Course-Module - ELT 3 Week 5
Course-Module - ELT 3 Week 5
Module 3 Week 5
College of Education
ELT 1: Language Learning Materials Development
2nd Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021
Introduction
This module will provide discussion about the difference between textbooks and learning
materials and how each learning aide help in the teaching-learning process.
"Teaching ma
terials" is a generic term used to describe the resources teachers use to deliver instruction. Teaching
materials can support student learning and increase student success. Ideally, the teaching materials
will be tailored to the content in which they're being used, to the students in whose class they are
being used, and the teacher. Teaching materials come in many shapes and sizes, but they all have in
common the ability to support student learning. Teaching materials are a key component in most
language program. It serves as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the
language practice that occurs in the classroom. Materials may also serve as a form of teacher
traming: they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as format that teachers can use.
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COURSE MODULE Examples
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Teaching materials can refer to a number of teacher resources; however, the term usually refers to
concrete examples, such as worksheets or manipulatives (learning tools or games that students can
handle to help them gain and practice facility with new knowledge -- e.g. counting blocks).
Teaching materials are different from teaching "resources," the latter including more theoretical and
intangible elements, such as essays or support from other educators, or places to find teaching
materials.
Learning materials are important because they can significantly increase student achievement by
supporting student learning. For example, a worksheet may provide a student with important
opportunities to practice a new skill gained in class. This process aids in the learning process by
allowing the student to explore the knowledge independently as well as providing repetition.
Learning materials, regardless of what kind, all have some function in student learning.
Lesson Structure
Learning materials can also add important structure to lesson planning and the delivery of
instruction. Particularly in lower grades, learning materials act as a guide for both the teacher and
student. They can provide a valuable routine. For instance, if you are a language arts teacher and you
teach new vocabulary words every Tuesday, knowing that you have a vocabulary game to provide
the students with practice regarding the new words will both take pressure off of you and provide
important practice (and fun) for your students.
Differentiation of Instruction
In addition to supporting learning more generally, learning materials can assist teachers in an
important professional duty: the differentiation of instruction. Differentiation of instruction is the
tailoring of lessons and instruction to the different learning styles and capacities within your
classroom. Learning materials such as worksheets, group activity instructions, games, or homework
assignments all allow you to modify assignments to best activate each individual student's learning
style.
Getting your hands on valuable teaching materials is not nearly as difficult as it can seem at first.
The Internet has many resources for teachers, most of them free that can significantly increase the
contents of your teaching toolbox. You can also make your own materials. Every learning material
you develop will be an asset to you when you next teach a similar unit. An investment of time or
money in good teaching materials is an investment in good teaching.
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Textbooks are a key component in most language programs. In some situations they serve as the
basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the
classroom. They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and
the kinds of language practice the students take part in. In other situations, the textbook may serve
primarily to supplement the teacher’s instruction. For learners, the textbook may provide the major
source of contact they have with the language apart from input provided by the teacher. In the case
of inexperienced teachers textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training ñ they provide
ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use. Much of the
language teaching that occurs throughout the world today could not take place without the extensive
use of commercial textbooks. Learning how to use and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of
a teacher’s professional knowledge.
The use of commercial textbooks in teaching has both advantages and disadvantages,
depending on how they are used and the contexts for their use. Among the principal
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Both the benefits and limitations of the use of textbooks needs to be considered, and
if the textbooks that are being used in a program are judged to have some negative
consequences, remedial action should be taken, e.g. by adapting or supplementing books or
by providing appropriate guidance and support for teachers in how to use them appropriately.
Evaluating Textbooks
With such an array of commercial textbooks and other kinds of instructional materials to
choose from teachers and others responsible for choosing materials need to be able to make
informed judgments about textbooks and teaching materials. Evaluation however can only be
done by considering something in relation to its purpose. A book may be ideal in one
situation because it matches the needs of that situation perfectly. It has just the right amount
of material for the program, it is easy to teach, it can be used with little preparation by
inexperienced teachers, and it has an equal coverage of grammar and the four skills.
However the same book in a different situation may turn out to be quite unsuitable. It
contains too little material; it is not sufficiently challenging for teacher and students, and has
elements in it (such as a grammar syllabus) that is not needed in the program. Before one can
evaluate a textbook, therefore, information is needed on the following issues:
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COURSE MODULE ! What do learners typically expect in a textbook?
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It is also necessary to realize that no commercial textbook will ever be a perfect fit for
a language program. Two factors are involved in the development of commercial textbooks:
those representing the interests of the author, and those representing the interests of the
publisher. The author is generally concerned to produce a text that teachers will find
innovative, creative, relevant to their learners’ needs, and that they will enjoy teaching from.
The author is generally hopeful that the book will be successful and make a financial profit
since a large investment of the author’s personal time and effort is involved. The publisher is
primarily motivated by financial success. However, in order to achieve a profit, publishers
generally recognize that a book must have qualities of excellence that will distinguish it from
its competitors.
At the same time, the publisher will try to satisfy teachers’ expectations as to what a textbook
at a certain level should contain. For example, if an introductory ESL textbook does not
include the present continuous in the first level of the book, teachers may feel that it is
defective and not wish to use it. In an attempt to make an author’s manuscript usable in as
large a market as possible, the publisher often has to change it substantially. Some of these
changes are necessitated by the fact that teachers with very different levels of experience,
training, and teaching skill might be using the book. Exercises should have explicit goals,
procedures for using activities should be obvious and uncomplicated, and teachers should not
have to spend much time working out how to use the material. In addition, content that
would not be welcome in particular markets may have to be removed. As a consequence,
much of the “flavour” and creativity of the author’s original manuscript may disappear. In
using textbooks, therefore, teachers invariably have to put back some of the creativity that
may have been lost in the process of textbook publication.
1. They should correspond to learner’s needs. They should match the aims and objectives of
the language-learning program.
2. They should reflect the uses (present or future) which learners will make of the language.
Textbooks should be chosen that will help equip students to use language effectively for
their own purposes.
3. They should take account of students’ needs as learners and should facilitate their
learning processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid “method”.
4. They should have a clear role as a support for learning. Like teachers, they mediate
between the target language and the learner.
The type of evaluation a textbook receives, however, will also reflect the concerns of
the evaluator. One teacher may look at a book in terms of its usability. The teacher is
primarily interested in whether the book works easily in her class, can be used flexibly, and
could easily be adapted. Another teacher may look at a book much more critically in terms of
its theoretical orientation and approach. If it is a book that teaches conversation skills what
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theory of conversation is it based on? What kind of syllabus is it based on and what is the
validity of the activities it makes use of? Two teachers evaluating a writing text may likewise
look at it from very different perspectives. One may subscribe to a process-oriented view of
writing and look for activities that practice such processes as generating ideas, drafting,
reviewing, revising, and editing. Another may be more concerned to see that adequate
treatment is given to different conventions for organizing different kinds of texts, such as
narrative writing, expository writing, and descriptive writing. In any language program
therefore it is unlikely that a published checklist can be used without adaptation as a basis for
evaluating and choosing textbooks. Based on the factors in each situation questions specific
to that situation need to be generated around the main issues
involved in textbook evaluation and selection:
Adapting Textbooks
Commercial textbooks can seldom be used without some form of adaptation to make them
more suitable for the particular context in which they will be used. This adaptation may take
a variety of forms.
1. Modifying content
Content may need to be changed because it does not suit the target learners, perhaps because
of factors related to the learners’ age, gender, social class, occupation, religion or cultural
background.
For example a course may focus primarily on listening and speaking skills and hence writing
activities in the book will be omitted.
3. Reorganizing content
A teacher may decide to reorganize the syllabus of the book, and arrange the units in what
she considers a more suitable order. Or within a unit the teacher may decide not to follow the
sequence of activities in the unit but to reorder them for a particular reason.
4. Addressing omissions
The text may omit items that the teacher feels are important. For example a teacher may add
vocabulary activities or grammar activities to a unit.
5. Modifying tasks
Exercises and activities may need to be changed to give them an additional focus. For
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example a listening activity that focuses only on listening for information is adapted so that
students listen a second or third time for a different purpose. Or an activity may be extended
to provide opportunities for more personalized practice.
6. Extending tasks
Exercises may contain insufficient practice and additional practice tasks may need to be
added.
No matter what form of materials teachers make use of, whether they teach from textbooks,
institutional materials, or teacher-prepared materials, they represent plans for teaching. They
do not represent the process of teaching itself. As teachers use materials, they adapt and
transform them to suit the needs of particular groups of learners and their own teaching
styles. These processes of transformation are at the heart of teaching and enable good
teachers to create effective lessons out of the resources they make use of. It is useful
therefore to collect information on how teachers use course books and other teaching
materials in their teaching. The information collected can serve the following purposes.
1. Observation
Classroom visits to see how teachers use textbooks and to find out how materials influence
the quality of teaching and interaction that occurs in a lesson.
2. Feedback sessions
Group meetings in which teachers discuss their experience with textbooks.
3. Written reports
The use of reflection sheets or other forms of written feedback in which teachers make brief
notes about what worked well, what didn’t work well, or give suggestions on using the
materials.
4. Reviews
Written reviews by a teacher or group of teachers on their experiences with a set of materials
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5. Students’ reviews
Comments from students on their experience with the materials.
Exercise
Assessment
Reflection
Jack C. Richards is an Adjunct Professor at SEAMEO RELC. His most recent book is Curriculum
Development in Language Teaching (Cambridge 2001).
https://www.professorjackrichards.com/wp-content/uploads/role-of-textbooks.pdf
http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/A-Comparison-of-Teaching-Materials-School-
Textbooks-Vs-Authentic-Materials-From-the-Perspective-of-English-Teachers-and-Educational-
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COURSE MODULE Supervisors-in-Saudi-Arabia.pdf
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