Materials development for language learning and teaching - Brian Tomlinson 2012

Materials development for language learning and teaching - Brian Tomlinson 2012

1. literature on the evaluation, adaptation, production and exploitation of learning materials.

   • He claims that evaluation criteria should be developed before materials are produced, and used to make decisions about the approach, procedures and activities to be adopted as well as to monitor their development and subsequent use. Tomlinson (2003b)
     • Tomlinson et al. (2001) and in Masuhara et al. (2008) for evaluating coursebooks
   • Amrani (2011) reports that publishers no longer use piloting as their main means of obtaining feedback on their materials in development. They now use more cost-effective and time-saving methods, such as reviews from experienced teachers and from academics, feedback from focus groups, questionnaires, expert panels, editorial visits and classroom observations, and competitor analysis.
   • Other early publications which provided help to teachers when adapting materials include Candlin & Breen (1980), who criticise published communicative materials and suggest ways of adapting them so as to offer more opportunities for communication,
   • Grant (1987), who suggests and illustrates ways of making materials more communicative.
   • Nunan (1999), on procedures for making materials more interactive
   • He proposes ‘four evaluative processes’ (p. 59) when basing a lesson on a coursebook McGrath (2002)
     • Teachers may select the material that will be used unchanged, reject either completely or partially sections of the material, add extensions or further exploitation of the existing materials and replace components of the materials.
   • Johnson (2003) focused on expertise in task design.

2. controversial issues in the field,

   • My own view is that we need textbooks to save time and money and many teachers want a coursebook which provides everything they need in one source. TOMMLISON
     • A textbook can do all that its proponents say it does, but unfortunately many global coursebooks are not considered to be sufficiently engaging or relevant for their actual users. In attempting to cater for all students at a particular age and level, global coursebooks often end up not meeting the needs and wants of any.
   • My position is that most teachers and students welcome published materials and can gain from them. However, if a teacher has confidence, principled creativity and the respect of their learners, then a textbook-free course can actually be more facilitative in providing the personalised, relevant and engaging experience of language in use and opportunities for observing how the language is used and for meaningful communication, which many textbook authors find it difficult to provide.
   • that for the last forty years most coursebooks have been and are still using PPP (pRESENTATION pRACTICE pRODUCTION) 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.

3. electronic delivery of materials

4. on research in materials development.

5. gaps and recommendation

6. INTRODUCTION

   • most commercially produced materials focus on informing their users about language features and on guiding them to practise these features,
   • by Richard’s (2001: 251) ‘instructional materials generally serve as the basis of much of the language input that learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom’.