Lesson1:
Introduction
to Materials Development
Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the Pre-service Teacher will be able
to:
a. discuss what “materials development” and “materials” are;
b. cite examples of language learning materials used in the
classroom; and
c. relate the principles and theories of language learning to the
development of appropriate language learning materials.
In the field of teaching English as Second Language (ESL),
English language materials play an essential role in delivering
the language knowledge to the learners.
English teachers usually teach their students by using
available textbooks. However, such learning materials which
are really suitable with the needs of the students are not
always available.
This condition should not discourage the teachers as far as
they have the objective(s) of the teaching or are familiar with
the need(s) of the students.
By having the objectives of the teaching/learning or being
familiar with the needs of the learners, the teachers can
develop their own materials for the learners to achieve the
objectives or to fulfill the needs of the learners.
What are “materials”?
Materials are anything which have been used by teachers and
learners to facilitate the learning of a language (Tomlinson,
2011).
The defining characteristic of materials is that the materials
designer builds in a pedagogic purpose.
Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette,
a CD-ROM, a video, a photocopied hand-out, a newspaper, a
paragraph written on a whiteboard or anything which presents or
informs about the language being learned (Tomlinson, 1998).
They can be informative (informing the learner about the target
language), instructional (guiding the learner in practicing the
language), experiential (providing the learner with experience of
the language in use), eliciting (encouraging the learner to use the
language) and exploratory (helping the learner to make
discoveries about the language)” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 143).
Ideally materials should be developed for learning rather than for
teaching and they should perform all the functions specified
above.
What is “materials development”?
Materials development refers to all the processes made use of
by practitioners who produce and/or use materials for language
learning, including materials evaluation, their adaptation, design,
production, exploitation and research of language teaching
materials.
According to Tomlinson (1998), materials development refers to
anything which is done by writers, teachers or learners to provide
sources of language input in ways which maximize the
likelihood of intake.
Language teaching has five important components: (1)
students, (2) teachers, (3) materials, (4) teaching methods, and
(5) evaluation.
Nunan (1992) states that teaching materials are often the most
substantial and observable component of pedagogy.
‘Every teacher is a materials developer’ (English Language
Centre, 1997) who needs to be able to evaluate, adapt and produce
materials so as to ensure a match between their learners and the
materials they use.
How do teachers become materials developer?
Generally, teachers tend to use all guidance provided by a
textbook. However, it is a fact that a textbook does not always
meet the variety of conditions in a language class (Ur, 1996;
Richards, 2003).
Sometimes, teachers need to explore teaching materials outside
textbooks and modify them in order to be relevant to the need and
demands of particular group of students.
Teacher’s experiences and understanding of their students are
very important in materials development, so that the students will
be motivated in learning the target language.
Supplementing the existing textbooks used to teach is another
effort to cover the weakness of the available textbooks that does
not match with the syllabus/ curriculum or objectives of the
teaching/learning.
The supplementary teaching/learning materials can vary according
to the availability of the materials or the creativity of the teachers.
Creating own materials is the teachers last effort to develop
learning materials instead of adapting or supplementing the
existing textbooks or authentic texts. There should be fundamental
bases in order to create own materials, among others, teaching
objectives or instructional goals (Dick and Carey, 1990), student’s
needs, and topic-based planning (Pinter, 2006).
Principles of Materials Development
Tomlinson (Richards, 2001) summarizes what he thinks many
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers would agree
to be the basic principles of SLA relevant to the materials
development for the teaching of languages.
These principles are briefly outlined as follows:
1. Material should achieve impacts, help learners to feel at ease
and to develop confidence.
2. What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant
and useful.
3. Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment,
provide the learners with opportunities to use the target
language to achieve communicative purposes.
4. Materials should take into account that- positive effects of
instruction are usually delayed, learners have different learning
styles & differ in affective attitudes.
5. Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of
instruction, should not rely too much on controlled practice &
should provide opportunities for outcome feedback.
Characteristics of Teaching Materials
Most people associate the term teaching materials only with course
books because that has been their main experience of using
teaching materials.
However, in fact, the term can be used to refer to anything which is
used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of the
language. Related to that, materials can divide into some types as
follows:
o Printed materials: Textbook, student’s worksheet, pictures,
photographs, newspapers & magazines
o Audio materials: cassette & compact disc, etc.
o Audio visual: video compact disc, film, television
o Interactive teaching materials: web-based learning
materials, computer assisted instruction.
o Authentic materials refer to the use in teaching of texts,
photographs, video selections, and other teaching resources
that are not specially prepared for pedagogical purposes
o Created materials refer to textbooks and other specially
developed instructional resources.
Edge (1993) uses the term “teacher-produced materials” and
“student materials” to refer to how the materials are produced or
used during the process of teaching/learning in the classroom.
Teacher-produced materials play an important role to bridge the
gap between the classroom and the world outside. In doing so,
teachers might produce their own worksheets for their students.
Student-produced materials
Teachers can ask the students to produce simple maps that they
know as the basis for an activity. In this way, students are then
using their own knowledge & personal background to produce
learning materials for their classmates.
Students as materials
When we see the learners as materials, we can also use our
methods to make learning enjoyable. In doing so, teachers could,
for instance: ask a student to close his/her eyes & describe what
someone else is wearing; describe what someone else is wearing
until the rest of us can recognize that person; divide the class into
pairs and ask each pair to do one of the above.
