Abstract
The undergraduate language curriculum development project at the Centre for Developing English Language Teaching (CDELT), Ain Shams University, underwent a change in focus from materials development to staff development. This change in direction was the result of a means analysis, or wide-ranging investigation of the host educational environment. The means analysis revealed that curriculum change could have little impact without first developing the motivation and expertise of the local university lecturers. It also indicated that this could be done by means of a staff development scheme which enabled lecturers to carry out individualised mini-projects in action research.