Incorporating outcome-based teaching/ learning methods into a curriculum

Abstract

Recent attempts at curriculum revision and development regarding the teaching of various disciplines, including the teaching of foreign languages, in higher educational institutes tend to use outcome-based educational approaches, considering the need to adopt modern concepts of education that aim at enhancing the productivity of education. For the process of reviewing recent teaching/ learning methods, and especially before designing a curriculum, feedback from learners and teachers is crucial. This research investigated how to incorporate outcome-based teaching/ learning methods into a curriculum of teaching Hindi as a foreign language in a degree curriculum in Sri Lanka. It analyzed the perceptions of graduates, undergraduates, and university teachers about various teaching/ learning methods used in education and examined the feasibility of incorporating outcome-based teaching/ learning methods into a curriculum of teaching Hindi as a foreign language in a university in Sri Lanka. The primary data was collected mainly through a perception survey conducted online. Recent graduates, undergraduates, and university teachers of the Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in Hindi offered by the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka were taken for the survey. In addition to the online survey, a semi-structured phone interview with a stakeholder was conducted to get further suggestions. A mixed-method approach was used to analyze data. It was found that the use of an eclectic approach to teaching of a foreign language, particularly the use of technology to support teaching/ learning, the encouragement of autonomy of the learner, while mediating between learner-centered approaches and teacher-centered approaches,, and fostering exposure to the foreign language were possible steps that could be taken to incorporate outcome-based teaching/ learning methods into a curriculum of teaching Hindi as a foreign language in a university degree program in Sri Lanka.