Guided or misguided?: Teachers’ evaluation of an English curriculum guide in the Philippines

Abstract

Evaluation of a curriculum and all other aspects related to it, including the use of materials for both teachers and learners, is meant to refine educational programs and later use the results as inputs toward improved teaching and learning. This paper reports on a textual evaluation of the existing curriculum guide in 10 th grade English under the newly implemented K to 12 Basic Education Program in the Philippines. A total of 30 Grade 10 English teachers from selected public secondary schools in Tarlac Province, the Philippines evaluated the content of the curriculum material using the criteria set by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) intended for English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum guides. The evaluation revealed that the material generally suffices the criteria needed for a language curriculum guide. However, it was found that the reading content of the curriculum guide hardly meets the criteria for the ELA reading component and that the design of the material needs more clarity in relation to the language used and to its overall presentation or format. Other problems identified include overlapping, repetitive, and too many objectives for each language strand that do not match the time allotted in teaching English 10 in the Philippines. Inadequacy on the content in terms of developing learners' multilingual, multiliteracies (specifically media literacy), multicultural, and grammar skills were also perceived as problems by the teachers. The study finally underscores the importance of involving classroom teachers in the processes of creating, selecting, and evaluating curriculum materials, which are considered as integral phases in the language-curriculum-development process.