Abstract

This book applies social theory to curriculum design and sets out a program for language curriculum renewal for the 21st century. It includes many examples of text-based curricula and describes a plan for curriculum renewal based on texts as the unit of analysis for planning, for teaching and for assessment. Underpinned by Halliday’s semiotic theory of language, the book combines the theory of language as a resource for meaning-making with learning language as learning to mean. The curriculum design constructs curriculum around social practices and their texts rather than presenting language as grammatical and lexical objects. This work will provide teachers, teacher educators and curriculum planners with a curriculum model for teaching children and adults in different contexts from preschool to adult education as well as serving as a practical guide for students.

For those who are interested in a book that looks at how to redesign a curriculum to include more social theory in the classroom, this would be a good book to begin with...The tone of the book is scholarly but very accessible, allowing teachers who have not had intense training in curriculum planning or social theory to be able to use this book in addition to those who have...Overall, this book is helpful for those who wish to approach their classroom with an innovative way to teach their students as well as move towards a more student-centered classroom. It is not only for foreign/second language classrooms, which adds to its appeal for those teachers who do not only teach English language learners. It could be said that this book would be an extremely useful starting point for teachers, as it provides excellent foundational knowledge that any teacher could benefit from.

Peter Mickan is an experienced school teacher, tertiary educator and researcher. He manages and teaches in the postgraduate applied linguistics program in the Discipline of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He supervises a large research group of students who study language use, learning and teaching in different contexts from systemic functional linguistic perspectives. His research interests include language learning, bilingual education, text-based teaching applied in different languages and contexts, revival linguistics, and the development of academic literacies.

This essential and timely book for curriculum planners, language teacher educators and language teachers offers a clear, cogent and reasoned account of the current, important theories underpinning language teaching. Mickan does an unparalleled job of explaining complex theories while simultaneously acknowledging the practical needs of language teachers. The book is truly a massive step forward in language curriculum design. No other writer has linked language as social practice to curriculum development so insightfully and sensibly.

Language Curriculum Design and Socialisation is most definitely a welcome addition to the literature in curriculum design and some of the tasks and examples provided can benefit experienced teachers who are in the position of being able to design their own curriculum or are able to influence curriculum design.

Language Curriculum Design and Socialisation is a groundbreaking contribution to the literature on curriculum design in language education, and education in general. Based on social theories of language and learning, it provides a comprehensive blueprint for designing classroom language learning experiences around texts and the social practices associated with them.