Reflection on Tutorial Task Week 2 (Materials Development)

How does it affect me as a pre-service teacher?

Through this task, I learned/gained a lot. There are too many principles of materials development and some of them may seem to be similar but, they are actually different in certain terms. For instance, I do feel that the second principle (materials should help learners to feel at ease) and third principle (materials should help learners to develop confidence) in Tomlinson’s are somewhat similar or inter-related. In my opinion, materials should let learners feel at ease so that they can gain confidence in handling them. I realized that in the future, if I were to plan a lesson plan, the materials I would use/create will have to be suited to the principles of materials development and most importantly, the learners’ proficiency level. It would not be an easy task as different learners have different opinions in materials used by the teachers. There might be some learners who will show interest in the materials used and there might be some who may not. As a pre-service teacher, I feel a little at ease and grateful at the same time. This is because there are lists of principles that can be used as guidelines in the future when creating materials in teaching. I will have to pay more attention to learners’ weaknesses and interest as well as the curriculum goals and objectives. In my opinion, having a guideline is better as it helps me to identify easily how my materials can help the learners.

How does it affect my current level of knowledge?

I understand that ANYTHING can be used as a material in teaching. The most important thing is how the particular teacher will alter the material so that it suits the objective of that particular lesson. For instance, posters and postcards can be used to teach learners in writing. One common criterion found in Tomlinson’s, Crawford’s and Nunan’s principle is that materials should be authentic and reflects usage in real life. I was quite shocked to see that in developing materials for lessons, there are so many principles that we need to pay attention to or obey. I used to think that in the future, I can just come up with the materials that I wanted to use in the lessons but now, I will make sure to remember obeying the principles. Materials are important in assisting learners to achieve the objective. From all those principles, I can see more clearly how materials may assist learners in their learning and at the same time assisting the teachers in their teaching. Teachers can establish ways to teach their students more effectively with the help of those principles. For instance, there are principles that stated materials used should be able to relate to the learners’ real-life experience or background.

How can I use that knowledge to improve myself?

With all those principles of materials development, I can make sure that my teaching and learning objectives can be achieved more easily. My lesson plan can be designed based on the principles other than following the ones in SLA and Principles of Teaching and Learning. The principles can help to stimulate my critical thinking as I have to create materials that are suitable for the learners and can fulfill their needs. The materials created will be helping learners in different fields. They can either be helping learners to understand certain topic better or to encourage interactions among learners. This will be my responsibility, to come up with materials that are effective in teaching. I will have to learn how to suit them according to my lesson plans. Now, i will think more/in-depth if I was to create materials for my students. Creativity is definitely an important criterion in creating the materials. In other words, I will have to keep on upgrading myself with the latest developments on materials and tried to identify what most learners nowadays are more interested in.

GROUP DISCUSSION

The first part of tutorial task given in week 2 is not that complicated compared to the second part. In the first part, my group members and I each identify a few principles in Short’s video and wrote them down respectively. When we met, we discussed together which principles are suitable and which are not. Reasons are stated down together with the elaborations. However, we do face some difficulties when choosing the principles as there are too many of them and some of them seems to be similar in certain terms although not completely.

The second part of the tutorial is more difficult compared to the first part. At the beginning, I don’t really understand the question. This is because I thought of 2 possible solutions to that question where we are to;

1. Create a diagram that will link all the points together.

2. Explain how materials development can happen/ takes place in terms of the different points given. 

 

After discussing with my group members, we decided to follow the first solution. Our question is further answered when we see our coursemates presenting their ideas to the class and our lecturer on the following week. On that day, we actually already planned or designed the diagram according to our own understanding and explanations. However, after the presentations by our coursemates and also a few words from our lecturer, we started to question our diagram. My group members and I spent the next day discussing the points all over again. We did a few diagrams and tried to choose the best one out of them. During the group discussions, there were moments where our opinions or views clashed with each other. So, we decided that the particular arrangement can only be maintained if there is an explanation for it. Needless to say, there are still difficulties in arranging the points as each and every of them will affect the next step (point). Justifying our point of view is something difficult as sometimes we wondered why we would want it to be like that and different opinion from members really can lead to some ‘awkward moments’. Luckily, we managed to reach an agreement and come up with a complete diagram by the end of the discussion.

By looking at so many points at the same time, they really got me thinking on how our government actually comes up with the education system that we have nowadays. I wondered according to what criteria or elements the government planned the materials we have today in schools. Despite having the curiosity, I know this question is not in my field of power as my responsibility is to choose the correct and appropriate materials used in teaching the future generations. 

Materials Development Tutorial Task Week 2

A. Watch Jeremy Short’s presentation on his take of materials development. 

Please take note on the reasons he created the materials and the characteristics of his materials. Which principles for materials development did Short apply when producing his materials?

He created the materials because students often complain of textbooks being boring and he is trying to follow the changes that are taking place in the education system nowadays. His materials are mostly, based on his background or his interest back when he was a student.

Principle 1- Materials should achieve impact or in other words, be able to attract learner’s curiosity, interest and attention. Short uses graphic novels to replace the conventional textbooks. This will surely be able to attract students’ interest as the elements are new and fresh to them. The presentation of his materials is attractive as he inserts more usage of graphics rather than words into the content. Often, learners find images easier to remember compared to words as they are coloured and have different shapes/ criteria.

Principles 3- Materials should help learners to develop confidence. Short developed the graphic novels which are stimulating and motivating to some learners. They may be able to understand graphics better than words. Besides, it is easier for them to remember a story based on images/pictures compared to words. His materials can help learners to develop their existing extra-linguistic skills such as being imaginative, creative or analytic.

Principle 4- What is being taught should be perceived by learners as relevant and useful. Materials that learners can easily relate to are the best in helping to learn. Often, learners will pay more attention to learn something that may be useful to them and it is easier for them to understand learning if the examples used are situations that they are familiar with. For instance, Short implemented the idea of using research in franchising and family business to teach entrepreneurial concepts to business major students. This could turn out to be an effective way of teaching as most people can easily relate to how the theories are applied into real life situations (business field). 

Principle 15- Materials should maximize learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities. Graphic novel can help to stimulate both left and right brain activities. This is because it is a story-based learning and this can help to stimulate learner’s thoughts or feelings. For instance, Short uses the story of Garcon to teach management/ business. There is a possibility the learners will be able to relate the story to their real life experiences and thus capturing their interest in reading more about it. A simulation as mentioned by Short is also an activity that may stimulate learners’ brain activities and awaken their certain senses in learning.

Crawford’s Principle 7- Materials need to be flexible to cater to individual and contextual differences. It is important for teachers to recognize different learners’ background, experiences, and learning styles. This is to ensure that the objective of teaching will be achieved at the end of the lesson. Short created the graphic textbooks as he believes that this would be the best way of learning based on his background experience.


Second Part

Diagram

B. Design and complete the following diagram.

As future language teachers, developing language learning materials will become as aspect of your teaching career. Design a diagram on the aspects influencing materials development using the provided key words.    

   

First of all, everything will be started off with the country’s vision. This is because different countries have different  cultures and their main language or mother tongue may vary due to their race. Certain country has certain goal that they would like to achive in their education system. In Malaysia, students are encouraged to learn English as a Second Language.

From the country’s vision, the curriculum goal and objectives will be created and establised. The resources of all countries may differ from one and another. For instance, under-developed countries like South Africa might not be able to provide the latest or in trend Information Technologies (ITs) for their education system. So, their syllabus and curriculum in the English Language will definitely be different compared to in Malaysia which is considered a developing country.The English Language Curriculum in Malaysia is created based on the culture and it is based more on the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. In addition, the parent’s goals are also set after the country’s vision. They will want their children to be someone who can help the country in achieving the vision and at the same time being somebody the nation will be proud of.

Principles of teaching and learning should be based on the curriculum goal. The principles are to be implemented on the whole education system in the country. The principles of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) will also be integrated into the education system. Materials used by teachers and learners are to be created based on the two principles.This is because learners’ attitude in learning a second language may vary according to theories such as Behaviorist, Innatist and Interactionist.

From those two principles, teachers will come up with different materials in teaching the English Language to suit the learners’ proficiency levels. Syllabus for the English Language will be based on the two principles. The textbook or teaching tools will be created in accordance to the theories. For instance, materials such as media (songs, movies, videos, magazines and etc) is suitable for learners who learn a language based on Interactionist theory.  Materials can be developed according to the objective of the teachers with a lesson plan as the guidance along the lesson.

Next, all schools‘ administration are to set their aim and objectives in accordance to the syllabus which is based on the two principles. All schools in the country should have a uniform guideline in setting their schools’ objectives and aims. The materials that are developed under the two principles will be introduced to all the schools in the country. This can ensure learners will be able to achieve the same “outcomes” no matter which school they are going to attend. Besides that, the parents’ goals might also affect the schools’ objectives and aims. This is because most parents are likely to want their children attending a better school. So, most schools will try to set their objectives and aims higher in order to alleviate their reputation among parents.

From the school administration, the teacher’s belief and rational should be based on the schools’s administration which is mostly shaped by the Principles of Teaching and Learning as well as SLA. They should be able to determine and decide what to teach to the learners and at the same time designing a lesson plan that may help them to achieve or obey the principles set by the government. Next, learners will be learning their lesson with teachers who may use different types of materials. This way, teachers will be able to apply the theory of second language acquisition into their teaching. The materials used in teaching can be designed according to the learners’ interests. Teachers may prepare a simple quiz to assess the learners’ current proficiency level first.  Then teachers may carry out their lesson plans according to the syllabus but they will have to alter them in accordance to the learners’ current learning abilities. After attending a few lessons they will be tested again. Their language quiz, test or assessment will be based on what they have learnt in class and may include some problem based task or field work rather than the traditional way of just answering on papers. The exam will be a cycle among the teachers and the learners as their knowledge will be constantly tested.

                                                                                                                     Do feel free to comment~ =)