Introduction to Materials Development​ What are the issues in materials development?

Who should develop the material?

•​ Language learning materials that are used
for instructional purposes should strictly 1. The needs and wants of the:
follow the production of effective and high a. Learners
quality learning materials. These learning b. Teachers
materials will support the success of the c. Administrators with their concerns for
teaching-learning process specifically standardization and conformity with, for
language learning of the students. All texts example, a syllabus, a theory of language
and tasks should be authentic otherwise learning, the requirements of examinations and
the learners are not being prepared for the the language policies of a government.
realities of language use. These needs and wants are not
irreconcilable and they can best be satisfied by
CONTENT localized projects which consult learners,
DEFINING MATERIALS AND MATERIALS teachers and administrators before, during and
DEVELOPMENT after the materials writing process.
Prior to the writing of the book these things
Materials development is both a field of study are also considered:
and a practical undertaking. As a field it studies •​ Consultation of students and teachers about
the principles and procedures of the design, what they want and need from the book.
implementation and evaluation of language •​ Teachers write the materials, and the syllabus,
teaching materials. As an undertaking it involves the curriculum and the examination documents
the production, evaluation and adaptation of are frequently referred to.
language teaching materials, by teachers for •​ Extensive trial and revision in relation to the
their own classrooms and by materials writers feedback provided by students, teachers and
for sale or distribution. Ideally these two officials.
aspects of materials development are
interactive in that the theoretical studies inform Other Issues
and are informed by the development and use 1. Do learners need a coursebook?
of classroom materials. A coursebook is a cost effective way of
providing security, system, progress and revision
‘Materials’ ‘include anything which can for the learner, that it saves teachers time and
be used to facilitate the learning of a language. provides them with a secure base and that it
They can be linguistic, visual, auditory or helps administrators achieve credibility and
kinaesthetic, and they can be presented in print, standardization
through live performance or display, or on 2. Do learners need published materials at all?
cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet’ 3. Should materials be learning or acquisition
(Tomlinson, 2001, p. 66). They can be focused
instructional, experiential, elicitative or 4. Should published materials be censored?
exploratory, in that they can inform learners 5. Should materials be driven by theory or
about the language, they can provide practice?
experience of the language in use, they can 6. Should materials be driven by syllabus needs,
stimulate language use or they can help learners learner needs or market needs?
to make discoveries about the language for 7. Should materials cater for learner
themselves. expectations or try to change them?
8. Should materials aim for language
CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES IN MATERIALS development only or should they also aim for
DEVELOPMENT personal and
 educational development? short reading and writing texts and will only
9. Should materials aim to contribute to teacher engage in activities for a short time.
development as well as language learning? •​There seems to be an assumption that learners
do not want and would not gain from
WHAT ARE THE CURRENT TRENDS IN intellectually demanding activities while
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT engaged in language learning.
Positive trends •​ There is a neglect (or sometimes an abuse) of
•​There are some materials requiring investment literature in coursebooks, despite its potential
by the learners in order for them to make as source of stimulating and engaging texts and
discoveries for themselves from analysis of despite the many claims of methodologists for
samples of language in use. the potential value and activities which could
•​There are more materials making use of corpus cater for learners with other preferred
data reflecting actual language use. learning styles.
•​ There are more extensive reader series being •​There is still an ‘absence of controversial issues
produced with fewer linguistic constraints and to stimulate thought, to provide opportunities
more provocative content. for exchanges of views, and to make topic
•​There has been a very noticeable and welcome content meaningful and there is a resultant
increase in attempts to personalize the learning trivialization of content in this volume.
process by getting learners to relate topics and •​ There is a tendency to underestimate learners
texts to their own lives, views and feelings. linguistically, intellectually and emotionally.
•​ There is an increase in attempts to gain the •​ Despite the increase in publications reflecting
affective engagement of learners involving them the predominant use of International English as
in task which encourage the expression of a lingua franca most coursebooks still focus on
feelings but there has also been a decline in the English as used by native speakers and prepare
number of texts likely to stimulate affective the learners for interaction with them.
engagement.
•​ There is an increasing use of the internet as a WHO SHOULD DEVELOP THE MATERIALS?
source of current, relevant and appealing texts. •​ These days most commercial materials are
•​ There is evidence of a movement away from written by professional materials writers writing
spoken practice of written grammar and to a brief determined by the publishers from an
towards experience of spoken grammar in use. analysis of market needs. These writers are
•​There is a considerable increase in the number usually very experienced and competent, they
of and institutions which have decided to are familiar with the realities of publishing and
produce their own locally relevant materials. the potential of the new technologies and they
write full-time for a living. The books they write
Negative trends are usually systematic, well designed,
•​ There is an even more pronounced return to teacher-friendly and thorough. But they often
the ‘central place of grammar in the language, lack energy and imagination (how can the
which contradicts what my own confidential writers be imaginative all day and every day?)
research for a British publisher revealed about and are sometimes insufficiently relevant and
the needs and wants of learners and teachers appealing to the actual learners who use them
and which goes against many of the findings of (see Tomlinson et al., 2001;Masuhara et al.,
second language acquisition research. 2008; Tomlinson, 2010; Tomlinson and
•​ There is still a far greater prominence given in Masuhara, 2013).
coursebooks to listening and speaking than to •​ Dudley Evansand St John (1998, p. 173) state
reading and writing. that ‘only a small proportion of good teachers
•​There is an assumption that most learners have are also good designers of course materials’.
short attention spans, can only cope with very •​ Teachers throughout the world only need a
 little training, experience and support to
become materials writers who can produce
imaginative materials of relevance and appeal
to their learners(Brian Tomlinson).

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF MATERIALS

DEVELOPMENT?
A decrease in customer satisfaction and an
increase in local materials development projects
will help some of the following to develop:
•​even greater personalization and localization of
materials;
•​ greater flexibility of materials and creativity in
their use;
•​ more respect for the learners’ intelligence,
experience and communicative competence;
•​more affectively engaging content;
•​ a greater emphasis on multicultural
perspectives and awareness;
•​ more opportunities for learners with
experiential (and especially kinaesthetic)
learning style preferences;
•​ more attempts made to engage the learner in
the language learning process as an
experienced, intelligent and interesting
individual;
•​ more attempts made to use multidimensional
approaches to language