Environment

Environment

Analysis

Environment analysis (Tessmer, 1990) involves looking at the factors that will

have a strong effect on decisions about the goals of the course, what to

include in the course, and how to teach and assess it. These factors can arise

from the learners, the teachers, and the teaching and learning situation.

Environment analysis is also called “situation analysis” (Richards, 2001) or

“constraints analysis”. A constraint can be positive in curriculum design. For

example, a constraint could be that the teachers are all very highly trained

and are able and willing to make their own class activities. This would have a

major effect on curriculum design as much of the format and presentation

work could be left to the teachers. In some models of curriculum design,

environment analysis is included in needs analysis.

Environment analysis is an important part of curriculum design because at

its most basic level it ensures that the course will be usable. For example, if

the level of training of the teachers is very low and is not taken into account,

it might happen that the teachers are unable to handle the activities in the

course. Similarly, if the course material is too expensive or requires technology

and copying facilities that are not available, the course may be unusable.

There are many factors that could affect curriculum design, so as a part of

the procedure of environment analysis, the curriculum designer should

decide which factors are the most important. The importance of a factor

depends on:

1 whether the course will still be useful if the factor is not taken into

account

2 how large and pervasive the effect of the factor is on the course.

An Example of Environment Analysis

Here is an example of an environment analysis on a course for young

Japanese learners aged six to nine years old who had lived in Englishspeaking

countries while their parents were posted there. During their time

overseas they learned quite a lot of English in much the same way as nativespeaking

learners do. On their return to Japan, once a week for one and

a half hours they attended a special class to help maintain their English. They

all could speak Japanese and were attending Japanese medium schools in

Japan.

The important constraints on the special second language maintenance

class were as follows.

1 There was very limited class time and contact time with English.

2 There would be a drop in the learners’ interest in learning English as

they identified more strongly with Japan and being Japanese.

3 The learners knew that they could communicate more easily with each

other in Japanese than in English.

4 There was a range of levels of English proficiency with some learners

appearing to be veryproficient for their age.

5 The learners had been learning English in much the same ways as native

speakers acquire their first language

These constraints could have the following effects on curriculum design.

1 Parents should be guided in giving their children some extra contact

with English.

2 The activities should be fun so that the children look forward to doing

them for their own sake.

3 Some of the activities should carry over to the next class so that the

children look forward to continuing them.

4 The activities should be largely teacher-centred rather than group or

pair work.

5 Most of the activities should be meaning-focused. Language-focused

activities should mainly involve correction

This would mean using activities like the following.

1 Listening to a serial story.

2 Reading comics and other high-interest material.

3 Listening and speaking games.

4 Writing to be “published” or read aloud.

5 Learners giving talks to the group, e.g. show and tell.

6 Reading at home and reporting to the class.

7 Diary writing to the teacher or a secret friend.

8 High-success quizzes and activities with awards.

9 Production of a newsletter where everyone gets a mention.

10 Pen pals.

11 Watching English movies and TV programmes.

12 Playing video games that use English.

13 Production of a play, etc.