THE role and design of instructional material

chapter8 by

Somaye Bagheri kangani

Much of the language teaching that occurs throughout the world today could not take place without the extensive use of commercial materials. These may take the form of:

a) printed materials such as books,workbooks,worksheets,or readers

b) nonprint materials such as cassette or audio materials,vidios,or computer-based materials

c) materials that comprise both print and nonprint sources such as self–access materials and materials on the Internet.

In addition , materials not designed for instructional use such as magazine,newspaper,TV material may

also play a role in the curriculum.

Cunnings worth(1995,7) summarize the role of materials(particularly course books) in language teachings as:

-A resource for presentation materials(spoken and written)

-A source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction

-A reference source for learners on grammar,vocabulary,pronunciation,and so on

-A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities

-A syllabus(where they reflect learning objectives that have already been determined)

-A support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence

 Dudley-Evans and St. John(1998,170-171)suggest that for teachers of ESP courses, materials serve the following functions:

-As a source of language-As a learning support

-For motivation and stimulation-For reference

 Authentic versus created materials

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

created materials refers to textbooks and other specially developed instructional resources.

Advantages claimed for authentic materials are (Phillips and Shettlesworth 1978;Clarke1989;Peacock

1997:)

-They have a positive effect on learner motivation

- They provide authentic cultural information about the target culture

-They provide exposure to real language

-They relate more closely to learners, needs

- They support a more creative approach to teaching

Critics of the use of authentic materials:

Created materials can also be motivating for learners -.

- Authentic materials often contain difficult

language

- Created materials may be superior to authentic materials because they are generally built around a graded syllabus

- Using authentic materials is a burden for

teachers  

Textbook Commercial textbooks together with ancillaries such as workbook ,cassettes, and teacher's guides are perhaps the commonest form of teaching materials in language teaching . Haines(1996,27)characterizes differences between past and current trends in English language textbooks.

 

Then

Author and academic centered

Uncertain global market

European focus

Sell what is published

Culture and methodology of origin

English for its own sake

UK/US publisher dominance

Native speaker expertise

Culturally insensitive

Low risk/completion

Little design

Artificial texts and tasks

Single-volume titles

Now

Market led

Specific fragmented markets

Pacific Rim/latin American focus

International or local culture

Indigenous learning situation

English for specific purposes

Rise in local publishing

Nonnative speaker competition

Culturally sensitive

high risk/competition

design rich

authenticity

multicomponent/multimedia

  The use of commercial text books in teaching has both advantages and disadvantages.

some advantages are:-They provide structure and syllabus for a

program.-They help standardize instruction.

-They maintain quality.-They provide a variety of learning

resources.-They are efficient.

They can provide effective language models and input-.

-They can train teachers.-They are visually appealing.

 

some disadvantages are-They may contain inauthentic

language.-They may distort content.

-they may not reflect student's need.

-They can deskill teachers.- They are expensive.

 

Before evaluation a textbook some information are needed on following issues:

 -The role of textbook in the program

-The teacher in the program-The learners in the program

 Criteria for textbook evaluation Cunnings worth(1995)proposes four criteria for evaluating textbooks, particularly course books:

1 .They should correspond to learners , need. They should match the aims and objectives of the language learning program.

2 .They should reflect the uses(present or future) that learners will make of the language. Textbooks should be chosen that will help equip students to use language effectively for their own purposes.

3 .They should take account of students , needs as learners and should facilitate their learning processes, without

dogmatically imposing a rigid "method."

4 .They should have a clear role as a support for learning. like teachers,they mediate between the target language and the learner.

 

 Cunnings worth(1995)presents a checklist for textbook evaluation and selection(Appendix2) organized under the following categories:

-aims and approaches-design and organization

-skills-topic

-methodology-teachers, books

-practical considerations

Dudley Evans and St. John(1998,173)suggest that operating with so many categories is often not very practical and it is easier to use two or three key criteria in the first instance and then apply others if or when needed. They propose the following questions to ask when selecting ESP materials:

1.Will the materials stimulate and motivate?

2.To what extent does the materials match the stated learning objectives and your learning objectives?(It is rare for a single of published material to match the exact learning needs of any one ESP learner group, and activities do not always meet the stated objectives.)

3 .To what extent will the materials support the learning process?

 In any language program,t herefore,it is unlikely that a published checklist can be used without adaptation as a basis for evaluating and choosing textbooks. Based on the factors in each situation, questions specific to that situation need to be generated around the main issues involved in textbook evaluation and selection:

program factors- questions relating to concerns of the program

teacher factors- questions relating to teacher concerns

learner factors- questions relating to learner concerns

content factors- questions relating to the content and organization of the material in the book

pedagogical factors- questions relating to the principles underlying the materials and pedagogical design of the materials,including choice of activities and exercise types

Adapting textbooks Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998,173)suggest that a good provider of materials will be able to:

1 .select appropriately from what is available2 .be creative with what is available

3 .modify activities to suit learners need4 .supplement by providing extra activities

Commercial textbooks can seldom be used without some form of adaptation to make them more suitable for the particular context in which they will be used. This adaptation may take a variety of forms.

-Modifying content.-Adding or deleting content.

-Reorganizing content.-Addressing omissions.

-Modifying tasks.-Extending tasks.

The End