ADAPTING

CLASSROOM
MATERIALS

GALE GWEN C. JAVIER

ADAPT
Materials adaptation can span a range

of procedures from adding carefully

contextualized role plays with the

objective of providing more

opportunities to communicate to not

finishing a pronunciation drill because

of time constraints.
-Carlos Islam & Chris Mares
Reasons for ADAPTING
Unsuitable materials for year level
Irrelevancy of the theme
context
not adapted for the student's learning style
lack of resources
Too little variety in the activities
Accompanying tests needed
Why we Adapt..
Adaptation of materials is necessary so that
the teacher can supply missing activities or
instructions that will further aid the student
in learning.
To increase communication and collaboration
To make complex topics simpler
To meet the learning needs and interests of
the learners
TECHNIQUES
FOR
ADAPTATION
-Carlos Islam & Chris Mares
ADDING
When adding to published materials the

teacher is supplementing the existing

materials and providing more material. The

teacher can do this by either extending or

expanding.
EXTENDING
When extending an activity the teacher supplies
more of the same type of material, thus making a
quantitative change in the material. For example,
an activity may practice a particular grammar
point by asking the learner to complete a
sentence with the missing verb in the correct
form, such as the simple past.
EXPANDING
Expanding classroom material is different from extending

in that it adds something different to the materials; the

change is qualitative. For instance, the teacher may feel

her students need to be made aware of the different

sounds of verb endings when used in the simple past but

the coursebook does not address this phonetic issue.

Consequently, she may add an activity or series of

activities that deal with the phonetics of the past simple.

Deleting; Subtracting and

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

rewording instructions or text in order to make

them more accessible to learners, or simplifying

a complete activity to make it more manageable

for learners and teachers.

REORDERING
When reordering, the teacher has decided that it

makes more pedagogic sense to

sequence activities differently. An example is

beginning with a general discussion

before looking at a reading passage rather than

using the reading as a basis for

discussion.
REPLACING MATERIALS
When replacing material a teacher may decide

that a more appropriate visual or text might

serve an activity better than the ones

presented in the published material. This is

often the case with culturally specific or time-

specific activities.
TEACHER-CENTERED
LEARNER-CENTERED
APPROACH TO ADAPTATION
APPROACH
Teacher-Centered
Approach
Teachers are the figures viewed as the main source of

knowledge in a teacher-centered instructional model.

Learners are viewed as an “empty vessel” acquiring

knowledge from the discussion and instruction of the

teacher. The teacher then measures the results of the

learners' understanding through assessments.

Teacher-Centered
materials ....
Teacher-Centered
materials ....
Learner-Centered
Approach
The materials in this approach are for
the students. The learning experience will be
primarily done by the students themselves. The

teachers will only serve as a coach throughout the

understanding of the student to provide more

instructional input and guidance.

Learner-Centered
materials ....
Learner-Centered
materials ....