Chapter One

Instructional materials and its function

The aim of this chapter is to provide an information about Instructional Materials and its
function. We will begin the information about the concept of materials as teaching or learning
materials, materials development, and focus on Instructional Materials in EFL. We will then move to
the explanation on who will develop this instructional materials, why we need to develop them and
how to develop them.

A. What instructional materials are ?

Many people need to be sure with the concept of instructional materials, because this term
congruents with what people called “learning materials” or “teaching materials”. To reduce this
confusion, I choose to define instructional materials to everything used by teachers in facilitating the
learning (Tomlinson, 1998; Richards and Schmidt, 2002). In English teaching, the materials could be
recording on the disk, videos, dictionaries, textbooks, readers, workbooks or photocopied exercises.
For example :

Video Dictionaries Textbooks

Readers Workbooks Photocopied exercise

Source:
 They can also be newspapers, food packages, photographs, live talks by native speakers,
instructions delivered by a teacher or discussions between learners, and tasks written on cards. (Task
cards are highly motivating and effective teaching tool that can be used across the curriculum,
because there is only one task per card. The students will feel the sense of accomplishment when
one is completed before moving on to the next). For example:

Newspapers food packages Photographs

live talks by native speakers instructions delivered by a teacher discussions between learners

tasks written on cards

These materials can be anything which is deliberately used to increase the learners’
knowledge. While, in Graves’s word (1999), they are anything that the teacher may use in order to
help learners get better understanding in learning a subject. Such materials can be in the forms of;
textbooks, workbooks, texts, activities, etc. or in other words, everything that presents or informs
about the language being learned can be used as instructional materials (Tomlinson, 1998).
Additionally, Graves (1999) said that instructional materials are tools that can be cut up into
pieces and then rearranged to suit the needs, abilities, and interests of the students. These materials
control the process of teaching and learning, because they will determine the components and method
of learning; control the content, the method, and procedures of learning. In many cases, instructional
materials are the center of instruction and become one of the most important influences on what goes
on in the classroom.
By keeping this pragmatic concept of materials in mind, it can help materials developers to
utilise as many sources of input as possible and. It also, even more importantly, can help teachers to
realise that they are also material developers and that they are ultimately responsible for the materials
that their learners use. Teachers may use the available learning materials like textbooks or develop
their own by compiling from some sources such as newspaper, internet, article, and the like and then
adapt them to adjust with learner needs. However, English teachers are recommended to develop
learning materials by themselves in order to meet their learners’ needs. To meet learners’ needs,
Tomlinson (1998) suggests that learning materials should give learners experiences to interact with
authentic use of English through spoken and written texts.

B. What instructional materials in EFL program is?

Teaching English in Indonesia is different from one in the native speakers’ country or in ESL
country, because here, English is an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) program. EFL means
English is not used for formal communication and/or daily communication (Richards and Schmidt,
2002). Therefore, educators and English teachers in Indonesia should to be more productive and
creative in implementing the ideal classroom for learning English. They should be able to provide
instructional materials which can fulfill the learners’ needs. That is why they must have abilities to
develop teaching and learning materials using the available resources. It can be adapted materials
which are found and even adopt the ones which are appropriate for the students. In conducting the
efforts, teachers must always refer to the curriculum provided by the government then consider
several principles of materials development.
Dick and Carey (1990) suggest that the design of instructional materials must be
systematically in order to fulfill and facilitate effective teaching and learning process. In order to
actualize an effective teaching and learning process, they proposed a systematic approach to design
instructional materials that consist of nine steps; 1) identify an instructional goal, 2) conduct an
instructional analysis, 3) identity entry behaviours, characteristic, 4) write performance objectives, 5)
develop criterian-referenced test items, 6) develop an instructional strategy, 7) develop and/or select
instructional materials, 8) design and conduct formative evaluation, and 9) revise instruction. While,
Heinich et al. (1996) proposed seven design elements of instructional materials as follows; 1)
Rationale, 2) Instructional objectives, 3) Entry test, 4) Multimedia materials, 5) Learning activities, 6)
Self test, and 7) post-test. From the two arguments above, in designing instructional materials the
teacher must consult the curriculum first, then take several principles of materials development as the
tools in developing the materials.
In Indonesia, English teaching is run through language skills; listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. In the curriculum, the government put them into spoken language and written language, then
classify them into interpersonal text, transactional text, and functional text. The text here means any
extended sample of a language presented to learners in the form of written or spoken. So, if teachers
want to know what instructional materials in EFL program is - they should think of the four skills
that they are going to teach. And, some consideration below can be taken for granted.

Developing Materials for Listening

Materials for listening might be the most difficult one to be developed by English teacher
especially who teach English as foreign language. It is caused by limited sources of native speaker
who can sound the English language to be recorded. Moreover, they have to be selected in an
appropriate way in order to motivate students and make them listen without getting bored. The
materials can be lectures, instructions, seminars, meetings, and discussions done by native. Then, they
have to get key words, main ideas, speakers’ attitude, and switches of register. Our role as a teacher,
here, is to be attentive concerning our students’ reactions and to the atmosphere of each lesson, so that
it is crucial to attract students’ attention and satisfy their needs in an appropriate way without making
them get bored or confused.
These listening materials must be followed by some tasks that must be designed by the
developer in order to help students get listening competence. The tasks, then, should be designed
carefully by considering some principles that will be elaborated later.

Developing Materials for Speaking

Developing speaking materials are not easy for teachers, because it involves cultural
understanding. Though those activities need more work but it is worth using them. They can make
the speaking process seems easier and more active as they help in making the students’ involvements
more obvious. So, the use of speaking activities would highly improve students’ retention. Such
activities add variety to range of learning situations, maintain motivation, refresh learners during
formal learning, encourage students’ interest, help in making teacher-student distance less marginal,
and provide more student-student communication. The more students get motivated, the more
students get comfortable and can speak confidently. There are a lot of topics to speak about. We have
listed some down here.

Friends
 How many real good friends do you have?
 Friends are important for everyone - What do think about it?
 What is more important - the appearance or the character of a person?
 How much time do you spend together with your friends?

Shopping
 How much money do you spend on ...?
 What are your favourite clothes?
 Who do you take with you when you go shopping?
 How do you spend your pocket money?
 How much pocket money do you get?
 Girls like shoes and boys like computers - What do you think about it?

Home town
 What would you show a guest in your hometown?
 Tell something about the history of your hometown.
 How can young people spend their free time in your hometown?

Future
 What are your plans for the future?
 Where do you want to live?
 In what kind of job do you see yourself in the following years?
 What do you think about a family later?
 What will be the most important things for you in the future?

Free Time, Holidays

 What are your favourite free time activities?
 What kind of sports do you like?
 Tell about your holiday plans.
 Where would you like to be during your holidays?
 What country would you like to live in?

School, Job
 Tell something about your favourite subjects at school.
 Tell something about your work experience.
 What is your dream job?
 A good job - what does this mean to you?
 What would you change at your school to make it more attractive?

Family life
 Tell something about your family.
 Tell something about your free time activities.
 Speak about your hobbies.
 Speak about your favourite pop-group/singer.
 Tell something about your free time activities.
 Tell something about your favourite TV programmes/radio programmes.
 What kind of music do you like?
 Describe your room.
 Speak about pets at your house.
 Can children and their parents be good friends?

Food
 What is your favourite food?
 Who in your family does the cooking? Why?
 What does healthy life mean for you?
 Tell something about your eating habits.
 Fast food - slow food. What is your opinion?
 What do you do to keep fit?
 A good party without alcohol/drugs is not possible.
 How often do you eat fish or vegetables?

Environment
 What do you do to protect the environment?
 Tell something about the dangers of the nature.
 What do you prefer - living in a city or in the country?

Drugs
 Tell something about the risks of drugs.
 Drugs are cool. What do you think?
 Should drugs be legalized?

While, teachers must also aware with the need for building students’ knowledge on daily
conversation that usually called transactional or interpersonal communication.

Developing Materials for Reading

Materials for reading are the texts given to learners to practice them in order to achieve a
specific aim or various ones. In Oxford Dictionary, activity is defined as “a thing that you do for
interest or pleasure, or in order to achieve a particular aim”. Materials for reading play the role of
activities; students are asked to read and try to comprehend as they are allowed to use dictionaries to
learn new structures and vocabulary. Students have to skim, scan, relate graphs to text, relate
diagrams to text, predict and sequence the structure of a text, and understand elliptical writing-telexes.
Such activities are means of joy as well as of teaching and learning. They help students in using and
practising their available language recourses as to develop their own skills, strategies and level of
comprehension; they are the practical contribution of theoretical lessons. Each material for reading is
given to students in order to make them master specific points which themselves are helpful for their
studies. Here are various topics for reading materials that can be given to our students.

Animals
Whale
 Do whales sleep?
 Whale oil
 Whale song

Dolphin
 Dolphin’s social behavior
 How do dolphins sleep?
 How to draw a dolphin?

Elephants
 Difference between African and Asian elephats
 Elephants Ivory Trade
Art
 What is art?
 Surrealism
 Cubism
 Filmmaking
 Charlie Chaplin
 Alfred Hitchcock
 Academy Awards
 Mickey Mouse
 Disney popular characters

Biographies
 Ernest Hemingway
 George Orwell
 Virgiana Woolf
 Edgar Allan Poe
 William Shakespeare
 Charles Dickens
 Walt Disney
 Van Gogh
 Pablo Picasso
 Salvador Dali

Countries
 The Great Wall of China
 New York City
 New York Points of Interest
 List of English Speaking Countries

Culture
 Youth
 Education
 The Educational Syatem in England
 Tips to start the new school year
 Brain drain
 Citizenship
 Stereotypes
 Culture shock
 Culture shock experiences

The environment
 Sustainable development
 Recycling
 Renewable energy
 7 ways to protect the environment
 Pollution and its effect on the environment
 Climate Change
 The ozone layer depletion
 Rainforests

Health
 Obesity
 Factors of good health
 Health tips
 The common cold
 Causes and treatment of hypertension
 Smoking and health problems
 Benefits of fasting

Holidays
 World Water Day
 Earth Day
 Eid al Fitr (Moslem holiday)
 Eid al Adha
 Halloween
 Easter Day
 Easter Bunny
 Christmas
 Christmas shopping
 Santa Claus
 New year’s Eve

Literature
 The Old Man and the Sea
 Romeo and Juliet
 Famous Spring Poems
 Love poems

Organizations
 The League of Nations
 United Nations
 UNICEF
 World Health Organization
 Fooed and Agriculture Organization
 World Food Programme

Politics
 Democracy
 Public debt
 Recession
 The Great Depression
 Malcom X
 Martin Luther King
 Civil Rights Movement
 Obama’s 2009 Nobel Prize
 Apartheid
 World War 1

Sport
 Football
 The 2010 world cup (Soth Africa)
 The 2014 world cup (Brazil)
 The ancient Olympic Games
 A list of the Olympic Games host cities
 The modern Olympic Games
 Winter Olympic Games

Science and Technology

 Technology
 Information technology
 The World Wide Web
 Robots
 The digital divide
 Computers
 Comuter addiction
 The Internet
 What does cloud computing mean?
 A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Developing Materials for Writing

When students are given a text and after reading it, they are asked to write something. Here,
the aim of the material is to serve the skill of writing. Since students are not English ones, they are not
asked to write using great styles. Instead, they have to write correct grammar and simple wording, and
the importance of being coherent when writing.
Some adult students do not experience too many problems with coherence as there is
classroom evidence to suggest that the ability to organize writing coherently is largely transferable
from the mother tongue. Conversely, an absence of this ability in English in an adult student is bad
news for the teacher as it may signal lack of practice in writing coherently in any language.
Teachers across the curriculum may include different kinds of writing to help their students,
for example, writing-to-learn practices like learning logs, response journals, quick writes,etc.; writing
to demonstrate learning to the teacher, such as essays, reports, and responses to prompts; and writing
in realistic forms for authentic purposes and readers. Writing regularly for different purposes will help
students develop as writers and can also help them learn in any study area. Teachers include writing
not merely to help students develop communication skills but to promote learning and thinking. Even
students in the early grades can begin to write, using whatever they have learned about printed text
along with their drawings to help them construct meaning. How much classroom time is devoted to
writing and how frequently students write in their classrooms are matters the teacher will have to
determine. It is especially important for young students to write frequently, perhaps each day. The
point is that students need to engage in composing their thoughts, not merely complete skills exercises
in preparation for some laterday when they actually will write.

C. What materials development are ?

In relation to what have been stated before, materials development refers to anything which is
done by writers, teachers or learners to provide sources of language input and to exploit those sources
in ways which maximise the likelihood of intake: in other words to give and utilize information and
provide experience of the using language, which is designed to promote language learning. It deals
with the use of that material for learning purposes that implies its design, adaptation, production and
evaluation. To support this idea, again, we take Tomlinson’s (2011) statement that these materials
have to be appealing in terms of content and presentation and challenging enough to help students
figure out the language as well as gain confidence in their process; they have to promote interaction
among learners and foster language acquisition by considering the learning styles of the students.
Taking this into account, we come across the notions of materials exploitation and evaluation.
In his research about materials development, Tomlinson (2012) stated that exploitation is basically the
use that teachers give to the course books in their classes, and evaluation is the opinions teachers have
on the appropriateness of that material to elicit learning. These situations are common in our practice
since there are plenty of publishing houses that offer textbooks and we are supposed to give an
effective use of them because they are considered as an investment that cannot be wasted. Moreover,
at the end of the process we have to give account of them by establishing how they were used, how
often and if they were useful or not.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand what those processes entail and demand from
teachers. So, in developing materials they need to identify learners’ needs and consider the objective
of the learning. Then, we analyze the needs and collects materials suitable with the needs. After that,
we should determine the possible approaches and techniques which can be used by considering the
condition of the learners and the possible situations of language use which the students will encounter.
Then, we can develop the materials by adapting them in order to improve or to make them more
suitable to learners’ needs. Adaptation, then, can be done by reducing, adding, omitting, modifying,
and supplementing the learning materials (Tomlinson, 1998).
Hence, it is possible to conclude that in our regular practice, we undertake those processes of
design, adaptation, exploitation and evaluation of materials, due to the fact that we are sensitive to our
students’ needs as well as to the characteristics of our settings. Consequently, when we do not agree
on the structure or the content of the books, we usually tend to look for extra materials to introduce
the topics, complement the activities presented in them or spread our practice; then we resort to look
for authentic materials and use them in our classrooms.
Actually, the teachers are always concerned about how their practice can be really effective to
foster students learning. To do so, it is important to introduce the concept of materials development
that deals with the use of that material for learning purposes that implies its design, adaptation,
production and evaluation. Moreover, that materials have to be appealing in terms of content and
presentation and challenging enough to help students figure out the language as well as gain
confidence in their process; they have to promote interaction among learners and foster language
acquisition by considering the learning styles of the students.This means that we as a teacher are
supposed to select the accurate materials that can give a proper account of the language to facilitate its
acquisition. This is a process that also implies a conscious effort to take into account our students’
interests, contexts, skills and learning styles and it involves certain commitment from us to adjust
their practice and become aware that they are supposed to adapt what they find, as well as design or
produce material that guides our own students’ learning process.
Regarding to materials design, Howard and Major (2004) establish that there are some
advantages when we as a teacher design our own material due to the fact that textbooks depict
realities that are unknown to learners’ situations and also, because at some workplaces we may not
have enough resources. Thus, by applying this strategy, we can adjust materials to our own contexts
and available resources. A second advantage that is when we as a teacher design our own materials
that we can address students’ learning needs and work on them specifically to guide their process
towards success. One way of doing so is to incorporate students first language, culture, experiences
and prior knowledge into the classroom through the materials. Other advantages are the possibilities
teachers have to personalize their materials by putting their own style and organizing the lessons the
way they consider suitable for their particular groups of students. These features allow us to keep our
tasks with updated and interesting information about local or international events.
Moreover, it is necessary to address the concept of material adaptation that according to
McGrathand, Islam and Mares, (as cited in Tomlinson, 2012), is the process in which teachers select
existing material, rejecting some parts of them, adding extra sections, making input understandable,
favoring different learning styles and fostering learners’ autonomy so they can get acquainted with
their own learning process. Moreover, Ramos and Aguirre (2014) argue that we must have the
capacity to adapt materials that fit the needs of the students considering the population, and bring
those materials into the classroom. These ideas are highly relevant if we consider that our practice is
carried out within particular contexts.
Practically, developing materials of language teaching should concern with the authenticity,
cultural based and content based. Authenticity leads the materials into authentic materials, while
cultural and content will frame the materials into cultural based material and content based materials.
Authentic material is any kind of material taken from the real world and not specifically created for
the purpose of language teaching. Authentic materials are those taken as they are in the original or
natural sources. According to Morrow (as cited in Gilmore, 2007), authentic materials are excerpts of
realistic messages, either oral or written, produced by someone to convey meaning to an authentic
audience. These kind of materials are exposure to real language and its use in its own community.
So, we can define as appropriate and good quality in terms of goal, objectives, learner needs and
interest and natural in terms of real life and meaningful communication.

Based on this, Gilmore (2007) establishes that these kind of texts are an interesting source of
input since they present an enormous language variety that can promote acquisition in learners. This
kind of materials are significant since it increases students’ motivation for learning and makes the
learner be exposed to the real language. These authentic materials offer a much richer source of input
for learners and have the potential to be exploited in different ways and on different levels to develop
learners’ communicative competence. Moreover, by using these materials teacher can meet the
demand of importing the real language and use to the students, since authentic materials bring the real
world into the classroom and significantly enliven the EFL classroom. Therefore, the incorporation of
this type of materials into the EFL classroom implies a huge advantage for language learning.
Additionally, the students have to interact with people from other countries. If they are not
accustomed to expose to the authentic materials, they will find some obstacles in joining the English-
speaking society. Thus, the authentic materials need to be used since they can expose the students to
cultural features and generate a deeper understanding of and interest on the topic. These authenthic
materials includes menus, map, newspaper, store advertisements, travel brochures, catalogs, phone
books, real estate phamphlets, and various pamphlet of tourism.
On the one hand, using authentic materials is very helpful because they have a positive impact
on learners’ motivation, satisfy learners’ needs, and supply authentic cultural information and
exposure to real language. On the other hand, using authentic materials may contain difficult
language, difficult vocabulary items and complex language structures as they can be too culturally
(Basturkmen, 2010). Some interesting texts may go beyond students’ level and current abilities. This
would not make problems only for students, it may also struggle teachers. Simplified materials are
materials used by teachers to facilitate the learning process. When using authentic materials may not
be very helpful and it is difficult for students to understand them since the language and the use of
words may be highly complex, thus, the use of simplified ones would be the solution. Simplified
materials use understandable language, provide clear objectives, and focus on specific items of the
lecture.
Cultural-based materials or materials for cultural awareness are the material that has
information about culture that underlying language in order to get the meaning across. It means that
teacher of foreign language should teach their students about the culture of the foreign language when
teaching them the language. These kinds of materials can be as texts that have cultural content which
provides exposure to live language that a foreign language students lacks. Culture is not something
consisting of facts to be learnt, but a helpful tool to make students feel the need to speak and use the
target language.
It is fundamental to identify that the real intention of this kind of materials is to make students
aware of cultural aspects that are present in everyday life and how they overlay with social
transactions. This concept is called cultural awareness that Quappe and Cantatore (2007) define as the
basis for communication that implies being conscious of one’s own cultural as well as the ones of
people from different cultural backgrounds which allow creating new patterns of meaning and
exchange. In this sense, Pulverness (as cited in Tomlinson, 2014) suggests that “to develop cultural
awareness alongside language awareness, materials need to provide more than a token
acknowledgement of cultural identity and address more thoroughly the kind of cultural adjustment
that underlies the experience of learning a foreign language”. Therefore, materials should have a
variety of activities that expose students to different types of cultural features within the foreign
language they are learning. In fact, the author advises the use of “literary texts which mimic, or more
directly represent, experiences of cultural estrangement”.
Moreover, Peterson and Coltrane (2003) argue that teachers enrich their practice by
developing lesson plans with organized cultural activities such as authentic materials that can be
adapted by teachers to suit students’ level. They also suggest using films, proverbs, role plays and
literature. Moreover, these scholars coin the terms “culture capsules” and “cultural resources”, the
first referring to items that are culturally relevant, and the second to the learners themselves as
individuals immersed within a culture. The proposals of these two authors are quite valuable since
they provide interesting sources of cultural input that can help teachers, as material developers, to
enrich our practices. As a matter of fact, Rico (2012) highlights that materials should expose learners
to three aspects: experiential learning, a structured approach to intercultural learning and an
intercultural learning linked to language learning. These parameters may lead students to become
aware of the importance of culture and its differences, through activities that make students react and
reflect upon these aspects. From this perspective, the author makes a connection between materials
and Intercultural Communicative Competence.
Content-Based Materials or Teacher-developed Materials is material that contain the language
required for school learning and promotes thinking skills. Content-based material is specifically used
for a content-based course. However, they also can be used in a conventional classroom. Content can
be slipped into activities commonly used in the classroom. Content-based materials that will be used
in the conventional classroom should be based on the curriculum and students’ interest.
Núñez, Téllez, Castellanos and Ramos (2009) point out that we teachers should develop
materials because it is like embarking upon a fascinating task that allows your imagination to fly and
go far beyond your capabilities. It could also be living an enjoyable and rewarding experience that
implies careful thought, fondness, inspiration, originality and the occasion for you and your students
to develop both personally and professionally. This is basically an invitation for us, teachers to rely on
our own capacities to be innovators in the classroom, to love our labor, and to find inspiration on
everything we see to transform our labor into a tool to boost learning as well as to develop ourselves
as people and professionals.
Regarding our personal and professional growth, Nuñez and Tellez (2015) concluded that
being able to design materials is an aspect that leads us teachers to reflect upon our own teaching
practices, finding ways to adjust them in order to innovate as well as influence our contexts.
Moreover, materials development guides us teachers to select proper materials that meet the
objectives of our classes and gives us self-confidence in the processes we carry out in the classroom.
Núñez, Téllez, Castellanos and Ramos (2009) also state that teachers become innovation
leaders in their own classrooms by means of teacher-developed materials that are the result of
teachers’ reflection on the learning process and the appreciation of the EFL setting. This helps them to
realize that students are integral human beings that have different learning styles and rhythms,
abilities, interests, experiences and knowledge of their own. Thus, we are able to make decisions to
readjust our practice to meet students’ needs and make them feel motivated and engaged in their own
learning process and not frustrated in their language acquisition.
Furthermore, Nuñez and Téllez (2009) argue that that in order to develop material, teachers
have to consider the learners needs, expectations, contexts, learning styles and multiple intelligences.
Moreover, the way the input is presented has to be catchy and easily understood by the students; the
activities have to be designed in a way that students find them challenging but not frustrating, and also
meaningful and relevant to their lives.
In other words, teacher-developed materials are the best way in which they can put their
creativity, commitment and knowledge in-action at the service of the learners since they understand
that it is their responsibility to create proper learning environments that can benefit the students.
Consequently, our practice can address all of our students’ dimensions as human beings because we
have the option to put different strategies into practice to reach realistic goals in our courses within
specific contexts.
One way to define realistic goals that we need to consider at the moment of applying teacher-
developed materials is through syllabus design. Stern (as cited in Núñez, Téllez, Castellanos and
Ramos, 2009), present three main points for this purpose. Firstly, language focus in which the author
gives many syllabi possibilities depending on how language teaching is perceived (Structural,
Situational, Theme/topic based, Functional, Competency-based, Task-based, Content-based and Skill-
based). Secondly, learning and the learner focus that implies the perspectives of the students in terms
of learning strategies that are known as the steps to guide them; the interpersonal skills that rely on
interactions as a learning booster; and finally, the affective goals that imply students’ attitudes
towards learning and the target language and its culture. Thirdly, social context that deals with aspects
such as socio linguistic (proper use of language depending on the situations), socio political (critical
thinking and effective participation in the society) and socio cultural (cultural understanding in terms
of identity, customs and behavior).
Considering Stern’s syllabus (as cited in Núñez, Téllez, Castellanos and Ramos, 2009)
complex and holistic orientation in which he states the necessity of including socio cultural
understanding, it is necessary to become acquainted with the ideas of Pulverness (as cited in
Tomlinson, 2014) who claims that the experience of learning another language is more than simply
the acquisition of an alternative means of expression. It involves a process of acculturation, akin to the
effort required of the traveller, striving to come to terms with different social structures, different
assumptions and different expectations. In this sense, learning another language entails being sensitive
to a different culture which means understanding other perspectives, customs and world visions; and
finally, adapting oneself to them.
D. What should we do to develop instructional materials ?

Developing instructional materials is not just an activity taking the text from authentic
resources then put into a designated textbook, but there is a process of adapting that involves carefull
thought and intensive works from teachers or materials developer. The main reason in adaptation is
unavailable materials that suit with the curriculum or syllabus provided by school, or in other words,
published materials are necessarily constrained by the syllabus, unit template and other space
concerns. Language was viewed primarily in structural terms and was not treated as a tool for
communication, while learning was seen in terms of forming correct behavioural patterns. Despite an
increased awareness and sensitivity to language as communication and learning as a developmental
process, many teachers were finding themselves faced with materials that did not reflect these
teaching and learning principles. Then, some reasons for adaptation can be seen as follow:
 Not enough grammar coverage in general
 Not enough practice of grammar points of particular difficulty to these learners
 Reading passage contain to much unknown vocabulary
 Comprehension questions are too easy, because the answer can be lifted directly from the text
with no real understanding
 Listening passages are inauthentic, because they sound too much like written material being
read out
 Not enough guidance on pronunciation
 Subject matter inappropriate for learners of this age and intellectual level
 Photographs and other illustrative material not culturally acceptable
 Amount of material too great/too little to cover in the time allocated to lessons
 No guidance for teacher on handling group work and role play activities with a large class.
 Dialogues too formal, and not really representative of everyday speech
 Audio material difficult to use because of problems to do with room size and technical
equipment
 Too much or too little variety in the activities
 Vocabulary list and a key to the exercises would be helpful
 Accompanying tests needed

Adaptation is also appropriate when materials are not ideal, as presented in the following:
 Methods (e.g. an exercise may too mechanical, lacking in meaning, too complicated)
  Language content (e.g. there may be too much emphasis on grammar your students learn
quickly or not enough emphasis on what they find difficult)
 Subject matter (e.g. topics may not be interesting to students or they may be outdated or not
authentic enough)
 Balance of skills (e.g. there may be too much emphasis on skills in the written language or
skills in the spoken language, or there may not be enough on integrating skills)
 Progression and grading (order of language items may need to be changed to fit an outside
syllabus or the staging may need to be made steeper or more shallow)
 Cultural content (cultural references may need to be omitted or changed)
 Image (a coursebook may project an unfriendly image through poor layout, low quality
visuals, etc.)
 Communicative materials do not provide enough opportunities for negotiation (personal or
psychological) between the learner and the text
 Communicative materials do not provide enough opportunities for interpersonal or social
negotiation between all participants in the learning process, between learners and teachers,
and learners and learners.
 Activities and tasks do not promote enough communicative performance
 Activities and tasks do not promote enough metacommunicating opportunities
 Activities and tasks do not promote co-participation. Teachers and learners are not involved
as co-participants in the teaching learning process.

Techniques for adapting materials

McDonough and Shaw (1993) offer lists of techniques that may be used when adapting
materials to fit a specific class. They are: adding (extending and expanding), deleting (subtracting and
abridging), siplifying, reordering and replacing material.

Adding
When adding to published materials the teacher is supplementing the existing materials and
providing more material. The teacher can do this by either extending or expanding.
Extending
When extending an activity the teacher supplies more of the same type of materials, thus making a
quantitative change in the material. For example, an activity may practice a particular grammar point
by asking the learner to complete a sentence with the missing verb in the correct form, such as the
simple past. The cousebook may have provided ten sentences for this treatment, but the teacher may
value this type of activity for her particular class and adapt the cousebook by adding five more
sentences with missing verbs.
Expanding
Expanding classroom material is different from extending in that it adds something different to the
materials; the change is qualitative. For instance, the teacher may feel her students need to be made
aware of the different sounds of verb endings when used in the simple past but the coursebook does
not address this phonetic issue. Consequently, she may add an activity or series of activities that deal
with the phonetics of the past simple. The teacher may want to draw students’ attention to the fact
that, when pronouncing the verbs visited, played and worked, the endings (-ed) are pronounced /id/,
/id/ and /t/ respectively. Other expansions could involve including a discussion to contextualize and
personalize the topic of a particular unit of study, or including a TPR phase to make difficult
language items in a reading or listenng text more comprehensible.
It is important to note that addition to materials can come at the beginning, at the end or in the
middle of the materials being adapted.

Deleting (Subtracting and Abridging)

As with the technique of adding, material can be deleted both quantitatively (subtracting) or
qualitatively (abridging). When subtracting, for example, a teacher can decide to do five of questions
practising the simple past tense instead of the ten in the coursebook. When abridging, however, the
teacher may decide that focusing attention on pronunciation may inhibit the learner’s fluency and
decide not to do any of the pronunciation exercise in a coursebook.

Simplifying
When simplifying, the teacher could rewording instructions or text in order to make them more
accessible to learners, or simplifying a complete activity to make it more manageable for learners and
teachers. It is worth pointing out here that there is a distinct danger of distorting language when
attempting to simplify a text and thus making the text inauthentic.

Reordering
When reordering, the teacher has decide that it makes more pedagogic sense to sequence activities
differently. An example is beginning with a general discussion before looking at a reading passage
rather than using the reading as a basis for discussion.

Replacing Material
When replacing material a teacher may decide that a more appropriate visual or text might serve an
activity better than the ones presented in the published material. This is often the case with culturally
specific or time specific activities. A teacher may decide to replace an illustration for one that students
could identify with more closely or use information concerning a popular figure with whom the
students are familiar than the one presented in the published materials.
 Teachers may also decide to replace a whole activity depending on the goals of a particular
class or lesson. For example, a reading activity might be replaced with a listening activity.

E. Why do we need to develop instructional materials ?

Instructional materials in teaching are crucial to the success of student achievement. Since,
the instructional components of lesson planning in teaching depend on the selection of teaching and
learning materials. Instructional materials or usually called teaching/learning materials 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 the ability to support
student learning.
There are five functions what instructional materials suppose to do. They should do as student
learning support, lesson structure that can help to organize the teaching learning process,
differentiation of instruction, investment in a good teaching.

Student Learning Support

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.
Investment in good teaching
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.