This article contends that centring English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curricula on learners' specific needs is not merely advantageous but essential for fostering meaningful language acquisition. By synthesising theoretical frameworks, empirical research, and practical applications, it underscores the necessity of systematic needs analysis (NA)…

Empowering students to actively shape their learning is essential. Various student involvement models, such as design-based research, participatory design, and co-creation, emphasise students' growing role in shaping educational activities. Engaging students in course design, as seen in student co-creation, can enhance agency, improve the student…

The science curriculum to age 16 should be judged on how well it meets the needs of students who progress to A-level science courses and those (a larger number) who do not. To address the diversity of students' interests and aspirations, we need a clear view of the purposes of science education rooted in a view of the purposes of education itself.…

Looks at the role of learning counselor, which the teacher has to assume in a learner-centered approach to second language learning, and the responsibilities such a role demands. (16 references) (VWL)

The need for curricula developed specifically for junior high school students is examined. An example is presented of such a curriculum, which would cover such areas as rapid growth spurt, boredom, failure and success, strategy and skill development, competition, fitness development, activity and practice time, teacher involvement, and…

Describes educational and philosophical foundations of the Carolina Friends Middle School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which blends a conception of adolescent development with Quaker beliefs to create a community that values contributions of young people and the ideals of cooperation, responsibility, and communication. Considers the school as a…

A central concern of educational innovation is making instruction relevant to the needs and learner characteristics of individual students generally and of special subpopulations of students in particular. Current schooling often involves inappropriate learning goals, ineffectual curricular and instructional materials, discriminatory organization…

Both learner-centered education (LCE) and universal design (UD) require an instructor to be constantly reflective and flexible. But although both focus on the needs of different types of learners, until now LCE has not explicitly included students with disabilities within the array of learners it seeks to serve. And the UD movement, while it…

This document describes the efforts of program administrators to implement an organic curriculum in the Monroe, Michigan, high school. The chief program administrator coordinated curriculum revision activities to increase vocational guidance and training and to train teachers in individualized instruction methods. Organic curriculum is a learner-…

Aiming to develop both a philosophy and a rationale for student-determined course content, this paper proposes ways in which college students can determine reading content and writing assignments for their courses. An instructor and his students at the University of Illinois at Chicago developed course syllabi for English 152 (introduction to…

Examines the arguments that students should determine their own curriculum. Reviews the case for student autonomy based on philosophical anarchism and Immanuel Kant's views on autonomy. Argues that curriculum should be a result of the shared autonomy of students and teachers. (CFR)

Focuses on a telecourse funded by the Florida Department of Education to assist the State's 67 school districts in training teachers in effective English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching strategies to fulfill a requirement established by a consent decree in 1990. Showing videotapes of teachers applying learned strategies in the classroom…

Sets out the advantages of a functional/notional syllabus as opposed to a grammatical syllabus. Presents topics around which to build a functional/notional syllabus in teaching college-level French. Makes suggestions, based on students' perception of their communicative needs, for the sequencing of these materials. (PMJ)

To make a third-year communications-for-engineers course meet student needs, students were asked to identify training needs and to devise an appropriate delivery and assessment method for a course to teach oral presentations, control of meetings, teamwork skills, interview skills, curriculum vitae, and telephone skills. Industry experts were…

This book provides a wide variety of strategies for differentiating instruction for students in grades 3-12. Chapter 1 presents an overview of differentiated content, process, and product, and the role of the teacher in a differentiated classroom. Chapter 2 focuses on the first step of differentiation: gathering information about students. Chapter…