EL 118

• Materials development


  A practical undertaking involving the production, evaluation, adaptation and exploitation of materials intended to facilitate language acquisition and development
• Materials development


  A field of academic study investigating the principles and procedures of the design, writing, implementation, evaluation and analysis of learning materials
• Ideally materials development practitioners and materials development researchers interact and inform each other through conferences, publications and shared endeavors
• In the past materials development practitioners were either teachers with little awareness of applied linguistics or applied linguists with little awareness of teaching and learning
• Nowadays there are many materials development experts who have considerable experience and expertise as teachers, as materials development practitioners and as materials development researchers
• Most language classrooms throughout the world most lessons are still based on materials
• 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
• No coursebook can meet the needs and wants of every (or even any) class
• Every teacher is a materials developer who is constantly evaluating the available materials, adapting them, replacing them, supplementing them and finding effective ways to implement the materials chosen for classroom use
• Materials development must be central to any course designed to train, educate or develop new or practicing teachers
• Materials development can be extremely useful as a way of helping teachers to understand and apply theories of language learning – and to achieve personal and professional development
• Materials


  Anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language, including coursebooks, videos, graded readers, flash cards, games, websites and mobile phone interactions
• Informative materials


  Inform the learner about the target language
• Instructional materials


  Guide the learner in practicing the language
• Experiential materials


  Provide the learner with experience of the language in use
• Eliciting materials


  Encourage the learner to use the language
• Exploratory materials


  Help the learner to make discoveries about the language
• Commercially produced materials mostly focus on informing learners about language features & guiding them to practice those features
• Commercially produced materials are created to help the teachers and learners providing explicit teaching and practice of the target language
• Ideally materials should be developed for learning rather than for teaching and they should perform all the functions specified above
• Forms of materials


  • Print materials
  • Non-print materials
  • Self-access and the Internet
• Role of materials (according to Cunningsworth)


  • Resource for presentation materials
  • Source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction
  • Reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.
  • Source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities
  • Syllabus (where they reflect learning objectives which have already been determined)
  • Support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence in the language classroom
• Functions of materials (according to Dudley-Evans and St John)

  • As a source of language
  • As a learning support
  • For motivation and stimulation
  • For reference
• Examples of language learning materials used in the classroom

  • Lesson Plans
  • Textbooks
  • Story Books
  • Grammar Charts and Posters
  • Pictures
  • Flashcards
  • Manipulatives
  • Model Clay
  • Workbooks
  • Handouts
  • Dictionary
• Examples of language learning materials used in the digital classroom

  • Videos
  • Podcasts or Audiobooks
  • Online language games
  • Virtual Reality (VR)Simulations
  • Language learning apps
  • Video conferencing tools
  • Online collaboration tools
  • Online textbooks or modules
• For years there has been debate about whether or not the textbook is the best medium for delivering language-learning materials
• Most language teachers seem to continue to use textbooks
• Localized textbooks


  Textbooks designed to be flexible and to offer teachers and students opportunities for localization, personalization and choice
• Global textbooks


  Textbooks designed to be flexible and to offer teachers and students opportunities for localization, personalization and choice
• Over the years many institutions and teachers have replaced published materials with homemade materials in order to achieve greater relevance and engagement
• 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
• The most popular approach at the moment seems to be task-based, in which the learners are set tasks with non-linguistic outcomes
• Authentic text


  A text which is produced in order to communicate rather than to teach
• Authentic task


  A task which involves the learners in communication in order to achieve an outcome, rather than practice the language
• Every text that learners encounter should be authentic and that most tasks should be authentic too – otherwise the learners are not being prepared for the reality of language use
• We learn best when we see things as part of a recognized pattern, when our imaginations are aroused, when we make natural associations between one idea and another, and when the information appeals to our senses
• Teachers should make their own materials because it allows for the content to be relevant, innovative, and personalized
• Teachers have ownership over what they teach and can adjust the pace of learning
• Teachers making their own materials can be a cost-effective solution for schools
• Impact


  Materials have a noticeable effect on learners, that is when the learners' curiosity, interest and attention are attracted