A guide to a textbook-free approach to world languages curriculums that will improve learning outcomes
Open architecture curricular design (OCAD) is a textbook-free curricular design framework for teaching and learning world languages that integrates all the best practices in world language education to enhance learning efficiency and effectiveness. As editors and pioneers of this method, Corin, Leaver, and Campbell define OCAD for world language instructors and second language acquisition researchers from middle school through higher education and beyond.
The book's chapters demonstrate how to use OCAD for a wide variety of languages and proficiency levels in government, service academy, and university programs. Topics covered include the use of authentic texts at all levels, learner involvement in the selection of content and activities, and methods of assessment and program evaluation.
Reviews
"This groundbreaking volume productively combines theory and practice. Through engaging examples, author-practitioners demonstrate that open architecture curricular design is both effective and feasible. They show how OACD principles—learner agency, instructor mentorship, flexibility, and focus on authentic materials—can be implemented at all levels of language instruction and program design."—Karen Evans-Romaine, professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
"Corin, Leaver, and Campbell's volume provides readers with an extraordinary introduction to open architecture curricular design (OACD). The volume is extremely helpful for language instructors, program directors, department chairs, and all those responsible for supervising language learning programs in any context precisely because it identifies strategies, through OACD, to identify and build on learner motivation in the context of constantly changing international environments and an ever-renewing source of target-language texts on social media platforms."—Benjamin Rifkin, professor of Russian, provost, and senior VP for academic affairs, Fairleigh Dickinson University
About the Author
Andrew R. Corin is Professor Emeritus at the Defense Language Institute's Foreign Language Center, where he also served as associate provost. Betty Lou Leaver is the former provost and dean of the Defense Language Institute and has published twenty-one books. Christine Campbell is president of Campbell Language Consultants and previously served as associate provost of the Defense Language Institute.
