Curriculum takes content (from external standards and local goals) and shapes it into a plan for how to conduct effective teaching and learning. It is thus more than a list of topics and lists of key facts and skills (the “input” ). It is a map of how to achieve the “outputs” of desired student performance, in which appropriate learning activities and assessments are suggested to make it more likely that students achieve the desired results (Wiggins and McTighe, 2006: 6).
In language teaching, Input refers to the linguistic content of a course. It seems logical to assume that before we can teach a language, we need to decide what linguistic content to teach. Once content has been selected it then needs to be organized into teachable and learnable units as well as arranged in a rational sequence. The result is a syllabus. There are many different conceptions of a language syllabus. Different approaches to syllabus design reflect different understandings of the nature of language and different views as to what the essential building blocks of language proficiency are, such as vocabulary, grammar, functions or text types. Criteria for the selection of syllabus units include fre- quency, usefulness, simplicity, learnability and authenticity. Once input has been deter- mined, issues concerning teaching methods and the design of classroom activities and materials can be addressed. These belong to the domain of process.