indirect speech; passives; complex and
compound sentences, punctuations |
|
12. describe a process (Class periods: 5) Reading, Speaking, Writing skills |
reading about how to do something,
giving instruction to do something, narrating how something has been done;
comparing and contrasting; |
imperatives, passives, modals,
countable and uncountable nouns; adjectives; time expressions; adverbial of
duration; infinitive; degrees |
|
13. read and write formal and
informal letters, CV, emails (Class periods: 5) Reading and Writing skills |
presenting oneself and one’s own
ideas; giving and asking for information, writing letters to problem pages in
newspapers; making complaints |
|
|
14. use references (Class periods: 4) Reading, Listening |
recognizing and using word references
and study skills |
|
|
15. read maps, charts, graphs etc. (Class periods: 4) Reading and Speaking skills |
identifying locations;
comprehending and explaining; arguing; justifying/defending opinions |
imperatives, statements, cohesive
devices, sentence connectors |
Analysis: The National Curriculum with NCTB Textbook
Objectives:
In
the National Curriculum 2012 (classes
9-10), there are eight objectives that reflect on almost all the units in NCTB
textbook (English for Today, Classes
9-10). Each unit of the textbook is designed based on the four skills language
and learners’ real life situations of learners (Objective No.1 and 2). While
the learners go through the units and the tasks of those units, they will
acquire the necessary grammar competence and will develop creativity and
critical thinking which will make them independent learners of English
(Objective No. 3, 4 and 5). Some units are specially designed based on the
objectives of the curriculum. For example, 13 and 14 units of the textbook are
designed based on the objective number 6 and 7. From these two units, learners
will learn to utilize language skills for information technology and will
develop language skills by reading literary pieces.
However, all the units of the textbook are designed by such way so that the learners can use English to communicate in their real life and make the proper use of English that will help them to make skilled human resources.
Learning outcomes:
The
learning outcomes of the National Curriculum
2012 reflect on are exactly being represented on the learning outcomes of
the textbook. Almost all the learning outcomes of the curriculum have been used
repeatedly and randomly in the textbook’s learning outcomes, and many learning
outcomes of the curriculum go with two or more learning outcomes of the units
in the textbook. For example, the learning outcomes of first unit of the
textbook go with the learning outcomes number 1, 3, 6, 11 & 12 of the
curriculum, where as other learning
outcomes of curriculum partially matched with the learning outcomes of this
unit. On the other hand, the learning outcomes of unit two and three are much
more similar with unit one, but there is one learning outcome in the second
unit that is the representation the learning outcome number 15 from the
curriculum. In unit four, five, six, seven & eight, the learning outcomes
are almost same without one or two learning outcomes. We can compare the
learning outcomes the number 4, 6, 10, 13 &15. The learning outcomes ‘Listen
for specific information’, ‘ask and tell about problems/ ask and answer
questions’ and ‘participate in conversations and discussions’ are seen in
mostly all in units that are directly extracted from the curriculum. And the
last bullet/ number of outcomes in unit eight is extracted from the learning
outcome number 1 of the curriculum.
Some
learning of unit Nine, Ten, Eleven and
Twelve are similar to each other. But in these units, there are some learning
outcomes (e: g: read intensively and extensively, write formal letters,
exchange personal information) that are similar to the learning outcomes in
curriculum (e: g: learning outcomes: 5, 11, 13). The learning outcomes 8 and 9
(in curriculum) are reflected in unit thirteen and fourteen, where the other learning
outcomes are reflected from the curriculum, such as outcomes number 3, 6, 11,
13.
However,
all the learning outcomes of the National
Curriculum are reflected on the units in the textbook that has fulfilled
the criteria of the curriculum.
Functions:
Depending
on the functions of the national curriculum, the tasks and the learning
outcomes of the textbook are designed. The learning outcomes of unit one, two
and three are similar to the function number 1, 2, 3, 6, 11 and 12 in the
curriculum though some parts of these functions go with the learning outcomes
of the other units. The learning outcomes of four are made based on the
functions number 4, 10, 11 & 15 of the curriculum.
Unit
five emphasizes on all the four language skills that reflect on the learning
outcomes of the unit which are designed based on functions number 4, 11, 12
& 13 and partially other functions of the curriculum. The learning outcomes
of unit six, seven, eight are the representation of the function number 1, 2,
10 & 11. In unit nine and ten, the learning outcomes are illustrated based
on the function number 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 & 11 of the curriculum. The learning
outcomes of unit eleven and twelve are written depending on the function
numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 & 11.
Each
unit of the textbook are illustrated based on the functions of the curriculum,
but some units highlight some more specific functions, such as functions number
1, 2, 6, 10 & 11 are exist almost in all units and some functions are
partially reflected on some units. However all functions of the curriculum are
successfully represented on the all units of the textbook.
Language points:
While
learners will go through the each units of the textbook, they will also learn
some language points. In unit one and two, the language point number 1, 2, 3
& 6 of the curriculum go with the learning outcomes of these units. But
most of the language points are repeatedly and randomly repeated on every unit.
For example, to narrate or describe something, we need tense, determiners,
auxiliary verbs, adverbs, adjectives and
adverbials, yes/no and wh-questions, sentence connectors etc. Which are also
needed in unit one, two, four, eight, eleven, twelve and thirteen. Moreover, we
use the same language points to ask or give answers, to take part in debate or
conversation, writing and so many. In unit four, the last learning outcome
requires imperatives, statements, and cohesive devices, sentence connections
which are mentioned in language point number 15 and in some other language
point of the curriculum.
In unit twelve, there are some learning outcomes for which the specific language points are needed for exchanging personal information, it needs language point number 5, and to narrate incidents and event in a logical sequence, it requires cohesive devises which are mentioned in language point number 6; moreover, to present own ideas and give information, it needs language point number 4 from the curriculum. All units’ learning outcomes demand many language points which are given in the curriculum. So, we can say that the language points of the curriculum reflect on the learning outcomes of the textbook.
References
National Curriculum and Textbook Board. (2012). National Curriculum (Classes VI-X). Retrieved 21 July 2018, from http://www.portalnctb.gov.bd/cmp/curriculum/ English1440352774.pdf
NCTB. (2014). English For Today (Classes 9-10). Dhaka: National Curriculum and Textbook
Board.
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