ESL EFL Teaching Learning Materials

Materials Production for Teaching English

Materials refer to anything that is used to facilitate the learning of a language and increase the learners’ knowledge and experience of the  language. “Materials could obviously be cassettes, videos, CD-Roms, dictionaries, grammar books, readers, workbooks or photocopied exercises. They could also be newspapers, food packages, photographs, live talks by invited native speakers, instructions given by a teacher, tasks written on cards or discussions between learners. In other words, they can be anything which is deliberately used to increase the learners’ knowledge and/or experience of the language.” Brian Tomlinson (1998)

Materials development involves the process of providing input to the learners in  various forms and providing opportunities to exploit the materials for language acquisition and learning.

Language Learning Materials

A detailed discussion of the main characteristics of effective materials is taken up in the following sections. The discussion focuses on attracting and sustaining the motivation of learners so as to  make  them use language for a real purpose confidently and without muchr anxiety.

Features of Effective Materials

Brian Tomlinson (1998) discusses in detail the main characteristics which would make materials serve the purpose of facilitating second language acquisition and learning. As many of the Second Language Acquisition Researches have proved, learners will be able to acquire the language if natural exposure is provided to them through engaging bits of language and if they learn to exploit the materials for improving their language competence. The materials should attract and sustain motivation of learners  make learners use language for a real purpose
 make learners feel confident and at ease.

Attract and Sustain Motivation

Since learner involvement is the key to language acquisition, materials should attract the attention of the learners by novelty and attractive presentation. They can arouse the curiosity and interest of the learners by appealing content and variety. To understand what type of materials would be suitable for a particular group of learners, it is necessary to understand the learners background and the culture of the country they belong to, their level, interest and learning style.

As Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982) point out,  “……the learners motives, emotions and attitudes screen what is presented in the language classroom…This affective screening is highly individual and results in different learning rates and results.”

Materials can be made suitable to learners with different learning styles and affective attitudes by providing variety through different types of texts and activities to suit different learners, providing extra activities for highly motivated learners and providing activities to sensitize the learners to their own attitudes, feelings and learning styles.

Learners’ motivation can also be sustained by making the materials serve some real life purpose. Materials of this type, by being personally significant to the learners add value to the whole learning process.

Use Language for a Real Purpose

Many Second Language Acquisition researches have proved that when the learners felt a need to learn a language and were exposed to natural language in real life contexts and had enough opportunities for interaction with native speakers they acquired the language easily. Even in formal learning situations it should be possible to help learners acquire the language by using effective materials.

Materials should engage the learners in meaningful interactions and provide a real purpose for the language learning activity.

Materials should provide exposure to authentic texts and expect the learners to respond to them  mentally or physically .

Materials which provide authentic input should have variety.

As Brian Tomlinson (1998) says, “the input should vary in style, mode, medium and purpose and should be rich in features which are characteristic of authentic discourse in the target language. And if the learners want to be able to use the language for general communication, it is important that they are exposed to planned, semi-planned and unplanned discourse (e.g. a formal lecture, an informal radio interview and a spontaneous conversation).”

Materials should provide opportunities for interaction through a variety of tasks like information gap activities and creative writing or speaking activities.

Pause and Ponder

State whether the statements are true or false.

Materials refer to notes dictated by the teacher or zeroxed materials useful for examination purposes.

Materials refer to only  course books.

Materials refer to anything used deliberately by the teachers and learners to gain knowledge.
A CD Rom can be a material.

Materials should have variety because learners differ in so many ways.

Providing a real purpose for learning increases the chances of learners acquiring a language.

It is better to use formal lectures rather than expose the learner to spontaneous conversations.

Creative writing and speaking activities are materials.

In formal learning situations it is not possible to help learners acquire the language by using effective materials.

Materials should provide opportunities for interaction.

Feel Confident and at Ease

Effective materials should  prod the learners to put in the maximum effort but at the same time make them feel comfortable and confident that they can learn. It has been identified that the following characteristics help in making the learners feel more at ease and develop confidence in themselves as language learners.

Materials with lots of white space is better than crammed pages with a number of activities.

Materials , both texts and illustrations, related to the learners’ culture is better.

Materials which appear to teach them in a relaxed and supportive tone is better than those which only tests them.

Materials which stimulate and challenge the learner and at the same time make the goal achievable is likely to improve learner confidence.

Materials which engage the learners in learner-centred discovery activities and require their self-investment make them feel confident and firmly in control.

Materials which offer feedback about the progress and help the learners check their own understanding make the learners take up the responsibility for their own learning with confidence and personal involvement.

Materials could also make the learners feel at ease by not compelling them to produce in the target language before they are ready to do so. It should be possible to devise activities where the learners listen to a chunk of language and respond to it either physically by doing some actions or by drawing sketches. Materials which involve both right and left brain activities and which gets the learners involved emotionally, intellectually and aesthetically would be more effective than the ones which rely too much on controlled practice. Materials need to take into account that the learning process like the growth of a limb is gradual and not sudden. So instead of expecting the learners to get it right the first time, materials should provide opportunities for gradual understanding of specific aspects of the target language by recycling items introduced.

Summary

As Brian Tomlinson (1998) aptly points out, “……. in order to facilitate the gradual process of acquisition it is important for materials to recycle instruction and to provide frequent and ample exposure to the instructed language features in communicative use.”

Tasks for Consolidation

What are materials? How can they facilitate language learning?
What are the main characteristics of effective materials?
How can materials be made suitable for different types of learners?
What are some of the factors of language acquisition that materials producers should keep in mind while producing materials?
Review a book or website related to materials production.

Reference

Brian Tomlinson (1998). Ed. Materials Development in Language Teaching. CUP

The first chapter of this book deals with the characteristics of effective materials. All the chapters deal with different aspects of materials production and are provide valuable insights.

Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982). Language Two. New York: OUP 

The focus of this book is second language acquisition but it discusses how the affective factor determines what is learnt from the materials presented in class.

www.efl4u.com

This web site provides a number of worksheets, which can be zeroxed and used directly in classrooms, along with detailed teacher’s notes. There is a constant update and more and more lesson plans are added on a regular basis. Teachers can also contribute to this site with their lesson plans.

www.teachingstylesonline.com

This site provides information, resources and tips for teaching and learning English. It also discusses a variety of topics including learning disability, teaching reading, writing and grammar, interlanguage, error analysis and language acquisition and learning.