Material Development (Designing Effective Materials in Language Teaching)

Summary

This presentation discusses material development in English language teaching. It explains material development as the process of evaluating, adapting, and producing teaching materials, highlighting insights from experts like Tomlinson (2012) and Littlejohn (2014). The speaker addresses why teachers may design their own materials, citing advantages like contextualization and meeting individual needs, alongside challenges such as time constraints and material quality. Factors influencing material design, including internal and external considerations, as well as learner characteristics and curriculum context, are also explored. The presentation aims to provide teachers with practical insights for creating effective teaching resources.

Takeaways

• 😀 Material development involves evaluation, adaptation, design, production, exploitation, and research.
• 📚 Coursebooks typically include reading texts, comprehension questions, vocabulary exercises, and a complete teaching package.
• 🎯 Teachers often design their own materials to supplement textbooks and tailor content to students' needs.
• ✍️ Supplementary materials enhance learning activities and provide more context for students.
• 📖 Textbooks sometimes need to be contextualized to fit students' prior knowledge and experiences.
• 👍 Advantages of designing materials include contextualization, personalization, fulfilling individual needs, and keeping materials up-to-date.
• ⏳ Disadvantages of designing materials include time constraints, organizational challenges, and potential quality issues.
• 🧠 Internal factors in material design include topic choice, skill coverage, and proficiency level.
• 🏫 External factors include learner characteristics, resources, and classroom size.
• ⚖️ Teachers need to consider copyright laws, curriculum, available resources, and personal confidence when designing materials.

Q & A

What is material development in the context of English language teaching?

Material development is the process of evaluating, adapting, designing, producing, exploiting, and researching teaching materials. It is essential for creating effective English language teaching resources.

What are the two issues raised in designing effective English language teaching materials?

The two main issues are why teachers want to design their own materials, and the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.

Why do teachers want to design their own teaching materials?

Teachers design their own materials to supplement textbooks, which may lack necessary information or contextual relevance, and to customize materials according to students' experiences and prior knowledge.

What are the advantages of designing your own teaching materials?

The advantages include contextualization, fulfilling individual student needs, personalization of content, and the ability to respond to current events and relevant topics in students' environments.

What are the disadvantages of designing your own teaching materials?

The disadvantages include difficulty in organizing and storing materials, potential quality issues due to the teacher's skill level, and the significant time commitment required to create materials.

What internal factors should be considered when designing teaching materials?

Internal factors include the choice of topics, skills covered, content organization, consistency, the proficiency level of students, and the types of exercises included.

What external factors should be considered when designing teaching materials?

External factors include learner characteristics, available resources, the learning environment, class size, and overall materials development characteristics.

What are some reasons why textbooks need to be contextualized?

Textbooks often contain broad information that may not be familiar or relevant to students' local experiences. Teachers need to adapt and contextualize materials to make them more meaningful for students.

What are the six factors Howard and Major (2004) mentioned in developing learning materials?

The six factors are learners' needs, curriculum and context, available resources and facilities, teachers' personal confidence in material design, copyright laws, and time management.

What benefits do teachers and students gain from developing their own materials?

For teachers, developing materials enhances their pedagogical practices, promotes reflection, and improves teaching skills. For students, it meets learning objectives, caters to their learning styles, and fulfills their expectations.