Conclusion
Researchers have pointed out that the purposes of evaluation are development and
accountability (Rea-Dickins and Germaine, 1992; as cited in Kiely and Rea-Dickins, 2009).
These authors explain that development involves improvement of a programme, not only for
future students, but also for current students. They argue that it involves reflection on the
learning materials used, changing teaching techniques and strategies, and together with
these dimensions of practice, the teacher‟s own professional learning, especially when the
evaluation takes place at the same time as the curriculum is being designed. On the other
hand, accountability involves explicit attention to issues that students raise, so that they can
see that their situation is being recognized, and also documentation of these processes, so
that more remote stakeholders within the institution and beyond can be assured that
students are listened to, and that the development of the programme involves active
attention to their experiences of learning. This research has taken these criteria into account.
Thus, the author has decided to use the in-depth technique of interviews especially for
students.
This paper has examined the teaching component of the English language program in an
international Japanese university with special focus on the reading, writing and vocabulary
skills. When evaluating a curriculum, the researcher must try to gather as much data as
possible from different sources. Following its main focus, this paper has presented findings
and analysis from interviews, observations and document analysis, especially done during
the class observations. In the first section of the paper, an overview and major challenges of
English Language Teaching in the Japanese context, specifically at tertiary level was
provided. Then, the researcher provided details on the English curriculum that is the object
of study of the paper by explaining the revisions that had been made to it in 2011 as well as
its main objectives and class structure. The analysis of the collected data was carried out
based on Brown‟s (1995) framework of curriculum design and evaluation; and the case study
design. The last section of the paper presented the results and discussion based on the
interviews to students and teachers as well as observations of reading, writing and
vocabulary classes as part of the teaching component of the curriculum being examined.
From the data collected for the evaluation of these skills, the researcher has concluded that
teachers have been able to begin running the revised curriculum successfully. However,
even though class frequency, credit completion requirements and attendance has increased
and has become more demanding for students, there is still need for more detailed revision
on the ways students can use English more meaningfully. Regarding the class content of the