New curriculum 2005 - English language for secondary schools, Form I - IV

INTRODUCTION

Tanzania is among the African countries, which just after independence began to take action on educational developments through policy formulation, reviews, adjustments and improvements. These measures include curriculum design and development so that schools meet national education objectives. English as one of the subjects taught at all educational levels, from elementary school to tertiary level, its curriculum and teaching have left those changes since then. When viewing and analyzing the English curriculum used in Tanzanian schools, particularly at the current ordinary level, we should see the changes in the latest curriculum, which led to the current curriculum we have today. The last curriculum was introduced in 1996 and was used until 2005, where the current curriculum was introduced into use as of January. The curriculum was improved to meet the needs, challenges and deficiencies of the previous one. The students received more activities; The study program focuses on the competencies of the students instead of the previous ones, which focus more on the contents. The curriculum had the challenge that it did not bring competencies, so the English standard has dramatically decreased over the years, and the main cause of this decline is insufficient teaching of English in schools following the curriculum of English. This was seen by Allen K. (2008) in & # 39; What happened to our good english? And wrote:

The curriculum and textbooks have caused this … High school students are only doing a little better and, however, secondary and tertiary education is taught in English. They may be able to enter into a simple dialogue, but usually only after having asked that the question / sentence be repeated at least once. Again, fluid and complicated structures are mostly not understood at all. Written English is a major problem. How many high school students write the almost meaningless? How are you? For my part, I’m fine and I’m still good with my daily activities. Recently, speaking with university graduates who embarked on postgraduate studies, their lack of confidence in the language was surprising. To engage in conversation, I needed to adopt very simple structures at a very slow and unnatural speed.

This was also seen previously by Cripe C and Dodd W. (1984), who suggested that the authorities work on a completely new curriculum for teaching English in schools. Such a program could take into account that many more students progress to high school from elementary school without facing a good base in the English language.

From that point of view, this article analyzes the contemporary curriculum, using some of the criteria that include adequacy, feasibility, usefulness, adequacy, content, method, scope and consistency between qualifications. Others are internal consistency, clarity and updating. These criteria will be based on their structure, objectives, strengths and weaknesses available. It is important to do so to improve the level of English in Tanzania as a language proficiency. This is because teachers, as main guides for classroom instruction, use national English programs and exams. The curriculum was designed and prepared by the Tanzania Institute of Education, under the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.

ANALYSIS

Before the analysis, the definition of curriculum is given as a summary of the course; They usually contain specific information about the course. (www.counselingcenter.uiuc.ed). The Collins Essential English Dictionary defined the curriculum as a summary or summary of the main points of a text or a course study. The analysis of the curriculum is the evaluation of the amount of the curriculum (www.counselingcenter.uiuc.ed). So, the purpose is to evaluate the quality of it developed by the institution.

The main areas analyzed in this ordinary level English study program are the top cover, the back cover, inside the top cover, the first part and the second part. The top cover features the title that begins with the United Republic of Tanzania at the top and then the Ministry of Education and Culture now switched to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, followed by an English curriculum for secondary schools, Form I – IV, 2005. page (ii) the copyright of the ministry is pronounced followed by an authority and direction designed and prepared, that is, the Tanzania Institute of Education. The next page (iii) is the table of contents.

The curriculum is generally divided into two main parts, where the first is the introduction, the objectives of education in Tanzania, the objectives of secondary education, the general competence for Form I – IV, the general objectives and the organization of the curriculum. The second part consists of class competencies and objectives followed by a table matrix design, which shows themes, sub-themes, specific objectives, patterns / structures, contexts / situations, vocabulary / phrases, teaching / learning strategies, teaching materials / learning , evaluations and number of periods with instruction time.

The introduction of the study program is well presented shortly, stating that the study program replaces the English edition of 1996, which has been deleted. It was introduced for implementation as of January 2005. The introduction could have been more attractive if it explained more the main reasons, which led to the elimination or change of the previous one. Various research skills and some levels of research are briefly described in the introduction; It could be delineated to polish the piece.

The objectives of education in Tanzania are clearly established, significant and relevant to the context of Tanzania, as well as worldwide. They touch all the disciplines of skills necessary for the human being in the world. This is written in the same way in all study programs for subjects at that level at the national level. The objectives are challenging with the availability of resources in education, both physical and human infrastructure in its entirety to meet the needs. In the report presented at the Commonwealth Conference of Ministers in Halifax, Canada 2000; by the Minister of Education and Culture at the time says that; Despite the efforts of the government and the private sector to provide secondary education in the country, the subsector had a shortage of science teachers, especially in rural areas, shortage of laboratories, shortage of equipment and other basic educational materials … It means The objectives are clearly established but not easy to achieve successfully.

The following section analyzes the feasibility of the objectives of secondary education in Tanzania. The part began by defining secondary education as an offer of formal post-primary education for students who successfully completed seven years of primary education and who met the qualification requirements required to enter. The objectives are set to make the program implementable and feasible. However, it carries behavioral elements & # 39; approaches that emphasize the use of reinforcement and repetition. The challenge is how to meet the necessary packages to meet those goals. Obanya P. (2006) had seen it and noted that Africa is still behind other regions of the world in its effort to achieve the goals of EFA (Education for All). Thus to Tanzania among the African countries. In addition, he said that the successes and sustainability of the new vision of high school in African governments show an appropriate level of political will … intensify the reform process, mobilize the necessary resources, ensure a participatory process, etc.

The general competencies for Form I – IV in the second part are relevant and, if so, the changes achieved must be seen. Skills were added to this curriculum to meet the objectives of teaching English in high schools by focusing on student-centered education (LCE) instead of teacher-centered education (TCE), which was previously insufficiently teacher of language Allen K; (ibid) supported the transformation and said that things could have improved in the early 2000s with the opening of the school textbook market to private publishers and multiple textbooks allowed. However, standards in teaching English had already declined by then, and many teachers were not equipped to be able to choose the best books for their purposes. Teachers have taken the system of multiple textbooks in the sense that they choose a book from a selection of many, so they still only use one textbook. In reality, general competences collaborate with national objectives.

The study program is useful and effective, so the general objectives are described to allow the student to acquire knowledge and skills to practice and use the language in specific environments and notable performances. They include speaking and writing skills, reading skills, communication and demonstration skills. These are forms of skills that Burt C. et al. (1933) classified them as skills, concepts, relationships and strategies. They said that these four categories should not be considered hierarchically linked in the learning process, they are largely interactive. If a student acquires the objectives described in depth, he / she would be competent to use the English language in the world of information and communication technologies. It is clear that these objectives were derived from the national objectives because they meet them.

Class-level competencies are statements, which specify the skills that students are expected to achieve before the class objectives found at the beginning of the content of each class level. The objectives are statements of behavior that are established immediately after the class competitions that each student will exhibit at the end of the given class. These can be achieved in a class of a recommended number of students that does not exceed thirty-five in class at a time and with the competence of a teacher. However, in the crowded classes of Tanzania, the environment of more than sixty students is very difficult to achieve such goals. Sumra S. (2000) noted that education policy should be clarified by focusing on “entries” # 39; or & # 39; departures & # 39; and the meaning of what is expected of all teachers and how it will be monitored and measured. Prior and in-service services should focus on teaching competence. The effectiveness of human and physical infrastructure must be guaranteed and carried out in our schools so that the objectives are achieved.

The skills and objectives at the class level in each Form are not the same. They are articulated according to the arrangements of the topics in specific form and the expected behavioral changes. Class-level competition is appropriate in scope versus students & # 39; skill level The new approach shifts the orientation of content largely, but not exclusively, from memory memorization of factual knowledge to competency-based learning, which focuses much more on understanding concepts and acquiring skills and competencies

The organization of themes and subthemes, which are in the first and second column of the curriculum design, shows that they are fully designed for the students’ ability. They decrease in number sequentially and consistently as they move towards the upper Form. While in Form I, there were sixteen subjects and twenty-four sub-themes, in Form II there were eleven subjects and fifteen sub-themes. In Form III and IV, there were six and five topics, fifteen and fourteen subthemes respectively. Some themes are repeated more than once but in advanced form. For example, & # 39; Expressing opinion and feelings & # 39; It appeared on Forms I, II and III. & # 39; Speaking of events & # 39; e & # 39; Interpret literary work & # 39; appeared on Forms I and II, while ‘Listening to information from different sources’, ‘Literary reading’ and ’39’; and & # 39; Write content and appropriate language style & # 39; appeared in form III and IV respectively. However, the themes are consistent and have sequential arrangements. The entire curriculum has an internal consistency of credentials between the components and their scope of content.

When organizing the topics and other subtitles, the structure of the curriculum is in the form of a matrix. Form I classes, for example, have sixteen subjects and twenty four sub-themes. Both are relevant to their level and the continuity of the issues is maintained accordingly, from simple to difficult, and there is a link between them. The same applies until Form IV. The objectives in each topic and sub-themes are clearly articulated in Form I-IV, to comply with the expected behavior change. The analysis of the themes and subthemes shows that there is continuity and link between the themes because the subthemes are presented under the main themes. This allows the teacher to understand and relate the issues to concepts and ideas. Behavior change is taken into account during lesson planning that must be taught to ensure autonomy. Autonomy refers to the student’s ability to organize their own learning activities.

The patterns or structures and the variety of activities are relevant and adequately provide sufficient learning in each form presented in the curriculum. It suggests the use of varied activities that include demonstrations, dramatizations, oral drills and dialogue writings, songs, role plays and games. These activities provide a vital role for students to master language skills, however, the nature of most Tanzanian classes and teacher shortages is a challenge to achieve successfully.

The context / situations are provided in abundance and this will depend on how the responsible teacher chooses them based on the natural environment of the learning environment. The natural environment helps students know the skills they acquire in their environment even after school. The option of vocabularies and phrases provided is sufficient and relevant to the level of the students.

The curriculum is appropriate because in the teaching and learning strategies throughout the curriculum, students intend to develop complete speaking, writing, listening and discussing skills. They are adequately helping students achieve the objectives. It is recommended that the list not be exhausted so that the teacher uses more strategies depending on the needs when necessary. These include ear training, pronunciation and writing through the use of directives given in patterns / structures in the third column of the curriculum.

There are no doubts about teaching and learning materials because they are well presented and suggested. The only small doubt is that in rural areas, it could be difficult to access television, video and audio cassettes due to a shortage of energy supply, but with initiatives, it can be resolved. Research levels require that students can do something in the evaluation and this is very well articulated in the part. There are one hundred and eighty-four periods in a year, which shows that there are at least seven periods in Forms I and II; six periods in a week for Forms III and IV. Each period is forty minutes.

The curriculum does not offer suggestions, advice or alternative programs or prospects to be used together or instead of themselves. Again, it does not provide a list of selected text and reference books. It would be better if at least five textbooks and five reference books were suggested on each topic. The national English program serves as one of the main resources for teaching and learning English in secondary schools. Each teacher receives a copy of the national curriculum as a guide for the scope and depth of the content to be taught.

The research is explicitly emphasized in the evaluations section of the high school curriculum. This program aims to stimulate students & # 39; Curiosity and the sense of inquiry, which in turn will not only provide an adequate basis for further study of the subject, but will also provide students with sufficient knowledge and understanding to make them useful and safe citizens. The essence of such research is related to problem solving and reflection on modern business. During the course, students must acquire language skills associated with language skills. Students must develop attitudes of a second language, such as open mindedness and willingness to recognize alternative language skills. Moulali S. (2006) said that the main objective of improving the quality of education is to have a curriculum that responds to the market, with an efficient and effective delivery system that allows the recipient to have confidence in the modern company.

Also in the evaluation, the teacher is required to ensure that students are evaluated on all objectives in consideration of learning outcomes. It is explained that the evaluation provides space for equity, as well as to improve students & # 39; Development of high level of thinking. The teacher should evaluate students in all language skills using paper pencil assessments, interviews, observation, portfolios, projects and questionnaires. These are the majority of the techniques for active and participatory learning. Active learning or student-centered education (LCE) is considered an effective antidote to the prevalence of teacher-centered teaching classroom practices, which is widely claimed to support passive learning and suffocation of critical and creative thinking (Rowell and Prophet 1990). The promotion of LCE is directly associated with ambitions of high development, such as economic development or social restructuring. LCE conforms to modern pedagogical ideals to focus on the provision of a platform for the development of knowledge, skills and competencies for innovation, social development and economic growth. LCE requires moving from the learning of commonly pure content and the memorization of facts to the ability to learn to learn, to the inclusion of methodological and social skills and competences in the learning process, to the understanding of generic concepts of a higher order.

DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In its entirety, the curriculum is well organized and successfully presented to meet the expected results. It has the desirable aspects of quality, continuity, autonomy and discussion. It is also updated because it is relevant to the current situation of the nation and the world in general. These current problems include AIDS in Form II, ozone depletion, global warming and environmental conservation in Form III.

The objectives and competencies are clearly constructed and established to meet the expected results, including national and individual goals in English language skills. Language is vital for everyone to communicate and this is where you can get access to cognitive skills, knowledge, technologies, attitudes and values. The objective of this program is to have a receptive curriculum that addresses the skills needs of the population and an efficient and effective delivery system for the curriculum. This would mean an adequate and qualified number of teachers, as well as sufficient and appropriate teaching and learning materials O-saki, K. and A. Ndabili. (2003) They must be available in all schools to increase student achievement and appropriate mechanisms to assess learning competencies. This is a challenge in the context of Tanzania, but (World Bank Report 2007) said that to achieve the education objective, the emphasis must be directed to the expansion of facilities through the provision of development subsidies to schools . Policy measures such as increasing the average number of students per teacher, increasing the average number of teaching periods per week, increasing class size, especially in upper secondary school, expanding open and distance learning programs, reducing school fees Enroll in half and provide scholarships to poor household students.

As mentioned earlier, the program does not include a number of texts and reference books to use at least five in each Form. This is left to the school administration and the subject teacher to choose several books to use. This is a very good decision, but the challenge is; Can all schools manage to buy these books as needed? The answer is that even private schools, despite the collection of their school fees, cannot affect their textbook needs. The African Development Bank (2000) comments that it was discovered that the general supply of textbooks to schools was inefficient, since the supply of books is not always based on accurate information about schools. This approach to providing textbooks also does not encourage the flourishing of local publishers and local book providers. According to the SEDP (secondary education development program), schools receive capitation grants that they use to purchase learning and teaching materials, including textbooks. This allows schools to purchase the books they need and in the amounts they can afford, but not the recommended needs.

The evaluation section of the curriculum establishes that at the end of Form IV students are expected to perform a general performance evaluation to determine the extent to which the objectives of the English course have been achieved. This can be achieved if at all stages of the teaching and learning process, (LCE) adhered with sufficient supply of learning materials. Several studies indicate that the implementation of LCE in the classroom is problematic (Jansen 1999; Chisholm 2000; Leyendecker 2002; Ottevanger 2001). When the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have tried to implement a student-centered education, the actual instructional processes were far from ideal. One of the problems is that the teacher is considered by societies and culturally determined interpretations of authority and teaching, including students & # 39; perceptions, as a knowledge provider and bearer of authority. These perceptions and the resulting behavior in the classroom will not change overnight. Although the Prophet’s report dates back to 1995, his observation that teachers rather adapt their teaching to fit their “worldview” and their perceptions of teaching, is repeated continuously and is supported by other studies.

Another challenge is that, contrary to the pedagogical ideal, the vast majority of students are not very active and visible, probably because they have never given the opportunity. Although there is little research on students & # 39; The experiences of curricular reforms, numerous comments and observations point to the fact that students struggle with their new roles, which assign them the expected curricular changes. Students frequently share with teachers a common perception of what teaching means, and are resistant to changes that do not fit this perception. In addition, students & # 39; Attitudes about learning and discipline have covered aspects of international youth cultures. Students who welcome the opening of the classrooms and changing a strict organization and discipline in the classroom, have problems to significantly fill the additional space and freedom. Students are powerful influencers of change and can be obstructive if the required instructional attitudes and practices do not meet their expectations. This is happening in several high schools in our country. Both students and teachers cannot jump from the current classroom situation and culture to desirable desirable behavior. Transition time is needed for changes to be instilled in the minds of teachers and students. However, both can grow and gradually adapt to new roles that are beneficial for teaching and learning. For this growth process to take place, support structures must be available, but they are often absent or very limited in scope and deadlines.

SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the main practical challenges for improving the curriculum and the quality of instruction that are often neglected for development is that teachers must have a solid knowledge of the content to be flexible to adapt to different ways of thinking of students and being able to relate to emerging questions and problems without being challenged in their position. Due to their own learning and education experiences, knowledge of the content of many teachers in Tanzania’s classrooms is limited, so in-service programs to improve teacher knowledge are essential. Teachers must have a solid knowledge of instructional methodologies, their objectives and potential. Teachers need assistance and space to learn about instructional methodologies. Teachers & # 39; Roles change from knowledge providers to facilitators, and changes in roles must be understood and accepted by teachers, students and society alike.

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