Bataan Peninsula State University

City of Balanga, Bataan

PHILIPPINES

College of Education
ENGL 1313: Language Learning Material Development
1st Semester, AY 2022-2023 MIDTERM Period

Name: Santiago, Chrisline Jeiah S.

Sched: WF (4:30PM-6:00PM)
Program/Yr & Section: BSE English 3A
Professor’s Name: Madame Normita M. Lugtu

Second Language Acquisition Research (SLA)

 In Tomlinson (2011a, pp. 6–23), he discussed the principles of second language acquisition

which are relevant to the development of materials for the teaching of languages. Some of

these principles are summarized below:

 Materials should achieve impact.

 Materials should help learners to feel at ease.

 Materials should help the learners to develop confidence.

 What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful

(Stevick, 1976; Krashen, 1982; Wenden and Rubin, 1987).

 Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment.

 Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught both in terms of

linguistic, developmental readiness and of psychological readiness too (Meisel et

al., 1981; Pienemann, 1985, 2005).

 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 purposes.

 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 (Oxford

and Anderson, 1995; Oxford, 2002; Anderson, 2005)

 Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes

(Wenden and Rubin, 1987)

 Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual,

aesthetic and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain

activities.

 Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback.

 In addition to the requirements listed in Tomlinson (2011), he would like to add that

materials should:

 help the learner to develop cultural awareness and sensitivity (Tomlinson,

2000b; Byram and Masuhara, 2013);

 reflect the reality of language use;

 help learners to learn in ways similar to the circumstances in which they

will have to use the language;

 help to create readiness to learn;

 achieve affective engagement (Tomlinson, 2010).

 Richards (2001, p. 264) suggests a rather different and briefer list of the ‘qualities each unit

in the materials should reflect’:

 Gives learners something they can take away from the lesson.
  Teaches something learners feel they can use.

 Gives learners a sense of achievement.

 Practices learning items in an interesting and novel way.

 Provides a pleasurable learning experience.

 Provides opportunities for individual practice.

 Provides opportunities for personalization.

 Provides opportunities for self-assessment of learning.

 The important thing is for materials evaluators to decide for themselves which findings

of SLA research they will use to develop principles for their evaluation. Ultimately what

matters is that an evaluation is principled, that the evaluator’s principles are made overt

and that they are referred to when determining and carrying out the procedures of the

evaluation.