English Language Teaching Materials

Language Teaching Materials

• Materials can be linguistic, visual, auditory, or kinesthetic, and presented in various formats (print, live performance, cassette, CD-ROM, DVD, or the Internet).
• Materials can be instructional, experiential, elucidative, or exploratory, and facilitate language learning by informing, providing experience, stimulating, or helping learners discover language.

Material Development

• Material development is both a field of study and a practical undertaking.
• The field studies the principles and procedures of designing, implementing, and evaluating language teaching materials.
• The practical undertaking involves producing, evaluating, and adapting language teaching materials for classrooms and sale or distribution.

Goals of Language Programs

• The overall goals of a language teaching program derive from analyzing the reasons why a group of learners need to learn English.
• Goals may be stated in general, educational, or specific terms.
• Examples of goals include:
  • Creating a society that can utilize English for effective communication (Malaysia's national language policy).
  • Meeting the needs of practicing managers in industry and commerce who need to improve their English performance.

Contextual Factors

• The possibilities for implementing language teaching goals are directly related to the learners and the educational setting.
• The statement of goals leads to the selection of an appropriate type of syllabus content and specification.
• The broad syllabus outline has implications for the design and selection of materials, tests, lesson planning, and classroom management.

Learner Characteristics

• Key characteristics of learners that affect planning include:
  • Needs
  • Characteristics
  • And other factors that are individual or group-specific.