LECTURE 3

ISSUES IN MATERIALS
DEVELOPMENT AND
APPROACHES TO COURSE
DESIGN
MARLON L. PERADO, PhD
ASSOC. PROF.IV
CRITICAL ISSUES IN MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

 Knowing the position of

materials development in
the framework of
language course design.
 Course design is the
process by which the raw The use of the theoretical and
empirical information
data about a learning available to produce a
need is interpreted in syllabus, to select, adapt or
order to produce an write material in accordance
with the syllabus, to develop
integrated series of a methodology for teaching
teaching-learning those materials and to
establish evaluation
experiences, whose procedures by which progress
ultimate aim is to lead towards the specified goals
the learners to a will be measured.
particular state of
knowledge.
CRITICAL ISSUES…

 Determining the relevant

approach to course design
on which the nature of
developing materials will
base.
APPROACHES to ESP COURSE DESIGN

Language-
Skills- centered
centered

Learning-centered
1
Language-centered
course design
 Pitfalls of Language-centered course design
1. It starts from the learners and their needs, and thus it
might be considered a learner-centered approach, but it
is, in fact, not learner-centered in any meaningful sense
of term. In the learner-restricted syllabus, when
considering needs analysis , the learner should be
considered at every stage of the process. Yet, in this
model the learning needs of the students are not
accounted for at all. It is, therefore, not learner-centered,
but simply learner-restricted.
Pitfalls…

2. The learner-centered process can also be criticized

for being a static and inflexible procedure, which can
take a little account of the conflicts and contradictions
that are inherent in any human endeavor. Any
procedure must have flexibility, feedback channels and
error tolerance built in so that it can respond to
unsuspected or developing influences.
Pitfalls…

3. One of the alluring features of this model is that

appears to be systematic. Unfortunately the role of
systematization in learning is not so simple.
Certainly, there is a lot of evidence to show that the
systematization of knowledge plays a crucial role in
the learning process : we learn by fitting individual
items of knowledge together to create a meaningful
predictive system. But the most important point here
is that it must be an internally-generated system not
an externally-imposed system.
Pitfalls…

4. The language-centered model giveslogino cal,

n , t h e
acknowledgment toary, factors the which lanmust g u a ge-
s u m m l o f t he
I n
inevitably play a part r d in a p p
thee a creation of ec any
t , i t s
i g h t f o r w a
, i n e ff
course. stra r o a c h is h e f a c t
r e d a p p o g n i z e t
cent e l s t o re c n g is
5. The language-centered s s . I t f a i analysis eof
, l a rn
e targeti
we a k n e g p e o p l .
situation data t,isleaonly e r s
at b e i
the n surface p
level.
l ro c e
Its s
h a rn d , l o g i c a
t h t f o r w a r
reveals very tlittlea s t r aabout
ig the competence that
n o
underlines the performance.
 2
Skills-centered
course design
Skills-centered course design
 The basic theoretical hypothesis is
that underlying any language
 The skills-centered behavior are certain skills and
approach is founded strategies, which the learner uses
on two fundamental in order to produce or
principles, one comprehend discourse. This
theoretical, the other approach aims to get away from
pragmatic the surface performance data and
look at the competence that
underlies the performance.
Skills-centered…
 The role of needs analysis in a
 The pragmatic basis for skills-centered approach is
the skills-centered twofold. First, it provides a
approach derives from basis for discovering the
a distinction made by underlying competence that
Widdowson (1981) enables people to perform in the
between goal-oriented target situation. Second, it
courses and process- enables the course designer to
oriented courses. discover the potential
knowledge and abilities that the
learners bring to the ESP
classroom.
Claims of Skills-centered

 It views language in terms of how the mind of the learners processes it rather than
as an entire in itself.
 It tries to build on the positive factors that the learners bring to the course, rather
than just on the negative idea of ‘lacks’.
 It frames its objectives in open-ended terms, so enabling learners to achieve at
least something.
 3
Learning-centered
course design
Implications of learning-centered approach

 Course design is a negotiable process. There is no single

factor which has an outright determining influence on the
content of the course. The ESP learning situation and
target situation will both influence the nature of syllabus,
materials, methodology and evaluations procedures.
 Course design is a dynamic process. It does not move in a
linear fashion from initial analysis to completed course.
Questions before determining the content and methodology in the Learning-
centered course design

 How the learner can learn that knowledge most effectively

 What are the implications for the methodology of having a mono-
skill focus ?
 How will the students react to doing tasks involving other skills,
and they appreciate the greater variety and interest of the activities?
 Do the resources in the classroom allow the use of other skills?
 How will the learners react to discussing things in mother tongue?
 How will the learners' attitudes vary through the course?
 How do the learners feel about reading as an activity?
What do the types of course design say?
 A language-centered approach says : This is the nature of
the target situation performance and that will determine
the ESP course.
 A skills-centered approach says : That’s not enough. We
must look behind the target performance data to discover
what processes enable someone to perform. Those
processes will determine the ESP course.
 A learning-centered approach says : That’s not enough
either. We must look beyond the competence that enables
someone to perform, because what we really want to
discover is not the competence itself, but how someone
acquires that competence.
Conclusion

The course design process should be much

more dynamic and interactive. In particular,
factors concerned with the learning must be
brought into play all stages of design
process. We have called this learning-
centered approach-an approach with the
avowed aim of maximizing the potential of
the learning situation.
Adda ti question yo?