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Guisado Jaime Duarte

Ferraz Fai Sufo Junior

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT-CRITERIA FOR MATERIAL ADAPTATION

(Licenciatura em Ensino de Inglês)

Universidade Rovuma
Nampula
2021
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Guisado Jaime Duarte

Ferraz Fai Sufo Junior

Material development-criteria for material adaptation

Essay to be presented to the department of

letters social science communication and
arts in fulfillment of the subject: PPLI 2

Lecturer: Samuel Canda, MA

Universidade Rovuma
Nampula
2020
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CONTENT PAGE

INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................4
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT-CRITERIA FOR MATERIAL ADAPTATION............................5
2.1. TYPES OF TEACHING MATERIALS......................................................................................5
2.1.1Authentic Materials.............................................................................................................5
2.1.2Non-Authentic Materials.....................................................................................................6
2.2. CRITERIA FOR MATERIAL ADAPTATION......................................................................6
2.3 Principles of second language acquisition relevant to the development of materials for the
teaching of
languages………………………………………………………………………………………... 7

2.4. THE IMPORTANCE OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT..................................................8

CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION

Very often, teachers have trouble finding the appropriate supporting materials to help students
reinforce a specific topic in class. To overcome this problem, many teachers feel challenged to
adapt, and compile books, internet exercises and other materials. Regarding this, these teachers
need to be more creative and start developing their own material, feeling confident and let the
imagination go into the universe of creativity. Reflecting upon the teaching practice, the goals to
be achieved concerning the way they teach, and the way students succeed in learning a language
are relevant bases for the teachers get developing their very own didactic materials. Developing
materials involves introducing and starting up something that may be deemed as new, and this
requires teachers empowering themselves and be able to find a way to produce better learning
conditions in classroom. In this regard, this paper intends to focus on Material Development, a
topic which can help future teachers developing their teaching materials following all the criterion
for material adaptation.
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1. MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT-CRITERIA FOR MATERIAL ADAPTATION

According to TOLINSON (2013:1) Materials Development is both a field of study and a practical
undertaking. As a field it studies the principles and procedures of the design, implementation and
evaluation of language teaching material. As an undertaking it involves the production, evaluation
and adaptation of language teaching materials, by teachers for their own classrooms and by
materials writers for sale or distribution.

Teaching material can be defined as, in short, all items brought in the classroom with the purpose
of assisting learning. These should incorporate the contents which reflect the aspirations of the
stakeholders and the theoretical principles in which the course is found. (SINODINGUE, 2020:60).

LOW (1989:153) quoted by NÚÑES, at all (2009:16) state that designing appropriate materials is
not a science: it is a strange mixture of imagination, insight, and analytical reasoning.

For TOLINSON (2013:2) Materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of
a language. They can be linguistic, visual, auditory or kinaesthetic, and they can be presented in
print, through live performance or display, or on cassette, CD-ROM, DVD or the internet. They can
be instructional, experiential, elicitative or exploratory, in that they can inform learners about the
language, they can provide experience of the language in use, they can stimulate language use or can
help learners to make discoveries about the language for themselves.

2.1. TYPES OF TEACHING MATERIALS

In the perspective of SINODINGUE (2020:62), there are two (2) main types of teaching materials,
authentic and non-authentic materials.

2.1.1Authentic Materials- refer to any item or items which is or are brought in the
classroom to help the process. These items, have not, originally been designed to be used in
the classroom, but, because of their characteristics, are deemed relevant and appropriate to be
used in the classroom. These materials include:
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- Newspaper articles;
- Leaflets
- Brochures
- Photographs
- Instruction manuals
- Realia
- Poems
- Novels
- Plays
- And other items of a similar nature.
2.1.2Non-Authentic Materials - refer to all items brought in the classroom with the
purpose of assisting the teaching and learning process and have been specifically
produced to assist learning. These are:
- Grammars
- Graded readers
- Reference materials
- Flashcards Course books
- Textbooks
- Any other items of a similar nature.

2.2. CRITERIA FOR MATERIAL ADAPTATION

For LITZ (2010) quoted by SINODINGUE (2020:64), when selecting teaching materials, we must
surely be with qualification that they are:

 Of an acceptable level of quality;

 Usefulness and appropriateness for the context and people with whom they are being used;
 Physical characteristics such as layout, organizational and logistical characteristics;
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 Reflection of the methodology;

 Reflection of the overall aims and approach;
 Fit the needs of the individual teachers’ approach;
 Reflection of the relationship of the teaching materials, syllabus and the overall curriculum of
the institution;
 Contain specific language, functions grammar and skills;
 Reflect the relevance of linguistic items;
 Contain a representation of cultural and gender components;
 Reflect or match the learners’ personalities, background, needs and interests as well as those
of the teacher and/or institution.

These are some of the criteria for materials selection and they are not only ones, they can be
changed. These are basic guidelines to be born in mind and they can be altered depending on the
context, situation, institution, etc.

2.3. PRINCIPLES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION RELEVANT TO THE

DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS FOR THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGES:

TOLINSON (2011), the principles of second language acquisition relevant to the development of
materials for the teaching of languages to be taken into account, are as follow:

i) Materials should achieve impact- material can achieve impact through:

- Novelty (illustrations and activities);
- Variety (using different text-types taken from different source, using different
instructor voices on a CD);
- Attractive Presentation (use of attractive colors, lots of white space, use of
photographs);
- Appealing content (topics which offer the possibility of learning something new,
engaging stories);
- Achievable challenge (tasks which challenge the learners to think).
ii) Materials should help learners to feel at ease
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iii) Materials should help learners to develop confidence

iv) What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful
v) Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment
vi) Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught
vii) Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use
viii) The learners’ attention should be drawn to linguistic features of the input
ix) Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to
achieve communicative purposes
x) Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually
delayed
xi) Materials should take into account that learners differ in learning styles
xii) Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes
xiii) Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction
xiv) Materials should maximize potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic and emotional
involvement which stimulates both right-and left-brain activities
xv) Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice
xvi) Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback.

2.4. THE IMPORTANCE OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

As for NÚÑES, at all (2009:16) it is worth and self-rewarding designing your own teaching
materials because it enables you to contribute to the following teaching & learning-related
objectives:

 To provide language learners with meaningful high quality input so that it facilitates
learner’s language learning target;
 To guide students towards the importance of recognizing their own learning process;
 To facilitate the gradual development of a balanced set of English skills, learning strategies,
and instructional content;
 To identify the outcome of the instructional process;
 To establish how the effectiveness of instructional material will be evaluated
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CONCLUSION
With this paper, it was concluded that the importance of materials development lies on providing
language learners with meaningful high quality input so that it facilitates learner’s language learning
target; and also to facilitate the gradual development of a balanced set of English skills, learning
strategies, and instructional content. On the other hand, it has understood that these materials are
produced taking into account some criterion by teachers, requiring more competence, feeling
confident and letting the imagination going into the universe of creativity. Finally, some principles
have been taken into account, the same which will help teachers to be whenever they produce the
materials referred to, like impact achieving, materials should help learners to develop confidence,
and many others.
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REFERENCES

TOLINSOM, Brian. 2013. Developing Materials for Language Teaching. (2nd Ed.) Bloomsbury
Academic

SINODINGUE, Elias. 2020. Curso de Formação de Professores em Exercício: Course Design and
Evaluation. Universidade Pedagógica, Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distancia

NÚÑES, Astrid at all. 2009. A Practical Materials Development Guide for EFL Pre-Service,
Novice, and In-Service Teachers. Universidad Externado de Colombia. School of Education,
English Programme

TOLINSON, Brian. 2011. Material Development in Language Teaching. (2 nd Ed.). Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.