Assessing the Alignment of English Extracurriculum with Language Programme Goals.

Abstract

Extracurricular activities play an important role in foreign languages as well as in other subject matters in supporting the educational world. However, it remains uncertain whether these activities align with the goals of the standard programme. Hence, the current study investigates the alignment of English extracurricular activities with the universal language programme goals that are taken from the ideologies of curriculum proposed by Richards (2001). Each ideology reflects a diverse perspective on education sourced from politics, culture, society, and other domains. For that reason, four research questions are posed: (1) Do English extracurricular activities align with language programmes goals? (2) To what extent do English extracurricular activities contribute to achieve the goals of language programmes? (3) What are the reasons guiding the design of English extracurricular activities? (4) What are pupils' reasons for taking English extracurricular activities? Two questionnaires are designed for the purpose of answering these questions. One questionnaire is administered to 50 teachers who have dual experience in teaching at secondary school and in extracurricular activities. The other questionnaire is distributed to a sample of 200 secondary school pupils who take English extracurricular activities. Both questionnaires include a form of a Likert scale that is aimed to answer the first and the second research questions using statistical analysis in terms of mean values. The research results indicate that English extracurricular activities align with the aims of academic rationalism and learner-centeredness ideologies for pupils. Furthermore, teachers perceive that in addition to these ideologies, those activities also align with the aims of cultural pluralism ideology. Moreover, it reveals that pupils' main concern in taking these activities is achieving academic success, while teachers aim to supplement their teaching process. Finally, the research recommends realizing the value of the language with all its sides and not just focusing on reaching academic success.