The National Curriculum Changes and their Effects on English Language Teaching in Iran

Curriculum development plays a significant role in language learning process and languageteaching. The present study explores English language teaching curriculum planning in Ministryof Education in Iran and its enactment by teachers. Needs analysis, teacher evaluation, thecriteria items for English language teaching (ELT) material development, foundation of Englishlanguage programme as well as instructional instrument are among the issues to be seen thesights around. It is argued that the gap between curriculum design and planning consequences ofa highly centralized legislation process in which local representatives (i.e. teachers) are notinvolved. Results confirmed the lack of any ELT-specific plan for material development andabsence of research-based needs assessment as the foundation of the curriculum design. As wellas, there are no certain linguistic and qualified criteria for evaluating materials and similarcomponents in teaching and training in educational system. Moreover, results indicated that thereis not only a program evaluation but also an ELT evaluation model according to internationalstandards.

Keywords:

evaluation , change , language teaching , curriculum planning , effect