With the placement system described above, the core curriculum of FOCAL SKILLS adjusts readily to the individual needs and strengths of each student. Students skip modules that they do not need, and stay in modules that they do need for as long as they need them.
A student might spend an entire semester in the Listening Module. Or, a student might skip Listening altogether and go on to Reading for 4 weeks and Writing for 12 weeks. Or, a student might take 8 weeks of Listening and then be ready to go directly to the Advanced Module.
Below is a list of the possible schedules a student might follow over the course of one 16-week semester. Each of these schedules represents a distinct individualized curriculum. If we have counted correctly, there are 33 possible curricular sequences in 1 semester — far more than would be possible in most intensive ESL programs. This great variety of possibilities is produced by a simple placement procedure repeated every 4 weeks.
It seems reasonable that students should progress faster if they are given curricular sequences that closely match their individual strengths, weaknesses, and aptitudes.
