The origin of Language curriculum development

Harold Palmer, the prominent British applied linguist who laid the foundation for the structure method in the 1920s, summarized the principles of language teaching methodology at that time as follows:
1. Initial Preparation – orienting the students towards language learning
2. Habit-forming – establishing correct habits.
3. Accuracy – avoiding inaccurate language
4. Gradation – each stage prepares the student for the next
5. Proportion – each aspect of language given emphasis
6. Concreteness – movement from the concrete to the abstract
7. Interest – arousing the student’s interest at all times
8. Order of progression – hearing before speaking, and both before writing
9. Multiple line of approach – many different ways used to teach the language.

This came to be known as the problem of selection. Mackey (1965, 161) comments: selection is an inherent Characteristic of all methods. Since it is impossible to teach the whole of language, all methods must in some way or other, whether intentionally or not, select the part of it they intend to teach.” The field of selection in language teaching deals with the choice of appropriate units of the language for teaching purposes and with the development of techniques and procedures by which the language can be reduced to that which is most useful to the learner (Mackey 1965). All teaching, of course, demands choice of what will be taught from the total field of the subject, and the teaching of a language at any level and under any circumstances requires the selection of certain features of the language and the intentional or unintentional exclusion of other. Two aspects of selection received primary attention in the first few decades of the twentieth century: vocabulary selection and grammar selection. Approaches to these aspects of selection laid to the foundation for syllabus design in language teaching
B. VOCABULARY SELECTION
Vocabulary is one of the most obvious components of language and one of the first things applied linguist turned their attention to. The issue of vocabulary selection is that not all words that native speakers known are useful for language learners who have only a limited time available for learning. In this case, native speakers are thought to have a recognition vocabulary about 17.000 words. How many words that should be student known? It depends on objectives of the course and the amount of time available for teaching. In vocabulary selection, word frequencies are important in planning word lists for language teaching.
The most frequent words occurring in samples of sports writing will not be same as those occurring in fiction. Other important things especially in determining vocabulary or word lists, such as:
 Teachability : by following Direct Method or a method such as Total Physical Response. In this case, concrete vocabulary is taught early on because it can be illustrated easily through pictures or demonstration.
 Similarity : some items may be selected because they are similar to words in the native language. For example, English and French have many cognates such as table, page, notion, etc and this may justify in their inclusion of word list for French-speaking learners.
 Availability : some words may not be frequent but are readily available in the sense that they come quickly to mind when certain topics are thought of. For example, classroom calls to mind desk, chair, teacher, and pupil, and these words can be useful and be worth teaching early in a course.
 Coverage : Words that cover or include the meaning of other words may also be useful. For example, seat might be taught because it includes other meaning like stool, bench, and chair.
 Defining Power : some words could be selected because they are useful in defining other words, even though they are the most frequent words in a language. For example, container might be useful because it can help define bucket, jar, and carton.
C. GRAMMAR SELECTION AND GRADATION
In regard to teaching English, from the 1930s applied linguist began to apply principles of selection to design of gramatical syllabuses. In grammar, selection has closely relation to the issue of gradation. Gradatio is concerne with the grouping and sequencing of teaching items in syllabus. A grammatical syllabus specifies both the set of gramatical structure to be taught and the order in which they should be taught.
The gramatical material must be graded, in accordance with the principles of gradation. The principles as basis for developing gramamatical sylabuses :
1. Simplicity and Centrality
In English learning, we will choose structure that are simple and more central to the basic srtructure of the language than those that are complex and peripheral. These criteria would occure in an introductory level-English course.
2. Learnability
Grammar syllabuses should take in to account the order of grammatical items are found in second language learning. Example, second language learner at different proficiency level:
• Noun
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Verb be
• Possessive Pronouns
• Personal Pronouns
• Adverb of time
• Request
• Simple Present
• Future
• WH – Question
• Present Continous
• Direction
• Possessive Adjective
• Comperatives
• Offers
• Simple Future
• Simple Past
• Infinitives-gerund
• First conditinal

The approaches to gradation :
1. Linguistic Distance : Structure that are similar to those in the native language should be taught first. This as assumption underlay the approach to language comparison know as Contrastive Analysis
2. Intrinssic Difficulty : this principles argues that simple structure should be taught before complex one and is the commonest criteria used to justify the sequence of grammatical items in a syllabus.
3. communicative need : some strutures will be needed early on and can’t be postponed despite their difficulty, such as the Simple Past in English, since it is difficulty to avoid making reference to past event for very long in a course.
4. Frequency : The frequency of occurrence of structures anf grammatical items in the target language may also affect the order in which they appear in a syllabus, although as we noted, little information of this sort is available to syllabus planners. Frequency may also compete with other criteria.

In addition to these factor namely, a linear or a cylical or Spiral Gradation. With a linear gradation, the items are introduced one at a time and practiced intensively before the next items appear eith a cylical gradation, items are reintroduced throuhout the course.

Assumptions Underlying Early Approaches to Syllabus Design
1. The basic units of language are vocabulary and grammar
2. Learners everywhere have the same needs
3. Learners’ needs are identified exclusively in terms of language needs
4. The process of learning a language is largely determined by the textbook
5. The context of teaching is English as a foreign language.