A Modular Approach

Marco D. Meduranda
PhD English
 Module 1

The Value, Principles and Models

of Materials Development in
Language Education

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this module, students will have been able to:

ü Define materials development;

ü Discuss the importance of materials development;
ü Cite the principles in developing materials in language education;
ü Recognize the type of materials in language education;
ü Explain the types and characteristics of authentic materials in
language education;
ü Point out the features of good language teaching materials;
ü Explain the models of materials development;
ü Identify the criteria for effective materials.

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 Introduction

Materials development has always been a point of discussion for the linguists, materials
producers and the teachers as well. The reasons of this discussion lie in the importance
and significance of materials in a teaching-learning context. Materials occupy a central
position especially in English language teaching (ELT) curriculum.

They play a crucial role as they provide sound structure and a positive plan for
progression in a proper direction. Through interesting activities, they provide opportunities
to learners and stimulate them to learn effectively. This chapter first enquires about what
materials are and their role and the significance in ESL context. The principles and models
of materials design will also be discussed.

Activity 1: Stimulating Background Knowledge

Recall the learning and teaching materials used by your language arts teachers during your
basic education days. Cite how these materials helped you in acquiring language
competencies. Reflect also on how these materials could be improved to further enhance
student learning. Accomplish the chart below.

Materials How these helped me learn? How could these materials be

improved to further enhance
student learning?

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 Learning Points

MATERIALS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Linguists and the researchers have defined materials in various ways.

• According to Brown (1995) materials are “any systematic description of the techniques
and exercises to be used in classroom teaching.”
• Whereas, Tomlinson (1998) says that materials are anything used by teachers or
learners to facilitate the learning of a language. It could be a text book, handouts;
dictionary, newspaper or photograph, food packages, cassettes, CD-ROM, DVD or
internet etc.

However, materials always occupy a central position in language education.

• Further Nunan (1988) asserts “Materials are the tangible manifestation of the
curriculum in action. They are in fact omnipresent in the language classroom and it is
difficult to imagine a class without books”.
• Likewise, Tomlinson (1998) also remarks that materials can be called, "a
comprehensive blue-print or plan of a language course".

BASIC PRINCIPLES IN MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

Moreover, Tomlinson (Richards, 2001, p. 263) suggests the basic principles in conducting
materials development for the teaching of language as follows:
1. Material should achieve impacts
2. Material should helps learners to feel at ease
3. Materials should help learners to develop confidence
4. What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful
5. Materials should require and facilitate learner self-investment. Learners must be
ready to acquire the point being taught
6. Materials should provide the learners with opportunities to use the target language to
achieve communicative purposes.
7. Materials should take into account that the positive effects of instruction are usually
delayed
8. Materials should take into account that learners have different learning styles.
9. Materials should take into account that learners differ in affective attitudes
10. Materials should permit a silent period at the beginning of instruction.
11. Materials should not rely too much on controlled practice.
12. Materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback.

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TYPES OF MATERIALS

Tomlinson discusses four broad types of materials: “instructional, experiential,

elicitative or exploratory‟ (Tomlinson, 2003)

1. Instructional Materials are the most frequently used materials in general

classroom setting. Students and teachers constantly consult the prescribed
materials or course books in the classroom and very often these materials
act as the major source of guidance in language teaching process. These
are the materials which “inform learners about the language” (Tomlinson,
2003). These are the teaching materials which teach features of language
and language use overtly. Richard (2001) comments that “instructional
materials generally serve as the basis of much of the language input that
learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom.”

2. Exploratory Materials
These materials “can help learners to make discoveries about language for
themselves” (Tomlinson: 2003). These types of learning materials are those in
which the students are helped to explore a feature of language or language use
and to make discoveries for themselves.

3. Experiential Materials
These materials are such type of learning materials which provide the students
with a rich, holistic experience of the language in use, then getting them to
derive personally the meaning of the texts and later getting them to analyse the
language feature of the text.

4. Elicitative materials
- “stimulate language use.” (Tomlinson, 2003). They are learning materials which
try to get the students to use a certain feature of the language without telling
them to do so. For example, learners may be asked to write their daily routine
which would normally make considerable use of the simple present tense. So
learners practice the use of present tense in real life context. To facilitate
learners in the classrooms, different forms of materials are used whether it is
printed or non-printed: audio materials, visual aids and audio-visual materials.
Further, pedagogists and materials developers classified ELT materials in the
following categories.

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 FORMS OF MATERIALS IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Textbooks/Course Books
“A textbook provides the core materials for a course. It aims to
provide as much as possible in one book and is designed so that it
could serve as the only book which the learners necessarily use
during a course (Tomlinson, 1998).” It is designed by the experts for
specific level and specific classroom setting for ease in systematic
teaching. For practicing listening and speaking skills, some course
books also contain audio-visual support in the form of CD ROM.

Work Book
Work book is specifically designed to get learners involved in extra
practice of language in use through activities and exercises. As
Tomlinson states that workbook is “…which contains extra practice
activities for learners to work on their own. Usually the book is
designed so that learners can write in it and often there is an
answer key provided at the back of the book to give feedback to the
learners”

Supplementary Materials
In addition to main course books, supplementary materials are
designed for learners‟ independent learning to develop their study
habits. These materials usually comprise short stories and abridged
drama that aim to provide the learners literary tastes and
simultaneously inculcate assimilation of all language skills.

Reference Materials
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and any other materials that are suggested
at the end section of a course books for further reading on a related
theme are classified as reference materials. Learners themselves
can explore to overcome difficulty or sometimes teacher may help
them.

Teachers’ Manuals
McDonough and Shaw (1993) claim that "materials and methods
cannot be seen in isolation". Thus, materials or course books cannot
produce the expected result until and unless it follows a proper
methodology and classrooms techniques. So, along with course
books, teachers‟ books are also produced by the materials
producers that contain teaching tips, strategies and lesson plans for
teaching the prescribed text books. For example, DepEd always
produce a Teachers Guide to accompany every Learners Manual
released to support K to 12 teaching and learning.

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UNDERSTANDING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

• Authentic materials are such materials that are not written for classroom teaching.
On the contrary any natural discourse: written or spoken like newspapers, magazines,
catalogues, brochures etc, can be referred as authentic text or materials. It is a
common variety of materials nowadays that are widely accepted.

There are two main categories of authentic materials —print and auditory
Some examples of the many types of authentic print materials include
• Utility bills • ATM receipts • Traffic tickets • TV guides
• Packing slips • Web sites • Greeting cards • Food labels
• Order forms • Street signs • Calendars • Magazines
• ATM screens • Coupons • Report cards • Newspapers
Examples of authentic auditory materials include
• Phone messages • Podcasts Conversations • Radio
• Radio • Songs • Public commercials
broadcasts • Recorded Announcements

Breen (1985) researched four types of authenticity within language classroom.

1. Authenticity of the texts which we may use as input data for our learners.
2. Authenticity of the learners’ own interpretations of such texts.
3. Authenticity of tasks conducive to language learning.
4. Authenticity of the actual social situation of the language classroom.

• Authentic texts for language learning are any source of data which help the learner
to develop an authentic interpretation.

• Learner authenticity means that the learner must discover the conventions of
communication in the target language which will enable him or her to gradually
interpret meaning within the text in ways which are likely to be shared with expert and
fluent users of that particular language.

• Task authenticity reflects the purpose or objective of the given task to which
language input is given. It means that the chosen tasks should involve the learners
not only in authentic communication with texts and others in the classroom, but also
in learning and the purpose of learning.

• The authenticity of the actual situation of language classroom is a special social

event and environment wherein people share a primary communicative purpose and
that is learning. The authentic role of the language classroom is the availability of
those conditions in which the participants can publicly share the problems,
achievements and overall process of learning a language together as a social activity.
A website where students use web blogs for group discussion could be an example
of an authentic language classroom.

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 PRINCIPLES OF MATERIALS PRODUCTION

Materials are produced on the basis of certain principles. These principles were defined
by different linguists time to time. Nunan (1988, cited in Tomlinson, 2013) identified the
following six principles.
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

Later, Richards (1990) mentions, the following features of good language teaching
materials that must be taken in consideration during production and evaluation of
materials.
• They are based on sound theoretical learning principles.
• They arouse and maintain learners‟ interest and attention.
• They meet the learners‟ needs and background.
• They provide example of language use.
• They provide meaningful activities.
• They provide opportunities for authentic language use.

Also, the ‘Ellis Principles’ (Ellis, 2005), of materials design and development which guided
ministries of education of many countries in their language educations programs include:

• Principle 1: Instruction needs to ensure that learners develop both a rich

repertoire of formulaic expressions and a rule-based competence.
• Principle 2: Instruction needs to ensure that learners focus predominantly on
meaning.
• Principle 3: Instruction needs to ensure that learners also focus on form.
• Principle 4: Instruction needs to be predominantly directed at developing implicit
knowledge of the L2 while not neglecting explicit knowledge.
• Principle 5: Instruction needs to take into account the learner’s ‘built-in syllabus’.
• Principle 6: Successful instructed language learning requires extensive L2 input.
• Principle 7: Successful instructed language learning also requires opportunities
for output.
• Principle 8: The opportunity to interact in the L2 is central to developing L2
proficiency.
• Principle 9: Instruction needs to take account of individual differences in learners.
• Principle 10: In assessing learners’ L2 proficiency, it is important to examine free
as well as controlled production.

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CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE MATERIALS

Maley (2014) proposed a set of criteria for effective materials:

Intrinsic interest - The materials should be interesting to learn from: because the
content is interesting in itself. Hence the importance of text selection.

Engagement leading to ‘Flow’ (Czikszentimihalyi, 1990, 1997). The activities

should engage the learners, so that they are carried along by them, almost without
realizing they are learning.

Depth of cognitive and affective processing (Arnold, 1999). The materials should
appeal both to the head and to the heart. Learners should be stimulated to think and
reflect on what they are doing, and to be involved emotionally.

Flexibility/adaptability. It should be possible to adapt, extend, and re-order

activities.

Open-endedness. The activities should lead learners to other aspects of the topic,
and related activities. They should not be one-off, closed-ended.

Non-triviality. Too much material in course-books is trivial. Wajnryb (1996)

pointed out that most of the content of course-books had no significance for the
learners, and that what was significant to them was largely absent.

Relevance: personal/learning. The materials should be relevant to the learners’

personal experience, and relevant in terms of the language learning involved.

Variety. There should be as great a variety of texts and activities as possible,

ensuring a good balance (Maley, 1999).

Creativity. Materials and activities should be intrinsically creative, and stimulate

creativity in the learners (Bilbrough, 2011; Pugliese, 2010). This may be achieved
by greater use of aesthetically-appealing materials (Goldberg, 2006; Lutzker, 2007;
Maley, 2009, 2010), music (Hill, 2013; Paterson & Willis, 2008), art (Grundy et al.,
2011; Keddie, 2009), video (Tomalin & Stempleski, 2001), drama (Maley & Duff,
2005; Wilson, 2008), literature (Duff & Maley, 2007), story-telling (Heathfield, 2014;
Wajnryb, 2003; Wright, 2008), creative writing (Maley & Mukundan, 2011a, b; Spiro,
2004, 2006).

Economy/elegance (Less=More): The minimum quantity of material should be

designed to achieve the maximum effect. Sometimes the most effective materials are
simple and ‘light’ (Maley, 1993, 1995).

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MODELS OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) list the following main principles than need to be
observed in materials writing:
§ materials should provide a stimulus to learning since: “good materials do not
teach: they encourage learners to learn.” (p.107) As a result good materials
should “contain interesting texts; enjoyable activities which engage the learners’
thinking capacities; opportunities for learners to use their existing knowledge
and skills; content which both learners and teacher can cope with.” (p.107)
§ materials should offer a clear and coherent unit structure which helps to
organize the learning/teaching process by assisting teachers in planning the
lessons and offer students a sense of progression. When fulfilling this role,
materials should be clear and systematic, however, they should not be too
inflexible so as not to allow flexibility, variety and creativity;

(Hadfield in Harwood (2013) provided the following guide questions as

framework for materials design and development:

• Is the aim of the activity clear?

• Does the activity fulfil the aim in the best way?
• Is the activity focused on the aim without irrelevant distractions?
• Is the activity engaging and appealing to both teachers and students?
• Is the activity feasible—are students capable of doing it – in terms of concept,
• ease of task and language level?
• Is the activity at the right level of challenge – linguistically and cognitively?
• Are the stages of the activity in the best logical sequence?
• Have the students been adequately prepared for the task?
• Does the staging scaffold students by providing achievable steps?
• Are the groupings appropriate to the task?
• Do the groupings provide variety and balance of interaction?
• Does the activity have sufficient pace and momentum to maintain interest?
• Does the activity create positive and not negative affect? Will the students feel
• good about doing it?
• Does the activity promote a good group dynamic?
• Does the activity result in student satisfaction with the outcome and a feeling of
• achievement?
• Does this (particular) activity encourage creative use of language, to encourage
• building of L2 identity?
• Does the activity, in the context of the book or section as a whole, provide
variety
• and not be repetitive of other activity-types.
• Does the activity, in the context of the book or section as a whole, provide for
• individual difference in learners and appeal to different learning styles?

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Assessment Tasks

TASK Grids: Complete three tasks that are connected horizontally,

vertically or diagonally to make a tic-taco-toe.

Write your own Conduct additional Create a 20 item

definition of materials interest research on multiple choice quiz
development based on ”intrinsic interest’ and on the types of
the readings from this “depth of cognitive and materials in language
module. affective processing. education. Provide
Present your findings in answer keys. Encode
a 5-slide Powerpoint this on MS Word.
presentation. Submit to your
instructor’s e-mail.
Interview a former Read the research on Write a post on the
English language arts the effects of the use class FB group page
teachers and get authentic materials in about your reflections
his/her insights about ESL class here: on the importance of
the principles of http://tiny.cc/authenticm materials development
materials development aterialsres in language teaching
according to Nunan. and learning.
Submit a report on this. Then, create a 100
word reflection journal
entry about the key
insights you gained
from the research.
Critique the learning Create a graphic Write a letter to
material that can be organizer that will Tomlinson expressing
found on this link capture your your appreciation of the
http://tiny.cc/Grade10M understanding of the principles of materials
odule using at least five criteria for effective development that he
questions from materials on page 9. identified.
Hadfield in page 10.
Encode your report in
MS Word.

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 References

Harwood, N. (Ed.). (2013). English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption,

production. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University
Press.

Nunan, D. (1992). “Designing and adapting materials to encourage learner autonomy” in P.

Benson and P. Voller (Eds), Autonomy & Independence in Language Learning. London:
Longman

Tomlinson, B. and Masuhara, H. (2004) Developing Language Course Material: RELC

Portfolio Series 11. Singapore: RELC Publisher

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2003). Developing materials for language teaching. London:

Continuum Press.

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2007). Language acquisition and development: Studies of first and
other language
learners. London: Continuum.

Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2008). English language teaching materials: A critical review.

London: Continuum. Tomlinson, B. (2010). What do teachers think about English
coursebooks? Modern English Teacher,
19(4), 5–9.

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