Language Learning Materials Development PDF

EL 18: LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT A. DEFINITION OF MATERIALS AND MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT Materials Materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a l...

EL 18: LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT A. DEFINITION OF MATERIALS AND MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT Materials Materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language. They can be linguistic, visual, auditory, or kineasthetic, 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 they can help learners to make discoveries about the language for themselves. Source: Tomlinson (2013) Materials Development 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 materials. 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. Ideally, these two aspects of materials development are interactive in that the theoretical studies inform and are informed by the development and use of classroom materials. Source: Tomlinson (2013) B. PRINCIPLES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (SLA) RELEVANT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS 1. A pre-requisite for language acquisition is that the learners are exposed to a rich, meaningful, and comprehensible input of language in use. In order to acquire the ability to use the language effectively, the learners need a lot of experience of the language being used in a variety of different ways for a variety of purposes. They need to be able to understand enough of this input to gain positive access to it, and it needs to be meaningful to them (Krashen 1985). They also need to experience particular language items and features many times in meaningful and comprehensible input in order to eventually acquire them. Each encounter helps to elaborate and deepen awareness and to facilitate the development of hypotheses needed for eventual acquisition. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 1 of 19 2. In order for the learners to maximize their exposure to language in use they need to be engaged both affectively and cognitively in the language experience. If the learners do not think and feel whilst experiencing the language they are unlikely to acquire any elements of it (Arnold 1999). Thinking whilst experiencing language in use helps to achieve the deep processing required for effective and durable learning and it helps learners to transfer high level skills such as predicting, connecting, interpreting, and evaluating to second language use. If the learners do not feel any emotion whilst exposed to language in use they are unlikely to acquire anything from their experience. Feeling enjoyment, pleasure and happiness, feeling empathy, being amused, being excited, and being stimulated are most likely to influence acquisition positively but feeling annoyance, anger, fear, opposition, and sadness is more useful than feeling nothing at all. 3. Language learners who achieve positive affect are much more likely to achieve communicative competence than those who do not. Language learners need to be positive about the target language, about their learning environment, about their teachers, about their fellow learners, and about their learning materials (Arnold 1999). They also need to achieve positive self-esteem and to feel that they are achieving something worthwhile. Above all, they need to be emotionally involved in the learning process and to respond by laughing, getting angry, feeling sympathy, feeling happy, feeling sad, etc. Positive emotions seem to be the most useful in relation to language acquisition, but it is much better to feel angry than to feel nothing at all. 4. L2 language learners can benefit from using those mental resources which they typically utilize when acquiring and using their L1. In L1 learning and use, learners typically make use of mental imaging (e.g., seeing pictures in their mind), of inner speech, of emotional responses, of connections with their own lives, of evaluations, of predictions, of personal interpretations. In L2 learning and use, learners typically focus narrowly on linguistic decoding and encoding. Multi-dimensional representation of language experienced and used can enrich the learning process in ways which promote durable acquisition, the transfer from learning activities to real life use, the development of the ability to use the language effectively in a variety of situations for a variety of uses and the self-esteem which derives from performing in the L2 in ways as complex as they typically do in the L1. 5. Language learners can benefit from noticing salient features of the input. If learners notice for themselves how a particular language item or feature is used, they are more likely to develop their language awareness (Bolitho et al 2003) and they are also more likely to achieve readiness for acquisition. Such noticing is most salient when a learner has been engaged in a text affectively and cognitively and then returns to it to investigate its language use. This is likely to lead to the learner paying more attention to similar uses of that item or feature in subsequent inputs and to increase its potential for eventual acquisition. 6. Learners need opportunities to use language to try to achieve communicative purposes. When using language in this way, they are gaining feedback on the hypotheses they have developed as a result of generalizing on the language in their intake and on their ability to make use of them effectively. If they are participating in an interaction, they are also being pushed to EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 2 of 19  clarify and elaborate, and they are also likely to elicit meaningful and comprehensible input from their interlocutors. Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 1. A pre-requisite for language 1. Make sure that the materials contain a lot of acquisition is that the learners spoken and written texts which provide extensive are exposed to a rich, experience of language being used in order to meaningful, and achieve outcomes in a variety of text types and comprehensible input of genres in relation to topics, themes, events, language in use. locations, etc. likely to be meaningful to the target learners. 2.Make sure that the language the learners are exposed to is authentic in the sense that it represents how the language is typically used. If the language is inauthentic because it has been written or reduced to exemplify a particular language feature then the learners will not acquire the ability to use the language typically or effectively. 3.Make sure that the language input is contextualized. 4.Make sure that the learners are exposed to sufficient samples of language in authentic use to provide natural re-cycling of language items and features which might be useful for the learners to acquire. Sample Materials: The first sample material on the next page highlights the macro skills of listening and speaking through a literary piece used as input. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 3 of 19 EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 4 of 19 EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 5 of 19  Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, pp. 50-51 EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 6 of 19  The following sample material shows the use of meaningful input for a specific grammar lesson. Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p. 53 Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 2. In order for the learners to 1. Prioritize the potential for engagement by, for maximize their exposure to example, basing a unit on a text or a task which language in use they need to be is likely to achieve affective and cognitive engaged both affectively and engagement rather than on a teaching point cognitively in the language selected from a syllabus. experience. 2. Make use of activities which get the learners to think about what they are reading or listening to and to respond to it personally. 3. Make use of activities which get learners to think and feel before during and after using the target language for communication. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 7 of 19  Sample Material: Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p.22 Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 3. Language learners who achieve 1. Make sure the texts and tasks are as positive affect are much more likely interesting, relevant, and enjoyable as to achieve communicative possible so as to exert a positive influence on competence than those who do not. the learners’ attitudes to the language and to the process of learning it. 2. Set achievable challenges which help to raise the learners’ self-esteem when success is accomplished. 3. Stimulate emotive responses through the use of music, song, literature, art, etc, through making use of controversial and provocative texts, through personalization, and through inviting learners to articulate their feelings about a text before asking them to analyze it. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 8 of 19 Sample Material: Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p.79 EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 9 of 19  Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p.81 Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 4. L2 language learners can benefit 1. Make use of activities which get learners to from using those mental resources visualize and/or use inner speech before, which they typically utilize when during, and after experiencing a written or acquiring and using their L1. spoken text. 2. Make use of activities which get learners to visualize and/or use inner speech before, during, and after using the language themselves. 3.Make use of activities which help the learners to reflect on their mental activity during a task and then to try to make more use of mental strategies in a similar task. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 10 of 19 Sample Material Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p.46 EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 11 of 19  Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p. 48 Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 5. Language learners can benefit from 1. Use an experiential approach in which the noticing salient features of the input. learners are first of all provided with an experience which engages them holistically. 2. Rather than drawing the learners’ attention to a particular feature of a text and then providing explicit information about its use it is much more powerful to help the learners (preferably in collaboration) to make discoveries for themselves. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 12 of 19 Sample Material: Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package,p.43 Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 6. Learners need opportunities to use 1. Provide many opportunities for the learners language to try to achieve to produce language in order to achieve intended communicative purposes. outcomes. 2.Make sure that these output activities are designed so that the learners are using language rather than just practising specified features of it. 3. Design output activities so that they help learners to develop their ability to communicate fluently, accurately, appropriately, and effectively. 4. Make sure that the output activities are fully contextualized in that the learners are responding to an authentic stimulus (e.g. a text, a need, a viewpoint, an event), that they have specific addressees, and that they have a clear intended outcome in mind. EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 13 of 19  Principle of Language Acquisition Principle of Materials Development 5. Try to ensure that opportunities for feedback are built into output activities and are provided for the learners afterwards. Sample Material: Source: Grade 7 English Learning Package, p.28 EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 14 of 19 C. PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT Principles of Materials Development Nunan (1988), cited in Tomlinson (2013), provides the following principles of materials design: 1. Materials should be clearly linked to the curriculum they serve. 2. Materials should be authentic in terms of text and task. 3. Materials should stimulate interaction. 4. Materials should allow learners to focus on formal aspects of the language. 5. Materials should encourage learners to develop learning skills, and skills in learning. 6. Materials should encourage learners to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the classroom. Source: Tomlinson (2013) Tomlinson (2013) also offers another set of principles of materials development: 1. Materials should achieve impact (through novelty, variety, surprise, bizarreness, attractive presentation, and appealing content). 2. Materials should help learners to feel at ease (e.g. through the use of white space to prevent clutter and the use of texts and illustrations which they can relate to their own culture, EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 15 of 19  through a supportive approach which is not always testing them and through the use of a personal voice). 3. Materials should help the learners to develop confidence (e.g., through ‘pushing’ learners slightly beyond their existing proficiency by involving them in tasks which are challenging but achievable). 4. What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful. 5. Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment (e.g., through giving learners responsibility for making decisions and through encouraging them to make discoveries about the language for themselves. 6. Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught both in terms of linguistic, developmental readiness, and psychological readiness too. 7. Materials should expose the learners to language in authentic use (ideally to a rich and varied input which includes unplanned, semi-planned, and planned discourse and which stimulates mental response). 8. The learners’ attention should be drawn to linguistic features of the input (so that they are alerted to subsequent instances of the same feature in future input. 9. Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes (in order to automatize existing procedural knowledge, to check the effectiveness of their existing hypotheses, and to develop strategic competence. 10. Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually delayed (and therefore should not expect effective production immediately to follow initial presentation but should rather ensure recycling and frequent and ample exposure to the instructed features in communicative use). 11. Materials should take into account that learners differ in learning styles (and should therefore ensure that they cater for learners who are predominantly visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, studial, experiential, analytic, global, dependent, or independent). 12. Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes (and therefore materials should offer variety and choice). 13. Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities (through a variety of non-trivial activities requiring a range of different types of processing). 14. Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback (i.e., feedback on the effectiveness of the learner in achieving communication objectives rather than just feedback on the accuracy of the output). 15. Materials should: - help the learner to develop cultural awareness and sensitivity reflect the reality of language use; - help learners to learn in ways similar to the circumstances in which they will have to use the language; EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 16 of 19  - help to create readiness to learn (e.g., by helping learners to draw their attention to the gap between their use of a feature of communication and the use of that feature by proficient users of the language, or by involving the learners in a task in which they need to learn something new in order to be successful); - achieve affective engagement Source: Tomlinson (2013) Procedures of Materials Development According to Tomlinson (2013), “most writers on the process of materials development focus on needs analysis as their starting point.” In contrast, some writers start by stating their principles first. In the context of language learning materials development, we now understand why we have talked about the principles of SLA first. However, when we conduct needs analysis, we also bear in mind the principles of SLA. It is also important to consider the recommendation of Hall (cited in Tomlinson, 2013) that the primary question that materials developers should ask themselves before planning or developing materials for language teaching is: “How do we think people learn the language?” This question opens the discussion for design thinking which begins with empathy. Tim Brown, the author of Change by Design, refers to empathy work as “ the effort to see the world through the eyes of others, understand the world through their experiences, and feel the world through their emotions.” Jolly and Bolitho (2011), cited in Tomlinson (2013), provides the following framework for developing materials that include the following procedures: 1. Identification of the need for materials 2. Exploration of need 3. Contextual realization of materials 4. Pedagogical realization of materials 5. Production of materials 6. Student use of materials 7. Evaluation of materials against agreed objectives EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 17 of 19 D. PROCEDURAL MODELS OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT ADDIE Model ASSURE Model EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 18 of 19  REFERENCES Department of Education. Learning Package, Grade 7 English. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B41NpxO8pu79Ym9JZ3ZEQURyWWs/view Tomlinson, B. (n.d.) Principles and procedures of materials development. http://www.iltec.pt/pdf/Principles%20and%20Procedures%20of%20Materials%20Develo pm ent%20Paper.pdf Tomlinson, B. (2013). Developing materials for language teaching. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://www.academia.edu/36454579/Developing_Materials_for_Language_Teaching EL 18_rev03_v1 Page 19 of 19