10 From research to a national curriculum: The case of a lexical syllabus
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Batia Laufer
Abstract
The interface between research and policy-making requires sound research- based evidence for informed decisions and accessibility of this evidence to decision-makers. In this chapter I discuss research that should inform the construction of a lexical syllabus, and as a case in point, I report on the lexical syllabus in the new English Curriculum in Israel. The construction of the syllabus involved collaboration between researchers, teachers, textbook writers, curriculum planners, assessment specialists, and education administrators. This collaboration followed the pragmatic model of relations between research and policy-making since both sides’ views and expertise complemented each other. The lexical syllabus consists of vocabulary bands taught at different learning stages. The following research findings and collaborations (in brackets) were behind its design: gaps between learners’ lexical knowledge and the amount of lexis necessary for performing language tasks (curriculum designers, researchers, teachers, assessment specialists, ministry administrators); vocabulary treatment in textbooks: amount of exposure and type of activities (researchers, curriculum designers, and textbook writers); challenges in reaching the productive level of word knowledge (researchers, students, textbook writers, curriculum designers); establishing a new word counting unit - the Nuclear Word Family (researchers and curriculum designers); importance and difficulty of multi-word units (researchers, curriculum designers); presentation of words with multiple meanings (researchers and curriculum designers); representation of orthographic patterns (researchers and curriculum designers). I show how the above findings have been incorporated into the lexical syllabus and how they will be implemented in textbooks and classroom practices.
Abstract
The interface between research and policy-making requires sound research- based evidence for informed decisions and accessibility of this evidence to decision-makers. In this chapter I discuss research that should inform the construction of a lexical syllabus, and as a case in point, I report on the lexical syllabus in the new English Curriculum in Israel. The construction of the syllabus involved collaboration between researchers, teachers, textbook writers, curriculum planners, assessment specialists, and education administrators. This collaboration followed the pragmatic model of relations between research and policy-making since both sides’ views and expertise complemented each other. The lexical syllabus consists of vocabulary bands taught at different learning stages. The following research findings and collaborations (in brackets) were behind its design: gaps between learners’ lexical knowledge and the amount of lexis necessary for performing language tasks (curriculum designers, researchers, teachers, assessment specialists, ministry administrators); vocabulary treatment in textbooks: amount of exposure and type of activities (researchers, curriculum designers, and textbook writers); challenges in reaching the productive level of word knowledge (researchers, students, textbook writers, curriculum designers); establishing a new word counting unit - the Nuclear Word Family (researchers and curriculum designers); importance and difficulty of multi-word units (researchers, curriculum designers); presentation of words with multiple meanings (researchers and curriculum designers); representation of orthographic patterns (researchers and curriculum designers). I show how the above findings have been incorporated into the lexical syllabus and how they will be implemented in textbooks and classroom practices.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Addressing challenges in the classroom
- 1 Combining theory and practice: Findings from a collaborative project on oral task design 11
- 2 Improving second language education through Intensive German Weeks: An action research collaboration between teachers and researchers 29
- 3 An affordance-focused approach for working with authentic materials: A practice–research initiative 41
-
Part 2: Learners as collaborative agents
- 4 Reciprocity and challenge in researcher–student collaborative labour in a multilingual secondary school 59
- 5 The organic processes of learning in an exploratory collaborative action research (CAR) project 71
- 6 Managing linguistic diversity in an Irish primary school: Reciprocal collaboration in practice and research 85
-
Part 3: Collaborative research in professional development
- 7 Collaboration, reciprocity, and challenges: Professional development-in-practice 101
- 8 Teachers and researchers collaborating to develop effective language education: The project Observing Interlanguage 119
- 9 Learning to become an English teacher: Collaboration, context and the self 133
-
Part 4: Collaborative research and national policy
- 10 From research to a national curriculum: The case of a lexical syllabus 151
- 11 Tensions in collaborative research with teachers in the context of language education policy change in Finland 165
- 12 National graduate schools in language education: Dimensions of collaboration and reciprocity 179
-
Afterword
- 13 An ethical perspective on collaborative research 197
- Contributors 207
- Index 211
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Addressing challenges in the classroom
- 1 Combining theory and practice: Findings from a collaborative project on oral task design 11
- 2 Improving second language education through Intensive German Weeks: An action research collaboration between teachers and researchers 29
- 3 An affordance-focused approach for working with authentic materials: A practice–research initiative 41
-
Part 2: Learners as collaborative agents
- 4 Reciprocity and challenge in researcher–student collaborative labour in a multilingual secondary school 59
- 5 The organic processes of learning in an exploratory collaborative action research (CAR) project 71
- 6 Managing linguistic diversity in an Irish primary school: Reciprocal collaboration in practice and research 85
-
Part 3: Collaborative research in professional development
- 7 Collaboration, reciprocity, and challenges: Professional development-in-practice 101
- 8 Teachers and researchers collaborating to develop effective language education: The project Observing Interlanguage 119
- 9 Learning to become an English teacher: Collaboration, context and the self 133
-
Part 4: Collaborative research and national policy
- 10 From research to a national curriculum: The case of a lexical syllabus 151
- 11 Tensions in collaborative research with teachers in the context of language education policy change in Finland 165
- 12 National graduate schools in language education: Dimensions of collaboration and reciprocity 179
-
Afterword
- 13 An ethical perspective on collaborative research 197
- Contributors 207
- Index 211
