Basic concepts of language learning & teaching materials

What is materials?
Anything used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language or to increase Ss knowledge or experience of the language, e.g. cassettes, videos, CDs, dictionaries, grammar books, readers, workbooks, photographs, live talks by invited native speakers, instructions given by a teacher, etc.

Materials development
Anything done by writers, teachers or learners to provide sources of language input and to exploit those sources in ways in which maximize the possibility of intake (= to promote language learning)

Materials evaluation
Attempts to measure the value of materials Attempts to predict whether or not the materials will work, that is, learners will be able to use them without too much difficulty and will enjoy the experience of doing so

Teaching
Anything done by materials developers or teachers to facilitate the learning of the language Teaching can be direct (=transmitting information overtly to the learners) or indirect (=helping learners to discover things for themselves).

Language Learning
Conscious process consisting of the committing to memory of information relevant to what is being learned Subconscious development of generalisations about how the language is used and skills to apply them to acts of communication

Language Learning (cont.)

Implicit (learners are not aware of when and what they are learning)

Explicit (learners are aware of when and what they are learning) Explicit learning of both declarative and procedural knowledge is valuable in helping learners to pay attention to salient features of language input and in helping them to participate in planned discourse.

Materials should achieve impact.

Impact achieved when materials have a noticeable effect on learners. Materials can achieve impact through:
Novelty Variety Attractive presentation Appealing content

Choice of topics, texts and activities = achievement of impact

Materials should help Ss to feel at ease.

Materials with lots of white space Texts and illustrations that relate to Ss own culture Materials that try to help Ss learn rather than testing them or causing humiliation Materials that relate the world of the book to the world of learners

Materials should help Ss to develop confidence.

Relaxed and self-confidence learners learn faster. (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982) Activities which try to push Ss slightly beyond their proficiency
Stimulating tasks Problematic tasks Achievable tasks

Relevant and useful materials

Relating to known learner interests Real-life tasks that Ss need to perform in the target language Relating teaching points to interesting and challenging classroom tasks Presenting tasks in ways which could facilitate the achievement of task outcomes desired by Ss

Materials should require and facilitate Ss self-investment.

Requiring Ss to make discoveries for themselves Helping Ss to make efficient use of resources in order to facilitate selfdiscovery Learners profit more if they invest interest, effort and attention in the learning activity.

How to facilitate Ss selfinvestment

Getting Ss interested in a written or spoken text Getting them to respond to it globally and affectively Helping to analyse a particular linguistic feature in order to make discoveries for themselves Involving them in mini-projects Involving them in finding supplementary materials etc.

Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught.

Instruction can facilitate natural language acquisition processes if it coincides with learner readiness and can lead to increased speed and frequency of rule application and to application of rules in a wider range of linguistic contexts. (Pienemann, 1985)

Krashens comprehensible input

The need for roughly-tuned input which is comprehensible (what Ss are familiar with) but which also contains the potential for acquiring other elements of input which Ss might or might not be ready to learn = i + 1

How to achieve Ss readiness

Materials which create situations requiring the use of variational features not previously taught Materials which ensure that Ss have gained sufficient mastery over the developmental features of the previous stage before teaching a new one

How to achieve Ss readiness (cont.)

Materials which roughly tune the input so that it contains some feature which is slightly above each learners current proficiency level Materials which get Ss to focus attention on features of the target language which they have not yet acquired so that they might be more attentive to these features in the future input

Materials should expose learners to language in authentic use.

Through the advice given to Ss in the materials Through instructions for activities Through spoken and written texts included in the materials Through the activities
However, the input must be comprehensible enough for Ss to respond to it.

 The input should vary in style, mode, medium and purpose and rich in features which are characteristic of authentic discourse in the target language.
The materials should stimulate learner interaction with the input rather than just passive reception of it.

Ss should do something mentally or physically in response to the materials.

Ss attention should be drawn to linguistic features of the input.

Either conscious or subconscious

Its important that Ss become aware of the gap between a particular feature of their interlanguage (Ss output) and the equivalent feature in the target language (input). Such noticing of the gap can act as an acquisition facilitator.

Opportunities to use the target language for communication

Using language for communication involves attempts to achieve a purpose in a situation in which the content, strategies and expression of the interaction are determined by the learners.