Flashcards
Materials development for language learning and teaching
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- 1Materials development for language learning and teaching
- 2How many types of Materials there are?Materials can be informative, instructional, experiential, eliciting and exploratory.
- 3INFORMATIVEInforming the
learner about the target language.
- 4INSTRUCTIONALGuiding the learner in practising the
language
- 5EXPERIENTALProviding the learner with experience of the language in use
- 6ELICITINGEncouraging the learner to use the language
- 7EXPLORATORYHelping the learner to make
discoveries about the language
- 8Applications of materialsThe literature on materials development has come a long way, now focusing less on ways
of selecting materials and more on the application of theory to practice and practice to
theory. - 9Much of the early literature on materials development attempted to help teachers and materials developers to develop criteria for evaluating and selecting materials.
- 10CRITERIA‘General criteria
(i.e. the essential features of any good teaching-learning material)’ and ‘Specific (or context
related) criteria’
McGrath (2002: 31)
- 11The focus of much of the literature on materials evaluation is on the principles and procedures of conducting evaluationsMany reports on micro-evaluations of materials are written for sponsors of projects or for
publishers and are, understandably, confidential.
- 12Materials adaptationConsidering how teachers adapt materials systematically or intuitively every day, there is
surprisingly little help for them in the literature - 13Madsen & Bowen (1978)It made the
important point that good teachers are always adapting the materials they are using to the
context in which they are using them in order to achieve the optimal congruence between
materials, methodology, learners, objectives, the target language and the teacher’s personality
and teaching style. In order to achieve this congruence
- 14Materials productionHow writers write:
Reports of how writers actually write materials reveal that they rely heavily on retrieval from
repertoire, cloning successful publications and spontaneous ‘inspiration’.
- 15Principled development of materials:The
principles proposed include:
• the language experience needs to be contextualised and comprehensible
• the learner needs to be motivated, relaxed, positive and engaged
• the language and discourse features available for potential acquisition need to be salient,
meaningful and frequently encountered
• the learner needs to achieve deep and multi-dimensional processing of the language
(Tomlinson 2008b: 4) - 16Materials exploitation: Not many articles or books have been written on how to make the most effective use of materials.There seems to be very little published on what teachers and learners actually do with
materials in the classroom
- 17Katz (1996)The actual use of materials in four teachers’
classrooms depended on the different teachers’ pedagogical needs and goals - 18Issues in materials development:For years there has been debate about whether or not the textbook is the best medium for
delivering language-learning materials.
A coursebook is inevitably superficial and
reductionist in its coverage of language points and in its provision of language experience.
- 19Pedagogic approaches:The reality, though, is that for the last forty years
most coursebooks have been and are still using PPP approaches, with a focus on discrete forms
and frequent use of such low-level practice activities as listen and repeat, dialogue repetition,
matching and filling in the blanks. - 20Authenticity of texts and tasks:Such researchers as Little et al. (1994), Bacon & Finneman (1990), Kuo (1993),
McGarry (1995), Wong, Kwok & Choi (1995), Nuttall (1996), Mishan (2005), Gilmore (2007a,
2007b) and Rilling & Dantas-Whitney (2009) argue that authentic materials can provide meaningful exposure to language as it is actually used, motivate learners and help them develop a range of communicative competencies and enhance positive attitudes towards the learning of a language.
- 21Humanising materials:To help learners to
personalise, localise and make meaningful their experience of the target language, as well as
the need for materials to be affectively engaging and cater for all learning style preferences.
- 22Ideology in materials:For a long time critical theorists and socio-cultural theorists have deprecated the role of English
language teaching in a globalisation process which they see as promoting western, capitalist,
materialistic values.
- 23—Language provides a view of any culture
- 24The roles of new technologies in language-learning materials:Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) materials facilitate learning
depends on ‘how the technology is implemented’. - 25Research in materials development:Richards (2005) stressed that all materials reflect the writers’ theories
of language, language use and language acquisition.
Empirical investigation
of the effects of materials on language acquisition requires longitudinal research involving considerable investments of time and money - 26—Teachers
also seem to be more constructively critical of their coursebooks and to be more willing,
confident and able to localise and personalise their coursebooks for their learners.
- 27To conclude:Nowadays, materials to be used in the teaching and learning process are changing. There are many types of materials and the choice will be up to the teachers according to the class objectives.
Also, as researchers, we can take advantage of the current educational materials sources to start doing research.
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- Flashcards on Materials development for language learning and teaching, created by Paula Granados on 28/04/2019.
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- Paula Granados
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