Giving TESOL change a chance: supporting key players in the curriculum change process

Abstract

The language of 'western' planned and managed TESOL curriculum change aid projects of the 1980s-1990s continues to have a strong influence on the terms in which the objectives of 21 st century, nationally planned TESOL curriculum change projects are expressed. Teachers continue to be expected to make the cultural and professional adjustments needed to enable objectives to be achieved.Many TESOL aid projects achieved their stated objectives only partially. The same remains true now that project planning and management are a local responsibility. An important reason for such limited success, is change planners' failure to understand what support teachers will need, when, and for how long, if they are to make the above adjustments.The paper proposes questions that TESOL curriculum change planners might ask, before finally defining their objectives. Answers to such questions will provide them with information about how teachers (those expected to implement change) are likely to experience the change process. Such information may then be used to establish systems that will help teachers feel supported by their immediate and wider environments, during the critical first few years of the change process, and so enable objectives to be more fully achieved.2

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