Text-based Materials

As you look at text-based materials, there are a few things to consider.

Are instructional materials with a teaching purpose (so not journal articles, primary
sources, etc.) written in a friendly and conversational tone?

Are materials written at an appropriate reading level for your students? Realize that this
is going to be lower than your reading level so what sounds fine to you may leave your
students struggling. 

If it’s a scanned document, is the quality of the scan good enough that it can be easily
read? If it’s skewed, blurry, or grainy it’s best to go through the library and get a better
version. If it’s an article, it may be available through the library full-text databases.

If it’s a scanned document, is it actually made of text or is it literally a photograph of the

page? If you click on the page and it turns blue, it’s a photograph. You’ll also want to
identify things in the material that need your explanation or commentary. If you normally
talk through a resource in class, you’ll need to provide that scaffolding to your students
online.

Teacher Training: a Reference Manual (Peace Corps, 1986, 176 p.)

During the course of a year, in just about any subject, the time comes when the teacher
needs to use something other than his or her own voice and gestures to present course
content To I most people educated in Western industrialized nations, this statement I
may seem all too obvious. In the context of many developing countries, however,
audiovisual aids and materials are often unavailable and the teacher is left with two
choices:

1. To rely on simple materials which may be produced either by the teacher or a local
facility; or

2. To adapt materials which may have been produced for a different country or even a
different, if related, subject.

For the most part, instructional materials in the classrooms of Third World countries are
limited to blackboard, chalk, paper, pencil and, in the more fortunate cases, textbooks.

Even so, there is a great deal that the individual teacher can do in this context to
enhance his/her delivery of instruction. This section discusses the ways in which
teachers, with limited raw materials and supplies, can produce valuable instructional
materials. This section will also address proper presentation procedures for the
introduction of visual aids in the classroom and considerations about the appropriate
use of certain teaching aids.
Instructional materials and the learning process

Two basic principles should be considered when using instructional materials:

1. Teachers, whether poorly trained or highly competent, remain the most influential part
of the learning process. (Materials merely assist in the instructional process; the teacher
provides the primary source of direction in learning.)

2. The amount of information a student retains is directly related to how that material is
presented. This concept can be presented as a series of steps leading to the greatest
retention of knowledge:

What People Remember

What people remember

Materials used in education can be categorized by the type of information they contain
and which of the senses are required to make use of that information:

Written materials (sight) such as texts or readers provide detailed information through
the use of the written word.

Visual aids (sight) provide graphic and/or written information which usually supplements
an oral presentation (hearing).

Audio tapes and records (hearing) provide information through the spoken word (and
may or may not be used with other types of materials).

Film, slide/tape, and videotapes (sight and hearing) use visual, audible and written
means to present information.

Real Objects and Models (touch/kinesthetic) coordinates visual presentation with touch
to present information.
It is the teacher's responsibility to decide which types of materials are appropriate for
which types of learning activities. The table on the following page, based on a media
selection model by William Allen at the University of Southern California, should help
the teacher with this decision. It provides information as to how certain instructional
media relate to specific learning objectives.

Learning objectives

Based on this information it is easy to see the advantages of using instructional

materials in the classroom and how each type of material triggers certain senses and
supports certain types of objectives and lessons more than others. The teacher must
examine the content of the course and choose the appropriate way of presenting the
information in order to maximize both instructional and learning processes (see Child
and Adolescent Learning). The relative success that he/she has in doing this, of course,
will depend on how available certain materials are. Teachers who believe that there are
virtually no materials or supplies available should not despair. This section of the
manual will help them to realize that many useful instructional materials can be located
or, if necessary, produced using low cost materials and supplies in their immediate
environment. The first step towards providing materials for the instructional setting is in
determining what is and - probably most important - what is not available.

Using what is available

Before deciding on which types of materials are appropriate for a given lesson, the
teacher must locate which materials, if any, are at his/her disposal. Most often, and for
just about all subjects, the only real materials present in the classroom will be a
blackboard and possibly some chalk. In many cases these too may be unavailable. In
each case the needs of the teacher must be weighed against what is available.

Needs: Reviewing unit and lesson plans will give the teacher some indication of the
types of materials required. Whether based on a chapter, a section out of a text or a lab
exercise, the teacher should review his/her plan and make a list of what materials are
needed so that they can be located before the lesson(s) begin.

Availability: If the teacher is developing the curriculum, the design should either require
materials which can be easily obtained or allow sufficient time to acquire the special
materials and supplies needed. As acquiring materials from abroad is both time
consuming and often too costly to consider, the teacher should consider using local
materials to replicate instructional materials they might otherwise try to order.

The level of education being taught may affect the availability resources. The primary
school teacher may have fewer instructional materials to work with than the secondary
school teacher. Materials are often distributed from a central storehouse to schools or to
individuals responsible for local distribution. The distribution route should be understood
so that materials can be located and reviewed before the instructional process begins.
Many cases exist where teachers have gone through one or two years of teaching with
inadequate or no texts and materials only to find that better material was available in a
government storehouse - only they did not know it.

Developing a list of materials already available in country for a particular content area
can provide a good start for the teacher. Making such a list, categorized according to
both type and location of materials, can help the teacher to take stock of his/her
resources.

Several types of instructional aids are traditionally associated with the classroom.
Textbooks, other printed materials, radio programs, audio visual media, and human
resources are all, to a greater or lesser extent, available to the creative teacher wishing
to develop an interesting curriculum, spiced with variety. Each of these instructional aids
has its own set of planning and use considerations for the teacher.

Textbooks
Some schools, particularly in urban areas, require students to buy texts from private
suppliers who have an agreement with the education department. Teachers should be
aware of which students are able to buy their own material and which are not. In certain
cases, the government provides some financial support to students in need of buying
their own required books and other materials. Supplies such as pencils and paper,
notebooks and erasers are generally not supplied by the educational system and are
purchased individually by the student in the market, if available. Many countries
supplement their textbook needs, particularly in secondary education, with donated
texts from European or American sources. These texts are usually donated by a school
district, library or even a major publisher for various reasons (they are outdated,
damaged in a warehouse fire or in shipping, or they do not meet market standards in
quality). The teacher should ask library and/or administrative or ministry personnel
about such supply schemes and contact suppliers directly for texts in their subject
areas. For example, book distributors such as the Ranfurley Library Service in Great
Britain collect withdrawn and discarded library and school books for shipment to
developing countries in the British Commonwealth.

While many textbooks, originating in countries other than where they are being used,
can be helpful to the teacher who is preparing a lesson or unit, he/she should be aware
that they are often inappropriate or too culture bound to use as a direct guide. Science
and math texts, which can often be used as direct references, are more universally
useful than texts from the humanities and the liberal arts. Cultural and geographic
references found in donated books from England, France or the United States are often
not appropriate in the teaching context of Africa, Asia or Latin America. If the teacher
chooses to use the lesson format found in these materials they will need to adapt the
specific content information presented to reflect the local situation.

Instructional Media

Print media include all texts, booklets, charts, maps and newspapers. Some countries
have facilities for producing limited numbers of supplemental materials. Using these
facilities and understanding their limitations and requirements are important skills for
teachers. Some of these skills include:

° Being familiar with what the production facility is capable of doing and what they can
not do.

° Knowing how long a job might take.

° Establishing a relationship with the production personnel.

° Determining the appropriate channels through which to work.

While locally and specifically designed materials can add a great deal to the
presentation of a topic, production of materials takes a long time, so plan well in
advance of need.

Radio education programs play an important part in many national education systems.
The teacher should become familiar with existing programs and radio broadcasting
facilities in their country. Radio broadcasts can supplement language courses, and
science and math programs as well as other subject areas. Cooperation with the
government ministry in pilot programs using radio is a good way to become familiar with
this media.

Audiovisual media, including television, photography, film (both 8 mm and 16 mm),

slide/tape, filmstrips and more recently, videocassettes, are all part of the audiovisual
media which may be available to some teachers. These media and materials are more
likely to be available in teacher training facilities than in schools or classrooms.
Nevertheless, it is important to know some of the fundamentals about how to present
this type of educational media to its best advantage. These fundamentals will be
covered in a later part of this section.

Human Resources

In addition to the variety of audio and visual instructional materials that the teacher can
locate or make and use, many other resources in the community are available to
teachers.

People from the community are one resource which are often overlooked by the
teacher. Lessons which stress conversation and dialogue in language classes, for
example, can be made exciting by using native speakers. Many national curricula value
the use of indigenous sources of local history and culture. Locating elders and
community leaders to talk about historical and cultural events could provide a
meaningful and novel experience for students inside a classroom environment or as
part of a research project or field trip.

Students in the class, representing objects through role playing, can be used in a variety
of ways to demonstrate concepts ranging from interactions between molecules to the
planets revolving around the sun in the solar system. Students also have experience
and knowledge that can be shared or used to bring home a point. The more students
are involved in the presentation of a lesson, the greater the chance that the information
will stay with them.

Subject Specialists may be available to lecture or provide question and answer sessions
on topics from chemistry and biology to vocational practices. Many government
personnel in education and other areas were once teachers, perhaps highly trained in
their own specialty, and may make excellent role models for students.

Producing educational materials

After surveying existing materials and assessing which materials are required and
available for unit and lesson plans, certain instructional aids may still be needed to
adequately present the content of a lesson. For these, and perhaps for all materials
used in the classroom, the teacher must become a materials developer and producer.
Many objects which are useful in the classroom can be made out of "found" material
such as discarded bottles and cans, cloth, cardboard cartons, sticks and other such
items. The next section will offer some ideas on the best ways to make use of local
resources in the development of instructional aids.

Realia

Using real objects in the class, or realia as they are sometimes referred to, is a very
effective way of aiding visual identification of leaves, minerals, parts of machinery etc. In
using realia, there are several points that the teacher should consider:

° Use recognizable objects from the environment.

° Prepare the materials well in advance of presentation.

° Keep information simple and clear.

Cross-cultural considerations should be weighed before recommending and using these

types of materials, however, as many objects may be used in ceremonies and carry
special meaning for teachers and students. The use of bones, either real or replicas to
teach biology, for example, can often cause consternation among class members due to
their cultural relevance. In general, the teacher needs to be careful when using cultural
artifacts not to make them meaningless or insult the students by ignoring their cultural
value.

Visual Aids

Teachers may wish to use some form of visual aids which they can make themselves.
As indicated above, these might take a variety of forms including tables, charts or
diagrams which display a process or identify objects. The Peace Corps Resource
Packet P-8 listed at the end of this section contains numerous "recipes" for the do-it-
yourself production of many different types of audio/visual aids as well as other types of
materials. The chart which follows provides a sampling of the types of instructional
materials which can be produced, their potential for classroom application and the types
of materials you need to produce them.
Choosing and Producing Instructional Materials

TYPE SUPPLIES NEEDED

CLASSROOM TO PRODUCE
APPLICATIONS
1. Blackboard Most all Plywood and blackboard paint. Available
demonstrations and from UNESCO. Chalk can Also be
diagrams. Erasable. produces from local resources (see
referenced resource Packet P-8 at end
of section).
2. Charts, Permanent display Produce from paper, white cardboard or
Diagrams such as a periodic cloth. Words can be imprinted using felt
table of the tip Markers, homemade and ink or paint.
elements. Use different colors and boards and
boards to rule straight lines.
3. Real objects Identification of parts Plant specimens, used Auto parts,
of plants, machinery, objects from the environment.
etc.
4. Flannel graphs Displays requiring Flannel cloth or wool. Pieces made from
moveable items same material or similar rough cloth that
showing action or will "stick" (burlap and flannel is a good
change. combination). Cloth may be at market or
taken from old clothing. Attach to a base
like stiff cardboard.
5. Tapes for audio Language dialogue Simple audiocassette player and
present action. review and oral recorder. Batteries or power Outlet if
history. current is available. Tapes for recording.
6. Television, Film, Presentation of Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) unit,
VCRs recorded programs monitor, current; Film projector;
Television and broadcast program from
TV studio.

Using materials in the classroom

Whatever subject is being taught, visual aids are most effective when they are properly
used and reach the greatest number of students.

Visual Aids and Learning Styles

Based on the ideas from previous sections of the manual Child and Adolescent
Learning and Instructional Objectives), one principle which should be apparent is that
certain students benefit more from seeing or touching something while others need to
hear an explanation before they can understand it. The best way to be sure that every
student's preferred learning style is addressed is to use a variety of materials within any
presentation. Relying too heavily on visual aids and neglecting the importance of the
spoken presentation, or doing it poorly, may mean that the teacher is not reaching those
students who may learn better when they hear someone present the information orally.
The key here is to mix the presentation with different types of materials if possible. Use
real objects to teach classification, visual aids like charts and diagrams to teach about
processes, and technological media, if available, to teach processes involving action or
subjects where dramatization is appropriate. Combine different sections of the course
content and use various materials to teach these sections alternating between the use
of media and materials and a regular, oral presentation (see Classroom Teaching
Techniques for more detail on presentation techniques).

Presenting an Instructional Aid to a Class

Certain steps are involved in the presentation of any instructional materials. These
steps can be categorized according to when, in relation to the presentation, they should
occur.

Before the Presentation

° Make sure that the materials relate directly to the objectives stated in your lesson plan.

° If some form of technological media is used, the teacher is well advised to check the
equipment and make sure everything is in working order before the class begins.

During the Presentation

The pacing of the presentation is important. The focus of attention should be shifted
clearly towards a visual aid during a presentation. Begin with a phrase like, "Now,
looking at this diagram, we can see that some types of plants..." .

As in speaking to a class, the teacher should move slowly and clearly from one part of a
visual to another, physically pointing out each figure or object in the visual aid.

In using instructional media the teacher should a) minimize the distraction during a
presentation and b) maximize the students' attention on the media being presented.
(e.g. Some teachers, before a filmstrip presentation or lecture, tell the class that there
will be a quiz following the presentation).

Lessons using media should always be preceded by an introduction from the teacher.
Films, audio tapes and other media provide much information and some form of
instruction by the teacher should be given to offer some indication as to what students
should look for.

Provide some sort of summary or review of the material to give closure to the lesson
(e.g. Study questions be used after the presentation to help students review important
points).
After the Presentation

Make sure that the instructional aid is safely stored so that it is ready for its next use.

Evaluating instructional materials

When materials have been used as part of the instructional process, the materials
themselves should be assessed for their relevancy, practicality and usefulness in the
lesson or unit. If materials are developed by the teacher or are used for the first time in
a classroom, then the teacher is responsible for determining how effective they are and
changing them appropriately before they are used again. One such model used in the
materials development field is the pretest modification - post teat model. In this model,
materials development falls in a cycle of production:

Cycle of production
Puzzle

The Importance of Learning Materials in Teaching

"Teaching materials" is a generic term used to describe the resources teachers use to
deliver instruction. Teaching materials can support student learning and increase
student success. Ideally, the teaching materials will be tailored to the content in which
they're being used, to the students in whose class they are being used, and the teacher.
Teaching materials come in many shapes and sizes, but they all have in common the
ability to support student learning.

Examples
Teaching materials can refer to a number of teacher resources; however, the term
usually refers to concrete examples, such as worksheets or manipulatives (learning
tools or games that students can handle to help them gain and practice facility with new
knowledge -- e.g. counting blocks). Teaching materials are different from teaching
"resources," the latter including more theoretical and intangible elements, such as
essays or support from other educators, or places to find teaching materials.

Student Learning Support

Learning materials are important because they can significantly increase student
achievement by supporting student learning. For example, a worksheet may provide a
student with important opportunities to practice a new skill gained in class. This process
aids in the learning process by allowing the student to explore the knowledge
independently as well as providing repetition. Learning materials, regardless of what
kind, all have some function in student learning.

Lesson Structure

Learning materials can also add important structure to lesson planning and the delivery
of instruction. Particularly in lower grades, learning materials act as a guide for both the
teacher and student. They can provide a valuable routine. For instance, if you are a
language arts teacher and you teach new vocabulary words every Tuesday, knowing
that you have a vocabulary game to provide the students with practice regarding the
new words will both take pressure off of you and provide important practice (and fun) for
your students.

Differentiation of Instruction

In addition to supporting learning more generally, learning materials can assist teachers
in an important professional duty: the differentiation of instruction. Differentiation of
instruction is the tailoring of lessons and instruction to the different learning styles and
capacities within your classroom. Learning materials such as worksheets, group activity
instructions, games, or homework assignments all allow you to modify assignments to
best activate each individual student's learning style.

Acquiring Teaching Materials

Getting your hands on valuable teaching materials is not nearly as difficult as it can
seem at first. The Internet has many resources for teachers, most of them free, that can
significantly increase the contents of your teaching toolbox. You can also make your
own materials. Every learning material you develop will be an asset to you when you
next teach a similar unit. An investment of time or money in good teaching materials is
an investment in good teaching.
 DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF MATERIALS
1. Design Phase
 Accumulated experience – the writer reviews or surveys existing
materials which can give useful information about the demands and the
needs in the field.
 Rationale for the design – identifies the shortcomings of existing
materials to ensure that such short comings are not repeated in the
present material.
 Conceptual Framework – combines major and minor concepts regarding
language learning, language teaching theories, and materials design
principle upon which the material is anchored.

Major concepts refer to the overall principles of second/foreign language

learning and teaching will affect every aspect of the design of the
instructional materials.

Minor concepts refer to the following:

 Organization of languages skills to be taught:
 Selection, gradation and arrangement of content:
 Methodology associated with the acquisition of these skills:
 Organization for the development and dissemination of the materials.
2. Detailed writing of the specification for the new materials – the specification includes:
 Goals of the materials
 Subject matter, language content to be covered, and the skills to be
acquired through the content:
 Techniques and modes of presentation, practice, use and management
associated with the learning of the content
 Format of the materials including how learning units are divided
 Technical details for the writing of the materials
3. Developmental Phase
 Writing the experimental materials
 Internal evaluation of materials
 Controlled tryout
4. Dissemination Phase
 Extensive use of the new IM
 Field evaluation of the IM

GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING MATERIALS

The following guidelines were based on the final report of the 5th sub-regional workshop
on the development of basic literacy learning materials for ‘un-reached’ population in
South Asia (1998)
1. Needs Assessment – Surveys and identifies the concerns of the target learners
because the objectives of the materials should be carefully drafted based on the
interests, problems, and need of the target learners
2. Development of curriculum grid – Helps materials developers and teachers to
know learners’ needs and to decide on the content and the level of materials to
be produced.
a. Goals of national literacy program
b. Core content based on national concerns
c. Locally relevant content based on the identified needs of the learners
d. Prescribed levels in the three Rs
e. Levels of literacy skills of learners
3. Selection of themes
4. Setting up objectives
5. Deciding on the format
a. Considerations
 Age group
 Location in which the IM is to be used
 Literacy level of target clientele
 Cost of development and use of the material
 Ability of the teachers to utilize the material
 Type of role that the material plays (i.e. motivational,
instructional, awareness building, informative, etc.)
b. Various formats
 Written (e.g. booklet, flashcards, flip chart, posters, comics,
games, wall papers)
 Electronic media (e.g. audio tapes like songs, dramas, talks,
speeches, announcements, broadcasts: video presentation:
radio and television program, etc.)
 Interactive formats (e.g. CDcourseware, web-based courses,
on-line hyperlinks)
6. Selection and arrangement of content
7. Titles and captions
8. Scriptwriting
 Script expressions, inclusive language
 Short sentences
 Illustration
 Local language flavor
  Reading flow
 Attractive layout

9. Illustrations (balanced and inclusive)

10. Editing

MATERIALS EVALUATION
 External Evaluation aims to examine the organization of the material as stated
explicitly by the author of the publisher. This type of evaluation analyzes what the
“book tells about itself” by looking at the ad blurb, the introduction, and table of
contents. Through external evaluation, information on the following may be
called:
 Intended audience
 Proficiency level
 Context in which the materials are to be used
 Organization into teachable units
 Date of publication
 Author’s view on language learning and teaching
 Publisher
 Internal Evaluation covers an in- depth investigation of the value of the material
in relation to its objectives, principles, lesson design, and assessment
procedures. At this stage, the evaluator analyzes the extent to which claims in
the introduction and blurbs actually match up with the internal consistency and
organization of the materials. In order to perform effective internal evaluation of
the material, at least two units of a book or a set of materials need to be
inspected. The following information may be analyzed:
 Presentation of the skills in the material
 Grading and sequencing of skills
 Authentic or artificial recordings
 Authentic or artificial dialogues for speaking
 Relationships of tests and exercises to learner needs and course
content
 Provisions for different learning styles and self-study.
 Motivation for the learners
 Overall Evaluation analyzes the value of the material in relation to its usability,
generalizability, adaptability and flexibility.
 Usability – How far could the material be integrated into a
particular syllabus as ‘core’ or as supplementary material?
  Generalizability – How much of the material could be used by the
individual or by a group of people?
 Adaptability – Can parts be added/extracted/ used in another
context or modified for local circumstances?
 Flexibility – How rigid are the sequencing and grading? Can the
material be used in different ways? Can they be entered in
different parts?

ADAPTING MATERIALS
Reasons for Adapting Materials
Instructional materials should generally be authentic and communicative, and even if
they are already nearly perfect, adaptation of materials nevertheless happens. Here are
some reasons for materials adaptation.
 Not enough grammar coverage in general
 Not enough practice of grammar points of particular difficulty to learners
 The communicative focus means that grammar is presented unsystematically
 Reading passages contain too much unknown vocabulary
 Comprehension questions are too easy, because they sound too much like
written material being read out
 Not enough guidance on pronunciation
 Subject matter inappropriate for learners for a particular age and intellectual
level
 Photographs and other illustrative materials not culturally acceptable
 Amount of materials too great or too little to cover in the time allocated
 No guidance for teachers on handling group work and role play activities with a
large class
 Dialogues are too formal, and not really representative of everyday speech
 Audio material difficult to use because of problems with room size and technical
equipment
 Too much or too little variety in the activities
 Vocabulary list and a key to the exercise would be helpful
 Accompanying tests needed
Principles and Procedures for Adapting Materials
 Personalizing materials refers to increasing the relevance of content in relation
to learners’ interest and their academic, educational or professional needs.
 Individualizing addresses the learning styles of both the individuals and of the
members of a class working together.
 Localizing takes into account the international geography of English language
teaching and recognizes that what may work well in one region may work in
another.
Points to remember in adapting materials:
1. Adaptation can be seen as a kind of matching process or ‘congruence’ where
techniques are selected according to the aspect of the material that needs
alteration.
2. Content can be adapted using a range of techniques; or conversely, a single
content technique can be applied to different content areas.
3. Adaptation can have both quantitative and qualitative effects.
4. Techniques can be used individually or in combination with others.

ADAPTING TEXTBOOKS
Most teachers are not creators of teaching materials but providers of good materials.
Dudley- Evans and St. John (1988) suggest that a good provider of materials will be
able to:
1. select appropriately from what is available
2. be creative with what is available
3. modify activities to suit learners’ needs
4. supplement by providing extra activities (and extra input)
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. Content may need to be changed because it does not suit the
target learners, perhaps because of factors related to the learners’ age, gender, social
class, occupation, religion, or cultural background.
Modifying (including re-writing and re-structuring) refers to the internal change in the
approach or focus of an exercise.
· Re-writing is done when some linguistic content needs modification. It is currently the
most frequently done because there is a need for the materials to be ‘more
communicative’.
· Re-structuring applies to classroom management. For many teachers who are
required to strictly follow a coursebook, changes in the structuring of the class are
sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible.
Modifying tasks. Exercises and activities may need to be changed to give them
additional focus.
A listening activity may focus only on listening for information, so that students listen a
second or third time for a different purpose. An activity may be extended to provide
opportunities for more personalized practice.
¨ Adding or deleting content. The book may contain too much or too little for the
program.
Whole units may have to be dropped, or perhaps sections of units throughout the book
omitted because a course may focus primarily on listening and speaking skills, and
hence writing activities in the book will be omitted.
¨ Reorganizing content. A teacher may decide to reorganize the syllabus of the book,
and arrange the units in what she considers a more suitable order.
¨ Addressing omissions. The text may omit items that the teacher feels are important.
For example a teacher may add vocabulary activities or grammar activities to a unit.
¨ Extending tasks. Exercises may contain insufficient practice, and additional practice
tasks may need to be added.
¨ Expanding brings about a quantitative change. That is, expanding adds to the
methodology by moving outside it and developing it in new directions, for instance by
putting in a different language skill or a new component.
Deleting (subtracting and abridging)
· Subtracting means reducing the amount of the material
· Abridging happens when the materials is not only subtracted but is replaced with
something else that does not alter the balance of the lesson or the material.
Example: The material contains a discussion section at the end of each unit.
However, the learners are not really proficient enough to tackle this adequately, since
they have learned the language structures but not fluency in their use. The syllabus and
its subsequent examination do not leave room for this kind of training.
Implications of the Communicative Approach
1. ‘Communicative’ implies ‘semantic’, a concern with the meaning potential of
language
2. There is a complex relationship between language form and language function
3. Form and Function operate as part of a wider network of factors
4. Appropriacy of language use has to be considered alongside accuracy
5. ‘Communicative’ is relevant to all four language skills
6. The concept of communication is beyond the level of the sentence
7. ‘Communicative’ can refer both to the properties of language and to behavior
Evaluation of Supplementary Materials for English Language Teaching

Inclusivity in Materials Preparation and Evaluation

Inclusivity – the concept of appropriating for the ‘marginalized’ sector of the society
· Handicapped (with physical, emotional and mental/learning disabilities0
· Children (age
· Women (gender)
· Indigenous people (ethnicity)
· People of Color (race)
· The poor, The third world (economics)
Inclusive Curriculum
An inclusive curriculum
· develops an awareness of the issues of marginalization
· voices the concerns of the marginalized sector
· is sensitive to and responsive of the needs of the marginalized – the subaltern
· enhances critical thinking through issue-based teaching and learning processes
· generally employs
 contact learning
 portfolio assessment
 multiple intelligences theory
 cooperative learning strategies
 constructive principles
Why consider Inclusivity in Materials Preparation and Evaluation?
· Language determines thought and behavior patterns of people
· Language reflects values of a society
· Instructional materials have lasting influences in propagating sexism through linguistic
bias, stereotyping, invisibility, trivialisation and fragmentation (Sadker, Sadker and Long
in Banks and Banks, 1989)
· Instructional materials have a way of perpetuating stereotypes
· Practices that propagate marginalization
Absence/Omission – women and other marginalized sectors are nowhere to be found in
books, commercials/advertisements, the mass media and other instructional materials
Silencing – the marginalized are there represented/drawn/mentioned but given passive
roles (e.g. listener, pained/abused/victimized, helper, no line at all)
Trivialized – presented but rendered unimportant; given stereotyped roles like ailing
mother, hopeless maidens, forlorn princess, etc.
Fragmentation – viewing the contributions of the marginalized as phenomenal (e.g.
Woman doctor operates Siamese twins; Woman Astronaut lands on the moon)
· Studies prove that in various instructional materials, the marginalized have been
 Stereotyped (damsels in distress, loving wives, sacrificing mothers, poor girls,
etc.)
 Omitted (in textbook pictures/graphics, in cliparts)
 Silenced (present but not given a voice)
 Trivialised (present but given passive roles)
 Fragmented (victories rendered as supernatural/phenomenal)
· Human rights code, the Philippine Constitution declare honouring the human rights of
children, women, the handicapped
· Communication symbols evolve to meet human needs; equality issues influence
communication symbols
· Sex-role restrictions – out of date and unfair
· Self-fulfilling prophecy of women’s “inferiority” and “failure”
· Loss of potential contribution of women to society
· Non-sexist communication can be natural, graceful, and grammatically correct
Characteristics of Inclusive Instructional Materials
· Devoid of Stereotypes
· The experiences of women, children, people of color, the handicapped, the poor, etc.
are
 Represented not voiced
 Voiced not silenced
 Rendered important and not trivialized nor fragmented
· Replete with alternative roles
· Use non-sexist language
· Provide insights on multiculturalism and diversity
· Issue-based, content area related, contextualized, authentic
· Extra textual components like cartoons and other graphics are also inclusive
· Muliticultural; free from ethnocentric/regional/racial bias

PREPARATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR TEACHING

LITERATURE

Why Teach Literature (in a Language Classroom?)

 one of the main reasons why literature is an important part of learning is that it
offers a bountiful and extremely varied body of written material which is important
in learning fundamental human issues.
 its relevance moves with the passing of time.
 literature is “authentic” material.
 literature enriches cultural awareness. In most cases, language learners get a
better understating of the culture in the language they are trying to learn through
literature. A reader may discover the inner thoughts, feelings, customs of a
certain group of people, thus giving him/her a better understanding of the
language.
 literature provides language enrichment.
 Literature helps personal enrichment. Engaging imaginatively with literature
enables learners to shift the focus of their attention beyond the more mechanical
aspects of language learning.

What to Teach?
The first step in teaching literature is to choose the materials to teach, including the
literary texts for study. The preparation of instructional materials will depend on the
literary texts chosen for study.
 Suitability of literary texts to students always depend on the different groups of
students, their needs, interests, cultural background and language level.
 Personal involvement, however, should always be a goal of a literature
classroom.
 Strong, personal, and positive reactions are needed in the literature classroom.
How to teach literature?
In teaching literature, the aim is to maintain interest and involvement by using a variety
of student centered activities.
 In devising activities for integrating language and literature teachers must
remember that learning involve as many of the students’ faculties as possible.
 Teachers should try to exploit as fully as possible the emotional dimension that is
a very integral part of literature.
 Helping students explore their own response to literature could be achieved
through the different instructional materials prepared for classroom teaching.
 One of the principles which influences the classroom approach to literature is that
of using the target language with a range of activities chosen.
 To integrate the teaching of language and literature that aims to foster language
learning the teacher should never forget that literature can stand on its own by
giving it proper time inside the classroom.

Stages of literature learning in the classroom

1. First Encounters
For students about to explore the unknown territory of a new literary text, the first
encounter may be crucial. First impressions can color their feelings about the whole
enterprise they find themselves engaged in. They are likely to be approaching the
experience with mixture of curiosity, excitement and apprehension. The teacher’s role
must be to play up the sense of adventure while providing a supportive atmosphere that
will be reassuring to the students.
The first imperative is usually to try and draw the learners quickly “into” the text,
so that they find it interesting and want to continue reading it on their own. Next,
students need to be convinced that the task ahead is not an impossible task.

Suggested activities and instructional materials for first encounters:

a. Talking about the title and cover design
 The teacher sets the scene and whet students’ curiosity by showing them an
intriguing cover design and asking them to speculate about the book and its
story.
b. Using Questionnaires
 Students are given questionnaires to fill in. Questions are focused on the text
studied.
c. Making a Biographical montage
 The teacher collects some photos, objects, or anything which is relevant to the
author’s life. These materials/objects are mounted on to a larger piece of card.
 The students then are invited to speculate the meaning of the items in the
montage.
d. Continuing the Story line
 Having read the first section of a text, students are asked to study a range of
possible continuations of a story line. Then they choose the one they consider
the author would have used.
e. Comparing beginnings
 The teacher takes three or four opening paragraphs from novels or short stories
with fairly similar beginnings, and asks the students to respond to the contrasts.
f. Writing Chapter 0
 Students are asked to write the paragraphs that come immediately before the
first section of the work which they have just encountered.

2. Maintaining Momentum
The tasks in maintaining momentum can be used at any point in a literary work and can
be applied to the various genres. This part of literary learning allows the students to
understand, enjoy and appreciate the literary work. It is in this situation that a mixture of
class activities and home reading can be used.

Suggested Activities and instructional materials for maintaining momentum

a. Question worksheet leading to pair work in class
 Half of the class is given one set of questions relating to the passage set as
home reading, the other half, another set.
b. Complete the sentences
 This worksheet could be used as a take home activity. This is a take off from
the regular Q and A.
c. True or False
 This worksheet asks the students to answer true or false on certain concepts.
d. Summaries with gaps
 The most straightforward type of summary exercise is the gapped summary.
 This helps readers by providing them with an almost complete and simply
phrased summary. The gaps are usually key words or expressions, which only
a reading of the appropriate passage can reveal.
e. Summaries with incomplete sentences
 A slightly more challenging variant consists of a summary with incomplete
sentences.
f. Summary comparison
 The teacher writes two summaries of a section to be read at home.
 Differences between the summaries can be “fine-tuned” according to the level
of the group. At the simplest level, one of the summaries omits certain key
 points; at a more difficult level, both summaries are fairly accurate but one may
contain incorrect inference or interpretation.
g. Jumbled events
 The students are given a list of jumbled events. They will simply re arrange the
events.
h. Choosing an interpretation
 The students are given a series of different interpretations of events in the
passage they are reading.
i. Snowball activities
 These are activities which continue and are added to progressively, as students
read through a long work. These activities help maintain an overview of an
entire book, provide a valuable aid to memory, and reduce a lengthy text to
manageable proportions.
Examples:
1. Retelling a story
2. Wall charts and other visual displays
3. Summaries
4. Montage
5. Graphic representation
6. Continuing predictions
7. Writing on going diaries

3. Exploiting Highlights
The activities for this part of the literary discussion in the classroom will help encourage
the students to explore and express their own response to the literary work.
Suggested activities for maintaining highlights:
a. thought bubbles
 The task for this activity is very simple: students are asked to write the ‘inner’
dialogue that parallels the original dialogue.
b. poems
 The aim is to crystalline a personal, felt response to a literary situation.
c. using authentic formats
 These are non-literary formats which can be imported into the context of the
literary work and used to spur writing about it.
d. newspaper articles
 A newspaper article or feature is to be written about the highlight scene chosen.
 Students are shown samples of genuine newspaper articles, if possible from more
than one type of publication.
e. oral activities
 These are activities highlighting the lines/ dialogues that are good for oral reading.
Examples:
1. mini reading aloud
2. poetry reading
3. choral reading
4. oral summaries

4. Endings
This part of classroom literary learning keeps each students’ own sense of the literary
work alive.

Suggested activities for Endings:

a. role plays
 The context provided by works of literature facilitates the creation of role-play
situations. This activity allows the students to work among themselves.
b. cover designs
 Asking the students to prepare a paperback cover of a book is to see how they
are eliciting and crystallizing their over all response to the text they are reading.
c. writing a blurb for the back cover
 As preparation for this activity, the teacher reads out the cover blurb of selected
novels. This activity aims to see if the students can come up with distinct blurb for
a particular literary work.
d. short writing tasks
 These activities test the ability of the students to use language in written activities.
Examples:
1. letters
2. essays
3. newspaper articles
4. journal