EDU 360: PEER REVIEW

ENG 149: LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

TOPIC #1: THE HISTORY OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT: AN OVERVIEW

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.

To fully understand the importance of materials in language learning, let us first look into the History of
Materials Development.

How “materials” is defined in language learning?

“Materials” are anything that facilitates the learning of language.

What is materials development?

Material development is basically dealing with the selection, adaptation, and creation of
teaching materials (Nunan, 1991). In practice, it focused on evaluation, an adaptation of published
materials, and creation (development of teaching materials by the teacher in line with the existing
curriculum).

The scope of Material Development based on the definition consists of (1) the selection
or evaluation of teaching material based on a set of criteria or principles, (2) the process of
adapting teaching materials based on a set of criteria or principles, and (3) the creation of teaching
materials based on a set of principles, theories, and the curriculum.

How is materials development evolved?

In the past, materials development was merely the production accompanying a wide
range of learning resources to illustrate methods. Until the 1990s it was considered to be
theoretical and something that teachers did for their classes and/or for publication. Very few post-
graduate courses paid much attention to materials development and if they did it was as an add-
on to a Methodology course. However, in the late 1990s with the publication of several books and
articles, the founding of associations such as MATSDA (Materials Development Association), and
the proliferation of post-graduate courses which included modules on materials development,
things started to change.

This procedure raised teachers’ awareness of two issues:

1. The huge production in the interest of methodologies and materials used for teaching
 2. The importance of including students’ voices in order to update teaching materials in
terms of the way learners would like to learn and what they need to learn in today’s
increasingly globalized world.

Turning Points in the History of Materials Development

The advent of the *Communicative Approach in the 1970s was a major turning point as
materials moved from *audiolingual approaches to an approach that encouraged learners to use
the language for communication.

One of the positive after-effects of the world war was an increase in world trade and air
travel. Hence, the materials developed in a way that made trade and travel easier.

AUTHENTIC VS ARTIFICIAL/ARTIFACTS MATERIALS

ARTIFICIAL/ARTIFACT MATERIALS

Artificial/Artifact Materials are teaching materials that are made and designed for teaching purposes only.
These materials are planned, designed, and produced based on the curriculum. These materials are
usually in the form of textbooks. These textbooks are also built upon the learner's needs and abilities.

AUTHENTIC MATERIALS OR ARTIFICIAL/ARTIFACT MATERIALS?

Due to the complexity and the problem of cultural content in authentic materials, simplification of
authentic materials is proposed by many scholars. Teachers may edit and adjust the authentic materials
so that they will suit the context. Thus, students can still be exposed to real-life materials. However,
Guariento and Morley (2011) note that there is also a problem in the simplification of authentic materials.
According to them, if authentic materials are edited and simplified, then they are no longer authentic.
Thus, if teachers are to give the students authentic materials, they need to maintain the originality of the
materials. Adjusting the English materials with Philippine culture, for example, will affect the naturalness
of English itself
Material Advantages Disadvantages

• They have a positive effect on learner • Contain difficult language, unneeded

motivation. vocabulary items, and complex language
• They provide authentic cultural information. structures
Authentic Material • They provide exposure to real language. • It May be too culturally biased
• They relate more closely to learner's needs. • Special preparation is necessary, can be
• They support a more creative approach to time-consuming.
teaching.

• The language is easier and understandable. • Might be developed poorly resulting in

Get clear objectives to develop unsuccessful language learning
Artificial/Artifact • It is adapted for a particular aspect. • Developed materials do not expose
Material • Materials are relevant, useful, and focused learners to real language
on what students are learning at the point.
Why use authentic materials?
According to Brinton (1991), authentic materials and media can reinforce for students the direct
relationship between the language classroom and the outside world. Gebhard (1996) sees
authentic materials as a way to contextualize language learning. When lessons are centered on
comprehending a menu or a TV weather report, students tend to focus more on content and
meaning rather than the language itself. This offers students a valuable source of language input
so that they are not being exposed only to the language presented by the text and the teacher.

TOPIC #2: PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES and TOPIC CONTENT IN LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIAL

The Direct Method

In this method, the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The learner is not allowed to
use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is an emphasis on good
pronunciation.

Grammar-translation

Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be
memorized and long lists of vocabulary are learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed
on developing oral ability.

Audio-lingual

The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is much
practice of dialogues of every situation. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before
being seen in its written form.

The structural approach

This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at a
time in a set order. So for example the verb “to be” is introduced and practiced before the present
continuous tense which uses “to be” as an auxiliary.

Suggestopedia

The theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is
receptive and has no mental blocks. By various methods, it is suggested to the student that the
language is easy - and in this way, the mental blocks to learning are removed.

Total Physical Response (TPR)

TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as “Stand up”, “Close your
book”, “Go to the window and open it.” The method stresses the importance of aural
comprehension.

Communicative language teaching (CLT)

The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and appropriately in
the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The content of CLT courses are
 functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining, or notions such as the expression of time,
quantity, location.

The Silent Way

This is so-called because the teacher aims to say as little as possible so that the learner can be in
control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue.

Community Language Learning

In this method, attempts are made to build strong personal links between the teacher and student
so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in the mother tongue which is translated
by the teacher for repetition by the student.

Immersion

This corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. ESL students are
immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn math,
science, humanities, etc. through the medium of the target language, English.

Task-based language learning

The focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the learners.
Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is a little correction
of errors.

The Natural Approach

This approach, propounded by Professor S. Krashen, stresses the similarities between learning the
first and second languages. There is no correction of mistakes. Learning takes place by the
students being exposed to language that is comprehensible or made comprehensible to them.

The Lexical Syllabus

This approach is based on a computer analysis of language which identifies the most common
(and hence most useful) words in the language and their various uses. The syllabus teaches these
words in broadly the order of their frequency, and great emphasis is placed on the use of
authentic materials.

What is topic content?

The content of all topics, regardless of topic type, is built on the same common structures.

What is topic content in language learning material?

DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE (knowledge about the language system): Declarative

knowledge involves knowing THAT something is the case - that J is the tenth letter of the alphabet,
that Paris is the capital of France. Declarative knowledge is explicit/conscious; it can often be
verbalized. Metalinguistic knowledge, or knowledge about a linguistic form, is declarative
knowledge.
 PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE (knowledge of how the language is used): Procedural
knowledge involves knowing HOW to do something - ride a bike, for example. We may not be able
to explain how we do it. Procedural knowledge involves implicit learning, which a learner may not
be aware of, and may involve being able to use a particular form to understand or produce
language without necessarily being able to explain it.

TOPIC #3: EARLY AND CURRENT LITERATURE ABOUT MATERIALS EVALUATION

MATERIALS EVALUATION
Materials evaluation is “a procedure that involves measuring the value (or potential
value) of a set of learning materials” (Tomlinsons, 2003). Several factors can affect the evaluation
process: (1) Teachers have many choices in selecting the materials. They can differ the materials
effectively. Having a lot of choices means the need for evaluation in selection is more than the
limitation sources in materials. (2) Selecting the coursebook is a challenge for teachers. People
think that materials are the main of the particular program. The coursebook can be a
representation of the activities in the class.
LITERATURE ABOUT MATERIALS EVALUATION
Why Evaluate Materials?
Hutchinson & Waters (1987) stated that evaluation is a matter of judging the fitness of
something for a particular purpose. Evaluation concerns the relative merit. There is no absolute
good or bad, only degrees of fitness for the required purpose. It means that, when the teacher
does materials evaluation, the evaluation is based on the required purpose or goal that would be
reached by the students.
In another word, according to Hutchinson & Waters (1987), that in any kind of evaluation, the
decision finally made is likely to be the better for being based on a systematic check of all the
important variables. In doing the evaluation materials, the writer probably gets a negative and
positive impact. The negative side of evaluation materials is the teacher probably spent a lot of
expense, time, and probably getting frustrated. On the other hand, the positive side of evaluation
materials is it can also help in justifying request of the sponsors or other for money to buy
materials or time to write them.

Harmer’s criteria for evaluating materials (1983)

“The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd)” is the most useful and important to language
learning materials. To evaluate the value of Textbooks by using this form, researchers/evaluators
have to follow three stages to get knowledge about learners (target learners). This knowledge
about learners is very important to judge the materials.
The three stages are:
• To describe the learners, saying who are they and what they bring to class: age, sex,
social/cultural background of the learners, their occupation, their motivation and
attitude, educational background, knowledge of English, and their interests and belief.
• To describe the learner’s needs, when they are likely to use English, and what skills they
should acquire in the language.
• To consider in general terms the type of materials appropriates for particular learners.
Penny Ur’ evaluation Textbook Scheme (1996)
“A course in language Teaching; Practice and Theory” determined this checklist or scheme aims
to focus on textbook evaluation and have the same target as language textbook evaluation.
Therefore, Ur’s checklist includes the following 46 - Educationally and socially acceptable to the
target community. The importance of fluency in learning language skills more than accuracy -
because the fluency helps learners to develop their learning strategies and to be independent in
their learning
Grant Criteria (N. Grant, 1987) “Making the most of your Textbook”
He puts some principles for evaluative criteria in four main perspectives. They are used as either
checklists or questionnaires: Linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and pedagogic. Now we
would try to see how these evaluative criteria deal with each principle and present the items of
language in each principle regarding the “linguistic” principle, the criteria contain certain
questions to reveal the content, aim, selection, skill development, and communicative abilities.
These questions emphasize the appropriate skills in materials to learn them in real situations In
the “psycholinguistic” principle, the learning theories are considered an essential component of
the materials assessed and their motivational value. The “sociolinguistic principle”, focuses on
questions that center around the materials’ socio-cultural appropriateness for learners. These
questions clarify the fitness of materials to the learners and the notion’s long-term goals in
learning them. In addition, it examines whether the materials meet the language learning needs
of learners, as they perceive them About “pedagogical level”, this model concentrates on the role
of teachers and learners in the classroom, the content of materials from the point of view of
methodological perspective, the activities of the classroom to teaching/learning process. In
addition, the major concerns are in the 47 appropriateness of materials in the classroom,
presentation of grammatical structures, and vocabulary items.
Material Evaluation based on Curriculum and Syllabus (Present)
The two terms curriculum and syllabus have several meanings and different definitions. In
addition, there is confusion between these two terms. Curriculum and Syllabus have been
defined according to educators’ philosophical tendencies, psychological and linguistic
assumptions J. C. Aggarawall (1996:307-16) “Principles, Methods & Techniques of teaching”
declared that the meaning of curriculum is the totality of all the learning to which students are
exposed during their study in school. He has listed 79 definitions in his book (Curriculum Reforms
in India 1990). Some of the most important definitions are as follows Alberty, A. and Alberty, E.
(1959) regard curriculum as “the total of student’ s activities which the school sponsors to achieve
its objectives”.
American Association of School Administrators (1953) observes in recent years the curriculum
has been commonly defined as all of the directed learning experiences of children and youth
under the influence of the school. Blond’s Encyclopedia of Education (1969) defines Curriculum
as follows: “all the experience which a pupil has under the guidance of school”. Curriculum as
defined in A Dictionary of Education by Rowntree Derek (1981) can refer to the total structure of
ideas and activities developed by an educational institution to meet the learning needs of
students and to achieve desired educational aims.
TOPIC #4: PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES OF MATERIALS EVALUATION, ADAPTATION PRACTICE
AND THEORY
PRINCIPLES OF MATERIALS EVALUATION
There are two principles in materials evaluation: effectiveness and efficiency (Ellis 1998 in
Tomlinson 1998).
• Effectiveness principle: Is a coursebook effective in meeting the needs of the learners?
Compare what the learners knew and were able to do before they used the coursebook with what
they know and can do after they have used the book.
• Efficiency principle: Does a coursebook meet the needs of the learners more effectively than
some alternative coursebooks?
Compare the learning gains evidenced by using one coursebook with the gains evidenced by
another coursebook.
*coursebook (plural coursebooks) - A textbook, a book designed to accompany a specific academic course,
or one specified by the writers of the course to be read by its students.

PROCEDURES OF MATERIALS EVALUATION

Hutchinson & Waters (1987) stated that evaluation is a matching process: matching needs to
available solutions". To match the needs and solutions, the matching should be done as objectively as
possible. It means that teachers have to look at the needs of students and the solution separately. In the
final analysis, any choice will be made on subjective grounds. However, if subjectivity influences your
judgment, it may blind you to possible alternatives. For example, a teacher might reject a particular
textbook, because the teacher does not like the picture on the cover or dislike functional syllabuses but it
does not mean that the book does not suit the needs of parties. Thus, teachers should not let subjectivity
too much influence their judgment in the early stages of analysis when evaluating materials to be taught.

The process of evaluation can be divided into four major steps:

1) Defining criteria
2) Subjective analysis
 3) Objective analysis
4) Matching

The first two stages will be done in the course design stage. While the other two-stage is done as
the continuation of the subjective analysis where teachers have to evaluate or develop their
material through objective analysis. From these processes, the teacher will be easier to know
how far the material matches the needs.
* Subjective analysis is the analysis of the course in terms of materials requirements while
Objective analysis is the analysis of materials being evaluated.
Below is a procedure made by Lucinda Ganpatsingh of Micro-evaluation for Materials:

ADAPTATION THEORY
In 1987, Jef Verschueren proposed the “adaptation” theory in the book named Pragmatics as a
Theory of Linguistic Adaptation. The theory gives completely new insight and approach to
language use. Verschueren further developed and improved the theory in the book understanding
pragmatics in 1999. According to Verschueren, the study on language use must integrate linguistic
phenomena with their usage in forms of behavior from a general cognitive, social, and cultural
perspective.

ADAPTATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

According to Verschueren, language use is a kind of "behavior" that is different from "act" and is
more with the sociological significance, also social action. Pragmatics studies language use,
namely, the process of linguistic choice which is the dynamics of adaptability according to
different salience of the adaptation processes from the two aspects of contextual correlates and
structural objects.
Language use is the process of making choices continuously in verbal communication.
Verschueren claims that linguistic choices include three important concepts (physical world,
social world, and mental world) which make a great influence on the process of making choices
and thus contribute to the communication's accomplishment smoothly. Contextual correlates of
adaptability in this theory mean that linguistic choice must be adaptable with the context.

• The mental world mainly refers to the mental factors of the persons in communication
such as personality, emotions, beliefs, intentions, wishes, motivations, and so on.
• The social world mainly includes social settings or institutions or community-specific
communicative norms that have to be observed. In addition, culture is also one of the key
contents in the social world.
• The physical world is a tangible, visible, and tangible context, including specific subject,
object, time, space, and topic elements.
We can see the relationship of these factors in verbal communication as the following figure:

In the figure above, the context in the adaptation theory includes the communicative context
and linguistic context. The former includes four aspects: the first one is the utterer and the
interpreter which are the most important roles in the production and the interpretation of the
utterance. The second one is the mental world. The third one is the social world. The last one is
the physical world. The latter is also called a linguistic channel. The linguistic context mainly
includes some linguistic methods which play important roles in understanding the text
The adaptation theory proposes that language use is the dynamic process of language choice to
meet communicative needs. So, every foreign language class can be regarded as a context, and
teachers and students are both involved in the process of communication. It is a kind of
interactive relationship between them, which is a dynamic process of choosing a language and
adapting to communicative contexts. Therefore, it is feasible to integrate the adaptation theory
with foreign language teaching.
The goal of foreign language teaching is to cultivate the students' comprehensive ability to use
language, which requires foreign language teachers to grasp the integral dynamic process of
foreign language teaching and cultivate students' ability of comprehensive application, especially
the ability of language communication. Therefore, the choice of teaching language, the design of
teaching activities, and the use of teaching methods and strategies in the college foreign
language teaching all need to consider the communicative contexts of teachers and students
(that is, the mental world, social world, and physical world) and make the proper dynamic choice
to complete the teaching tasks better.
TOPIC #5: PRINCIPLED DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS AND THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF
COURSEBOOKS (GLOBAL &LOCAL)
PRINCIPLES OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT
In terms of material development, we need to consider two key questions, namely what
should be provided for learners as materials and how to give them to learners. Materials
designers may say that the key to material development is intuition or tacit knowledge
which they know what works and what won't work based on their experiences. Although
this seems to be good for developing materials, another point that needs to be aware of
is subjective, especially from conservative teachers who generally might not want to
change. Therefore, it had better listen to teachers' and learners' voices to see what
they're interested in and what their opinions toward materials are.
All these statements are basic principles of second language acquisition relevant to the
development of materials for the teaching of language compiled by Brian Tomlinson, namely:
1. “Materials should achieve impact.”
They should have an attractive presentation and appealing content to target learners.
2. “Materials should help learners to feel at ease.”
Texts and illustrations in materials should make learners feel comfortable, relaxed, and
being supportive.
3. “Materials should help learners to develop confidence.”
They should make learners feel successful and push learners to develop their skills.
4. “What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful.”
Materials should convince learners that teaching points are useful whereby teachers
need to find what the learners are interested in.
5. “Materials should require and facilitate learner’s self-investment.”
They should encourage learners to invest their interests, efforts, and attention.
6. “Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught.”
Using materials to prepare learners to focus on features of the target language which
they haven't learned yet, so they might be attentive to learn these features.
7. "Materials should expose learners to language in authentic use." which means they should
provide learners with advice and instructions for their activities, spoken language, and written
text.
8. "The learners' attention should be drawn to linguistic features of the input." which means
materials should include grammar and how the language is used.
9. "Materials should provide learners with opportunities to use the target language to
achieve communication process."
10. "Materials should take into account that learners differ in learning style." which means
they should provide a variety of activities and should support all learning styles, such as, visual
learners, auditory learners, kinaesthetic learners, studial learners, experiential learners, analytic
learners, global learners, dependent learners, and independent learners.
11. "Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes." which means
they should provide different types of text and activities, as well as should be aware of cultural
sensitivities of target learners.
12. “Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction.” which means they
should not force learners to speak until they are ready.
13. "Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic &
emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities."
14. "Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice." which means they should focus
on language use.
15. "Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback, especially feedback on the
effectiveness of the use of language rather than accuracy of language."

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF COURSEBOOKS (GLOBAL & LOCAL)

Coursebook writing is a daunting and great undertaking. To develop a coursebook, first
of all, we need to determine the "objectives" and why it is needed (Sadeghi, 2005, p. 29). Then,
after clarifying goals, we need to carry out a "needs analysis" to specify in detail what and how
the material should be written, graded, and sequenced (Farhady, 2005, p. 80). Jordan (1997, p.
264) suggests that there are some variables to be considered in materials writing: "students,
teachers, syllabus, methodology, resources, time, and finance." First of all, we need to gather
enough information about the students: their levels, age, learning styles and strategies, cultural
and social background, needs, wants, objectives, and preferences. We also need to obtain
information about the teachers who intend to teach the coursebook that is going to be written:
their skills, proficiency, abilities, experience, and teaching conditions and resources. Also, we
need to determine what type of content should be included: topics, themes, language skills, texts,
tasks, exercises, vocabulary, grammar, study skills, dialogues, and general or specific texts.
Masuhara (2006, p. 43) contends that "effective materials cannot be made without valid use of
visuals …"

GLOBAL COURSEBOOKS LOCAL COURSEBOOKS

The international or global coursebook is defined by A local coursebook is one specifically produced for a
Tomlinson (1998) as a coursebook that is not written country or region and draw[s] on a national curriculum
for learners from a particular culture or country but and the learners' experiences by including references
which is intended for use by any class of learners in the to local personalities, places, etc. A local coursebook is
specified level and age group anywhere in the world. an adapted or localized version of a global coursebook
Gray (2002) adds that international EFL coursebooks that provides a better fit, in that it connects the students'
are typically produced in English-speaking countries. world with the world of English. Tomlinson (2003) likes
the localization of global coursebooks because he
believes that to be successful, they necessarily should
be to match the target students and the atmosphere
they are learning in.

The global coursebook contains a comprehensive level If coursebooks are developed about such a curriculum,
of texts for instructors using the course. These include then there is a suitable relationship between the
language and background notes, and additional curriculum and the coursebooks. Such teaching
reading tasks. They also feature ideas for ways of materials are often labeled as local or localized course
adapting the global coursebook to the local teaching books and can improve the development of students'
situation. English language.
TOPIC #6: ICT IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND DIGITAL ADOPTION IN EDUCATION
ICT IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION
Language education is an area where open-access resources, online courses, virtual
classrooms, and social networks based on information and communication technology (ICT) are
being increasingly used to give learners access to information, promote interaction and
communication, and enhance digital literacy skills. However, the rapid development of tools and
resources presents both opportunities and challenges. To maximize the potential of ICT in
language teaching, it must be used in a pedagogically sound way that corresponds to the
individual needs of the learners. It is also important that the use of ICT is introduced and
supported in a sustainable way and in a range of pedagogical approaches that promote lifelong
learning.
Some of the important ICT tools and applications used in the field of English Language Teaching are
following:

Computers: This is the most important tool of information and communication technology and the
backbone of modern human life. All modern communication processes are impossible without the use of
computers. It is helpful in storing, preparing, collecting, and preparing data for communication. It is helpful
in the development of listening and speaking skills. It is helpful in English language speaking and listening
skills.

Overhead projector: It is an important tool for displaying information and processes to a large number of
people simultaneously. It can be used in the teaching and training of personnel. Prepared forms of
information are easy to display with the help of an overhead projector.

Lingua phone: This tool is very important in the language training of the students. Some students can
practice speaking and hearing drills with the help of a lingua phone. It is especially useful in the training
of English language listening and speaking skills.

Radio: It is very useful in the education and training of the students of rural areas. Many distance and
open education programs are being conducted with the help of radio. It is also useful in audio
conferencing. Programs relayed on the radio are helpful in the development of language skills, especially
dialogues and dramas.

Television: It is useful in education as well as entertainment of the people. It is found that it is

helpful in developing listening skills, useful in learning situational language as well as, it is highly
motivating also. It is very helpful in understanding the language of mass media. A large number
of students may be benefitted from the programs of television simultaneously. It is an important
tool of audio-video conferencing. Live telecast of training and discussions are done through this.
Internet: It is the most important facility of communication. All modern communication takes
place through this. It has made the communication facility very fast, convenient, economic, and
attractive. There are lots of facilities available for communication on the internet.
We cannot think of a better educational environment without a better teacher. In earlier times
the teacher was the focal point of education, but now the role of teachers has changed a lot. He
is considered as a guide and friend of students who helps in learning, does not provides
knowledge. To teach better a teacher need to be updated with the changes. For this ICT helps a
lot. ICT can be useful for a teacher in the following ways:
1. It is helpful in the professional development of the teachers. A teacher can learn various
language skills with the help of information and communication technologies. He can do
various certification programs in English language teaching run by famous educational
institutions like Cambridge University, British Council, etc. These programs help in
enhancing his capacity to teach the English language and to make his subject content
easy, economic, and more understandable.
2. A teacher can increase his domain of Knowledge English language with the help of e-
journals, e-magazines, and e-library that can be achieved only through the use of ICT. He
can also participate in discussions and conferences with the experts of his English
language teaching to improve his knowledge and skills ELT through audio and video
conferencing.
3. ICT helps a teacher to learn innovative methods of teaching. He can work with the
students on various projects and assignments. It also helps him in providing teaching
content, home works, etc.
4. He may participate in various in-service training programs and workshops which are
essential for his professional development with the help of information and
communication technologies.
5. ICT helps a teacher to guide his students about the English language learning materials
available on the internet, e-books, e-journals, e-magazines, and social sites like linked-in
which are helpful in better learning of English language skills.
6. ICT also helps him framing the curriculum of English language learning. He can study
curriculums ELT of different countries to study their pros and cons, challenges as well as
sociological and psychological issues related to English language learners. All these things
help him in framing a curriculum that leads to achieving the aims and objectives of English
language
DIGITAL ADOPTION IN EDUCATION
Digital adoption is the process through which an individual acquires the ability to fully
master new technology and successfully carry out digital processes for specific purposes. It is also
a change and learning mechanism that allows individuals to a) understand the potential of digital
resources, b) accept and utilize such resources to achieve their goals, and c) leverage each
technology to the fullest to drive innovation and optimize processes.
To achieve true digital adoption, people need to understand both the functionality and
benefits of digital processes, be fully onboarded on the most advanced features of software
applications, and understand the role of digital processes and the reasons behind the change.
Digital/Technology Adoption
The Enhancing Education Through Technology Act of 2001 is an initiative designed to
enhance the use of technology in education and is part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
This Act provides grants and resources to integrate technology in instruction. The purpose of this
law is to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology (II. D. Sec. 2402,
b, 1).
Another ongoing initiative is the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for
teachers, which were originally published in 2000 (International Society for Technology in
Education, 2004). As of 2004, “…49 of the 51 states had adopted, adapted, aligned with, or
otherwise referenced at least one set of standards in their state technology plans, certification,
licensure, curriculum plans, assessment plans, or other official state documents” (50 states plus
District of Columbia) (International Society for Technology in Education). Concurrently, schools
are investing more in instructional technology for teachers’ use. The most significant change in
the classroom today is the availability of Internet in the classroom (Liu & Huang, 2005). According
to the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of public school classrooms with
Internet access has increased from 3% in 1994 to 94% in 2005, and the ratio of students to
instructional computers with Internet access has dropped from 12.1:1 in 1998 to 3.8:1 in 2005
(Wells & Lewis, 2006).
Variables Related to Digital Adoption

• Barriers to Digital Adoption. Teachers frequently fail to build on the potential offered by
technology because of several barriers (Brinkerhoff, 2006). These barriers include
institutional and administrative support, attitudinal or personality factors, resources, and
training and experience.
• Technology Anxiety. Technology anxiety may influence technology adoption. The
placement of technology into classrooms without teacher preparation and consideration
of curricular issues has produced high levels of anxiety among teachers (Budin, 1999).
Redmann and Kotrlik (2004) found that technology anxiety explained a statistically
significant amount of the variance in technology experimentation, technology adoption,
and technology integration of career and technical education teachers.
• Technology Training. “Spending on hardware and software generally dominates K-12
technology budgets, while money for support, training, and professional development
does not keep pace” (Hofer, Chamberlin, & Scot, 2004). Vannatta and Fordham (2004)
found that the amount of technology training was one of the best predictors of
technology use. BECTA (2003) also reported that there was a lack of training focused on
integrating technology in the classroom rather than simply teaching basic skills.
Furthermore, there was a lack of training differentiated according to teachers’ existing
skill levels (BECTA).
 • Gender. Anderson (1996) reported in his analysis of studies of computer anxiety and
performance that the research was mixed regarding gender. Anderson cited several
studies that found that gender was not a significant factor in explaining differences in
computer anxiety and attitudes toward computers, but other studies found that
relationships existed.
• Teaching Experience. Mumtaz (2000) stated that a lack of teaching experience was a
factor that prevented teachers from using technology. A National Center for Education
Statistics study (Smerdon, Cronen, Lanahan, Anderson, Iannotti, & Angeles, 2000)
reported that teaching experience was related to the extent to which technology was
integrated into schools
TOPIC #7: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIGITAL MATERIALS AND ACQUISITION OF
GRAMMATICAL, LEXICAL, AND PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIGITAL MATERIALS

Digital materials are

those that can be accessed by
computers. Some of them are "born-
digital," or originated in a digital form
(for example, pictures taken with a
digital camera, web pages, Twitter
feeds, etc.), others were converted into
digital files.

LEARNING THRU DIGITAL MATERIALS

In theory, digital learning appears to be something extremely beneficial to all schools and students. As we
are all aware, there are many strengths/advantages to digital learning, such as:

1. Engagement: improved student motivation from engaging content and game-based strategies
2. Time: extending the learning day and year; allowing students to learn when they learn best
3. Location: anywhere anytime learning creates a new world of opportunity
4. Pacing: allowing students to progress at their rate
5. Individualization: customizing learning by level and modality
6. Content: rich, deep, and up to date
7. Sharing: the difference between 'turn it in' and 'publish it'; the ability of teachers to share what
works
8. Data: instant and multiple forms of feedback; smart profiles that will drive customized learning
 9. Ownership: students choosing what to learn, how to demonstrate their learning
10. Parent involvement: transparency and connections the classroom

However, there are also several weaknesses/disadvantages, such as:

1. Infrastructure: particularly affordable broadband at home
2. More of the same: the risk of layering technology on top of how we’ve always done school with
little benefit
3. Old paradigms: teachers, administrators, and parents trapped in an old model
4. Management and scheduling: customized learning will require much better management and
scheduling tools
5. Preparation & development: leaning new tools will be the easy part, learning new roles will be
more challenging particularly as school models proliferate
6. Obsolesce: constantly changing software and hardware versions make it tough for schools to
stay current
7. Interoperability: there are lots of engaging content and cool apps but nothing works together
8. Security and cheating: technology will solve some problems but introduce other challenges.

ACQUISITION OF GRAMMATICAL, LEXICAL, AND PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Communicative competence refers to the competence to communicate (Bagaric and
Djigunovic, 2007:94). It will highlight the use of language for communication (Louma, 2004:97).
Due to these reasons, it can be said that communicative competence plays such an important
role in daily life interaction. The success of reaching the goal of social interaction will depend on
the large extent of ability within communicative competence (Rickheit and Strohner, 2008:15).
GRAMMATICAL, LEXICAL, AND PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE is the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive grammatical
structures of a language and to use them effectively in communication. As defined by Noam
Chomsky, it would include phonological competence.
*Phonology refers to the sound system of any particular language variety.
LEXICAL COMPETENCE is competence in understanding words, a component of general semantic
competence. *Semantic refers to meaning in language.
PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE is usually defined as the ability to produce and comprehend
utterances (discourse) that are adequate to the English language socio-cultural context in which
interaction takes place.
*Discourse is the verbal interchange of ideas; especially conversation.
Basic knowledge of second language acquisition theories is extremely useful for
mainstream classroom teachers and directly influences their ability to provide appropriate
content-area instruction to students. A concept endorsed by most language acquisition theorists
is Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition. Stephen Krashen’s widely known
and well-accepted theory of second language acquisition has had a large impact in all areas of
second language research and teaching since the 1980s. Stephen Krashen’s theory of second
language acquisition consists of six main hypotheses.
1) The acquisition-learning hypothesis
The acquisition-learning distinction is the most fundamental of all the hypotheses in
Stephen Krashen’s theory and the most widely known among linguists and language
practitioners.
2) The monitor hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition and learning and
defines the influence of the latter on the former. The monitoring function is the practical
result of the learned grammar.
3) The natural order hypothesis
The natural order hypothesis is based on research findings (Stephen Krashen, 1988; et al.)
which suggested that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a “natural order”
which is predictable.
4) The input hypothesis
The input hypothesis is Stephen Krashen’s attempt to explain how the learner acquires a
second language. In other words, this hypothesis is Stephen Krashen’s explanation of how
second language acquisition takes place.
5) The affective filter hypothesis
The affective filter hypothesis embodies Krashen's view that several "affective variables"
play a facilitative, but a non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These variables
include motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety.
6) The Reading Hypothesis
This hypothesis states that the more we read in English, the greater our vocabulary will
be.

TOPIC # 8: CURRENT THINKING AND STRANDS OF DISCIPLINES FOR DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR
THE FOUR MACRO SKILLS AND CREATING AND DESIGNING LEARNER-CENTERED MATERIAL
CURRENT THINKING AND STRANDS OF DISCIPLINES FOR DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR THE
FOUR MACRO SKILLS
 Language teaching covers four macro-skills needed for communicating – listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. Good language teachers plan lessons, and sequences of lessons,
which include a mixture of all the macro-skills, rather than focusing on developing only one
macro-skill at a time.

To prepare the learners for speaking/writing activity (demonstrating their productive

skills in the language) it’s important that they first have many opportunities to listen to and/or
read (developing their receptive skills in the language).
Traditionally, English has four macro skills namely listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. Listening and reading are receptive skills that require the learners to discern language
communicated in spoken or written form. On the other hand, speaking and writing are productive
skills that demand learners to communicate in speech or text form. The learners need to master
the skills for better communicative competence.
Schools and higher educational institutions allotted large concentrations on these macro
skills for many years. It was evident as there are thousands of books published tackling these
traditional skills. Then, the education sector saw that books are effective if there are also printed
pictures and illustrations accompanying the texts. Visual aids became rampant as these learners’
attention. Furthermore, graphs in different types and graphic organizers are incorporated on
topics. Thus, the learners turned to learn concepts visually.
As the world entered the 1990s, the Internet was discovered and it changed all the
industries tremendously including the sector of education. Schools have integrated websites for
instructional and operational purposes. Aside from that, the advancement of technologies
invaded the classrooms as computers and mobile phones are used to attain competencies better
according to the needs and demands of society. In addition, broadcast media are given
importance as the learners are deemed to be updated on current events that affecting them.
Videos and other multimedia materials became tools in delivering information. The
learners in this period are called digital natives as they learned things with computers and other
gadgets. These natives are also called millennials as they spend more time online as they engage
in activities on social media sites. Because of the increasing demand for visual and social media
in the classrooms and beyond, viewing as a macro skill had its inception.
Viewing is the fifth macro-skill today. It refers to perceiving, examining, interpreting, and
constructing meaning from visual images and is crucial to improving comprehension of print and
nonprint materials. This is the skill to be taught as the learners are exposed to multimedia. To
make it possible, they should have strong media and visual literacies.
The teachers are on the verge that they need to be versatile and knowledgeable about
teaching viewing. Just like teaching the traditional macro-skills, educators encounter difficulties
in teaching viewing. Several factors may hamper them to teach the competencies under this skill
effectively.
CREATING AND DESIGNING LEARNER-CENTERED MATERIAL
Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly
encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the
student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop learner autonomy and
independence by putting responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students by
imparting to their skills, and the basis on how to learn a specific subject and schemata required
to measure up to the specific performance requirement. Student-centered instruction focuses
on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving.

Framework for Learner-Centered Materials Analysis and Design

The framework integrates four dimensions of learner-centeredness that can be identified in the
autonomy literature: context-sensitiveness, the relevance of learning, reflection, and participation,
and social responsibility. It focuses on the quality of learning activities that are incorporated in or
used along with teaching resources (texts, pictures, videos, etc.).

TOPIC #9: DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS AND THE DIGITAL EXHIBIT OF
DIFFERENT LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS
DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS
Young learners (6 to 12 years old) are at the level of the concrete operational stage
(Piaget, 1896 – 1980); the stage when children have enough experiences to begin to
conceptualize some abstract problem solving, though they still learn best by doing. They need a
lot of illustrations, pictures, and activities to model a concept. At this stage of development, they
possess several characteristics (Scott & Ytreberg, 1990): have high curiosity, believe that the
world is full of surprises, love playing, have a short attention span, learn better through actions,
use of their senses.
Young learners (YL) of English need to have materials as their sources of learning the
language. These materials can be used by both teachers and YLs to help them learn and develop
the language better more easily. Numbers of considerations dealing with the appropriateness of
the materials and the needs of the learners are essential to be taken into account; such as age,
the cultural context where the language (English) is used; non-English speaking countries or
English–speaking countries, the level child cognitive development, the schools, the syllabus,
and teachers; whether they are native speakers (NS) of English or non-native speakers (NNS) of
English.
Deciding the most suitable materials for young learners is not to be very simple, there are
not particular materials which completely appropriate for young learners. A lot of considerations
and factors influence the determination of 'good materials' for young learners. Teachers,
learners, content, culture, context, ages are amongst the factors that affected the adoption of
materials for young learners. Some other factors are the syllabus and schools. These two factors
determine the time allotment and the importance of English to be adopted as one of the subjects
ruled in a school syllabus. Each school in each different area requires a different kind of approach
to be implemented which will also determine the kind of materials suitable with the approach
the schools are being implemented.
Numbers of implications have emerged related to the materials for teaching English to
Young Learners. (1) There is a need to build bridges between what happens in primary school
and secondary school English. Teachers of secondary school need to find out about the YLs
coming to their school to build on early language learning so there will be connections of what
they have learned before to what they are about to learn in secondary school (Cameron, 2003).
(2) Teachers need to have principles of what they should do with the materials. Therefore,
textbooks as one of the materials for teaching EYL need to be supplemented with a teacher's
guide to help teachers cope with how they should have the materials for the YL. (3) There is a
need to have education for teachers in using and choosing the EYL materials. The availability of
independent education for teachers in adopting and choosing the materials will help them to
better use the chosen materials more effectively for the learners. Having enough training and
independent education will benefit teachers as well as learners. (4) There is a need for
consideration for appropriate language models and goals. What language skills should be
introduced as the initial skill in presenting a new language to young learners of different age
groups is crucial, for they may have different language backgrounds of English. In addition, multi-
media resources should be used to extend and enrich the YL methodology of constructing a
better language capacity. The assessment should be in line with the teaching and should develop
a teacher assessment method that is a more child-friendly approach. Sort of materials uses as
the learning resource should support the big moral and intellectual theme and promote
educational values appropriate to the age and context of the children concerned.
In short, it is not only the appearance of the materials that is of the importance motivating
and facilitating factors, but also the essence to which the materials can be at the core of what
children need to learn at all.
DIGITAL EXHIBITION
Digital Exhibition includes both the projection technologies, such as High Definition and
delivery technologies of a film to a movie theater. Delivery technologies include disk drives,
satellite relay, and fiber optics. This can save money in distribution but is usually more expensive
overall due to maintenance and standardization of technology. However, there are benefits to a
digital exhibition, for example, it requires less assembly by the exhibitor and can contain the
trailers that the distributor wishes.
HOW TO TAKE AN EXHIBITION DIGITAL?
Embrace the Unique Attributes of Digital Channels
Without an in-person experience, look at what makes digital channels great and utilize those
unique qualities. Every channel is different, and that’s the benefit of this approach.
Focus on Educational and Experiential Outcomes
Rather than focusing on the coolest new tech, start your process by focusing on your goals for an
exhibition’s educational and experiential outcomes. Not everything needs to be in Virtual Reality,
Augmented Reality, or gamified, though any of those approaches might be right for certain
exhibitions.
Focus on the User
With so many possible lenses of interpretation, particularly in a digital-first experience, how do
you decide what to focus on? Look at the audience, and develop personas. Be aware, personas
aren’t perfect. They can reflect institutional and personal bias. Despite their faults, they can help
to frame important questions and embed purpose and intent into projects and products. Are you
building this experience for 8th graders, college students, experts, novices…? If you have multiple
audiences, that’s okay, but come up with a fictional character to represent each one, and imagine
how they will experience your exhibition.
TOPIC #10: INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS (IMs for Teaching Language)

• Instructional materials may be operationally defined as especially designed classroom

tools which contain instructions to learners and teachers, and which specify each
 increment of learning: the content to be learned; the techniques of presentation; practice
and use of that content; and the modes of teaching associated with those techniques
(Johnson, RELC Journal)
• Instructional materials generally serve as the basis for much of the language input
learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom (Richards)
• IMs are an important element within the curriculum and are often the most tangible and
visible aspect of it (Nunan, 1991)
• They can provide a detailed specification of content, even in the absence of the syllabus
(Richards and Rodgers, 1986).
• They can define the goals of the syllabus, and the roles of the teachers and the learner
within the instructional process (Wright, 1987)
Role of Instructional Materials
Cunningsworth (1995) summarizes the role of materials (particularly course books) in language
teaching as a:

• resource for presentation materials

• source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction
• reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.
• source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities
• syllabus (where they reflect learning objectives which have already been determined)
• support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence in the language
classroom.
Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) suggest that for teachers of ESP courses, materials serve the
following functions:

• As a source of language
• As a learning support
• For motivation and stimulation
• For reference
BASIC PRINCIPLES in MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT (Tomlinson, 1998)

• Materials should achieve impact.

• Materials should help learners to feel at ease.
• Materials should help learners to develop confidence.
• What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful.
• Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment.
• Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught.
• Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use.
• The learners’ attention should be drawn to linguistic features of the input.
 • Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to
achieve communicative competence.
• Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually
delayed.
• Materials should take into account that learners differ in learning styles.
• Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes.
• Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction.
• Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic and
emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities.
• Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice.
• Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback.
BENEFITS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Teachers

• Provide materials for presentation of new items for reinforcement, consolidation, and
practice
• Provide materials for teaching particular skills, particular areas of languages, and other
special difficulties
• Guide the teacher on the methods and techniques in introducing the lessons and the
series of exercises for teaching the concepts
• Give them more opportunity to make the best use of their time and skills to do more real
teaching
Students

• Concretize the syllabus

• Opportunity for individual work in or outside the classroom
• Follow a course of study with little help from teachers
TYPES OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
1. Textbook
❖ Main reference for the entire course
❖ Usually chosen by the school
❖ Reflects the minimum learning competencies for specific levels
❖ Arranged in units or chapters which can be labeled according to themes, topics, skills,
grammar structures or functions depending on the syllabus type followed.
❖ Contains readings, teaching points, drills, activities, and tasks for every day lessons

2. Workbook / Skillbook
 ❖ Usually accompanies the textbook
❖ Provides exercises and drills on specific skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing
❖ Presents reinforcement and remedial activities to support lessons in the textbooks

3. Teacher’s Book/ Teacher’s Manual / Teacher’s Guide

❖ Contains a detailed rationale for textbook
❖ Explain the scope and the sequence for the lessons
❖ Includes introductory notes on how to use the textbooks, specific objectives for each
lessons and suggested strategies for teaching the lessons
❖ Provides guidance in planning the lessons from materials to suggested activities

4. Work Text
❖ Combines the features of the textbooks and workbooks
❖ Provides teaching points like those in the textbook
❖ Reinforces the teaching points with many drills and exercises just like those that
contain an A-Z or practical suggestions for teaching
5. Module and Self-Learning kit (SLK)
❖ More interactive than the other types of written IMs that appear in the workbook
❖ Develops independent study through self-paced instruction
❖ Contains post-test, pre-test, lesson inputs, exercises and drills – provisions for self-
paced learning
6. Reference Book
❖ Provides general information on various topics
❖ Includes encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, manuals, etc.
7. Multimedia Instructional materials
❖ Audio and Visual materials accessible through various media like radio, television and
the computer
❖ Also includes interactive courseware on various topics

FACTORS AFFECTING MATERIALS PREPARATION

1. The curriculum, syllabus, and learning competencies
2. Learners’ learning styles, aptitudes, proficiency
3. Pedagogical principles held by the teachers
4. Societal demands
TOPIC #11: FRAMEWORKS OF MATERIALS AND METHODS

LEARNERS

CONTEXT IMPLEMENTATION OF GOALS

EDUCATIONAL
SETTING
SYLLABUS CONSTRUCTION
McDonough and Shaw (2000) present the following
framework for materials and methods. The
framework reveals that materials and methods
cannot be seen in isolation but are embedded within
a broader professional context. MATERIALS, CLASSROOM
METHODS (lessons, tests…)

Contextual Factors

1. Learner factors- age, interests, level of proficiency in English, aptitude, mother

tongue, academic and educational level, attitudes in learning, motivation, reasons
for learning, preferred learning styles, and personality
2. Setting- role of English in the country; role of English in the school; management
and administration; resources available; support personnel; the number of pupils;
time available for the program; physical environment; the socio-cultural
environment; types of tests to be used; and procedures for monitoring and
evaluating.
A syllabus is an expression of opinion on the nature of language and learning; it acts as a
guide for both teacher and learner by providing some goals to be attained. Hutchinson
and Waters (1987:80) define syllabus as ‘at its simplest level a syllabus can be described
as a statement of what is to be learnt. It reflects language and linguistic performance.’

This is a rather traditional interpretation of syllabus focusing as it does on outcomes

rather than on process.

However, a syllabus can also be seen as a "summary of the content to which learners will
be exposed" (Yalden.1987: 87). It is seen as an approximation of what will be taught and
that it cannot accurately predict what will be learnt.

Syllabus is the overall organizing principle for what is to be taught and learned. It is the
way in which content is organized and broken down into a set of teachable and learnable
 units, and will include considerations on pacing, sequencing and grading items’ methods
of presentation and practice, etc.

Syllabus inventory is a list of the content to be covered in the language program much
like a content outline.
Richards and Rodgers (1986) presents a useful framework for the comparison of the
language teaching methods which illustrates the place of syllabus in the program
planning. The Model has three levels: approach, design and procedure.
❖ Approach refers to the views and beliefs or theories of language and language
learning on which planning is based.
❖ Design converts the principles in the fist level (approach) into more practical
aspects of syllabus and instructional materials.
❖ Procedure refers to the techniques and management of the classroom itself.
Types of Syllabus (Reilley)
Although six different types of language teaching syllabi are treated here as though each occurred
“purely,” in practice, these types rarely occur independently of each other. Almost all actual
language-teaching syllabi are combination of two or more of the types. The characteristics,
differences, strengths, and weaknesses of individual syllabi are defined as follows:

1. Structural (formal) Syllabus

❖ The content of language teaching is a collection of the forms and structures, usually
grammatical, of the language being taught.
❖ Examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, statements, questions, subordinate clauses,
and so on.

Issue/Criticism: One problem facing the syllabus designer pursuing a grammatical order to
sequencing input is that the ties connecting the structural items maybe rather feeble. A more
fundamental criticism is that the grammatical syllabus focuses on only one aspect of language:
the grammar; however in truth there exist many more aspects to be considered in language.
Recent corpus based research suggest there is a divergence between the grammar of the spoken
and of the written language, raising implications for the grading of content in grammar - based
syllabuses.

2. A notional/ functional syllabus

❖ The content of the language teaching is a collection of the functions that are performed
when language is used, or of the notions that a language is used to express
 ❖ Examples of the functions includes: informing, agreeing, apologizing, requesting;
examples of notions includes age, size, color, comparison, time, and so on.

Issue/Criticism: In order to establish objectives, the needs of the learners will have to be analyzed
by the various types of communication in which the learner has to confront. Consequently, needs
analysis has an association with notional-functional syllabuses. Although needs analysis implies
a focus on the learner, critics of this approach suggest that a new list has replaced the old one.
Where once structural/situational items were used, a new list consisting of notions and functions
has become the main focus in a syllabus. "Language functions do not usually occur in isolation"
and there are also difficulties in selecting and grading function and form. Clearly, the task of
deciding whether a given function (i.e. persuading), is easier or more difficult than another (i.e.
approving), makes the task harder to approach.

3. Situational syllabus
❖ The content of the language teaching is a collection of real or imaginary situations in
which language occurs or is used. A situation usually involves several participants who are
engaged in some activity in a specific meeting.
❖ The language occurring in the situation involves a number of functions, combined into a
plausible segment of discourse.
❖ The primary purpose of a situational language-teaching syllabus is to teach the language
that occurs in the specific situations.
❖ Examples of the situations include: seeing the dentist, complaining to the landlord, buying
a book, meeting a new student, and so on.
4. A skill-based syllabus
❖ The content of the language teaching is a collection of specific abilities that may play a
part using language.
❖ Skills are things that people must be able to do to be competent in a language, relatively
independent of the situation or setting in which the language use can occur. While the
situational syllabi group functions together into specific settings of the language use, skill-
based syllabi group linguistic competencies (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and
discourse) together into generalized types of behavior, such as listening to spoken
language for main idea, writing well-formed paragraphs, giving effective oral
presentations, and so on.
❖ The primary purpose of the skill-based instruction is to learn specific language skills.
❖ A possible secondary purpose is to develop more general competence in the language,
learning only incidentally any information that may be available while applying the
language skills.
5. A task-based syllabus
 ❖ The content of the teaching is a series of complex and purposeful tasks that the student
wants or need to perform with the language they are learning.
❖ The tasks are defined as activities with a purpose other than language learning, but, as in
the content-based syllabus, the performance of the tasks is approached in a way
intended to develop second language ability.
❖ Tasks integrate language (and other) skills in specific settings of the language.
❖ Task-based teaching differs from situation-based teaching in that while situational
teaching has the goal of teaching the specific language content that occurs in the
situation (pre-defined products), task-based teaching has the goal of teaching students
to draw on resources to complete some piece of work (a process). The students draw on
a variety of language forms, functions, and skills often in an individual and unpredictable
way, in completing the tasks.
❖ Tasks can be used for language learning are, generally, tasks that the learners actually
have to perform in real life. Examples include: Applying for a job, talking with a social
worker, getting housing information over the telephone, and so on.
6. A content-based syllabus
❖ The primary purpose of the instruction is to teach some content or information using the
language that the students are also learning.
❖ The students are simultaneously language students and students of whatever content is
being taught.
❖ The subject matter is primary, and the language learning occurs incidentally to the
content learning. The content teaching is not organized around the language teaching,
but vice-versa.
❖ Content-based language teaching is concerned with information, while task-based
language teaching is concerned with communicative and cognitive processes.
❖ An example of content-based language teaching is a science class taught in the language
the students need or want to learn, possibly with linguistic adjustment to make science
more comprehensible.
Syllabus Designs
❖ Multi-syllabus
❖ Lexical
❖ Process
Many would have a primary and secondary organizing principle like:
At the bank: question forms
At a garage: imperatives
At a hotel: present perfect
TOPIC #12: FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN WRITING IMs (ORNSTEIN)
1. Understanding requires matching the materials to the learners’ abilities and prior
knowledge. If students do not understand the materials, frustration sets in, making
 learning more difficult. The teacher/writer must know whether the materials are suited
to the level of the students and whether they will understand those. Thus, the
teacher/writer must provide for background lessons and check-up activities and exercises
to assess students’ understanding. This is especially important for younger and slower
students and when introducing new concepts.
2. Structuring /Clarifying involves organizing the material so that it is clear to the students.
It is especially important when new subject matter is introduced, and when it is being
linked to the previous lessons.
❖ Directions, objectives, and main ideas are stated clearly. Internal and final summaries
cover the content.
❖ Transition between main ideas is smooth and well integrated.
❖ Writing is not vague.
❖ Sufficient examples are provided.
❖ New terms are defined
❖ Adequate practice and review assignments reinforce new learning.
3. Sequencing refers to the arrangement of the materials to provide for continuous and
cumulative learning where complex concepts are taken only after prerequisite skills and
concepts have been mastered. There are four basic ways of sequencing a material:
❖ Simple to complex
❖ Parts to whole
❖ Whole to parts
❖ Chronological arrangements
4. Balancing materials require establishing vertical and horizontal balance or relationships.
Vertical relationships refer to a building of content and experiences in the lesson, unit
and course level. Fourth grade language concepts build on third grade concepts; the
second unit plan builds on the first, etc. Horizontal relationships establish a
multidisciplinary and unified view of different subjects; for example the content of the
social studies course is related to English and science.

5. Explaining refers to the way headings, terms, illustrations, and summary exercises are
integrated with the content. Does the example illustrate major concepts? Are the major
ideas identified in the chapter objectives and overview? Do the headings outline a logical
development of content? Do the materials show relationships among topics, events, facts
to present an in-depth view of major concepts? The students should be able to discover
important concepts and information and relate new knowledge on their own through the
materials.

6. Pacing refers to how much and how quickly the lessons in the textbooks are presented.
The volume or length of the materials should not overwhelm students, but there must be
enough to have an effect. As students get older, the amount of materials can increase,
the presentation can be longer and more complex and the breadth and depth can be
expanded.
 7. Reviewing refers to the extent to which the material allows students to link new ideas to
old concepts in the form of a review. High-achieving and older students can tolerate more
rapid pacing than low-achieving and younger students, thus less proficient learners would
need more review or linking than the more proficient ones.

8. Elaborating ensures that students learn better through a variety of ways. The idea is to
provide in the textbook opportunities for students to transform information to one form
to another, and to apply new information to new knowledge – by using various techniques
such as comparing and contrasting, drawing inferences, paraphrasing, summarizing and
predicting. A series of elaboration strategies help students learn new materials. The
author must provide students with a broad list of questions (of comparing and
contrasting, drawing, analogies, etc.)

9. Transfer of Learning may be done in a number of ways. Transfer of learning maybe

concept-related, inquiry-related, learner or utilization-related. The first two organizers
seem to work best with intrinsically motivated students and the second two best with
student who needs to be extrinsically motivated. Since most students need some extrinsic
motivation, learner-related and utilization-related materials will be more effective with
majority of students.
❖ Concept-related, drawing heavily on structure of knowledge, the concepts, principles,
or the theories of the subject.
❖ Inquiry-related, derived from critical thinking skills and procedures employed by
learning theorists or scholars in the field.
❖ Learner-related, related to the needs, interest or experiences of the students.
❖ Utilization-related -show how people can use or proceed with them in real life
situations.

TOPIC #13: PRINCIPLES IN MATERIALS DESIGN (NUNAN, 1988)

Materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve. The curriculum cycle below
illustrates the three phases of the curriculum development

PHASE 1 PHASE 2

Curriculum Planning Curriculum Implementation

 Identify learner needs  Instruct learners

 Set goals and objectives  Monitor and adapt instruction
 Write Materials  Write supplementary materials
Authentic versus created materials
PHASE 3

Curriculum Evaluation

 Test learners
 Evaluate curriculum
 Plan changes in the curriculum
  Authentic materials refer to the use in teaching of texts, e.g. photographs, video
selections and other teaching resources, that were not specially prepared for pedagogic
purposes.
 Created materials refer to textbooks and other specially developed instructional
resources.
Advantages claimed for authentic materials are (Phillips and Shettlesworth, 1978; Clarke,
1989; Peacock, 1997):

 They have a positive effect on learner motivation because they are intrinsically more
interesting and motivating than created materials. There is a huge source of authentic
materials for language learning in the media and on the web, and these relate closely to
the interests of many language learners.
 They provide authentic cultural information about the target culture. Materials can be
selected to illustrate many aspects of target culture, including culturally-based practices
and beliefs and both linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour.
 They provide exposure to real language rather than the artificial texts found in created
materials, that have been specially written to illustrate particular grammatical rules or
discourse types.
 They relate more closely to learners’ needs and hence provide a link between the
classroom and students’ needs in the real world.
 They support a more creative approach to teaching. Teachers can develop their full
potentials as teachers, developing activities and tasks that better match their teaching
styles and the learning styles of students.

However, critics of the use of authentic materials point out that:

 created materials can also be motivating for learners. Published materials are often
designed to look like teenage magazines and other kinds of real-world materials and may
be just as interesting and motivating for learners.
 authentic materials often contain difficult language and unneeded vocabulary items.
Since they have not been simplified or written based on any lexical or linguistic guidelines,
they often contain language that may be beyond the learners’ abilities.
 created materials may be superior to authentic materials because they are generally
built around a graded syllabus, and hence provide a systematic coverage of teaching
items.
 using authentic materials is a burden for teachers. In order to develop learning resources
around authentic materials, teachers have to be prepared to spend a considerable
amount of time locating suitable sources for materials and developing activities and
exercises to accompany the materials.
TOPIC #14: DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF MATERIALS
1. Design Phase
 a. Accumulated experience – the writer reviews or surveys existing materials which
can give useful information about the demands and the needs in the field.
b. Rationale for the design – identifies the shortcomings of existing materials to
ensure that such short comings are not repeated in the present material.
c. Conceptual Framework – combines major and minor concepts regarding
language learning, language teaching theories, and materials design principles
upon which the material is anchored.

Major concepts refer to the overall principles of second/foreign language

learning and teaching will affect every aspect of the design of the instructional
materials.

Minor concepts refer to the following:

❖ Organization of languages skills to be taught:
❖ Selection, gradation and arrangement of content:
❖ Methodology associated with the acquisition of these skills:
❖ Organization for the development and dissemination of the materials.

2. Detailed writing of the specification for the new materials – the specification includes:
❖ Goals of the materials
❖ Subject matter, language content to be covered, and the skills to be acquired
through the content:
❖ Techniques and modes of presentation, practice, use and management
associated with the learning of the content
❖ Format of the materials including how learning units are divided
❖ Technical details for the writing of the materials

3. Developmental Phase
a) Writing the experimental materials
b) Internal evaluation of materials
c) Controlled tryout
4. Dissemination Phase
a) Extensive use of the new IM
b) Field evaluation of the IM

GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING MATERIALS

 The following guidelines were based on the final report of the 5 th sub-regional workshop on
the development of basic literacy learning materials for ‘un-reached’ population in South Asia
(1998)

1. Needs Assessment – Surveys and identifies the concerns of the target learners because
the objectives of the materials should be carefully drafted based on the interests,
problems, and need of the target learners

2. Development of curriculum grid – Helps materials developers and teachers to know

learners’ needs and to decide on the content and the level of materials to be produced.
a. Goals of national literacy program
b. Core content based on national concerns
c. Locally relevant content based on the identified needs of the learners
d. Prescribed levels in the three Rs
e. Levels of literacy skills of learners

3. Selection of themes
4. Setting up objectives
5. Deciding on the format
a. Considerations
❖ Age group
❖ Location in which the IM is to be used
❖ Literacy level of target clientele
❖ Cost of development and use of the material
❖ Ability of the teachers to utilize the material
❖ Type of role that the material plays (i.e. motivational, instructional,
awareness building, informative, etc.)
b. Various formats
1. Written (e.g. booklet, flashcards, flip chart, posters, comics, games, wall
papers)
2. Electronic media (e.g. audio tapes like songs, dramas, talks, speeches,
announcements, broadcasts: video presentation: radio and television
program, etc.)
3. Interactive formats (e.g. CDcourseware, web-based courses, on-line
hyperlinks)

6. Selection and arrangement of content

7. Titles and captions
8. Scriptwriting
a. Script expressions, inclusive language
 b. Short sentences
c. Illustration
d. Local language flavor
e. Reading flow
f. Attractive layout

9. Illustrations (balanced and inclusive)

10. Editing

MATERIALS EVALUATION

1. External Evaluation aims to examine the organization of the material as

stated explicitly by the author of the publisher. This type of evaluation analyzes what the
“book tells about itself” by looking at the ad blurb, the introduction, and table of
contents. Through external evaluation, information on the following may be called:
• Intended audience
• Proficiency level
• Context in which the materials are to be used
• Organization into teachable units
• Date of publication
• Author’s view on language learning and teaching
• Publisher
2. Internal Evaluation covers an in- depth investigation of the value of the
material in relation to its objectives, principles, lesson design, and assessment procedures.
At this stage, the evaluator analyzes the extent to which claims in the introduction and
blurbs actually match up with the internal consistency and organization of the materials. In
order to perform effective internal evaluation of the material, at least two units of a book
or a set of materials need to be inspected. The following information may be analyzed:
• Presentation of the skills in the material
• Grading and sequencing of skills
• Authentic or artificial recordings
• Authentic or artificial dialogues for speaking
• Relationships of tests and exercises to learner needs and course content
• Provisions for different learning styles and self-study.
• Motivation for the learners

3. Overall Evaluation analyzes the value of the material in relation to its

usability, generalizability, adaptability and flexibility.
• Usability – How far could the material be integrated into a particular syllabus as
‘core’ or as supplementary material?
 • Generalizability – How much of the material could be used by the individual or by
a group of people?
• Adaptability – Can parts be added/extracted/ used in another context or modified
for local circumstances?
• Flexibility – How rigid are the sequencing and grading? Can the material be used
in different ways? Can they be entered in different parts?

ADAPTING MATERIALS

Reasons for Adapting Materials

Instructional materials should generally be authentic and communicative, and even if they are
already nearly perfect, adaptation of materials nevertheless happens. Here are some reasons for
materials adaptation.

• Not enough grammar coverage in general

• Not enough practice of grammar points of particular difficulty to learners
• The communicative focus means that grammar is presented unsystematically
• Reading passages contain too much unknown vocabulary
• Comprehension questions are too easy, because they sound too much like written
material being read out
• Not enough guidance on pronunciation
• Subject matter inappropriate for learners for a particular age and intellectual level
• Photographs and other illustrative materials not culturally acceptable
• Amount of materials too great or too little to cover in the time allocated
• No guidance for teachers on handling group work and role play activities with a large
class
• Dialogues are too formal, and not really representative of everyday speech
• Audio material difficult to use because of problems with room size and technical
equipment
• Too much or too little variety in the activities
• Vocabulary list and a key to the exercise would be helpful
• Accompanying tests needed

Principles and Procedures for Adapting Materials

• Personalizing materials refers to increasing the relevance of content in relation to

learners’ interest and their academic, educational or professional needs.

• Individualizing addresses the learning styles of both the individuals and of the members
of a class working together.
 • Localizing takes into account the international geography of English language teaching
and recognizes that what may work well in one region may work in another.

Points to remember in adapting materials:

1. Adaptation can be seen as a kind of matching process or ‘congruence’ where techniques
are selected according to the aspect of the material that needs alteration.
2. Content can be adapted using a range of techniques; or conversely, a single content
technique can be applied to different content areas.
3. Adaptation can have both quantitative and qualitative effects.
4. Techniques can be used individually or in combination with others.
ADAPTING TEXTBOOKS
Most teachers are not creators of teaching materials but providers of good materials. Dudley-
Evans and St. John (1988) suggest that a good provider of materials will be able to:
1. select appropriately from what is available
2. be creative with what is available
3. modify activities to suit learners’ needs
4. supplement by providing extra activities (and extra input)

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.

 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.
Modifying (including re-writing and re-structuring) refers to the internal change in the
approach or focus of an exercise.

• Re-writing is done when some linguistic content needs modification. It is currently

the most frequently done because there is a need for the materials to be ‘more
communicative’.
• Re-structuring applies to classroom management. For many teachers who are
required to strictly follow a coursebook, changes in the structuring of the class are
sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible.

Modifying tasks. Exercises and activities may need to be changed to give them additional focus.
A listening activity may focus only on listening for information, so that students listen a second
or third time for a different purpose. An activity may be extended to provide opportunities for
more personalized practice.

 Adding or deleting content. The book may contain too much or too little for the program.
Whole units may have to be dropped, or perhaps sections of units throughout the book
omitted because a course may focus primarily on listening and speaking skills, and hence
writing activities in the book will be omitted.
 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.
 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.
 Extending tasks. Exercises may contain insufficient practice, and additional practice tasks
may need to be added.
 Expanding brings about a quantitative change. That is, expanding adds to the methodology
by moving outside it and developing it in new directions, for instance by putting in a different
language skill or a new component.
Deleting (subtracting and abridging)

• Subtracting means reducing the amount of the material

• Abridging happens when the materials is not only subtracted but is replaced with
something else that does not alter the balance of the lesson or the material.
Example: The material contains a discussion section at the end of each unit.
However, the learners are not really proficient enough to tackle this adequately, since
they have learned the language structures but not fluency in their use. The syllabus and
its subsequent examination do not leave room for this kind of training.

Implications of the Communicative Approach

1. ‘Communicative’ implies ‘semantic’, a concern with the meaning potential of language
2. There is a complex relationship between language form and language function
3. Form and Function operate as part of a wider network of factors
4. Appropriacy of language use has to be considered alongside accuracy
5. ‘Communicative’ is relevant to all four language skills
6. The concept of communication is beyond the level of the sentence
7. ‘Communicative’ can refer both to the properties of language and to behavior

Evaluation of Supplementary Materials for English Language Teaching

Topic: Inclusivity in Materials Preparation and Evaluation
Inclusivity – the concept of appropriating for the ‘marginalized’ sector of the society

• Handicapped (with physical, emotional and mental/learning disabilities0

• Children (age
• Women (gender)
• Indigenous people (ethnicity)
• People of Color (race)
• The poor, The third world (economics)
Inclusive Curriculum
An inclusive curriculum

• develops an awareness of the issues of marginalization

• voices the concerns of the marginalized sector
• is sensitive to and responsive of the needs of the marginalized – the subaltern
• enhances critical thinking through issue-based teaching and learning processes
• generally employs
o contact learning
o portfolio assessment
o multiple intelligences theory
o cooperative learning strategies
o constructive principles
Why consider Inclusivity in Materials Preparation and Evaluation?

• Language determines thought and behavior patterns of people

• Language reflects values of a society
• Instructional materials have lasting influences in propagating sexism through linguistic
bias, stereotyping, invisibility, trivialisation and fragmentation (Sadker, Sadker and Long
in Banks and Banks, 1989)
• Instructional materials have a way of perpetuating stereotypes
• Practices that propagate marginalization

Absence/Omission – women and other marginalized sectors are nowhere to be found in

books, commercials/advertisements, the mass media and other instructional materials

Silencing – the marginalized are there represented/drawn/mentioned but given passive

roles (e.g. listener, pained/abused/victimized, helper, no line at all)

Trivialized – presented but rendered unimportant; given stereotyped roles like ailing
mother, hopeless maidens, forlorn princess, etc.

Fragmentation – viewing the contributions of the marginalized as phenomenal (e.g.

Woman doctor operates Siamese twins; Woman Astronaut lands on the moon)
 • Studies prove that in various instructional materials, the marginalized have been
o Stereotyped (damsels in distress, loving wives, sacrificing mothers, poor girls, etc.)
o Omitted (in textbook pictures/graphics, in cliparts)
o Silenced (present but not given a voice)
o Trivialised (present but given passive roles)
o Fragmented (victories rendered as supernatural/phenomenal)
• Human rights code, the Philippine Constitution declare honouring the human rights of
children, women, the handicapped
• Communication symbols evolve to meet human needs; equality issues influence
communication symbols
• Sex-role restrictions – out of date and unfair
• Self-fulfilling prophecy of women’s “inferiority” and “failure”
• Loss of potential contribution of women to society
• Non-sexist communication can be natural, graceful, grammatically correct

Characteristics of Inclusive Instructional Materials

• Devoid of Stereotypes
• The experiences of women, children, people of color, the handicapped, the poor, etc. are
o Represented not voiced
o Voiced not silenced
o Rendered important and not trivialized nor fragmented
• Replete with alternative roles
• Use non-sexist language
• Provide insights on multiculturalism and diversity
• Issue-based, content area related, contextualized, authentic
• Extra textual components like cartoons and other graphics are also inclusive
• Muliticultural; free from ethnocentric/regional/racial bias

TOPIC #15: PREPARATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR TEACHING LITERATURE

Why Teach Literature (in a Language Classroom?)

• one of the main reasons why literature is an important part of learning is that it offers a
bountiful and extremely varied body of written material which is important in learning
fundamental human issues.
• its relevance moves with the passing of time.
• literature is “authentic” material.
• literature enriches cultural awareness. In most cases, language learners get a better
understating of the culture in the language they are trying to learn through literature. A
reader may discover the inner thoughts, feelings, customs of a certain group of people,
thus giving him/her a better understanding of the language.
 • literature provides language enrichment.
• Literature helps personal enrichment. Engaging imaginatively with literature enables
learners to shift the focus of their attention beyond the more mechanical aspects of
language learning.

What to Teach
The first step in teaching literature is to choose the materials to teach, including the literary texts
for study. The preparation of instructional materials will depend on the literary texts chosen for
study.
• Suitability of literary texts to students always depend on the different groups of students,
their needs, interests, cultural background and language level.
• Personal involvement, however, should always be a goal of a literature classroom.
• Strong, personal, and positive reactions are needed in the literature classroom.

How to teach literature

In teaching literature, the aim is to maintain interest and involvement by using a variety of
student centered activities.
• In devising activities for integrating language and literature teachers must remember that
learning involve as many of the students’ faculties as possible.
• Teachers should try to exploit as fully as possible the emotional dimension that is a very
integral part of literature.
• Helping students explore their own response to literature could be achieved through the
different instructional materials prepared for classroom teaching.
• One of the principles which influences the classroom approach to literature is that of
using the target language with a range of activities chosen.
• To integrate the teaching of language and literature that aims to foster language learning
the teacher should never forget that literature can stand on its own by giving it proper
time inside the classroom.

Stages of literature learning in the classroom

1. First Encounters
For students about to explore the unknown territory of a new literary text, the first encounter
may be crucial. First impressions can color their feelings about the whole enterprise they find
themselves engaged in. They are likely to be approaching the experience with mixture of
curiosity, excitement and apprehension. The teacher’s role must be to play up the sense of
adventure while providing a supportive atmosphere that will be reassuring to the students.

The first imperative is usually to try and draw the learners quickly “into” the text, so that they
find it interesting and want to continue reading it on their own. Next, students need to be
convinced that the task ahead is not an impossible task.

Suggested activities and instructional materials for first encounters:

 a. Talking about the title and cover design
• The teacher sets the scene and whet students’ curiosity by showing them an
intriguing cover design and asking them to speculate about the book and its story.

b. Using Questionnaires
• Students are given questionnaires to fill in. Questions are focused on the text
studied.

c. Making a Biographical montage

• The teacher collects some photos, objects, or anything which is relevant to the
author’s life. These materials/objects are mounted on to a larger piece of card.
The students then are invited to speculate the meaning of the items in the
montage.
d. Continuing the Story line
• Having read the first section of a text, students are asked to study a range of
possible continuations of a story line. Then they choose the one they consider the
author would have used.

e. Comparing beginnings
• The teacher takes three or four opening paragraphs from novels or short stories
with fairly similar beginnings, and asks the students to respond to the contrasts.

f. Writing Chapter 0
• Students are asked to write the paragraphs that come immediately before the first
section of the work which they have just encountered.

2. Maintaining Momentum

The tasks in maintaining momentum can be used at any point in a literary work and can be
applied to the various genres. This part of literary learning allows the students to
understand, enjoy and appreciate the literary work. It is in this situation that a mixture of class
activities and home reading can be used.

Suggested Activities and instructional materials for maintaining momentum

a. Question worksheet leading to pair work in class

• Half of the class is given one set of questions relating to the passage set as
home reading, the other half, another set.

b. Complete the sentences

• This worksheet could be used as a take home activity. This is a take off from
the regular Q and A.
 c. True or False
• This worksheet asks the students to answer true or false on certain concepts.

d. Summaries with gaps

• The most straightforward type of summary exercise is the gapped summary.
This helps readers by providing them with an almost complete and simply
phrased summary. The gaps are usually key words or expressions, which only
a reading of the appropriate passage can reveal.

e. Summaries with incomplete sentences

• A slightly more challenging variant consists of a summary with incomplete
sentences.

f. Summary comparison
• The teacher writes two summaries of a section to be read at home. Differences
between the summaries can be “fine-tuned” according to the level of the
group. At the simplest level, one of the summaries omits certain key points; at
a more difficult level, both summaries are fairly accurate but one may contain
incorrect inference or interpretation.

g. Jumbled events
• The students are given a list of jumbled events. They will simply re arrange the
events.

h. Choosing an interpretation
• The students are given a series of different interpretations of events in the
passage they are reading.

i. Snowball activities
• These are activities which continue and are added to progressively, as students
read through a long work. These activities help maintain an overview of an
entire book, provide a valuable aid to memory, and reduce a lengthy text to
manageable proportions.
Examples:
1. Retelling a story
2. Wall charts and other visual displays
3. Summaries
4. Montage
5. Graphic representation
6. Continuing predictions
7. Writing on going diaries

3. Exploiting Highlights
 The activities for this part of the literary discussion in the classroom will help encourage the
students to explore and express their own response to the literary work.

Suggested activities for maintaining highlights:

a. thought bubbles
• The task for this activity is very simple: students are asked to write the ‘inner’ dialogue
that parallels the original dialogue.

b. poems
• The aim is to crystalline a personal, felt response to a literary situation.

c. using authentic formats

• These are non literary formats which can be imported into the context of the literary
work and used to spur writing about it.

d. newspaper articles
• A newspaper article or feature is to be written about the highlight scene chosen.
Students are shown samples of genuine newspaper articles, if possible from more
than one type of publication.

e. oral activities
• These are activities highlighting the lines/ dialogues that are good for oral reading.
Examples:
1. mini reading aloud
2. poetry reading
3. choral reading
4. oral summaries

4. Endings

This part of classroom literary learning keeps each students’ own sense of the literary work
alive.

Suggested activities for Endings:

a. role plays
• The context provided by works of literature facilitates the creation of role-play
situations. This activity allows the students to work among themselves.

b. cover designs
 • Asking the students to prepare a paperback cover of a book is to see how they are
eliciting and crystallizing their over all response to the text they are reading.

c. writing a blurb for the back cover

• As preparation for this activity, the teacher reads out the cover blurb of selected
novels. This activity aims to see if the students can come up with distinct blurb for a
particular literary work.

d. short writing tasks

• These activities test the ability of the students to use language in written activities.
Examples:
1. letters
2. essays
3. newspaper articles
4. journal