Lesson 1

Essay Questions

1. How do you define materials and materials development?

2. What are the current trends and issues in materials development?

3. Who should develop the materials?

4. Are the principles of second language acquisition (SLA) relevant to the development of materials?

5. What are the principles and procedures of materials development?

Activity:

Brainstorming. Students discuss the following:

1. Every teacher is a materials developer (English language centre, 1997) who needs to be able to evaluate,
adapt, and produce materials so as to ensure a match between their learners and the materials they use.

2. The most effective way of ‘helping teachers to understand and apply theories of language learning – and
to achieve personal and professional development – is to provide the monitored experience of the process of
developing materials (Tomlinson, 2001)

3. ‘Materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language. (Tomlinson, 2001)

Types of Instructional Materials

1. Printed and duplicated materials

2. Non-projected display materials
3. Still projected display materials
4. Technological instructional media

Printed and Duplicated Materials

 The third type of instructional material of written descriptions includes scientific, scholarly, reference,
and methodological teaching aids, as well as textbooks, books on problems, and exercises, books
for recording scientific observations, laboratory manuals, manuals for production training, and
programmed textbooks.

Non-projected display materials

 Type of instructional materials include such objects and phenomena as minerals, rocks, raw
materials, semi-finished and finished manufactured articles, and plant and animal specimens.

Still projected display materials

 Type of educational materials, that of representation of actual objects and phenomena, includes
three-dimensional materials castings, globes, and experimental models, two-dimensional materials
charts, pictures, photographs, maps, diagrams, drawings, and audiovisual materials (motion
pictures, film clips, filmstrips, slide sequences, transparencies, records and recordings, and radio
and television broadcasts.
 Audiovisual materials, including the resources of films, radio, and television, help acquaint students
with the achievements of modern science, technology, industry, and culture and with phenomena
that are inaccessible to direct observation.

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WHAT ARE MATERIALS?

Materials are “anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language, including coursebooks,
videos, graded readers, flashcards, games, websites and mobile phone interactions” (Tomlinson, 2012, p.
143). They can be “informative (informing the learner about the target language), instructional (guiding the
learner in practicing the language), experiential (providing the learner with experience of the language in
use), eliciting (encouraging the learner to use the language) and exploratory (helping the learner to make
discoveries about the language)” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 143). Ideally, materials should be developed for
learning rather than for teaching and they should perform all the functions specified above

WHAT IS MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT?

Materials development is a practical undertaking involving the production, evaluation, adaptation, and
exploitation of materials intended to facilitate language acquisition and development. It is also a field of an
academic study investigating the principles and procedures of the design, writing, implementation,
evaluation, and analysis of learning materials. Ideally, materials development practitioners and materials
development researchers interact and inform each other through conferences, publications, and shared
endeavors. In the past materials, development practitioners were either teacher with little awareness of
applied linguistics or applied linguists with little awareness of teaching and learning. Nowadays there are
many materials development experts who have considerable experience and expertise as teachers,
materials development practitioners, and materials development researchers, and there have been a number
of conferences recently in which materials development principles and procedures have been both discussed
in theory and demonstrated in action (e.g., the MATSDA Conference on Applied Linguistics and Materials
Development at the University of Limerick in 2012 and the MATSDA Conference on SLA and Materials
Development at the University of Liverpool in 2014)

WHY IS MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANT?

There have been a number of movements that have attempted to develop materials-free approaches to the
teaching of languages (e.g., the Dogme movement of Thornbury and Meddings (2001)) but it is commonly
accepted that in most language classrooms throughout the world most lessons are still based on materials.
Richards (2001, p. 251), for example, observes that “instructional materials generally serve as the basis of
much of the language input that learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom”. It
is also commonly accepted that most language teachers use coursebooks and that no coursebook can meet
the needs and wants of every (or even any) class (Tomlinson, 2010). This means that “Every teacher is a
materials develop9er” (English Language Centre, 1997)

The Kinds of Instructional Materials

 Richards (2001): plans regarding the role of materials in a language program are made, and an initial
decision concerns the use of authentic materials versus created materials.

Authentic materials: refer to the use in the teaching of texts, photographs, video selections, and
other teaching resources that were not specially prepared for pedagogical purposes

Created materials: refer to textbooks and other specially developed instructional resources. These
materials are commonly used and chosen by the school to be used in the teaching-learning process.
 Instructional materials can be classified as to kinds as follows:
I. Printed Materials
a. Textbooks

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 b. Supplemental materials
1. Workbooks
2. Duplicated outlines
3. Teacher-prepared study guides
4. Reference books
5. Pamphlets
6. Magazine Articles
7. Newspaper
II. Audio Aids
1. Radio
2. Phonograph
3. Tape recorders
III. Visual Aids
A. Chalkboards
B. Still Pictures
1. Non-projected
a. Photographs
b. Illustrations
2. Projected
a. Slides
b. Filmstrips
c. Opaque projections
d. Overhead Projections
e. LCD projections
C. Graphic Materials
1. Charts
2. Graphs
3. Maps and globes
4. Posters
D. Exhibits
1. School-made displays
2. Bulletin boards
3. Museums
E. Flannel board and Felt Board
F. Objects
1. Specimens
2. Realia
3. Models
IV. Audiovisual Aids
1. Motion pictures

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 2. Television
3. Videotape
V. Demonstrations
VI. Community Resources
1. Field trips
2. Resource person
VII. Language Laboratory
VIII. Programmed Instruction

The Types of Instructional Materials

I. Realia and Representations of Realia
tools stamps
utensils collections
documents facsimile
costumes models
doils exhibit
art objects dioramas
coins instruments
textiles

II. Sound and Visual Resources

films still video camera
television compact discs
video cameras
VCR fax machine
camcorder

III. Pictures and Pictorial Representatives

photographs postcards
drawings study prints
slides albums
transparencies scrapbooks
still pictures collages
murals storyboards
videos

IV. Symbolic and Graphic Representations

maps cartoons
charts posters
chalkboard diagrams

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 globes graphs
atlases bulletin board
posters flannel board
timelines

V. Microcomputer Resources
hardware trackball
printer mouse
graphics tablet networks
voice synthesizer scanner
software joystick
modem touch window

VI. Projectors, viewers, players, recorders

slide opaque
tape overhead
LCD projector video
film strips

VII. Resources for Production of Media

lettering devices picture mounting
map outlines duplicating
transparencies map making
slide making photocopying
chart-making

PRINCIPLES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

 Know Your Learners.

 Create Conditions for Language Learning.
 Design High-Quality Lessons for Language Development.
 Adapt Lesson Delivery as Needed.
 Monitor and Assess Student Language Development.
 Engage and Collaborate within a Community of Practice.