Abstract This qualitative study aimed to explore teacher curriculum approaches and the strategies attached to each approach because they influence the taught curriculum, teacher development and student learning. The study was therefore grounded in teacher curriculum development, curriculum implementation, teacher development, student cognitive and affective change and constructivism. To address this study's qualitative and exploratory purposes, it made use of the qualitative paradigm at the levels of ontology (multiple curriculum realities), epistemology (interaction with rather than detachment from respondents) and methodology (using idiographic methodology and instruments). In line with the qualitative paradigm, it used qualitative case-study (method), general interviews, pre/post-lesson interviews, group interviews and participant observation (data collection methods) in addition to grounded theory (data analysis approach) to meet the research purposes. Working with English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and mixed-nationality college students, the study reached a teacher curriculum approach classification comprising curriculum-transmission, curriculum-development and curriculum-making. It recommended alternatives for teacher, student and curriculum development, curriculum implementation and teacher training.