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~ =)