A Case Study Evaluation of Curriculum of English Subject for Lower Secondary School in Cambodia

Abstract

English Language is one of the most spoken languages in the world of today. English becomes a popular language being used by world communities and is being recognized for global interaction especially when nations that speak different languages are involved in business and diplomatic relations. English as Foreign Language is a common subject which set up in school curriculum in educational system in most of the non-English native countries. With the formation of the Royal Government of Cambodia after 1993 UNTAC-sponsored elections, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) started to introduce English as foreign subject in the curriculum from lower-secondary schools to tertiary education institutions. Currently, English language is the main concerning issue of Cambodian people especially for the students who need to get the qualified English to challenge in ASEAN integration as well as to keep Cambodia regionalization and globalization. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of English language curriculum of the public lower secondary schools namely grades 7th, 8th, 9th and to identify strengths and weakness of the existing syllabus. The qualitative method were applied by using semistructure interview in this study. The model used for evaluating the program was one proposed by Kirkpatrick (1998). This model entails 4 levels of evaluation to carry out while evaluating education programs. Reaction, Learning, Behavior and Results. The research questions focused in this study are all in line with these four levels. The data were collected from three subjects of participant such as students, teachers and principals by interviewing include class observation at the fieldwork in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Results of the study indicated that the English curriculum of lower secondary school in Cambodia not yet meet the target goal and still keep in consideration to revise and update due to several issues.